edited from a website that chronicles history of USA Baths

THE CONTINENTAL BATHS

The Ansonia Hotel, New York City, built circa 1880.

In the late 1960's Steve Ostrow opened the famous Continental Baths in the basement of the landmark 1903 Ansonia Hotel, which was home to such greats as Caruso, Stravinsky and Toscanini. Famous for its lavish accommodations, the Continental Baths was advertised as being reminiscent of "the glory of ancient Rome."

The impressive features of this bathhouse included a disco dance floor, a cabaret lounge, sauna rooms, an "Olympia blue" swimming pool, and clean, spacious facilities that could serve nearly 1,000 men, 24 hours a day. One gay guide from the 1970's described the Continental Baths as a place that "revolutionized the bath scene in New York." An added attraction at the club was the first class entertainment provided by performers such as Melba Moore, Peter Allen, Cab Calloway, The Manhattan Transfer, John Davidson, Wayland Flowers and Bette Midler, who began her career by performing there with Barry Manilow in 1972. Despite Midler's constant complaints about the pool’s waterfall, her poolside performances were so successful that she soon gained national attention, beginning with repeat performances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Many of those who were fortunate enough to see Bette's early bathhouse shows attest to the fact that her greatest achievement in show business took place the night she convinced the otherwise shy Barry Manilow to accompany her on the piano while wearing only a white towel, which was considered "proper bathhouse attire." As the popularity of the cabaret shows increased, a wide variety of entertainers were invited to "give it up" at the Continental Baths, including the soprano Eleanor Steber, who gave a "black towel" concert there in 1973. The list of visitors to the Continental Baths read like a "who's who" of the entertainment world, from actors, singers, artists, producers, to the mafia and even the Metropolitan Opera, which both paid a visit.

 Unfortunately, the Continental Baths had lost much of its gay clientele by 1974, or "almost overnight," as many remember it. The reason for the decline in patronage was, as one gay New Yorker put it, "We finally got fed up with those silly, campy shows. All those straight people in our bathhouse made us feel like we were part of the decor, and that we were there for their amusement. So we ended up going to other bathhouses."

 Although the cabaret performances were highly popular among the straight couples who went there "dressed in tuxedos and Norma Kamali gowns," a large number of the men who patronized the Continental were interested primarily in the sexual side of the bathhouse.

 By the time 1974 had ended, patronage was so low that Steve Ostrow had decided discontinue the lounge acts. He focused, instead, on resurrecting his business by making the baths coed. He even advertised on WBLS, but to no avail. In the end, Ostrow closed the Continental Baths for good. The facility, however, was reopened as a heterosexual swingers' club called Plato's Retreat, but it was shut down by the City of New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Some facts about the Continental Baths:

A memorable feature of the Continental Bathhouse was the secret light warning system that tipped off the patrons when the police were there. There was also a VD clinic. Interestingly enough, other bathhouses of the day soon jumped on the Continental bandwagon by featuring entertainment for their patrons. In San Francisco, one bathhouse opened a "Starlight Cabaret" which featured local singers and bands. Country-western performers also began playing on "Western Night" at some baths.

In February 1969 the Continental Baths was raided by the New York City Police. The scene was replayed again in December of that year, when police entered the Continental Baths and arrested three patrons and three employees, charging them with criminal mischief.

 Fortunately, Steve Ostrow was more than happy to contribute a few words regarding his experience at the tubs:

"I built the Continental Baths in 1968 and discovered Bette Midler in 1969. The Baths were not only an expression of sexual liberation, but also heralded in a rebirth of Cabaret in the city of New York. Artists of the ilk of Barry Manilow, Manhattan Transfer, Peter Allen, Margaret Whiting, Melba Moore, Liz Torres, Patti LaBelle and countless others in addition to Bette got their first big break at the Continental Baths.

The Baths and I are the subject of several chapters in the latest biography of Bette called Bette (1995 Birch Lane press, Carol Publishing Group). The Baths and I have also been written about in Barry Manilow's autobiography My Sweet Life; James Gavin's Intimate Nights; The Golden Age of Cabaret, Stephen Maclean's The Boy From Oz, and countless other books depicting the age of sexual revolution, etc. In addition the Baths were the subject of a major motion picture The Ritz, which was released in the late seventies.

The Continental was a phenomenon that came out of a pre-AIDS world that we will probably never experience again. But more than just being a bathhouse and showplace, the Baths were a place where people came out of their closets and found out who they were. It was the first gay establishment to treat gay people as equals and not exploit them. It was instrumental in having the laws against homosexuality rescinded and gave birth, along with Stonewall, to a whole generation where gay was in. Beyond that it ushered in an era of sexual liberation and alternative lifestyles that, to this day, has never been equaled.