Behind the bathhouse doors

New York’s Continental Bathhouse was a mecca for gay men during the late 1960s and early 1970s: a shining beacon of sexual permissiveness and exploration for a sector of the community still ostracised on the streets – and by other venue owners.

“I wanted to treat people like valued customers. Other places were run by the Mafia, and they’d spit at you, throw you inside, it was never clean…at the Continental we had the largest indoor swimming pool in the world, 400 rooms, 2,000 lockers. Six million people passed through the Continental while our doors were open,” Continental owner Steve Ostrow told the Star Observer.

The pride is still apparent in Ostrow’s voice, despite the 82-year-old having long since closed the Continental and started a new life in Sydney. Nowadays, Ostrow is a founding member of Sydney’s successful Mature Age Gays organization – but he’s revisiting those heady days running the world’s most popular gay bathhouse thanks to a new documentary by Malcolm Ingram, Continental.

“What I’m most proud of was the Continental was very instrumental in having the laws changed in New York so that homosexuality became illegal for consenting adults,” Ostrow said.

“People forget, you see, that when I opened the Continental in 1967, homosexuality was illegal. Two men dancing together was illegal.”

That illegality meant police raids were an almost daily occurrence, with the NYPD sending some of their more attractive members into the Continental clad only in towels. The first hint of a come-on from another patron, and the whole place would be shut down – Ostrow would often find himself heading to prison to bail out his paying customers.

“But as fast as they were taking people out, the lines to get in were growing. I wanted to put in something to take people’s minds off that element of danger and risk, and that’s when I put in entertainment.”

The most famous of those entertainers was a young waitress Ostrow’s then-wife had heard sing at an open mic night. Intrigued, he went along to hear her for himself.

“There she was, this redheaded fat young girl waiting tables. Then she got up to sing, and as soon as she did, she was just beautiful. Her name was Bette Midler and I offered her a job at the Continental right away.”

With live entertainment, the feel of the Continental changed forever. Suddenly it was a nightspot to rival Studio 54, with patrons both straight and gay flocking to see sets by the likes of Patti Labelle, Cab Calloway and Peter Allen.

“We opened the baths on Friday and Saturday nights for straight people. They could buy a ticket just for the show, but the rule was, once the show finished they either had to leave or get into a towel if they wanted to stay. You’d be amazed by how many of them got into towels!”

INFO: Continental screens in Sydney as part of Possible Worlds Film Festival on August 14 at Dendy Opera Quays (www.possibleworlds.net.au), and in Melbourne as part of MIFF on 31 July @ Greater Union and 1 August @ Kino (www.miff.org.au). Sydney’s Mature Aged Gays meet on the second and last Saturday of each month. www.magnsw.org