tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post8524801304522135886..comments2024-03-28T09:06:06.709-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/28/24: A visit to the old Division Street Russian Baths.Neil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-10938145128511007792017-12-26T10:01:21.277-06:002017-12-26T10:01:21.277-06:00Cleveland has one remaining bathhouse, known as &q...Cleveland has one remaining bathhouse, known as "The Shvitz", in a sketchy part of town on the East Side. It's run almost like a Twenties speakeasy...merely having money or the gift of gab isn't always enough to gain admittance. You have to know somebody or be recommended by somebody who knows somebody. Otherwise, you don't get past the parking lot.Grizz65noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-79351961587189715172017-12-26T09:53:29.911-06:002017-12-26T09:53:29.911-06:00My grandfather, father, and uncles grew up around ...My grandfather, father, and uncles grew up around the old Luxor Baths on North Avenue. When it had a short-lived revival in the Eighties, I talked my first wife into going there. It was co-ed and we wore bathing suits. The place was ancient and quite decrepit but I enjoyed it immensely. My wife...not so much. The thriving cockroach population didn't help. Neither did the couple having sex in one of the hot pools. We never went back. Luxor Baths closed down for good a few years later.Grizz 65noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-88964039658288884522017-12-24T12:23:24.943-06:002017-12-24T12:23:24.943-06:00A few things your Roman Senator would miss. He wou...A few things your Roman Senator would miss. He would be able to bring along a slave to scrape the sweat and oils off his body with a metal paddle called a strigil. Also, until that old spoilsport the Emperor Hadrian barred the practice, both sexes bathed together.<br /><br />Tom Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09641357239788323783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-64459644118931537112017-12-24T09:21:44.030-06:002017-12-24T09:21:44.030-06:00Not a sauna person, but you make me wish I were.
...Not a sauna person, but you make me wish I were.<br /><br />johntatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-57254467188108713802017-12-24T08:34:08.962-06:002017-12-24T08:34:08.962-06:00Like Algren's Neon Wilderness, the city transf...Like Algren's Neon Wilderness, the city transforms itself trying hard to erase its past. I enjoy reading about the changes that have occurred and how important and necessary some of those things were to the every day person. We should change, certainly, but we should also learn and try to remember what life once was like. Some of these changes happen within a single lifetime, and hearing the stories of those who experienced those changes is why I read your work. Like Terkel and Algren, the common man and his struggles are not merely written off as unimportant Paul Fedrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04384556977324071639noreply@blogger.com