They say it’s “an alternative to the bar scene,” but it’s really just the bar scene with fewer clothes on, and with a sauna. Some cuties, some mental patients, and some cute mental patients. A low-rent Times Square video store, the upstairs is lined with booths which are supposed to be only for one, though that’s hardly enforced, as long as you put a dollar in the slot for porn films. (The last time around, they moved the location to Brooklyn, sending a bus from Chelsea. A bathhouse-y party that starts slowly, but after the toweled (and usually hot) patrons have had a few thousand drinks, it becomes a nouveau version of the twin cities–Sodom and Gomorrah.
Just walking to the bar there, you might find yourself suddenly entrenched in a nine-way involving every fetish you never even dreamed of. Here they are, in all their grubby desperation and/or fascinating appeal: Yes, there are still some places, even in the wake of crackdowns and internet hookups.
