The Unabashed Queer (Government Name: Matt Siegel) serves to affirm the vast array of queer identities. To support local, independent, LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a BAR member.Anonymous Sex + Endless Lube: Welcome to the World of Gay Sex Clubs / Queerty Help keep the Bay Area Reporter going in these tough times. "This weekend was good, but the previous weekend was better," Rowe said. Rowe said that last weekend was not as busy as the one preceding it (which also immediately preceded the June 15 reopening date that allowed Steamworks to come back). "There was also a weird period where CAL-OSHA said staff had to wear masks even if fully vaccinated," Rowe said. and we have to find staff in the city that can work later."īut Eros has expanded from Wednesday-Sunday to, now, being open all seven days. Rowe said that the reason for this is because "BART closes at 9 p.m. "We hope after the Fourth of July to be closer to our old hours."
"We are just open until 9 p.m., but this weekend we'll be open till 10 p.m.," Rowe said, referencing Pride weekend. "If you show us your vaccination records - on your phone or digitally - we give you a free, six-month membership," Rowe said.Įros, too, is operating for fewer hours than it used to. Now, Rowe said it has aligned its policy with its sister business across the bay. "The steamroom and sauna have no limits, and one of our rooms that we closed to work on while we got up and running reopened, too."Įros used to allow people to use a negative COVID-19 test result within the last 72 hours to enter.
"We are at full capacity and no longer limit how many guests are in here," Rowe said. June 21 that the restrictions that remained then - such as a mask requirement in the play space, and a 25% capacity limit - went by the wayside on June 16, one day after the great California reopening. In San Francisco, Market Street's Eros has been open since May 20, as the B.A.R. Similarly, a standard room is $31 until the same time, when it rises to $36. Other prices have not gone up: a locker is $18 until Friday night, when the price increases to $23. "You can bring a card, a photo of it on the phone, or a photocopy," Jensen said. The normal membership fee is being waived "for the time being," Jensen said, assuring that the bathhouse will not be keeping a record of anyone's vaccination information once a patron obtains the membership for which it is required. Steamworks will be asking for proof of vaccination on a patron's first visit back as a requirement for receiving a membership. Because of that, the corporate office is also working part-time, Jensen said.
a lack of sufficient staff is preventing it from returning to its previous 24/7/365 schedule. The bathhouse will only be open Thursdays at 8 a.m. "We were a little nervous because we'd been closed for a year and a half, but we are relieved people are coming back." "I'm excited that our men were excited to have us back," Jensen said. Jensen said he is happy that patrons haven't permanently changed their habits during Steamworks' temporary closure due to the lockdown. "There's nothing like a real human being, face-to-face." "Apps may seem convenient, but they're not terribly human," Jensen said. Steamworks and San Francisco's Eros are the last gay sex venues that were left to reopen when California Governor Gavin Newsom gave the all-clear last week San Francisco's Blow Buddies and San Jose's the Watergarden were forced to shutter permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.īut something that gay bathhouses and sex clubs offer that apps like Grindr lack is the in-person experience, Jensen said, a difference that mirrors how much of society has lived for the past year and their reentry into physical interaction now. "I know for sure on Thursday we had one for over 12 hours," Curtis Jensen, Steamworks' marketing and graphics coordinator, told the Bay Area Reporter June 21. Patrons showing up to take a dip in the hot tub or sweat in the saunas of Steamworks Baths in Berkeley last weekend may have seen something they haven't witnessed in a while - long lines of men stretching out the door.