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By Jeff Przekop & Lisa Auriemma
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Photo by Brian J. Morowczynski
At the Division Street Baths, patrons cool off and chill out. |
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Division Street Baths is the last frontier of the traditional bathhouse. Built
in 1906, it has remained a place for Chicago men to relax and talk.
“A lot of people come here — politicians, doctors, anybody with common
sense,” says Joe Deno, who’s been coming to Division Street Baths
for more than 40 years.
During the early years, its patrons were mostly Eastern European immigrants, from
the working class to the politically connected, who brought the tradition of the
bathhouse from their countries. Legend has it that Al Capone’s men use to
come for massages and even Sam Giancana spent some time soaking here. Today it
counts among its clients the Rev. Jessie Jackson Sr., U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson
Jr., Denis Savard, Rev. James Meeks, Steven Segal, LL Cool J and Russell Crowe.
But this bathhouse tradition, which goes back hundreds if not thousands of years,
is disappearing like the steam out of the hot room. Division Street is one of
two remaining bathhouses in the country that date from the early part of the last
century, distinguished by the process of creating heat by superheating rocks in
a big brick oven rather than using forced-air furnaces.
Today, the very idea of the bathhouse is changing. Chicago is home to one bathhouse
that is primarily a gay meeting place and features workout equipment, private
rooms and a party-like atmosphere. And even the old-school Division Street Baths
now offers women the opportunity to experience the tradition from which they were
long excluded.
Hewing to tradition
Division Street Baths is a sanctuary, a place of relaxation, conversation and
friendship. The dining room and lounge are softly lit and filled with overstuffed
recliners and ashtrays. In the full bar, there’s a mural of men in the hot
room, conversing and smiling. In the back there are massage rooms and lockers.
Downstairs there’s a steam room, a hot room, hot and cold pools, a urinal
and a number of showers, and another massage room where Augie Gonzalez puts his
clients into a hazy, euphoric state.
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Photo by Brian J. Morowczynski
Manager Joe Collucci, center, stands with some of his regular clientele. |
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Taking a tour
Joe Collucci, the owner’s son, mans the desk, where $22 buys you a locker
key, two towels, soap and a sheet. Ken Babe, who’s been going to bathhouses
since 1956, moves from room to room, chatting with the other men. They look content,
if not comatose, from an afternoon of massages, steam baths and cigars.
The hot room is hot, damn hot. A furnace keeps the interior an almost scalding
180 degrees — the “famous heat” as it’s traditionally
known. Men from a wide range of nationalities, ranging in age from 9 to 90, douse
themselves with cold water from large buckets. They rub each other down with oak
leaves and an Israeli seaweed that is believed to remove toxins and heal the bumps
and bruises of everyday life.
Turning tradition on its head
The scene at Steamworks would cause Giancana to spin in his grave. “It’s
like a burlesque house,” says a 21-year-old regular. “Usually people
go here who want to get laid and relax.”
There are condoms everywhere in this all-male bathhouse. On the first floor, there’s
a huge hot tub and a steam room. On the second floor, there are showers and private
rooms, each with a bed and a television playing gay pornographic films. There’s
also a theater where visitors can watch them together. On the third floor are
bondage rooms and the workout area.
“Bathhouses are for people who want to have something different in their
lives,” he says. “There are always guys there looking to experience
[something].” For $20, they can get up to 12 hours of experiences, but Steamworks
is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A modern twist
Not all the modern transformations of the traditional bathhouse are this extreme.
In the 1960s, Division Street Baths added a European Spa for women. It’s
a private world where women can go to be pampered into a trance through massage,
steam, the smell of eucalyptus and the sounds of soft music.
“You have to feel it,” says Samantha the receptionist, as she rubs
her arms and rolls her eyes. “Your skin will be so soft!”
The steam room is a Russian bath-wet sauna. Women sit on wooden benches and take
turns pouring water on giant rocks to create the steam. The sauna is a circular
room in which the air is infused with the scent of eucalyptus. In individual private
rooms, women can get a wax, facial or massage. There are pillows at the manicure
stations and on the massage tables, and vases of flowers throughout the room.
The women’s side of the bathhouse can be rented for private parties. “Decent
parties, no crazy parties. Any crazy business and I’ll kick you out,”
says William Espinosa, who runs it. “I don’t want a bad name for the
place.”
Another concession Division Street Baths has made to modernity is coed days on
Tuesdays and Wednesdays. “I get a lot of couples, men saying that wives
and girlfriends want to come so they can spend quality time together,” Espinosa
says. During coed hours, women are required to wear bathing suits and men must
wear shorts.
A bath is still a bath
As different as these bathhouse experiences are, they have one thing in common.
They are all places where people go to relax, aided by the comforts of steam and
good company.
Even a new visitor to Division Street Baths finds that he is encouraged to come
back again to hang out, play cards and smoke a cigar. But make no mistake; women
may be welcome now, but it’s not Steamworks.
“You fuck around here and you got a big problem,” says Babe. 
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