Rub-a-dub-dub, hundreds of Adult Strangers in a Tub.
A self proclaimed East Village Lurkness Monster, I’ve passed the peculiar Russian & Turkish Baths hundreds of times on my walk down 10th Street to and from Tompkins Square Bagel, and while curious, I rationalize spending my money on fancy mashed avocados instead, as my imagination has me contracting some radioactive disease and turning into Alex Mack. One of my close friends, Attorney-at-Law Adam Brunk, is an passionate and enthusiastic Russian Bather and shared this extremely interesting article about the Baths with me as a supplement to his tales of Suds ‘n Saunas.
Bathhouses were once ubiquitous in New York, the result of a city effort in the 19th century to keep residents in teeming immigrant neighborhoods clean before most homes had hot water. During the Tenth Street Baths’ prime, as bath lore has it, they were a hangout for gangsters who talked business in the saunas and so preferred deaf masseurs. Vodka was served in the lobby. Le Sigh, the good ‘ole times.
The 124 year old bathhouse has been a soaking ground for celebrities, rabbis, taxi drivers, and everything in between, however the structure of the bathing schedules has controlled who bathes when, routinely altering a week of over the hill regulars with a week of groupon using hipsters. For years, the two Russian owners, Boris Tuberman and David Shapiro, have split the bathhouse business down the middle, running it on alternate weeks and operating separate corporations. Cards for Boris and David weeks must be purchased separately.
David’s son took over his father’s shift a few years ago and began offering promotions through companies like Groupon and during his week, the baths became a little less eccentric, instead filling with young Brooklyn types and thrifty tourists. Boris resists the entire Internet in general. “I don’t have memberships,” he said. “I have cards which don’t expire.” The front-desk staff, which includes the owner and three Russian-speaking managers, uses punch cards and ledger books. They also disconnect the phone. But by broad consensus, it is the heat that most defines a Boris week. Many report that on Boris’s weeks, the hots are hotter, the colds are colder. Boris weeks brings a demographic that is largely old guys, just there to sweat it out, not shy at all to let their big guts hang out and have the general sentiment that they don’t care if you’re 20 and in a bikini but just get out of their way.
This seems like a potentially more hygienic option than most dating apps, depending on which way you view it. Explore more here.