In the days of Tinder and Grindr, it's easy to forget how gay encounters once were relegated to strange and secret spaces. Potential lovers found each other on the grounds of the Central Park Zoo and window-shopping at department stores at Herald Square in NEW YORK. In cities around the world, bathhouses have long been spaces for cruising, and for authorities to prosecute it––as far back as 1492 in Florence, they were the subjects of raids.
Because anonymity was so crucial to people that frequented these spaces, their history is often lost––which is part of the fact that makes The Fairoaks Project: Polaroids from a San Francisco Bathhouse, which opens tomorrow at the Leslie and Lohman museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York, fascinating. The exhibit consists of Polaroids taken in 1978 by Frank Mellano, one of seven co-owners of the house, a Victorian apartment building in Hayes Valley, and a night manager there. "Frank was a familiar person, so people felt comfortable [being photographed]," explained Gary Freeman, a friend of Frank's since 1969 and the curator of the exhibit. "This was also a unique period of time in San Francisco where people felt proud about who they were and didn't feel like they needed to hide."
In 1978, the Briggs Initiative, which sought to ban gay and lesbian employees from public schools, was defeated, and Harvey Milk had just been elected as a city supervisor. The carefree and positive attitude that resulted is reflected in the photographs. In one, an attendee of a theme party poses in a jeweled turban, a feathered fan, and tie-dye pants. In others, men braid each other's hair and stand in yoga poses. Races are mixed: a notable fact, according to Gary, considering that many bathhouses at the time enforced strict ID policies in order to discriminate. "The photos show us a multi-racial erotic space that was also a clubhouse, a boy's dorm, and a socio-cultural community center," writes art historian Jonathan David Katz in an essay for the exhibition book. "Sex, in short, wasn't just sex––it was that which enabled the creation of community for a new movement just emerging from the shadow of self-loathing."
The happy-go-lucky attitude dried up in the early '80s with the AIDS epidemic: in 1984, the San Francisco Public Health Director ordered the closure of 14 bathhouses and sex clubs, claiming they were "fostering disease and death." Many never reopened. "I'm just glad it's not completely lost to history," said Gary.
Through July 13
Leslie and Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
127-B Prince Street
New York, NY 10012
MAP
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Because anonymity was so crucial to people that frequented these spaces, their history is often lost––which is part of the fact that makes The Fairoaks Project: Polaroids from a San Francisco Bathhouse, which opens tomorrow at the Leslie and Lohman museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York, fascinating. The exhibit consists of Polaroids taken in 1978 by Frank Mellano, one of seven co-owners of the house, a Victorian apartment building in Hayes Valley, and a night manager there. "Frank was a familiar person, so people felt comfortable [being photographed]," explained Gary Freeman, a friend of Frank's since 1969 and the curator of the exhibit. "This was also a unique period of time in San Francisco where people felt proud about who they were and didn't feel like they needed to hide."
In 1978, the Briggs Initiative, which sought to ban gay and lesbian employees from public schools, was defeated, and Harvey Milk had just been elected as a city supervisor. The carefree and positive attitude that resulted is reflected in the photographs. In one, an attendee of a theme party poses in a jeweled turban, a feathered fan, and tie-dye pants. In others, men braid each other's hair and stand in yoga poses. Races are mixed: a notable fact, according to Gary, considering that many bathhouses at the time enforced strict ID policies in order to discriminate. "The photos show us a multi-racial erotic space that was also a clubhouse, a boy's dorm, and a socio-cultural community center," writes art historian Jonathan David Katz in an essay for the exhibition book. "Sex, in short, wasn't just sex––it was that which enabled the creation of community for a new movement just emerging from the shadow of self-loathing."
The happy-go-lucky attitude dried up in the early '80s with the AIDS epidemic: in 1984, the San Francisco Public Health Director ordered the closure of 14 bathhouses and sex clubs, claiming they were "fostering disease and death." Many never reopened. "I'm just glad it's not completely lost to history," said Gary.
Through July 13
Leslie and Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
127-B Prince Street
New York, NY 10012
MAP