Benson contends that it is ridiculous to blame the bathhouse owners for encouraging the spread of AIDS. Marty Benson, who co-owns the Melrose Baths, the Midtowne Spa and other clubs across the county, said he will file a lawsuit against the county if the closure order goes through. “If we thought we were part of the problem, we could not look in the mirror. “We all have lots of friends who have died of AIDS,” said Myers, 53, a mild-mannered former beautician with a life-sized photo of a nude man on his office wall. In addition, they say bathhouse monitors warn customers when they are practicing unsafe sex. Bathhouse operators are also quick to point out that they have closed their “orgy rooms” and posted signs listing the most threatening sex acts, such as anal intercourse without condoms and the exchange of body fluids. Their weapons, they say, are the health brochures and condoms that are freely distributed to customers under county regulations. Some have emerged from the shadows of the gay underground to deliver the message that their clubs, which have been vilified by many people, are partners in the fight to stem the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Myers and other owners have adopted the siege mentality of people who find themselves battling long odds. Not so clear is what the future holds for these clubs, which have been abandoned by both gay leaders and a large percentage of their former patrons. The fact that some men are still grabbing each other at the baths-despite the gruesome specter of AIDS-is clear to anyone who has visited Mac’s or the Compound or the Melrose Baths. “Try to walk down the middle of the hallways,” says Doug Myers, owner of the club that is known as the Cadillac of bathhouses. In other cubicles the doors are left open to reveal nude men, alone, paired off or in groups. Soft voices echo along the dimly lit gray and black corridors where the private rooms are located, and the faint aroma of marijuana wafts from one area.
As they trade their street clothes for towels and settle into bunk beds, steam rooms and each other’s arms, a gay pornographic movie plays silently on a television and an empty Jacuzzi burbles near the rounded walkway known as the tunnel of love. Those who come later are forced to accept semi-private accommodations. Well-dressed men with gym bags start arriving at the labyrinth-like club before sunset, and by early evening a “No Vacancy” sign dangles beneath a stern AIDS warning posted on the cashier’s window, signaling that the 50 personal cubicles are taken. The private rooms at Mac’s Bathhouse in Silver Lake are a hot ticket on Saturday nights.