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Russian & Turkish Baths
- Orgasm Rating
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- Address 268 East 10th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A New York, NY
- Hours M,Tu,Th, F: noon-10pm; Wed: 10am-10pm; Sa: 9am-10pm; Su: 8am-10pm
- Phone 212-674-9250
- Website http://www.russianturkishbaths.com
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(Men only: Su: 8am-2pm; Thu: noon-5pm; women only: W: 10am-2pm)
Admission: $30
Through the dreamy, softly lit haze of the steam room, strangers lounge and moan softly in the ferocious, dark heat of the Russian shvitz. Alright, so even if most of them are fat, old Russian guys, the experience of these baths remains a sensual and quintessential New York experience. No sexual activity can be found at this bathhouse, but the experience can prepare you for sex outside the baths.
Despite the occasional downtown hipster, toy boy, or appealing couple, this bathhouse remains relatively true to its Eastern European origins. While wheat grass juice and smoothies are now available alongside pork dumplings, borscht, and blintzes, this place remains more Old World than New Age. Frankly, the baths haven’t aged all that gracefully in their 110 years. The locker rooms are musty and cramped; the showers reek of industrial disinfectant; the dun-colored robes are shapeless and unflattering; and icky plastic slippers are mandatory. Still, the place has genuine character and sure can chase the blues away on a cold winter afternoon. An outdoor sun deck and cheap beer entice in the summer.
Four types of baths are the enticements: an electric or "Turkish" hammam; a steam room (wet heat); a redwood, Finnish sauna; and the epic Russian bath or shvitz—followed by a dip in an ice-cold pool. There’s something almost medieval about the bath’s most popular and best-known Russian room where you’ll find a massive stone chimney blasting at a fierce 195 degrees, men and women in monkish robes and towel turbans sighing faintly in the dim light, and—in one corner—prone victims being beaten by two burly men with bunches of oak leaves attached to stout sticks, as if taking part in some kind of public martyrdom ritual. This type of "massage", platza, is meant to bring toxins to the surface of the skin, to be immediately sweated out in the dry heat, and the oak leaves and olive oil soap they’re soaked in are said to have natural astringent properties. Similarly brutal massages—with salt or strong jets of water—are available downstairs while tamer versions (reflexology, seaweed, and mud wraps) can be had upstairs. At $35/half hour, $60/hour, their Swedish massages are basic, but a great value.
You can easily lounge the day away here for the entrance fee of $22, alternating cool showers or a chilly dip with various degrees of heat. I emerged long after dark with cleansed pores and a sweet sense of exhaustion. Devotees can buy 15 admissions for $165, but watch out, as there are two owners who alternate taking charge from week to week, and you may find that a pass you bought last week while owner A was in charge will not be honored by owner B. A three-month membership is $260 and the whole place can be rented after hours for parties (10pm-4am) at $50 a head with a 20-person minimum. Call Lev Solon, 718-946-7618, for more information on group rentals.
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