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The West Side Club
- Orgasm Rating
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- Address 27 W. 20th St. (5th & 6th Aves.) New York, NY
- Website http://www.westsideclubnyc.com/
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Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Annual membership card (required for admission): $35; day pass: $12; room rental (four hours): $19; changing room (four hours): $17; locker charge: $14 (note that prices are $2 higher from 2pm Friday until Sunday at midnight)
Considered the premier gay bathhouse in New York City because of its Chelsea location, the West Side Club sports a diverse crowd weighted towards the young and stacked. Sometimes these humpy boys only want to have sex with each other, but often they’re looking for something other than a mirror image of themselves. There are plenty of average guys, too—of all ages, ethnicities, and body types. In short, nobody but the unspeakably repulsive should have any trouble finding action here.
If you don’t have a membership, bring a photo ID. During peak hours (late nights and weekends), you may have to wait in line to check in at the window, where you pay your admission and leave your valuables in a locked drawer (be sure to tip the cute counter boys upon checking in and checking out—it’s the gentlemanly thing to do). You are then given a towel (with condoms and lube on request) and shown to your room, changing room, or locker. Some guys choose to wander the two-floor labyrinth of corridors in their undershorts, but towels are the standard attire.
The West Side Club can be a friendly place where sex does not have to be cold, detached, or anonymous, although some patrons like it that way. Many of the guys are regulars, greeting and chatting with old buddies in the corridors. The staff is friendly, helpful, attractive, and apparently 100% gay, which is a nice change from some public sex scenes where sleazy straight guys take your money and admit you through a turnstile with a blank stare.
The facilities are clean, with a sauna and steam room recently reopened after a long hiatus (per the Board of Health, thank you very much). The music—hard-driving techno with a hip-hop edge—proves to be an equally effective complement to bone dancing as it is to the disco kind. There are a few pieces of workout equipment that nobody uses, and a common area for continuous viewing of porn videos. Some regulars consider the upstairs rooms most desirable because they’re closer to the showers and are more heavily traveled. But downstairs has its appeal with its more secluded ambiance—a hint of an illicit backroom in a place where most taboos don’t exist.
You can have tons of great sex at the West Side Club, but on your way home you may also remember the enjoyable 20 minutes or two hours you may have spent cuddling and chatting with a cute boy from the city or visiting from thousands of miles away. They all come to the West Side Club, from every country on every continent, even (especially!) if they’re only spending a few days in New York. It’s a place to rub elbows—so to speak—with a rich and varied cross-section of gay men from the city, the country, and the world. And as a way to have uninhibited sex with strangers, it’s much safer than hooking up at a bar and going back to his place or yours. Just remember your safer sex guidelines and keep in mind that guys don’t always tell the truth about things like HIV status when they know they’ll never have to face you again. Be clear about your own standards and limits, stick to your guns, and have fun.
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