Amazing Polaroids From Inside a San Francisco Bathhouse In the Summer of 1978

The Fairoaks Project was launched a couple of years ago to preserve and display a trove of images from inside a San Francisco bathhouse near the Lower Haight neighborhood that operated from 1977 to 1979 called the Fairoaks Baths. The photographer, Frank Melleno, was a manager at the baths and took photos of friends and patrons that were hung on the walls there.

Melleno survived the AIDS epidemic and had kept the images stored in a shoebox. Curator Gary Freeman started talking with him about exhibiting them about eight years ago, before Melleno died in 2010. And it was after his death that Freeman decided to start The Fairoaks Project, which can be purchased here as a hardcover edition.

In his introduction, writer Mark Thompson notes that the images, like the Fairoaks Baths itself, were somewhat unique for the period, capturing a bathhouse that had a uniquely post-hippie, alternative, and casual atmosphere. The only real evidence of drugs is a sign on the wall that says, “Poppers $5.00” in the background of one image.

Per Thompson:

During the late 1970’s, the gay community in San Francisco was thriving, vibrant and sensual. There were numerous venues for gay men to congregate, such as bars, social clubs, political action groups and perhaps a half dozen bathhouses. Unique amongst these bathhouses was the Fairoaks Hotel which was located at the corner of Oak and Steiner in the Hayes Valley district. The hotel was a converted Victorian apartment building owned and operated from 1977 to 1979 by a group of men who had formerly lived together in a commune. These men infused the Fairoaks with a different atmosphere than was evident at other bathhouses at the time. For example, all the rooms were normal scale (no cubicles), there were non-institutional furnishings, artists had been commissioned or allowed to decorate and paint the rooms, and it was generally lighter than a normal bathhouse. Most significantly, the Fairoaks was racially inclusive, and was promoted as a party location. This party atmosphere fostered a lenient climate for informal photography… These photographs capture an aspect of the gay community rarely seen in snapshot photography: sexually frank, playful, spontaneous, and often-affectionate encounters. The storm clouds of drug abuse and disease that will soon overtake the community are not at all evident in these images.

The building where the baths were still stands at the corner of Oak and Steiner Streets, though the baths have been closed since 1979. Despite being popular, the venue closed five years before the city would force the closure of all bathhouses in the wake of the early part of the AIDS crisis.

See some of these fantastic images below. An exhibit will also be happening this month in New York at the Leslie+Lohman Museum, starting July 11.

A bunch of these photos were taken during the Fairoaks’ infamous “Open Door Parties,” when all the doors on the private rooms would be removed and exhibitionists all had sex out in the open.

The top image is from the Fairoaks’ float in the S.F. Gay Pride parade that year.

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[The Fairoaks Project]
[Hoodline]
[Wine & Bowties]

 

14 thoughts on “Amazing Polaroids From Inside a San Francisco Bathhouse In the Summer of 1978”

  1. mister reality

    Gorgeous shots. Before the epidemic (that caused the need which continues on for condoms) sex was just so carefree. Love this story. Recording dudes being real, sexy, handsome and open- this is pretty neato.

  2. Everyone had sex with everyone back then. People wouldn’t let something like not being a gym bunny keep them from having sex with you. Guys worried they might miss the best sex if they didn’t fuck you. They played the long game. To them sex was joyous and fulfilling. Not the shame based condom sex of a few years later.

    1. Yes but it is sadder to think many gay porn stars today engage in bareback off camera and the flood of bareback studios hiring young guys. Really not much has changed except drugs can keep you alive longer. These guys had no idea. Today WE KNOW and the same insanity continues!

  3. Ugh, so many pornstaches – the fugly tattoo equivalent of the ’70s. And what’s up with that one guy with the towel over his shoulder who looks like Cletus from the Simpsons?

  4. Looks exactly like the porn stars of today. Not much in shape, not really all that attractive but they have beards and have hair places. You are hired!

    1. Actually, the guys looker hotter then, because they didn’t have ugly tats showing all over (sorry, but the tattoo craze is out of control). Guy with cap receiving oral is pretty hot.

      1. Tattoos and steroid bodys. Yes, A LOT of porn stars do. Billy Santoro used to be a dealer (mentioned it during a live cam show on f4f.)

        Aside from the guy with black face, the rest of the guys are gross. none of them turn me on.

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