In the early Seventies, one of New York’s hottest night spots was the Continental Bath & Health Club, better known as The Tubs. The infamous gay bath house in the Ansonia Hotel atttracted a crowd of cool kids from all points on the Kinsey scale. “This is the closest thing we have to ‘A Clockwork Orange’ in New York,” said Kezia Keeble, a Vogue editor, in a 1972 WWD article about the club, which named it “the steamiest spot in town.” While the upstairs was strictly men-only, on Fridays and Saturdays the basement lounge and disco were open to all customers.
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“This is the world’s most liberated club,” said owner Steve Ostrow, and plenty of people agreed. “Who wants to be seen at Elmo’s or Raffles anymore? The boys always know what’s happening first, so I just follow them,” said Francesco Scavullo. On the night WWD visited, the midnight floor show famously featured a young Bette Midler. “I have to admit,” she said after a Carmen Miranda number, “performing in front of 1,000 guys in towels can give you tremendous confidence as a woman.”