EVERARD                                                        NOMAD

THIS
MIGHT BE/COULD BE A TRIPLE X RATED BLOG BUT MORE IN WHAT I AM ASKING
YOU TO IMAGINE THAN IN WHAT I WRITE THOUGH I WILL TRY TO KEEP IT ‘CLEAN’
BECAUSE THAT IS MY STYLE--WARNING: IF YOU ARE NOT READY TO LEARN WITH
AN OPEN MIND THEN DON’T READ THIS!!!

I was reading a few
different blogs on the Internet coming across the following about a new
hotel in New York City and when I spotted the address all sorts of
bells, whistles and alarms went off in my head plus I was flooded with
memories.. Now I am not exactly sure if the hotel has been built on the
same property and has been extended but I just have a feeling I am
correct--if I am wrong I will add a PS when informed. :O)

Read the following blog and, very important, my comments at the end of Carlos Melia’s post.

https://tinyurl.com/d2u7x5l

When you have finished that blog go to this page on wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everard_Baths


I
was very grown up for my age being able to drink in New York bars when I
was 14-15 without being carded--that was back in the Ice Age when the
drinking age was 18 or older. I never questioned whether it was because I
looked older or because teh bar wanted young people as customers. It
didn't matter to me as long as I could get in. By the way a word of
advice to any male teenager going into an all male bar don't order a
frozen daiquiri, especially when everyone is drinking beer or scotch but
that's another blog.
I really don't remember where I heard
about the baths or from who but there were many in the city at that
time: Everard, St. Marks, Luxor, Penn Station, just to name a few, along
with the notorious Newark baths.
My memory is different
from whoever wrote the wikipedia page as I recall being told that it was
owned by the PAL--Police Athletic League--and that the customers were
always warned when a raid was going to take place though not always. I
do remember a couple of times when it was whispered to get out as the
place was going to get raided that evening and people would line up to
get their valuables back.
Though I agree with most of Mr.
Williams description I have a few things of my own to add. Opposite the
check in desk, where after you got your key, you would check your
valuables which was put in  a drawer that your key locked, there was a
restaurant serving coffee, sandwiches, beer, coffee and such. There
would be men with towels wrapped around their waist or other guys fully
dressed either waiting for a room or for a guy they had met earlier and
was waiting for him so they could leave.Some guys would just socialize
there are they looked over everyone coming in and out or going up or
down (more about that later) the stairs.

Before you
reached the floor Mr. Williams describes there was another floor that
didn't have 'rooms' but lockers, cots and double bunk beds where
everything that was done was open for everyone to see.

(Emlyn Williams described a visit in 1927:
Up some stairs at a desk an ashen bored man in shirtsleeves produced a ledger
crammed
with illegible scrawls. I added mine, paid my dollar, was handed a key,
towel and robe, hung the key on my wrist and mounted to a large floor
as big as a warehouse and as high: intersecting rows of private rooms
each windowless cell dark except from the glimmer from above through
wire-netting shredded with dust and containing a narrow workhouse
bed...[he later heard] a casual whisper, a sigh lighter than
thistle-down, a smothered moan. Then appeasement: the snap of a lighter
as two strangers sat back for a smoke and polite murmured small talk,
such as they might exchange in a gym.[2])
There was a man
in the center room, down the first aisle, who would take you to your
room and give you the towel and robe. The robe described above just
about covered an average body and most people who could would wrap the
towel around their waist. The rooms had a single bulb hanging from the
ceiling with a chain or piece of old sheet string to turn it on and
off.  Very few lights were turned on and many had their doors open. You
would find guys laying down on their stomach or on their back to signal
what they might be interested in. You would see guys entering rooms,
then closing the door or just leaving. Some rooms would have 3-4 people
in them with the doors open for more to join.
What windows
the floor had were painted black and many guys would stand near them,
looking up and down the aisles. At the top of the stairs was a bathroom
where a lot of looks took place. There wasn't much conversation as
people weren't there to talk. A celebrity might be spotted and quick
whispers were heard but, in the main, they weren't 'recognized' because
many people there didn't want to be recognized. More than once a person
would meet a co-worker or a classmate but no words were exchanged nor
did they talk about it later. I once saw my math teacher there and
whether he saw me or not I don't remember but I never acknowledged
seeing him there.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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