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Originally Posted by rick m
The bathhouses were not squeezed into the Arcadia book- Recently I cracked the mystery of the Pershing Sq. bath raid- Oops-my battery needs reloading-Later !
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Umm - SOPAS! Westminster was fronting along Main St.- that shown corner would be n/e corner at 4th- likely loads of its occupants were struggling single men--About finally locating where the bath adjacent to Pershing Sq. was located- I found the name The Sultan in the entry for Los Angeles in Dwyer's Gay Encyclopedia-overlloked in our raiding all else @ One during our researching frenzy.The in the main archives index we got directed to the "bathhouse" folder-Voila! A ten page extract frm LAPD Commission hearing circa 1959 detailed it in all its chicanery (for the LAPD).. A '56 city street directory held the name:Sultan Downtown Health Center(!) @ 607 S.Hill St.- In the basement of the changing-hands Consolidated Bldng was essentially 4 dozen plywood minisuites complete with gloryholes all round an cots-(a restroom or showers or gym equipment NOT mentioned by the 2 vice officers )This pair were sent to surveil the place after straight customers compliants re sleepness nights in what supposedly was a $2 per nite flophouse. 2 yrs of nitely observing n notetaking frm their own rented cubicle sent 18 to jail in '57 and 59 more in '58 -til finally the owner and his mother were pressured to close.So this was just 40' south of that eastern corner of Pershing Sq. Almost cattycorner up in the ginormous balcony of the by now B-movie Paramount Theater many men found their scene--which also was so close to the Metro downstairs bar reached by steps a few feet from the theater's sidewalk boxoffice- Now departed friends told of remarkably congested grope partying taking place in a very dark bar..Another hustler bar - notorious countrywide was the Circle @324 W.5th nestled in rear of Dunn's Coffee Shop doors away frm the Donut Chalet-- Pershing Sq. WAS really like Disneyland --