Quote:
Originally Posted by sopas ej
Hehe you would think a place called "KLYT" would be for the ladies, huh? But no, it's for the guys.
I looked it up online; this is from a 1967 phone book, which would suggest that at this point, the Palace Turkish Baths had been around since at least 1905:
from gaytubs.com
Here's a contemporary photo of 132 E. 4th Street courtesy of Google Earth:
KLYT is in the building that says "Charmed Fashion." It's the door on the left. Makes me wonder what this area looked like in 1905. |
I remembered this KLYT place. I used to go there since late 1970's when I wanted a shower, steam bath, and a cheap place to sleep when I'm in LA. I'm not gay, I ignored the patrons. From the clerk who told me, the Palace Turkish baths was started on 1907, same time when the building was built. The building is called The Graham Hotel, its entrance is on 130 E. Fourth, a few doors west of the bath's 132 entrance. I heard from the desk clerk that Rock Hudson used to go there in the 1940's. Then the property was sold in early 1980's to a Taiwanese, he retrofitted the building for earthquake. He found out I repaired old wood windows, so I fixed some for him. Many of them in rear was replaced in the 1940's with steel casements. Recently, by bicycle, I went to the hotel's entrance, very much time warp, original 1907 woodwork remained, very noirish. The apts are always rented full. Now I go there occasionally for a steam bath, and the area has a new building across the street for loft living where it once was a paved parking lot. Time will tell the area will be safe again.