dougcrater

Not great, but what there is in Reno

Here's the deal about Steves bath house in Reno. It's great if you're an out of shape, senior citizen, seeking other out of shape senior citizens. Other than that, it's just a place to go because it's the only place like it in Reno. Steve's doesn't advertise locally, apparently because it doesn't want to offend the homophobic powers that be in Reno. The amenities are as follows: a small steam room, that is usually too hot and runs you out of there; a porn video room that for some reason has fences set up so that you can't see anyone across the room; a dry sauna, that was opened about a year ago and already has a dark discoloring (mold?) that is forming on the vinyl flooring. There are also some glory holes on the second level. You have to pay to rent the room with the sling, where almost every other bath house in the world has a common area to let guys play with the sling. You also opt for a locker or a tiny private room.. Most rooms have a power outlet so you can distract yourself when you're there with a laptop, DVD player or something. Wednesday is discount day, but it's also the day that seems to attract all the paunchy out of shape seniors in Reno. And it's always the same ones, some of whom are kind of obnoxious. Examples: the senile old man who's always commenting about they're fucking in San Francisco when he watches porn videos in video room; the Charles Bronson look alike who looks like Bronson when he was 85 and suffereing from Alzheimer's diseases. Also some of the young ones are obnoxious, too, like the late 20's something boy, who weighs about 300 lbs and is always eating fatty fastf ood in the non porn TV room, and bitching about how he'd be a lot more desirable to men if he was in San Francisco. Yeah, dream on fat boy!. Bright spots about Steves? It's reasonably clean, it's safe, and they provide condoms. It's better than taking your chances in the park for hook ups. No one will hassle you,but on the flipside, if you have expectations of hooking up with anything better than fat boys and out of shape seniors, you probably will be disappointed. Part of the problem is a lack of promotion. Steve (there actually is a guy named Steve who owns the place) doesn't want to promote the place, probably in fear of being picketed or shut down. He did a rare interview for Reno's pathetic weekly alternative paper, and talked about how the place was picketed by homophobes in the past. But in the same article he also held out possibilities of opening the place to bi male/female couples, etc., which won't likely happen. It is my understanding that Steve is aware of the amenities that other bath houses offer. The benchmark on the West Coast is Steamworks in Berkeley, Wattergarden in San Jose, and Steam and Hawks in Portland. Steves in Reno doesn't compare in the same league as any of those places. Where those places have a varied clientele, Steve's doesn't. On a given night, you will see maybe 10 guys circulating around, up and down stairs, like it was a shark tank. But really not all that much going on.Blaring, dull, gay disco music plays incessantly, and dull men, who sometimes get lucky with each other, is about it. Could it be better? Hard to say. Reno is not exactly a gay friendly town. Maybe Steve's is as good as it can be. If Steve started to offer discounts to guys under 25, like a lot of clubs do, then at least there might be more eye candy. Or if he offered different event nights to cater to fetishes or interests. But until that happens, or until Steve starts to actually advertise locally, the best can be said about Steves bath house is that it's a safe place to go have man to man sex in Reno. If you can find it there.