Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Cleaning up Parisian Style

Les Bains Douches, the public bathhouses, were an integral part of life in Paris in the 19th and 20th century. Even today. In 1960 there were 160 free bathhouses in the 20 arrondissements, now there are 17 and still free.
Why? Plumbing didn't come with buildings, as they do now. The water sources came from the communal courtyard pumps or public fountains. In those days one relied on servants or water carriers or your own shoulders to bring water up flights of stairs. Even now you'll find the former maid's rooms, usually on the fifth floor, turned into studios or apartment but without bathrooms. Not so long ago, accommodation for the working class was for sleeping - cafe's for drinking and socializing, bouillons or canteens (local communal restaurants or bistros) where people ate since they didn't have a kitchen and life was lived in the quartier. Today some of the bath houses have become hammams and even night clubs.
When I lived in Tokyo for a year, going to the bathhouse - 'ofuro' - was part of my daily routine.
In my apartment - in the gaijin, foreign, ghetto - we had no bathroom. So every evening it was around the block up the street and to the bathhouse before the train station. Instead of viewing it as a pain, I loved it after I got over the shock of women, kids all soaping up, squatting, rinsing, then dipping into the hot steaming tub and chatting with my neighbors. On winter nights, you couldn't beat it for warming up. Cara - Tuesday
at 1:39 AM
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8 comments:

  1. Sujata in Baltimore, MDJanuary 3, 2017 at 7:50 AM

    I used to love the steamy hot public baths when in Japan. And the mineral baths in spa towns. Thanks for reviving the memories.

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    1. Cara BlackJanuary 3, 2017 at 12:01 PM

      well, anytime you want to hit the 'ofuro' count me in :)

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  2. Annamaria AlfieriJanuary 3, 2017 at 8:24 AM

    Cara, there were such baths in NYC, where the tenement dwellers used to go to bathe. In the 80's, I used to go with young dancer friends to one on East 3rd street run by Ukrainians. Entry fee was like $1.50. There were steam rooms as well as bathing pools. We went on the women-only days, and there were Ukrainian ladies who would rub you down with eucalyptus leaves and Dead Sea salt. For an extra fee, you could get a message. There is one left on East 10th Street in Alphabet City (East of First Avenue in Manhattan, where the avenues are A, B, C.) The surviving establishment is called Russian and Turkish Baths and operates as an upscale spa. The eucalyptus leaves and Dead Sea saltire still available for double digit prices. Sigh

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    1. Cara BlackJanuary 3, 2017 at 12:02 PM

      that's right, for anyone who lived in an east side tenement it would have been a port of call. now steam baths and a rub down would be perfect right now

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    2. Zoë SharpJanuary 3, 2017 at 6:43 PM

      I'm intrigued by the message you could receive for an extra fee, Annamaria! I can still remember being taken to my first public sauna by my sister years ago. She didn't tell me it was mixed until after they'd locked my clothes away ...

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  3. Annamaria AlfieriJanuary 3, 2017 at 8:28 AM

    Oh, and by the way. There was an infamous one in the 70's frequented mostly by gay men that had a cabaret. Bette Midler got her start performing there.

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  4. Jeffrey SigerJanuary 3, 2017 at 12:28 PM

    I remember with great fondness my days living in the East Village when the Baths were a place of notoriety and more. These days it's a whole different world...then again, isn't everything?

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  5. Caro RamsayJanuary 5, 2017 at 1:15 PM

    In the late 80's by pal used to go for his weekly bath ( he was a grungy rock star person) in the public baths on the southside of Glasgow. He would lounge and soak getting crinkly skin, a never ending supply of hot water, then a wet shave and a mop down with a towel he could drop on the floor for somebody else to pick up. He said it was easier than cleaning the bath at home.

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