The Club

Cleveland holds a genuinely important place in gay bathhouse history, and The Club carries that legacy forward as one of the direct descendants of the original Club Baths chain, founded right here in 1965 when Jack Campbell bought a shuttered Finnish bathhouse for $15,000. That single purchase eventually grew into a network of over 40 locations across North America, and while most of those original clubs are long gone, The Club still operates in the city where the whole concept began.

Today, The Club is part of a small surviving chain with eight locations across the US, and it runs on a simple, unchanged promise, private saunas and gyms for adult men, open 24 hours, membership required. That structure has held for over 50 years for a reason, it works. Expect the classic bathhouse layout, sauna and steam facilities, a gym, and private rooms, all built around the idea that men should have a safe, clean, functional space to meet, unwind, and connect without needing to explain themselves.

What makes visiting The Club feel different from a typical sex club stop elsewhere is the sense of history underfoot. This is the birthplace of an entire category of queer social infrastructure, the model that Club Baths pioneered here in Cleveland went on to shape gay bathhouse culture across an entire continent for decades. You don't need to know that history to enjoy a visit, but it adds a layer of weight to an otherwise ordinary night out.

Cleveland's broader saunas and cruising scene has thinned out considerably since the bathhouse boom of the '60s and '70s, and most guides now point to FLEXSpas as the city's other major bathhouse-and-sex-club option. The Club and FLEXSpas together represent essentially the full extent of Cleveland's current bathhouse scene, so choosing between them, or visiting both, covers most of what the city has to offer in this category.

Practical tip from your misterb&b crew: membership is required for entry, so check The Club's current policies and hours before heading over, chains like this typically post clear rules on their official site. Since it runs 24 hours, it works equally well as a late-night stop after the bars close or a quieter daytime visit if you'd rather avoid the busier evening crowd.

Cleveland's queer history runs deeper than most visitors expect, and a stop at The Club connects you directly to it. Booking with a local gay host through misterb&b means arriving with someone who understands why this city matters to bathhouse history specifically, and who can round out your visit with the rest of Cleveland's compact but meaningful LGBTQ+ scene.