View image in fullscreenThe New St Marks Baths, 1979In the post-gay liberation and pre-Aids 1970s, bathhouse culture thrived across the US. Communal, men-only establishments offered saunas and plunge pools as well as cruising areas and dark rooms for sex. The East Village’s St Marks was one of the country’s largest bathhouses, with massage rooms, lounges and even a restaurant for patrons who got peckish from all their exertion.