Osento, a Japanese bathhouse on Valencia Street in queer San Francisco, is long gone, closed now for nearly a decade. I could have used a soak, though: It was an uncommonly hot and muggy day in the city, and I’d been walking its streets for hours.
Back in the day, people looking for Osento on a similarly soupy afternoon were probably just as confounded. The women-only communal bathhouse, a frequent haunt for lesbians, didn’t have a sign out front. It was mostly known through word of mouth by its clientele, who say its founder ended a nearly three-decade run when she shuttered it in 2008 and moved north to Lake County, Calif.
Now it is a splendid Victorian dwelling, kaleidoscopic in hues of magenta, turquoise and gold. On its facade are stunning sculptured plaques of sea horses, conchs and starfish. Elaborate cast reliefs of tattooed mermaids by a San Francisco artist named Natasha Dikareva gaze ahead. While the relaxation rooms, saunas and a secluded deck for nude sunbathing were all gone, somehow the bathhouse’s spirit lives on.
By Elizabeth Zach – Full Story at The New York Times
San Francisco Gay Travel Resources
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Google has teamed up with Irish historians and experts to bring the Dublin of days long gone to life on screens around the world.
For the centenary of the 1916 Dublin Rising, one of Ireland’s most significant historical events, Google and a team of experts from Ireland 2016 and Century Ireland have created an interactive map allowing users to digitally travel back in time and visit the Rising’s key places.
Leading the way for the country to partially break free of the United Kingdom to form the Republic of Ireland, the Rising’s impact on Dublin is hardly visible around the capital today.
I was in Manama (Bahrain) for three days and two nights–and the whole time I was there, it rained. It did stop a few times during the day but it’s murky cloudy and then rain showers would come back and forth. I didn’t really explored the city much, except visiting the old Bahrain Fort, hiring a taxi to King Fahd Causeway and walking around Old Manama where I was billeted at Delmon International Hotel.
Travel Tips:
The best way to get to Bahrain Fort is via a taxi. Agree on the fare first before getting on. It’s 10-15 minutes from downtown. There’s no public transport that goes there. In fact, part of the road going there is unpaved. You can explore The Fort on your own. It’s free. Really, it’s free! Just make sure to tell the taxi driver to wait for you because it’s going to be hard to get one when you’re done.