Plato's Retreat
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An attempt at mainstreaming and upscaling anonymous sex during the raffish days of NYC in the late 1970s, Plato’s Retreat in the Ansonia Hotel was a straight club where you could “make your dreams come true,”
In 1977, Larry Levenson opened Plato's Retreat in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel, an ornate 19th century building on the corner of Broadway and West 73rd Street on the Upper West Side.
From the start Plato's was a smash hit, largely because of the relaxed atmosphere. ''I always used to say there's more pressure at a singles bar than at Plato's Retreat,'' recalled Howard Smith, who wrote about the club for The Village Voice. ''There was so much, so available, so why pressure anyone?''
The club had a disco, a house DJ, sauna rooms, and a swimming pool with waterfalls. In the Mattress Room, a small window allowed voyeurs to watch the show without joining in.
Drugs, including alcohol, were not allowed, though they were frequently used despite the rule, adding to the hipness of the Disco-era scene.
Mr. Levenson welcomed his guests with the playfulness of a kid in a sandbox, providing tours of the premises: the hot and cold buffet, the clothing-optional dance floor, the 60-person Jacuzzi, the labyrinth of thinly walled private areas, and especially the orgy room, a sea of mattresses on which naked couples formed an undulating tangle.
''He added a friendly touch to the place,'' Smith said. ''He always used to tell couples: 'If your marriage is in trouble, this won't solve it. This is fun. This is extra.' ''
A six-week membership cost couples $5. With over six thousand members and grossing nearly $100,000 a month (in 1970 dollars), Plato's Retreat was no small venture. In 1980, Plato's relocated to a larger facility at 509 West 34th Street. By the next year, 1981, Owner Larry Levenson went to prison for tax evasion.
Then AIDS hit New York. In 1985, New York City Mayor Ed Koch backed the New York City Health Department's decision to shut down the city's gay bathhouses. However, in closing the gay bathhouses while allowing the heterosexual swingers' clubs – most notably Plato's Retreat – to remain open, the city found itself in a dilemma. It realized such action would be a violation of the newly adopted anti-discrimination law. The Health Department, with Koch's approval, reacted by ordering the heterosexual clubs, including Plato's Retreat, to close as well. The club's Manhattan location was shut down on New Year's Eve 1985, ostensibly for violating public-health ordinances.
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