Club, Sweet Club
Club Philly is Auntie’s “home club.” You can find me there a couple times each month. That fact is neither good nor bad for my reputation. However, it’s also where I get a lot of the knowledge that I share here on my site. It’s where I’ve experienced a lot of the bathhouse culture that I write about.
Quick facts (tl;dr)
- Type: Traditional urban gay bathhouse
- Atmosphere: Mixed crowd, neighborhood regulars, event-driven weekends
- Best known for: Long local history; event nights; comfortable, varied cruising and play spaces
- Accessibility: Limited (many stairs)
- Open: 24/7/365
- Auntie’s vibe check: Friendly, lived-in, and reliably busy on event nights
How to find the club
Club Philly is in the heart of the Gayborhood, at 1220 Chancellor Street. Unless you’re following your phone’s map, though, that’s not really that informative.
To put it more simply, the club sits right at the corner of Chancellor and Camac Streets:
- Chancellor Street is between Walnut and Locust Streets
- Camac is between 12th and 13th Streets
If you’ve been to Woody’s, the front door is across the street from Chancellor. If you’ve been to Voyeur, Club Philly is literally right behind Voyeur.
What about parking?
Auntie walks to the club, but I know that a lot of folks will come by car.
- There is some street parking on the surrounding streets. Pay attention to the signs about how long you can leave your car in one spot, and how to pay.
- There are a lot of nearby garages and parking lots, with some of the closest being:
- On Walnut, between 12th and 13th, right across from Camac Street
- 13th & Locust Street
- 13th & Walnut Street
- Juniper & Locust Streets
Auntie says…
If you’re driving to the club, parking in a garage or lot — while a pricey choice — is less stressful than street parking.
Is the neighborhood safe?
Like I said, I walk there and back. I’ve walked in and through the Gayborhood at all hours of day and night. It’s generally one of the safest parts of Center City.
That being said, the corner of Camac and Chancellor can look a bit dicey. As you move through the area, keep your wits about you, move with purpose, and don’t flash cash, cards, or valuables. Most of the characters you might meet are on their way to or from the club, Voyeur, or one of the other nearby bars. A few others just sort of linger in the area, but they don’t tend to bother anyone.
The amenities
Club Philly is what I describe as a “fairly standard American gay bathhouse,” in a converted row home with four floors and a full basement.
Layout
- Street level (first floor)
- Check in desk
- Lockers
- Snack bar
- Limited gym equipment (but if you’re going to the bathhouse mostly for the gym equipment, we need to have a chat)
- Outdoor smoking deck
- Second floor
- Rooms
- Four of the rooms are “doubles” (larger bed and feature a TV)
- A video area with modified “bleacher” seating
- Restroom
- Outdoor smoking balcony
- Third floor
- Fourth floor
- Rooms
- A dark room with benches around the walls
- Basement
- Bathroom with private shower
- Gang showers
- Steam room
- Sauna
- Three dark room play spaces
- One with benches and slings
- One with benches and TV
- The gloryhole slurp ramp (Auntie’s favorite place to hang out and cruise)
Important things to consider
- The club is open 24/7/365 (yes, that includes Christmas Day). They have closed occasionally for really terrible snowstorms.
- Each private room has a locker for storing your clothes, wallet, phone, etc.
- Rooms also have an electrical outlet that you can use to charge your phone — but remember to bring your own charger and cable.
- The first digit of a room number indicates the floor that it’s on: 337 is on the third floor; 453 is on the fourth
- Rooms sell out on busy nights (especially weekends and CumUnion). If you don’t get a room, you can rent a locker and go on the waiting list for a room upgrade.
- Lockers sell out on the busiest nights. When they do, you’ll need to wait until one becomes available before you can get into the club. It’s usually not a long wait, and Auntie says it’s worth the wait.
- Club Philly is the only gay bathhouse in Philadelphia.
- Given the layout and the fact that there are steps to enter and exit the building and staircases to move among the various levels, Club Philly really isn’t all that accessible for many folks with difficulty walking or certain physical disabilities.
- This is a building that was converted to Turkish baths sometime around the 1920s or so. Club management keeps it fairly well maintained, and the staff clean regularly. It’s not a new building, but they do what they can to keep it nice.
What does it cost?
Locker and room regular prices
- Lockers: $24
- Single room: $32
- Single with TV: $39
- Double room: $44
- VIP (sling) room: $57
Fees (which their website mentions but doesn’t detail)
- Day pass: $11 (for those who don’t have a membership)
- Towel fee: $2 (which everyone pays — including members)
- Credit/debit card fee: $1
Half-price specials
- Sundays: Rooms and lockers, 4 PM to midnight
- Weekday “Businessman’s Special:” Rooms and lockers, 11 AM to 1 PM
- Wednesdays: Rooms and lockers all day
- Thursdays: Lockers, 4 PM to midnight
Important things to know about costs
- They accept cash, credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Everyone pays the 1 credit/debit card fee — including members.
- If you’re going to the club often enough, a membership is less expensive than paying the day pass each time. Check with the desk clerk for the prices.
- “Half-price” only applies to the locker or room rental. You’ll still pay the regular fees.
- Regular prices are charged for event nights, some holidays (like New Year’s Eve), and Pride.
Events
Club Philly hosts three events each month. They charge regular prices for event nights (no additional fees).
- BearUnion on the first Friday night of every month, 9 PM to 3 AM. This is an all-inclusive, body-positive event that attracts a lot of bears, otters, big guys, daddies, and their admirers.
- CumUnion, an international bathhouse party that is held in about 40 cities around the world. Club Philly hosts on the first and third Saturday nights of every month, 9 PM to 3 AM. People come from all over (including regular visitors from New York and Washington, DC) to attend. The crowd is a wide variety of ages, body types, and races. These are the busiest nights at the club every month. You can check out more Auntie’s thoughts about CumUnion and the Baths.
- Transgressions on the second Monday and fourth Thursday night of every month, 8 PM to 2 AM. This party started in January 2026 and is open to all genders, gender identities, and expressions. Auntie has a couple “bathhouse buddies” who prefer these nights over all others because the crowd is so open, inclusive, and friendly.
Auntie’s thoughts about Club Philly
I’m certainly a fan of Club Philly because it’s so close to home (only a 10-minute walk). That’s one of the reasons that you can find me there about two times per month, usually on weekend nights — almost always on CumUnion nights.
I also like the fact that the crowd is usually diverse: There’s almost always a wide array of body types, ages, and skin tones. More and more, some trans people are showing up — and my observation is that they find plenty of folks to have fun with during their visit.
As I mentioned above, club management keeps the facility pretty well-maintained, and the staff do a good job of cleaning. The sauna was recently completely rebuilt. The steam room can occasionally go offline, but they work to fix the issues as quickly as possible.
One of my pet peeves is their website:
- They only list the basics about prices but provide no details about the fees — which are an important consideration for many people when deciding if they would like to visit the club. That’s why I went into great detail about the prices on this page.
- They also don’t mention their price specials, which are all weekly. They haven’t changed the specials that much over the years, so one would hope that it wouldn’t be too difficult to mention them on the site.
- There isn’t a list of events — even though the events tend to be when the club is the busiest. I wish that they provided the list so that those who search for the club could know when there is an event that they might want to attend.
Important rules to keep in mind
Like all bathhouses, Club Philly has their rules. They are listed next to the check-in desk. There are some important ones to know:
- Absolutely no smoking or vaping anywhere inside the building. They provide a large patio at street level and a balcony on the second and third floors. You can smoke or vape outdoors in these spaces. Their smoke alarms are very sensitive and will detect even a single cigarette or joint/blunt. If you are caught smoking indoors, you will be kicked out and probably banned. Permanently.
- Same for alcohol and drugs: If you’re caught drinking or using, expect to be kicked out and probably banned.
- On busy nights (weekends, event nights, etc.) they have a person inspecting bags. They’re mostly looking for drugs, alcohol, and weapons. Leave those things at home or in your car.
- The club is clothing-free: You can wear the towel that they give you around your waist, a jock, boxers — or you can be like Auntie and just be naked most of the time.
Some notes about Club Philly’s history
Chancellor Street Baths
The building was converted to a “Turkish bathhouse” (the term back then) sometime around the 1920s. That means that it has been a bathhouse for around 100 years! It became a mostly gay establishment sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.
A history of other names
The bathhouse at 1220 Chancellor Street has operated under a number of different names:
- Back Street Baths
- Chancellor Athletic Club
- Club Philadelphia 2
- Club Body Center
- Now Club Philly
Club Philadelphia
Club Philadelphia was long associated with the Club Baths Chain, a loose association of American gay bathhouses in the 1970s through 1990s. In those days, it was a different bathhouse, located on 13th Street north of Walnut.
Club Philadelphia took over the Club Body Center in 1995 and renamed it “Club Philadelphia II” or just “Club Philly 2.” They closed the 13th Street location a year or two later when a developer started buying up property in the Gayborhood and gentrifying it into the “Washington Square West District.” (While you’ll see and hear that name, Auntie and many others refuse to use anything other than “The Gayborhood.” Even Apple and Google Maps use “The Gayborhood!”)
Fire at the club
In August 2012, there was a major fire at the club caused by a dryer in the laundry room. Auntie knows well: I was there that night and had to get dressed very quickly and evacuate as the firefighters arrived.
The club reopened in May 2013. While it was closed, they performed extensive renovations:
- New flooring throughout the building
- Fresh paint
- Brand-new electrical wiring, which allowed the addition of outlets and USB ports in every room
- A private shower in the basement
- Converted the former hot tub (which had been out of service for years) into a slurp ramp
- Redesigned play areas with slings and benches
Soon after reopening, the club officially adopted the “Club Philly” name under its current ownership.
Events become regular
- The current owner added CumUnion in the mid-2010s
- BearUnion started in 2024
- Transgressions arrived in 2026
Each event changes the feel of the club slightly:
- CumUnion almost guarantees a big crowd who are ready to have fun
- BearUnion has improved body positivity in general
- Transgressions reminds us that bathhouses aren’t just for gay men
Auntie says…
Club Philly is a “hometown” bathhouse where everyone is welcome, and you can usually find some sort of fun to get into!