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SCHVITZERS page 27

year membership, and couples til three years ago when Mr.
Wetzel bought the business.
pay $1,000.
These days, the Schvitz opens
At the time of its 1930 incep-
at
3:30 p.m. on weekdays. At
tion, the Schvitz, then called the
Oakland Bathhouse, was situ- that exact moment, the men —
ated in the heart of the Jewish mostly over 60 — begin to filter
into the club.
community.
Thursday afternoon Schvitzers
The old-timers, who still fre-
quent the club, argue about how are predominantly Jewish. Oth-
much it used to cost to get into er nights attract other ethnic
the bathhouse, though a num- groups including Italians and
ber agree it cost a quarter to sit Chaldeans
Wrapped in robes and jogging
in the steam room or take a dip
suits and often sporting rubber
in the indoor pool.
During the Depression, some beach shoes, a few from the
of the men went to the club so Thursday afternoon crowd head
they could bathe in the pool. At directly to the steam room or
that time, sleeping rooms were whirlpool. Others take time to
used by members who needed mingle.
Every week, West Bloomfield
a temporary place to stay or just
residents Lou Gold, Ben Kosins,
wanted to spend the night.
Ben Reis and Mary Wayne join
George Dudley of Hazel Park
at the Schvitz. Every week for
"Everyone comes
the last 20-plus years, they
for the same reason: have engaged in the same rou-
tine.
to relax."
These men, whose ages
— Izzy Cohen
range from 70 to 84, take their
time in the upstairs dining
area Munching on potato chips,
It's impossible to engage in a pretzels and cheese puffs, they
discussion about the bathhouse toast from a bottle of liquor and
without listening to stories take their time shmoozing be-
about a cook named Toots or fore relaxing in the steam room.
"We're among the last of the
hearing about the Purple Gang,
who made the place their offi- Mohicans," Mr. Gold said. "It
cial club. Mr. Cohen remembers used to be that there were no
seeing Purple Gang member available lockers. That's not the
Harry Fleisher at the Schvitz case anymore."
Al Rosenberg used to fre-
the same day he got out of jail.
"He sat right over there," Mr. quent the Schvitz, beginning
Cohen said, pointing to one of with its opening 65 years ago.
several tables lined up along a The West Bloomfield resident
stopped going there a year ago
wall in the dining room.
Then, judges were rumored because he felt uncomfortable
to have disappeared from the traveling to the Detroit neigh-
club, and gambling and prosti- borhood.
Club owner Mr. Wetzel says
tution were not uncommon, Mr.
crime has not been a problem
Wetzel said.
Harry Meltzer owned the and believes the_area doesn't de-
Oakland Bathhouse until 1975. ter suburbanites from patron-
He ran the operation with his izing the Schvitz.
"I think the neighborhood
father, Charles, who built it in
1930 as a way to bring a Russ- perceives the club as a. place
ian steam bath to Detroit. It cost where gangsters come," Mr.
Wetzel said.
$1 to spend the night.
The Schvitz also employs
In those days, the bathhouse
was the place to be. Although it some local residents, giving area
was popular, it was never real- employees a sense of ownership.
While he doesn't frequent the
ly a profitable business, Harry
Schvitz any more, Mr. Rosen-
Meltzer's son, Richard, said.
"It was more of a place to berg said his memories of the
hang out," he recalled. "My place are still vivid.
"We used to go there a few
grandfather and father were so-
cial people. It never made the times a week to relax," he said.
"It was men's night out and we
family wealthy."
Harry Meltzer's wife remem- ate like pigs. It wasn't uncom-
bers her husband knew Purple mon for us to sit down to a 2-
Gang members, "but they didn't pound steak dinner, with salad
house machine guns in the lock- and Faygo red pop. It was like
a routine. We all brought our
ers."
In 1975, the Schvitz was tak- own flasks if we wanted to have
en over by Carl Weiner and Ron a drink. It was the health club
Tomaszewski, who owned it un- of our day." O