TORONTO—After nearly 75 years in business, the Oak Leaf Steam Baths have closed down. Local perverts are not happy.
“I’d stop in after work for a quick hand job,” said carpenter Jerry Swiss. “Now I have to go to the park across the street. It’s demeaning.”
Business parnters Oleg Korneichuk and Fred Sobie had a good thing going. Now the relationship has gone up in steam. Following an investigation in the spring, the bathhouse was found to be offering more than just a good soak.
“This used to be a respectable place to get discreetly laid,” said a man wishing to be identified only as Bruce. “I could meet my neighbor in the back of the locker room in the afternoon, and talk with him and his wife over the fence that evening. No embarrassment necessary. Now it’s just a stereotypical den of drugs and orgies.”
The owners owe more than $450,000 on the property. Korneichuk has been brainstorming ways to raise funds in a desperate attempt to resurrect a place he refers to as his life’s work. “This was my first job in Toronto,” he says. “I met my wife here. It holds a lot of special memories.”