One of Zurich’s oldest gay saunas has to close – the owner blames the city

On a normal Monday afternoon, the bell on the fourth floor of the glass building rings every few minutes. The receptionist presses the door opener. Men from young to old climb the stairs. Everyone alone. Some wear suits, some sneakers, some jeans.

When they enter, they are shocked by the sight of the reporter in front of the reception desk. Normally you won’t find women here. This place is reserved for men. We are in Mustache, one of the oldest gay saunas in Zurich.

The mustache is 40 years old. And business is still going well. However, it must close the sauna doors at the end of the year. Forever.

With him, an important chapter in Swiss gay history comes to an end. A chronology.

The year is 1982 and in an inconspicuous side street in the middle of Zurich Wiedikon, the Mustache gay sauna opens its doors for the first time. Because the “time of fear” seems to be over.

Two years earlier, the federal government officially abolished the ‘gay register’ under pressure from homosexual clubs and organizations. The police had been registering homosexuals there since 1934. Even after Switzerland decriminalized homosexuality in 1942.

At the same time, the terrible series of gay murders in the city of Zurich, which left six victims between 1957 and 1969, felt like a long time ago to the boys. They no longer feel like meeting secretly in public parks, toilets and back rooms. They no longer want to hide themselves and their homosexuality. Wants to get to know people, have fun.

There is a sense of optimism in the air. It is a time of opening and above all: a time of commercialization.

Within a few years, offers explicitly intended only for gays and sometimes also lesbians popped up all over Switzerland: bars, sex shops, catalogues, magazines, free advertisements, bookstores, discos and even travel agencies. And last but not least, of course, gay saunas such as the Mustache, “whose main function is to enable sexual contacts without major inhibitions in a protected (and heated!) room,” as one historian wrote in a 1988 essay.

One person who has been with De Snor almost from day one is 70-year-old Hanspeter Steger. He thinks back on it fondly. His life partner Richard Wettstein founded the sauna together with his partner Fred Winteler, he said in an interview with Watson.

From 1983 onwards, Steger, Wettstein and Winteler were on the road as a trio. The founders in management positions and Steger as a temporary assistant at Mustache. A temporary worker who wore a mustache. Because in the beginning the “mustache” was mandatory for the sauna staff.

“We wanted to enliven the scene, to be a meeting place and at the same time a place to relax,” says Steger. But Mustache was of course also about sex. In addition to the saunas, the bar and a relaxation room, there were huts where visitors could retreat together.

The mustache quickly became very popular in Zurich. Steger says:

They came not only from Zurich, but from all over the area. Many of them were men who didn’t want to describe themselves as gay, but rather as “men who have sex with men,” Steger says. Men who bore false names. It was not unusual for them to have a family and children at home.

The cheerfulness in the Swiss gay scene did not last long. In 1981, a new disease that was widespread among homosexual men was first reported in the United States. That’s why it was called GRID in the first place. An abbreviation for “Gay Related Immunodeficiency”, in German: “immune deficiency that occurs in connection with homosexuality”.

Although the disease was relatively quickly renamed AIDS (HIV), a few years later the Swiss media spoke of the ‘gay epidemic’, the ‘plague of homosexuals’ or ‘gay cancer’. And just like that, a new, negative stigma against homosexuals is born. Gays and lesbians finally want to put this behind them.

But it was not only the terminology that spread to Switzerland, but unfortunately also the virus itself: it actually circulated mainly among homosexuals.

Education and prevention were necessary. And ideally where the men met for sex. “The gay saunas initially resisted this. Above all, the disease meant renewed discrimination,” Daniel Bruttin of gayengeschichte.ch told Watson. He worked a lot himself.

“But when the saunas started losing customers, they started cooperating with the authorities,” says Bruttin. As a result, gays considered the state an ally for the first time in Swiss history. Also the mustache.

Hanspeter Steger painfully remembers:

He and his husband have since thrown away photo albums from parties at Mustache. They’re too depressing. “You just look through the photos and have to say: he died, the disease took him to the grave, he died way too young.”

Mustache founder Fred Winteler also contracted AIDS and suffered from the disease for years until he died in 1992. Perhaps that was why the Mustache was one of the first gay saunas in Switzerland to hang posters about AIDS prevention in their rooms, hold information events, stock condoms and lubricants in their cabins and try to inform the scene with brochures. Steger now likes to describe his former Mustache as a “pioneer in prevention”.

In 2010, Steger and Wettstein sold the Mustache to R. Zbinden and his two business partners. They were the first to have the sauna completely renovated. They wanted to get rid of the previous dirty image of gay saunas and offer a high-quality wellness company. Today, customers can find a wide range of options at Mustache: organic sauna, Finnish sauna, cold water shower, whirlpool, whirlpool, sun loungers.

But Zbinden has also furnished the other rooms with an eye for detail. The rooms are dark, but not gloomy. The seat is comfortable, made of practical black leather and yet beautiful to look at. Electric candles provide cozy light. Calm techno plays in the background.

The well-equipped bar looks like any other trendy bar in Zurich. There is also a smoking lounge, reading area, changing rooms and lockers. At the entrance there are magazines such as “Cruiser Magazine” and a small sign advertising Partner Day. Entrance fee: two for one.

Times have changed. “Nowadays we no longer need our saunas primarily for gays to get to know other gays and to have sex in a safe space,” says Zbinden. Most people would use the internet for this.

Sex still plays a role in mustaches. Sex toys are on display in the shop window right next to reception. The sauna also offers a ‘video steam room’, ‘video cabins’ and a ‘dark and games room’, as stated on the website. Brochures from Aids-Hilfe Schweiz are still available.

Three years ago, the owners of the building where Mustache is rented wanted to sell the house. Zbinden and the other companies in the building joined forces to purchase it together. But the Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) – which would also have been their lender – outbid them. And thus received the contract.

The ZKB will have the building renovated next year. Apartments and office space must be created. There is no more room for a gay sauna.

Since then, Zbinden has been looking for new rental space in the city of Zurich. In vain. Either the prices are too high, or the government has concerns about organizing a gay sauna, Zbinden explains. For example, they worry about ‘noise’. ‘That’s complete nonsense. We are a quiet company, we don’t have parties and we have never bothered anyone in the area in all these years.”

A year ago, Zbinden suddenly felt hopeful. An 800 square meter room including a roof terrace was available for rent on the former Koch site. He applied for a job with the mustache. In addition to the existing sauna and bar, he also wanted to offer a restaurant with affordable lunch menus on the site. Suitable for the surrounding office workers. Rooftop bar and restaurant would have been accessible to everyone.

‘The government has agreed. But she still had to clarify with the city of Zurich whether our company complied with the construction law agreement,” says Zbinden. The city of Zurich, as the owner of the Koch area, states in its construction contract that “companies from the sectors of production and craft, repair and maintenance, retail and wholesale, catering, training and educational offerings and district-related services will be located on the site.” must.

A restaurant would demonstrably want to offer the mustache. Nevertheless, the city of Zurich rejected the project. The reason came over the telephone from the administration: De Snor had too little “neighborhood relevance”.

‘What an insult! The Mustache has been in District 4 for 40 years,” Zbinden said. When Watson asked the city, they said “neighborhood-related services” did not mean those that already existed in the neighborhood or surrounding area, but rather those that would directly benefit residents. Zbinden cannot understand this explanation. The whole area would have benefited from restaurants and bars.

When asked about this contradiction, the city of Zurich gave an evasive answer. “It was not a decision against the Snor, but in favor of another company that better fits the line that the city intended for the neighborhood.” The focus in the new area is on craft businesses.

It also contradicts Zbinden’s version of the story. The administration involved examined the Mustache concept extensively and ultimately decided not to continue negotiations with the gay sauna. “The city of Zurich supported this decision in view of the use restrictions in the construction contract.”

It’s one word against another.

Either way, the Mustache is the loser in the end. Zbinden has since given up hope of finding a suitable location in Zurich. And he can’t imagine owning a business outside Zurich. “Our sauna thrives best when it is central.”

The Mustache will permanently close its sauna doors on December 31. This is difficult for Zbinden. The mustache was his baby. Eleven employees are now losing their jobs. And he also has to see what happens next for him.

But that’s not the only thing Zbinden is sad about: “Many small SMEs, cafes, bars and shops that are close to the hearts of Zurich residents are just like us, but can no longer afford the high rents in the city pay.” This means that a piece of culture and history in the city is gradually dying out.