Chicago Banya is a traditional bathhouse located at 1914 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60622, in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
The most popular feature of Chicago bathhouses is the traditional sauna, also known as a sweat or hot room. Each of these rooms has brick or granite stoves where stones, about the size of a watermelon, are heated to extreme temperatures with gas jets. As a result, the water instantly evaporates, creating steam inside the stove and heating the brick body, thereby raising the room's air temperature. This method provides a much drier heat than regular steam rooms, but not as dry as traditional Finnish saunas.
Bathers sit or lie on three-tiered cedar benches, which allow for different temperatures at different heights. Cold water is supplied from faucets located under the benches. In the heat, a bather can pour a bucket of cold water on their head while still in the hot room. In the hot rooms, there are usually several attendants to give a platza or "beat" with a birch broom or a bunch of oak branches. The client receiving this treatment lies naked on a sheet, usually with a towel over their face, and is thoroughly wiped from the front and back, and then washed with cold water to remove soap.
After spending time on the lower levels of the bathhouse, clients are offered dishes of traditional cuisine to taste.
Chicago Banya is the oldest and only traditional bathhouse remaining in Chicago, and one of the few in the United States.
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