Lion's Club Rio

[Tomcal]

A new sauna is opening up in Rio in the next 1 - 2 weeks.  It puportedly will be the largest in Brazil.  It was the site of a former Casino and Hotel, so has the "rooms" already!  It has been going extensive remodeling the past 3 weeks adding the saunas, and making it into a useable form for a Gay sauna. I saw a video yesterday of what it looks like.  It is going to have 16 or 18 suites, a large showroom/dance area with Gogo boy cages 10' above the floor and also a smaller separate bar for having negotiations with the guys where the music is quieter!  Oh...and it is very close to 117!  It looks to be about 5 blocks apart on Google maps! They are trying to have it open by June 24th

[sydneyboy1]

Is it an unashamedly rentboy sauna?

[BlkSuperman]

Yassssssss! Please keep us posted!!!!

[trzinko]

i would love to hear more about it.

[Riobard]

Very interesting if this is a leased space in the former grande dame Hotel Glória, sold to a company, essentially state of Abu Dhabi, following its failed, incomplete renovation prior to the Olympic Games. I am only guessing because casinos had their golden age but then were outlawed in the 1940s, and it is a few blocks s/e from the Metro station. 

As for the name, I think it is shortsighted and I urge reconsideration at the outset. There are Lions Club International branches in Rio de Janeiro. The administrators of this new venue may not be aware of the identity, mandate, and global reach of Lions Club, Rotary Club, etc. 

[Tomcal]

Riobard I do not believe it is the same place, it is owned by a local Brazilian and he is leading the space(I think it is a 5 year lease)to a American and a Brazilian whobl are partners in this venture) Here is a photo of it taken whrlen it was still operating as a casino

Edited June 16, 2019 by tomcal

[SolaceSoul]

The name “Lions Club” will almost certainly run afoul of international trademark laws. Every Brazilian intellectual property attorney will be chomping at the bit, because this would be an open and shit case of trademark violation and brand dilution — as an organization like Lions Club International, with branches in Rio, would find being wrongly associated with a sex business very distasteful. 

Tell your friends to go with another name. Please. There are companies and legal offices that do trademark searches for a reasonable fee.

Other than that, I hope this new sauna is a huge success!

 

[Riobard]

Right, I was off base re: location. 

La Passion, a few blocks north of the Metro (just stay on the same side of the street as the station's west exit, walk due north a few blocks, but crossing a little bit east onto the west side of Augusto Severo rather than veering slightly left up R. Gloria that merges into R. Lapa; there are several parallel strings of streets, some multi-lane, going from Gloria up to Lapa and Centro) was a nightclub, though I do not know why the word casino is coming up because houses of gambling are banned.

I have walked by it getting to Centro. Before becoming a bar/danceclub it was apparently a regular brothel !

A few meters across the way, actually I believe three road tracks of traffic, lies the park Praça de Paris. I do not think it gets the foot traffic of its heyday due to there being no easy access without dodging vehicles. It has a Big Cat statue at either end of the water feature, one with a mane. I wonder if that explains the provenance of the name chosen for this latest incarnation.

As a name alteration may be in order, I might suggest it contain the word Paris if the theme is geographically oriented. Or even something like Dois Felinos. 

Edited June 16, 2019 by Riobard

[Riobard]

Pardon the mislead ... there is the option to walk up Gloria and Lapa and turn right onto the club's street, to the corner of Augusto Severo. 

When a bordello with females it was called Termas Rio Antigo. 

Edited June 16, 2019 by Riobard

[Latbear4blk]

Perfect timing for my first trip to Rio!

[Tomcal]

The address is the address is Rua Joaquim Silva,  n. 8

[Walker]

14 hours ago, SolaceSoul said:

The name “Lions Club” will almost certainly run afoul of international trademark laws. Every Brazilian intellectual property attorney will be chomping at the bit, because this would be an open and shit case of trademark violation and brand dilution — as an organization like Lions Club International, with branches in Rio, would find being wrongly associated with a sex business very distasteful. 

Tell your friends to go with another name. Please. There are companies and legal offices that do trademark searches for a reasonable fee.

Other than that, I hope this new sauna is a huge success!

 

There is a Lion's Club in Sao Paulo.  It is a gay dance club, they never have any takemark problem.

[SolaceSoul]

2 hours ago, Walker said:

There is a Lion's Club in Sao Paulo.  It is a gay dance club, they never have any takemark problem.

But is it a sex trade business? 

Also, just because one business uses or infringes a trademark (in this case, a service mark, but same difference), that doesn’t mean another has the right to use or can get away with it. That’s like saying, “but Dad, Jimmy’s Mom let him smoke dope! Why can’t I? You parents are SO mean!”

[Riobard]

It's name (the SP place) is Lions Nightclub. The copyright stipulates "Lions" singly but I doubt the single word usage is strictly enforced unless it is attempting to falsely represent Lions Club International.

For example, naming an establisment Lions Den, Lion's Den, etc should be no problem.

I agree that using Lions Club, or even Lion's Club (in PTG the apostrophe is not used for the grammatical possessive and tends to be omitted) is too blatant and, therefore, risky. A charitable organization often focused on youth, after all. 

Moreover, why would the owner(s) want the several local "Lions Clube" locations to come up in address searches by customers, ride apps, etc?

Why hazard needless attention drawn to it in a conservative climate?

If they want the edge over 117, should consider all angles.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Riobard

[mvan1]

3 hours ago, Riobard said:

It's name (the SP place) is Lions Nightclub. 

Why hazard needless attention drawn to it in a conservative climate?

If they want the edge over 117, should consider all angles.

In Rio de Janeiro - "a conservative climate" - surely you are joking - 

Walk into Clube 117 on a Friday or Tuesday night and tell me, with a straight face, that the place or climate is "conservative" - 

Peace - 

[Riobard]

13 minutes ago, mvan1 said:

In Rio de Janeiro - "a conservative climate" - surely you are joking - 

Walk into Clube 117 on a Friday or Tuesday night and tell me, with a straight face, that the place or climate is "conservative" - 

I can't even. 

[SolaceSoul]

Not only is the current President in the mold of Donnie Dollhands Drumpf and Duterte, but also Rio’s current mayor Marcelo Crivela is a conservative Pentecostal former gospel singer. However, to everyone’s surprise, Crivela thus far has not governed Rio like some fanatical Evangelical right winger — probably because he knows what’s best for him politically. Trying to turn Rio into something like Salt Lake City would be a cultural and financial disaster.

  

[Tomcal]

On 6/15/2019 at 3:21 PM, sydneyboy1 said:

Is it an unashamedly rentboy sauna?

Hmmm...not sure what a "unashamedly" rentboy sauna is?  Seriously I have never been ashamed to walk into a gay sauna or bar!

Edited June 17, 2019 by tomcal

[SolaceSoul]

13 minutes ago, Tomcal said:

Hmmm...not sure what a "unashamedly" rentboy sauna is?  Seriously I have never been ashamed to walk into a gay sauna or bar!

[TotallyOz]

2 hours ago, Tomcal said:

Hmmm...not sure what a "unashamedly" rentboy sauna is?  Seriously I have never been ashamed to walk into a gay sauna or bar!

Or bar, or airport.   You just find them anywhere "unashamedly" as we all should. I have been ashamed to go anywhere. Well, once when I went to a gay sex party meant for under 30s and I was a "bit" over the limit.

[sydneyboy1]

5 hours ago, SolaceSoul said:

 

5 hours ago, SolaceSoul said:

What I obviously meant was a rentboy sauna along the lines of Lagoa etc

[TotallyOz]

17 hours ago, sydneyboy1 said:

 

What I obviously meant was a rentboy sauna along the lines of Lagoa etc

I figured that is what you meant. There is a difference between a gay sauna and a rentboy sauna. While Tomcal's expertise is in the rentboy area, I'm sure he has visited all the others as well.

[msclelovr]

12 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

There is a difference between a gay sauna and a rentboy sauna.

@TotallyOz that reminded me of an incident some years ago.

I was at Spanish-language school in Barcelona and mid-morning a handsome young American was talking to me over coffee. We knew each other to be gay, and he related how he’d been to Thermas the night before. He was outraged to discover that it was a rentboy sauna, since he’d told Thermas Reception that he was gay and wanted to know if it was a good place for him to meet a Spanish equivalent. He told me it was only “older guys” who wanted him to pay for sex! (I was amused as I was about 25 years older than him) He was so angry at being misled that he demanded, and obtained, a full refund of his entry fee. 

[SolaceSoul]

2 hours ago, msclelovr said:

@TotallyOz that reminded me of an incident some years ago.

I was at Spanish-language school in Barcelona and mid-morning a handsome young American was talking to me over coffee. We knew each other to be gay, and he related how he’d been to Thermas the night before. He was outraged to discover that it was a rentboy sauna, since he’d told Thermas Reception that he was gay and wanted to know if it was a good place for him to meet a Spanish equivalent. He told me it was only “older guys” who wanted him to pay for sex! (I was amused as I was about 25 years older than him) He was so angry at being misled that he demanded, and obtained, a full refund of his entry fee. 

On my last Barcelona visit, I walked into Sauna Thermas and at the door was a beautiful, muscular man probably in his 20s. I was thinking he was a working boy checking in or out, but he was a disappointed customer who was asking for a refund. He was visiting from USA and thought it would be a regular gay sauna without rentboys. They gave him the address to Sauna Casanova and a full refund. 

 

[likeohmygod]

I might have some information about this.

It should open on Wednesday, next week, but the source of this info might not be extremely reliable.