Gay bathhouse (陣屋)" were built in the 1970s. Singer Bette Midler is well known for getting her start at the famous Continental Baths in New York City in the early 1970s, where she earned the nickname Bathhouse Betty. It was there, accompanied by pianist Barry Manilow (who, like the bathhouse patrons, sometimes wore only a white towel), that she created her stage persona "the Divine Miss M." On getting her start in bathhouses, Midler has remarked: Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses].
Friends (Bette Midler song) for an audition for a Broadway show called "Mirror Cracked", Linhart sang to Midler a song that he and his songwriting partner Mark "Moogy" Klingman had just written, called "Friends". After hearing the song, Midler asked Linhart if she could sing "Friends" during a show that she was performing in at the Continental Baths in New York. Klingman and Linhart attended the show and were impressed with the performance. Soon after, Midler recorded the song on her debut album "The Divine Miss M", which was a nickname she always wanted to be known as having personified. The song "Friends" can