We ended the month by partnering with a recently opened bathing club here in NYC’s. Our THE 9LIST X Lore Bathing Club Event kicked off the Summer with an intimate group of our readers/community to enjoy the services/amenities at this wellness destination to enjoy saunas, red light therapy, and cold plunges. In addition to our attendees enjoying a 75 minute session, we also gifted them items that we have been loving and sharing in our issues: an Oleada AnyWear Toiletry Set, as well as an $100 gift card from this handbag brand, and a David Protein bar!
We sat down with Lore Bathing Club to find our more about this bath house, what they offer their guests, and more!
ATHLEISURE MAG: We had the pleasure of coming to Lore Bathing Club initially for an Editor event in March and loved the space and having you host our THE 9LIST Event this month was so great to share with our community ! When did you launch and what is the meaning behind the name, Lore?
LORE BATHING CLUB: Lore officially opened on May 11 2026 and celebrated its grand opening over May 15-17. Lore brought together design, hospitality, wellness, and community, but the core idea stayed consistent: create a place people want to return to regularly.
AM: Who are the founders of LBC and what can you tell us about their backgrounds?
LBC: Founded by James O’Reilly, an entrepreneur known for building transformative social, work, and wellness spaces, including co-founding NeueHouse and leading new concepts at Life Time, and Adam Elzer, a hospitality entrepreneur and concept developer known for creating community-driven restaurants as co-founder and former CEO of Everyday Hospitality, Lore brings a new kind of bathing experience to downtown Manhattan. James’ background building membership-driven social and wellness spaces, including NeueHouse and Life Time Work, and Adam’s experience building hospitality concepts in New York, helped shape Lore as both an experience and an operating model.
AM: You are a neighborhood bathing club. Can you tell us more about what that means and why you wanted to create this space in NoHo.
LBC: Lore is not a broad wellness facility trying to do everything. It is a focused neighborhood bathing club built around contrast therapy, atmosphere, and regular use.
NoHo made sense because it sits at the intersection of downtown work, hospitality, culture, fitness, and residential life. It is a neighborhood where people already move between different parts of their day, and Lore is designed to fit into that rhythm.
From a physical standpoint, the site needed enough space to support the full bathing experience: a large communal sauna, a generous cold plunge, an infrared sauna, and areas for arrival, transition, and recovery. The building also had to allow for a space that feels immersive and sensory, not simply functional. Materials, circulation, sound, temperature, and the transitions between hot and cold all matter.
AM: What’s the correlation between Saunas and Finnish culture? What are the health benefits in doing this?
LBC: Our approach to bathing is heavily influenced by the Finnish and Japanese bathing traditions; unfused, architecturally restrained, intergenerational and social.
The decision to promote frequent use is supported by a 2017 longitudinal study conducted in Finland, which tracked over 2,000 people for 20 years to understand the long-term benefits of consistent sauna practice.
The study found that individuals who used the sauna four times a week were significantly less likely to die from cardiovascular-related and neurodegenerative diseases, resulting in a 40% reduced risk in all-cause mortality. The practice is often viewed as the next best thing for longterm health beyond physical exercise.
AM: What can you tell us about the aesthetic of LBC?
LBC: The interiors are shaped by natural materials, sensory transitions, and an elemental atmosphere that reflects the movement between hot and cold.
Because people return often, the space also has to hold up to repetition. It needs to feel special, but not precious. It needs to support both quiet personal use and social connection.
AM: For those coming for their first time, what do we need to know in terms of what we can wear, staying hydrated, and what we need to keep in mind?
LBC: We encourage people to follow feeling rather than the clock. Maybe today it’s just putting your feet in the cold. Maybe it’s 30 seconds. Removing performance and expectation often surprises people — it takes the pressure off. What surprises them most is the shift afterward: the clarity, the calm, the sense of returning to baseline.
A typical visit runs around 75 minutes. Guests move fluidly between the large dry sauna and the cold pool room, with the infrared sauna available for those seeking something quieter and more intimate.
AM: When guests come for a 75min session, are there a series of activities that have to be done within a time period or can a person enjoy elements at various times?
LBC: We intentionally keep guidance simple and humble. If someone asks, we’ll offer suggestions, but we emphasize that there isn’t one correct way — what works for one person may not work for another.
AM: Tell us about the programming offered at LBC as you have Guided Cold Water Soak, In-Sauna Aroma Therapy, Guided Stretching, Aufguss, and Listening Moments.
LBC: Our goal with Lore was to remove the excesses of larger facilities (steam rooms, massages, IV drips) away from prescriptive guidance of more heavily programmed alternatives. By doing this we could focus on the essential elements of bathing, and do those parts better than anyone else. We are also trying to offer a bathing experience on a more frequent basis, which to us means 2-4 times per week. With that, we move from thinking of a bathhouse as an occasional indulgence (once a month or a quarter) towards being a vital part of your weekly routine.
AM: What is the Cold Pool Room?
LBC: 46-degree cold plunge.
It opens people up. After the cold, the defenses come down. Guests are more likely to chat with a stranger, compare notes on the plunge, share something small and real. Cold water exposure has a way of leveling people — for a moment, everyone in that room has just done the same hard thing together.
AM: Tell us more about the Dry & Infrared Saunas.
LBC: Lore includes a 700-square-foot dry sauna and an infrared sauna.
The larger, dry sauna is sized deliberately — spacious enough that guests have room to breathe and be with their thoughts, but intimate enough that that conversation happens naturally. Ambient music plays, giving people acoustic cover; someone can be sitting nearby without your exchange pulling them in.
The infrared sauna is available for those seeking something quieter and more intimate.
AM: What amenities are available that we can enjoy in our sessions?
LBC: Beautiful waffle weave towels, Dyson hair dryers, more personal space in the changing facility. Margin global provides all of the core amenities in the showers, and we have MONKS spray deodorant and wide variety of Herbivore Botanicals for post-shower.
AM: What is the Reception Cafe and what takes place here?
LBC: Entrance area - a space to regroup or gather thoughts before or after a session. Offering La Cabra coffee, Masha tea, some tasty bone broth or even a fresh pressed juice. We’ll have a rotating selection of grand go snack and beverages.
AM: Tell us about the memberships that are available.
LBC: Lore offers a monthly membership. Each visit is a 75-minute session (towels provided; swimwear required). Weekly or monthly memberships include one booking per day.
3 session packs and single sessions are available.
AM: Can non-members also come to LBC and if so, how much is that?
LBC: 3 session packs are available at $149 and single sessions are available at $55/$25 (Peak/Off-Peak).
AM: Are there any special events coming up that we should know about?
LBC: The brand will continue to grow through collaborations with like-minded partners, original content, and future offsite moments that extend Lore’s point of view into the broader culture of the city. Together, these efforts reflect a larger ambition: to build Lore not only as a destination, but as a lasting part of how people gather, recover, and spend time in New York.
AM: Are there any partnerships that you can share that you want us to know about?
LBC: Lore plans to foster community through partnerships with yoga studios, run clubs, and breathwork coaches to offer contextualized events like stretch sessions or guided cold water immersion. We recently came together with Lusso to stock their footwear for sale in our retail section, you’ll also see all of our sauna masters wearing them. We’re working on dialing in a hydration partner as well, more to come on this.
AM: Can we expect to see additional LBC’s in the city or is there an interest to expand to other areas?
LBC: We’ll look to open further uptown and Brooklyn next. We’re excited to expand access to bathing as a regular practice for more people.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | PG 128 + 134 Raphael Gaultier | 131, 132 + 137 Sean Davidson |
Read the MAY ISSUE #125 of Athleisure Mag and see THE 9LIST X Lore Bathing Club in mag.
