Party's still on at L St. bathhouse

On this, both sides agree: At this summer's Democratic National Convention, the official welcome party for the New York delegation will take place in South Boston.

Precisely where is another question. While the New Yorkers apparently believe they'll be feted at the elegant Exchange Conference Center at the Seaport, Boston organizers said yesterday that the party would be held at the L Street Bathhouse.

The venue dispute began this spring, shortly after Boston organizers, intent on holding delegation galas in outlying neighborhoods, assigned New York to a clambake on the beach in front of the bathhouse.

A few weeks later, the chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Herman "Denny" Farrell Jr., wrote a letter to the Boston host committee, objecting to the site because of South Boston's "history of racial turmoil and tension."

The complaint, leaked to the press, incensed some Boston politicians, who complained that New Yorkers were unfairly maligning the South Boston of today.

So yesterday Farrell issued a public statement saying his concerns "have been amicably resolved." He thanked Mayor Thomas M. Menino for helping to find a new location: The Exchange Conference Center at the Seaport.

But Julie Burns, executive director of Boston 2004, said she left a voice mail message yesterday afternoon at the New York Democrats' headquarters, informing them that the bathhouse would remain the party site.

"The people of Southie are excited about it, and we're excited to show off just another great Boston site," Burns said in an interview yesterday.

As for the New Yorkers' apparent belief that they would be celebrating at the Seaport, Burns said she couldn't comment on "misinformation."

Calls to the New York Democrats' executive director were not returned yesterday.

The Exchange Conference Center, while technically part of South Boston, is located on the Boston Fish Pier, closer to downtown.

Owned by the Massachusetts Port Authority and restored for $7 million in 1996, it was known for a time, colloquially, as the "Tocco Mahal," after former Massport director Stephen Tocco, who presided over the project.

The L Street Bathhouse was built in 1931 by Mayor James Michael Curley, who was apparently responsible for the maxim etched in stone above the door: "Cleanliness of body is due reverence to God."

Menino defended the bathhouse yesterday, calling it a "historical site over there" and "a great place for people from all over the country to go and bathe in the summertime and the spring."

"I just say it's a great location to have a delegation party," he said.

Speaking to reporters at the Boston Public Library, Menino said the New Yorkers' complaint was a sign of ignorance. "They don't know about Boston presently," he said. "That's Boston's past, and I will not stand for that."

Meanwhile, state Senator Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat, offered to take Farrell on a tour of the neighborhood, "to show him that any of his notions of this town are ill-conceived."

Still, Hart said he harbored no ill feelings toward the crew from the Empire State.

"We as proud South Boston residents welcome the New York delegation," he said, "and we would probably give them more of a welcome than a Bostonian would [get] going to Yankee Stadium."

Rick Klein of the Globe staff contributed to this report.