Review: Thera Spa, Tustin

Amenities: 1.5/5 
Cruisiness: 4.5/5 
Price: $25

Pros: Clean, lots of parking, saunas are a good temperature
Cons: Small, limited towels, warm and cold pool temperature, 2-hour limit, only very basic spa features.

Apparently this spa has been around for years, but somehow I'd never even heard of it until relatively recently when I saw several people posting about it. I looked into it and decided to check it out.

It's located in a strip mall in Tustin, just off the 5 freeway. It's an interesting little mall, with Indian, Japanese, Jewish, and Korean businesses.

I went in and paid my $25, and was told "2 hour limit!" which is kind of annoying. There are also several signs reiterating the two hour limit. I was also given a small towel and a bath towel, and a padlock with a key. Instead of lockers with the locks built in, you had to use the padlock to lock the gym-style lockers.

The locker room is not large and everything is in one area... there are a couple of sinks, lockers, and a TV with two chairs. (A sign reads that shorts must be worn in the chairs... despite the fact that you're not issued shorts.) There's a door to the restroom, the door to the massage area, and the door to the wet area. Also a water cooler with those cone-shaped cups. There's also a sign warning that lewd conduct is illegal in the city of Tustin. Just so you know.

Entering the wet area, there's a shower stall like right inside the door and to the left, with three other shower stalls beyond it. Beyond that is a wall with 3 or 4 seated showers. To the right as you enter is the hot pool, then beyond that is a few chairs and lounges, then the warm pool. In the far corner is the sauna and steam room, and between the steam room and the seated showers are the cold pool and the scrub area. And that's the whole spa. I was kind of disappointed that there was no sleeping area, but I guess with a two hour limit there's not much point.

The "hot" pool is a temperature that I'd compare to "warm" pools at most other spas. It was a fine temperature. At most places that have both hot and warm pools, the hot pool is too hot for me to stay in very long, but this was comfortable. The jets are controlled by a timer dial on the wall. The "warm" and "cold" pool were virtually the same temperature. Not warm or cold, pretty much just ambient temperature. They were a nice cooldown after the saunas. They reminded me of the lukewarm bubbly pool at Lion's, except they weren't bubbly, and there was no step to sit on. I should also note that the "cold" pool gives you a direct view of the scrub area, if that's your thing. (although it might be kinda rude to just sit there and watch)

The dry sauna and steam room were both SMALL... like they're both basically full with 6 people in them. The dry sauna could use some work... the wood could definitely use some sanding or replacing. The temperature was a good temperature though. And actually the steam room temperature was also pretty good... both warm enough that I could sit and enjoy for a while without feeling like I was going to pass out after a couple of minutes. Also, the sauna door would stick. I'd have to apply a bit of force to get it to open. Both the sauna and the steam room have glass doors that face the wet area, and the steam room also has a window that faces the cold pool and the scrub area.

The crowd was a very diverse group; ages ranged from the 20s-60s and White, Black, Latino and Asian. But I would guess that at least 90% are there to play. Like seriously, even more cruisy than Wilshire Spa. Because of the layout, the steam and sauna are the only places where one can play, and they're both fairly visible from the outside. That said, there were only a couple of customers that I felt might have had an issue with it, and I honestly, without going into detail, I don't think the scrubber really cares about what's going on. (One day I went, the scrubber was the only one working in the men's area; another day, there was another guy there too cleaning and refilling soap, etc; but I rarely saw him in there) So basically it was really easy to avoid getting caught by staff, if it's even an issue with them there. You just gotta make sure not to offend the wrong customer.

I went two different days from 4:30-6:30... one day it was pretty busy when I arrived but had died down a lot by 6:00; the other day it stayed busy the whole time. Also, they close at 8:00pm, which is kind of early.

It's not a great spa, but it's fairly clean (other than the dry sauna that could use fixing up) and lots of guys looking to play. You could do worse.

Thera Health Spa
650 El Camino Real 
Tustin, CA 92780

Mini Updated Review: Wilshire Spa

 Note, this is an updated review to Wilshire Spa, which I updated here:  Review: Wilshire Spa, Koreatown

I went to Wilshire yesterday for the first time since pre-pandemic. In fact, I think the last time I was there was the New Year's meetup on Jan 1 2020.

I walked in and entry fee is now $25 (I think it was $20 pre-pandemic). There was a sign at the front desk saying proof of vaccination required, but I was never asked for it.

At first glance, the spa seems the same as ever. However I did note a few differences.

- The hot tub is no longer intolerably hot. In fact it was quite comfortable, and I'd kinda prefer it to be a couple of degrees warmer.  But if I had to choose between the previous too-hot or the current not-hot-enough, I'd pick the current temperature. The jets still aren't operating though.

- Like the hot tub, the dry sauna and the steam room are also not as hot. This is a good thing if you're there to cruise, but not if you're wanting to sweat. (UPDATE 8/31: The hot tub is back to being too hot. Maybe still not as hot as before Covid, but hotter than I like.)

- They put a curtain around the scrub area. No more sneaking peeks at clients' unintentional boners on the scrub table, haha.

- The spa as a whole is not as clean. I noticed lots of mildew everywhere. I mean it's a very humid space, mildew will happen... but they should keep up with cleaning it.

I never got to the sleeping room so I can't say what changed in there. 

That said, the place was as cruisy as ever. There were a few guys that I didn't get a cruising vibe from, but most seemed playful.

All in all, Wilshire Spa was fine. I wish they'd clean the mildew a little better though.

Review: I Spa (aka Irvine Spa), Irvine

Amenities: 3.5/5 
Cruisiness: 1.5/5 
Price: $25

Pros: Unlimited towels, nice coed area, clean, lots of parking 
Cons: crowded, it's in Orange County, steam room was more misty than steamy. 

 What?!?! A NEW SPA REVIEW!?!?! 

 Hi everyone! It's been a while! I finally visited a new spa, and this is my first review of a spa in Orange County! 

I went to I Spa in Irvine. Which is called I Spa in some places and Irvine Spa in others, so it's kind of confusing. It's way out of the way for me (I honestly can't remember the last time I was south of Huntington Beach) but I decided to make the trek and give it a shot. First off, my navigation told me that it was in the shopping center with the Wal-Mart, so I turned into the parking lot and it was a clusterfuck because... Wal-Mart. I looped around the shopping center not seeing a spa. Then I decided to double check Google Maps, which told me it was across the street. 

 I found it, parked (there was plenty of parking), and entered the lobby. The lobby was a typical Korean spa lobby. I briefly pondered getting a body scrub, but I glanced at the sign and saw that it was $45 (which I guess is kind of typical these days, but I haven't had a scrub in a while), and decided to save my money. $25 entry, and I got my key, shorts and shirt. 

When you enter, you pass a dimly lit recliner area and a barber chair before you get to the lockers. Also, the passageway to the coed area. There are a lot of lockers in here, probably at least a couple hundred, in three rows. Opposite the lockers were glass doors and window to the wet area. And past the lockers was the vanity area and another relaxation area. I stripped and went to the wet area. 

Plenty of towels in the wet area. The standing showers were split into two sections of 6 showers each, one right inside the door from the locker room, and the other after you walk past the towels. Past the second set of showers is one of the two scrub areas. It's quite visible by everyone walking into the wet area. Farther along that wall are the seated showers (maybe a dozen or so) and then a second scrub area. In front of the seated showers and second scrub area are the pools: cold, warm, and hot pools. Across the room from the scrub area are the dry sauna and steam room. The other wall is a window that looks out to a little garden. I thought the garden was a nice touch, but it also made me wish there was an outdoor sitting area in that garden. Seems like a missed opportunity.

I soaked in the warm tub for a while. It was a good temperature, and the jets were really strong. Oddly though, there were only jets on one side of the warm tub. Also, it was on a dial timer (like Spa Palace) so occasionally the jets would stop and someone would have to go turn the timer dial again.

The steam room was a disappointment. It was really more like a mist room than a steam room, and it didn't really get steamy in there, only drizzly. It was hot though, almost too hot. I couldn't really tolerate it for more than a few minutes. 

The dry sauna was a good temperature, and the fact that it was more tolerable meant that it was by far the more popular room. At one point when I was there (Friday evening) it was standing room only in there, with probably a dozen guys. 

Even though the saunas and pools were plenty big, the wet area as a whole was pretty cramped, as there was not a whole lot of extra space. There were a total of four chairs (cheap plastic) to sit on, and rude people would just leave their towels on the chairs. The chairs seemed like an afterthought, just kind of placed with their backs to the cold pool. 

The crowd was mixed... maybe 1/3 Asian, the rest White or Latino with a few Middle Eastern guys. All ages... I saw guys that looked like college age, up to guys in their 50s or 60s. 

As for cruisiness... ehhh... There were several really hot guys. There was one super hot guy (looked maybe South Asian) that had a semi and definitely wanted to get something going with me but it was just too busy to get any privacy. Another cute guy later seemed to be checking me out a lot, but again, just too many guys to establish anything. Add to that the fact that the one scrub area has a direct line of sight into the sauna, and the steam room doesn't get steamy enough to obscure anything, and it's overall not a very good place to hook up. Maybe later at night when the crowds wind down and the scrubber goes home, maybe it'd be better? But yeah, during peak hours I wouldn't go here to play. The eye candy, on the other hand, is some of the best of any of the spas. 

The jimjilbang was pretty good, with a few saunas and a restaurant that looked really good. In fact, I saw that they had jjajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce) on the menu, which I'm not sure I've seen at a spa before and which I love. 

Overall, it's a pretty decent spa if you're in the area. I'm not going to drive down to Irvine on a regular basis just to go here, but otherwise I'd recommend it. 

I Spa (AKA Irvine Spa)
2332 Barranca Pkwy.
Irvine, CA 92606
http://www.irvinespa.com/

Review: T Health Spa, Torrance

Amenities: 2/5
Cruisiness: 3/5
Price: $10 $15


Pros: Plenty of parking, unlimited small towels, quiet, inexpensive
Cons: Some aspects seemed kind of run down for a "new" spa.

Note: I lowered the "Amenities" rating slightly since I originally reviewed the spa to reflect the change in price and the discontinuation of unlimited towels.


I just heard about this place a few days ago, so I decided to check it out. It's already so cheap that I almost don't even want to promote the fact that there's a couple of Groupons for it, as I feel like the more money they get, the more they can put into the place to make it a little nicer.

I walked in... wasn't really sure which door was the right one. (it's right behind the El Pollo Loco), got my key and went in.

When you first enter, you're in what looks like an office breakroom or something. Kind of disorienting. But the lockers were right beyond it, I found my locker and got undressed. I then explored a bit. Off the locker room area, there were three different sleeping rooms. One was a plain sleeping room, I couldn't see anything unusual about it. One had black lights and had a strange space mural painted on the ceiling. It was an odd room. And finally, there was a tiny clay/salt room with enough space for two people. The rooms didn't feel particularly warm; I mean, they were fine and I wasn't cold or anything. I just kind of expected them to be warmer. And the mats in all three rooms were really just six-foot-long rugs. Seemed kind of cheap.

In the wet area, there were 4 or 5 upright showers, and 5 seated showers. Also a couple of rain showers in the middle of the wet area. There was a hot tub and a cool tub, but the cool tub was taped off with caution tape for some reason, so I didn't go in. The temperature of the hot tub was slightly warmer than I prefer, but not terrible. There was also a steam room and a dry sauna. Both were great temperatures.

The steam room wasn't very deep, and wasn't very steamy part of the time, but the temperature was good so I didn't complain. My only real complaint about the steam room was that the benches were in an "L" shape, and along one leg of the L, the wall was this mosaic rock pattern... which looked great, but wasn't comfortable to lean your back against.

The dry sauna was a good temperature. My only complaint was that the wood on the backrest seemed worn and splintery. I didn't get any splinters, but I noticed it. The dry sauna smelled like fresh wood too. There was also an area in the back of the sauna where the bench opened into a large flat area, the size of maybe a queen size bed. I guess so you can lay down there, but it was kind of strange.

There were few customers there. When I first got there, there was only one other guy, and he left not long after I arrived. A few other guys arrived later, and it was a very mixed crowd. One thing I noticed was that, despite being a "Korean spa", neither the front desk person nor the attendant/scrubber were Korean. There were a total of four customers at its peak while I was there, and three of us were gay. (No idea about the 4th, but he was Asian and I don't think he was gay.)

It's kind of hard to play there because the wet area isn't really private. The sleeping areas are private, but there's no real warning if someone is coming in. That said, the fact that there aren't many customers makes it a little easier to play, but I wouldn't expect much to happen there if this place were to get much more popular.

All of that said, there were just aspects of the place that could have been improved. While it's supposedly a "new" spa, it was obvious they took over a spa space from a former tenant and just rebranded it, as there was a lot that looked kind of aged and they really wouldn't need to do that much to make it seem newer and nicer. For example, the baskets in the showers holding the shaving cream were rusty... c'mon, that's a cheap thing to replace. And the rough wood in the sauna, and the cheap mats in the sleeping room, etc.

But all in all, for $10 it's still a great deal. Hopefully they can actually make it work.

T Health Spa

1555 Sepulveda Blvd Ste P (Just east of Western)
Torrance, CA 90501

https://www.thealthspa.com/

Review: Club 1350, Wilmington

Amenities: 2/5
Cruisiness: 5/5
Price: Varies. (See website for details)

Pros: All the action you want without worrying about being caught, unlimited towels (sort of), you can get a room if you want, free condoms.
Cons: Sorta sketchy neighborhood (not as much as Midtowne though), paid parking (or take your chances on the street), $4 processing fee for new customers, no pool or jacuzzi.

SInce I previously reviewed Midtowne Spa, I figured I'd review one of their sister spas, Club 1350. I had a free coupon a few weeks ago, so I figured I'd check it out. 

It's kind of a similar setup to Midtowne, but instead of being on four floors like Midtown is, Club 1350 is on two larger floors. 

They have a paid parking lot across the street, but I found street parking literally right in front of the entrance.

I paid my $4 processing fee since it was my first visit and the attendant gave me a towel, padlock and condom. I had to figure out that the locker room was all the way in the back. 

After taking off my clothes I decided to explore the place a bit. On the main floor, there is a sauna and steam room (both with, in my opinion, great temperatures) and across from them were open showers. I kind of liked the way the showers were set up for maximum visibility... perfect for exhibitionists like me. Haha. There was also a workout area and a dark maze/glory hole area. 

Outside, there was a patio area that I didn't really explore much because it was raining. It looked like a great place to play when the weather is good.

I went downstairs into the basement and that's where the private rooms are. The corridors where the rooms are are almost like a maze and kind of fun to explore. And on the far end is a tv lounge area and another dark play area.

There's also a rooftop deck that I didn't really look at because of the weather.

Most guys wore towels while walking around; I went naked though. 

There weren't nearly as many guys there as there were at Midtowne when I was there. But the guys there were, in my opinion, generally better looking and definitely friendlier. Struck up conversations with several guys in the sauna, one of whom was telling me that there's usually a larger evening crowd than on the night I was there. (I was there on a Thursday). Had some fun with a few guys as well. 

I wish this place had a hot tub... but that said, I liked the place. I would like to go back in better weather and explore the outdoor areas some more.

The price for a locker is $20 on weekends and $18 on weekdays, but there's a special rate of $13 on Wednesdays and a promo $10 on Monday evenings. 


Club 1350
510 W. Anaheim St (between Lagoon Ave and Neptune Ave)
Wilmington, CA 90744
http://midtowne.com/index.php?fuseaction=dsp_city&c_city=wilmington

Review: Midtowne Spa, Los Angeles

Amenities: 3/5
Cruisiness: 5/5
Price: varies (See their website for details)

Pros: All the action you want without worrying about being caught, unlimited towels (sort of), you can get a room if you want, free condoms.
Cons: Sketchy neighborhood, paid parking (or take your chances on the street), $4 processing fee for new customers.

I was debating whether or not to review this place. First off... it's not a Korean Spa. I'd almost hesitate to call it a "spa" at all, but it has a steam room and a sauna and a jacuzzi... so I guess it technically counts. Plus, if people are looking for more action... they'll find it here.

It had been years since I'd been here. Didn't really have fond memories of the place, but a friend (with benefits) had never been and insisted that I take him here, so I figured, why not?

When you arrive, you go to the window and tell the guy whether you want a locker or a room. They ask for your ID. Since it had been several years since I'd last been, my info had been purged from the system, so I had to pay the $4 "processing fee". He told me that they purge the customer database of anyone who hasn't been there for a year. So anyway, it takes forever to enter the information, pay the fee, sign a waiver, etc. If there's a line to get in, prepare to wait a while.

Once you've gotten past there, the attendant hands you a padlock with key (for the locker), a towel, a condom, and small packet of lube. If you need another condom, there are bowls of them all over the place.

Once you get in, where you go from there depends on whether you for a room or a locker. I've only gotten lockers. The place is kind of annoying to navigate... it's a three-story building (plus a basement and roof deck) and the stairs are easy to miss. But the locker room is on the second floor. Get naked on the locker room. Although I guess it's not required to completely strip down, but I'd say 98% of the guys were naked, with one or two that I saw wearing sexy undies. Like Century Spa, almost everyone wears their towel around their waist... I was one of the few that just walked around naked. If you need a clean towel, exchange your old towel at the front desk for a clean one.

The first floor of the building, where the entrance is, is also where the group shower, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, and pool are. The showers are kind of annoying, as they have a motion sensor. You have to keep your hand over the sensor to take a shower. I get that they don't want to waste water (and presumably have an orgy in the shower) but it was still annoying.

The steam room is huge (at least three times as big as any I've seen in a Korean spa in LA), with benches and little cubbies to get a little privacy (not much) if you want to get it on in the steam room. The temperature isn't too hot in there, making it tolerable to stay in there for a longer time than some much hotter steam rooms at Korean spas. The sauna and jacuzzi are tolerable temperatures too, and the indoor pool is pretty much a perfect pool temperature. I'd honestly be happy if all of these amenity temperatures were at a Korean spa. (ok, maybe I'd like a slightly hotter steam room)

Also, off the pool room, are a couple of outdoor patios.

On the second floor are a bunch of private rooms (which cost extra). The locker room is at the far end of the hall. At the other end of the hall is a TV room, a room with vending machines (snacks and drinks and stuff), a porn video theater, another room with some booths (I guess glory holes? I didn't inspect too closely)

On the third floor, it's all private rooms except for a ridiculous gym with only two cardio machines, more lockers, and that's it.

Above the third floor is the roof deck. There are a bunch of lounge chairs to get some sun if it's daytime. They also allow smoking up there, which isn't my thing. In the back, they have a "maze" with twisty passages for you to explore.

All the way back down to the basement, there's another maze (really dark down there) with little rooms. There's one room with a sling. There's another little porn theater in the back. And a few more glory hole booths.

It happened to be "Bear night" when we went, so the guys there were a bit larger than usual. My friend and I fooled around with one of them though. And there were some guys that were younger and cute and not at all "bears." My friend and I did a lot of exploring and checking guys out, but mostly we just fooled around with each other and let other guys watch. It was pretty hot.

It seemed cleaner than the last time I'd been here. Doesn't mean it was spotless, and I still brought flipflops to wear... which is what I'd recommend. I enjoyed myself more as well. Maybe because I had my friend to keep me entertained.

The steam room and the basement was where most of the open action were happening. A lot of guys up in the rooms as well, hanging out by their open doors, waiting to invite someone in.

So if you're looking for a place to hook up without worrying about getting in trouble, for a price similar to a Korean spa, I guess I'd recommend Midtowne. I have never been to any of the other bathhouses or sex clubs in LA, so I have no idea how they compare.

Midtowne Spa
615 Kohler St (near 6th and Central)
Los Angeles, CA
https://www.midtowne.com/index.php?fuseaction=dsp_city&c_city=los+angeles

Review: Descanso Garden Spa, Tujunga

Amenities: 3.5/5
Cruisiness: 2/5
Price: $20

Pros: Plenty of parking, unlimited towels, quiet, clean
Cons: Out of the way unless you're in the area, stuff seemed just barely too hot.

It's my first review in almost a year!

I just heard about Descanso Garden Spa a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to check it out. It's in Tujunga, so not to difficult to get to from Pasadena/Glendale or the northeast San Fernando Valley, but otherwise it's kind of a trek to get to. Fortunately, I was in the area.

I was kind of surprised to see a real Korean spa in this part of town, but here it is. It's in this mini-mall on Foothill Blvd. with plenty of parking. I parked and walked in, handing them my $20. After stripping down, I went into the wet area, where there are signs on the door that say "No clothing allowed!"... I liked that. More spas need signs like that.

I was meeting a friend there, and he and I were the only ones in the men's area when I arrived. Seriously, it was otherwise totally deserted. The men's wet area was surprisingly similar in layout to Natura Spa: octagonal hot tub in the middle of the room, cold plunge off to the side, steam room in one corner and dry sauna in another corner, seated showers in another corner, and upright showers in a couple of locations to fill in the rest of the space.  Oddly, though, some places where there were pairs of shower stalls, only one of the showers would have soap/shampoo dispensers. There were also shelves with towels, scrub cloths, toothbrushes and razors.

The spa area was fairly upscale and very clean. It was one of the nicer spas I've been to, although it was pretty small... (the sauna and steam room were about half the size of Natura's)

After showering, I tried out the hot pool. It was slightly hotter than I normally like; it was tolerable, but I would have turned it down by a degree or two. The jets were controlled by a timer dial on the wall (which wasn't really obvious at first), which lasted longer than the 5 minutes you get at Spa Palace. Maybe it was 10 or 15 minutes. But the temperature was such that I didn't want to stay in the pool for longer than the timer lasted.

The steam room was next. When the steam jets weren't going, it was fine in there. But it got hot quickly when the jets were on. And they were placed weirdly, under one of the benches. I was sitting next to them when they turned on, and had to move because the hot steam was too close to me and hitting my legs. The steam room is pretty small, not large enough to hide in the steam to not be visible from the outside.

The sauna was a good temperature. It had large windows that looked right into the adjacent scrub area (as well as to the rest of the wet area), which was kind of weird, but there were no scrubs going on when I was there.

After my friend and I had been there for a little while, more people started showing up. Mixed crowd (a couple of Asian guys, and maybe 5 or 6 white or Middle-Eastern guys while I was there) and ranged in age from 20-40. A couple of the guys (I think they might have been Armenian) were really good looking. (Although my friend was pretty good looking too, haha!)

In terms of places to fool around, there is plenty of opportunity when the place is otherwise empty... while you can see into the steam room from the rest of the wet area, you can't see the steam room at all from outside of it. Also, the seated showers are arranged in such a way that they could conceal you from people outside if you wanted to play in the seated showers.

While I was there, I got a playful vibe from one guy, so it's a little cruisy there. I'd never go there expecting anything to happen though, the crowd is too unpredictable. You could be all alone in there or there could be a bunch of people in the spa.

I also checked out the coed area. They have a small restaurant, several saunas, a cold room, and a patio. They also have separate men's and women's sleeping rooms, although the men's sleeping room is down the same hallway as the women's restroom, and the women's sleeping room is down the same hallway as the men's restroom. They should have planned that better. There's also a "Cedar Oxygen Room", which smells cedary and I think they were pumping oxygen in there but I'm not sure.

Anyway, it's worth checking out if you are in the area and don't want to make the trek to K-Town.

Descanso Garden Spa
7226 Foothill Blvd
Tujunga, CA 91042
http://www.descansogardenspa.com/

Review: Meridian Spa, Commerce

Amenities: 3/5
Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $20
Pros: Quiet, practically had the place to myself, unlimited towels, inexpensive massages, TV room
Cons: Inconvenient parking (unless you valet) and hard to find, 4-hour limit

I'd stumbled onto a Groupon a few months ago for a one-hour massage and spa admission for $39 at Meridian Spa, which I thought was a great deal, but I'm always a little skeptical about some of those "spas" on Groupon. But after looking it up on Yelp, it sounded like Meridian Spa was a real spa, and had a lot of positive reviews. Not a Korean Spa, but sounded pretty similar. But hell, even a mediocre massage is a good deal at $39. So I bought it.

I made an appointment for a weekend afternoon. On the phone, the receptionist told be I could "bring a swimsuit if you want" which seemed weird and of course I wouldn't want to wear a swimsuit. It was at the Commerce Casino and Hotel in Commerce. I wasn't sure where to park. It looked like the area up in front was valet only, and I didn't want to valet, so I went to the huge self-parking area. After circling the lot for a bit, I found a relatively close spot.

Then the task of finding the place. I was pretty sure it was in the hotel area, and the address listed it as "Suite 200", so I assumed it was upstairs somewhere. So I walked around the casino building (I guess I could have walked through it, but I didn't) and through the throngs of smokers around every door into the casino (next to the "No smoking within 20 feet" signs) until I got to some doors that I figured were more hotel than casino, and went in. Still no signs anywhere, but there was this ornate staircase, so I decided to follow them up, and I eventually found the spa!

Note that their website doesn't even have their address on it... it'd be nice for them to at least have an address, and even better to explain where to park and how to get to the spa!

I got there about twenty minutes before my massage so I undressed, got into my robe, and explored the spa a bit. When you enter the men's spa area, the locker room is basically in front of you. To the right is a sleeping area. Down the hall to the left, there's a TV lounge and then the wet area. When I got there, there was a single person sleeping in the sleeping area, and the rest of the spa was empty.

I stopped in the TV lounge and looked to see what they had: a Roku with Netflix, Hulu, etc. I don't know why you'd pay to come in and watch TV, but it was there if you wanted it. The room had a bunch of home-theatre type seats, but I'm not sure if there had ever been that many people in the entire spa at one time.

I had the massage, which was actually pretty good (and I still think it's a good deal at full price, so I may be back again) and returned to the spa where I ditched my robe, and didn't wear a swimsuit. ;-)

(Note that I think you also get access to the pool area, in which case you'd probably want to wear a swimsuit. But I didn't check it out, and, in fact, I am not 100% sure you actually get access.)

The spa area had the basics: showers, a hot pool, a cold pool, a sauna and a steam room. The showers all had doors, unlike most Korean spas, but otherwise very similar to a basic K-spa. The pools were on an elevated platform, with a weird floor-level window into the dry sauna. So you could watch the pool area from the sauna, and vice-versa. The hot pool temperature was nice; I liked it a lot. I stayed in there for a while with the one other guy there (different guy than the guy in the sleeping room earlier), who eventually left. The dry sauna wasn't that hot. It wasn't terrible; in fact I kind of liked it. But I could imagine some people who prefer a hotter sauna would complain. The steam room was a perfect temperature. Hot enough to feel like it's doing something, but not so hot that you had to leave after 30 seconds.

The spa was very nice though, and clean.

I stayed for a couple of hours. It felt weird being the only one there. Sometimes weird thoughts start going through your head, like "what if I pass out or something, how long would it take for someone to find me?" I saw an attendant come through in the main hallway, but I don't think I ever saw him come into the wet area at all.

When I checked out, the receptionist wasn't the same one that had checked me in, and she couldn't find my Groupon info, and it took a while... it was weird and awkward and I just wanted to leave. I asked how to leave a cash tip for the massage therapist and she acted like I was the first person ever to ask to do that. She finally gave me an envelope, so I hope he got it.

Anyway, it seems like it'd be a good place for a massage, or a good place to go with a buddy or two or three if you want to go somewhere without a crowd or a cruisy scene.

Meridian Day Spa
@Commerce Casino
6121 E. Telegraph Rd, Ste 200
Commerce CA 90040
 http://meridiandayspa.com/

Review: Spa Palace, Westlake/MacArthur Park

Amenities: 4/5
Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $25
Pros: Big, not crowded (at least not yet), unlimited small towels, open 24 hours
Cons: Pricier than most, valet parking (not a fan of valets), the spa jet timers

There's actually a new Korean spa in town! I'd heard about it from several different users, who also alerted me to a Groupon for admission to the spa. So, Groupon deal in hand, I went to check it out.

The location is odd, as it isn't actually in Koreatown... it's more in the Westlake neighborhood, between Koreatown and Downtown LA... not really an area that inspires confidence. But, like much of Los Angeles, the Westlake neighborhood is improving, and only time will tell if Spa Palace's investment will prove to have a great payoff. 

I pulled into the parking lot (under the building) and gave my keys to the valet. I hate valets with a passion, but I just dealt with it. (On my second visit, I parked at a metered space on the street). From there, I took the elevator to reception on the third floor.

The lobby is spacious and fancy-looking. The front desk receptionist was very friendly, gave me my key and Jimjilbang uniform, and pointed me to the turnstile to the men's entrance. Yeah, turnstile... ok, weird. The admission price is $25, just like Wi Spa, only there's no option for just using the men's area for a discount.

At some point I found out that Spa Palace is owned by the people that own CJ Spa in Northridge (and formerly Hermosa Beach), and, in fact, the manager of Spa Palace (I think he's a manager) is the former manager of CJ Hermosa.

The locker room is huge... probably similar in number of lockers to Wi Spa but instead of the mazelike distribution of lockers at Wi, the locker room here is longer and more organized, and it's much easier to find your locker. 

Once I'm naked I go into the spa area... there are a LOT of standing showers... maybe 20 or so. I don't think I've seen that many at any other spa. Glass dividers between the showers come out 18 inches or so from the wall, so not really any privacy when showering... which is fine with me.  There were also 6 or 7 seated showers. Typical body wash/shampoo/conditioner selection. Unlimited small towels available by the showers.

The whole spa area is very nice, and clean, and you can tell they put a lot of money and effort to make it look good. I really liked it a lot.

The tubs are on an elevated platform, maybe 5 or 6 feet above the floor level of the showers. There are three tubs: the cold tub, the small warm tub, and the large slightly warmer tub. I detected a slight difference of temperatures between the two warm tubs, but not really a significant difference. There are also windows along the back wall of the tub area that are basically at cock level. They seem to be heavily tinted; it looked like dusk outside when, in fact, the sun was still shining... so I doubt anyone from the outside can see in, even at night. On the right side of the tub level is a television (which was off on my second visit) and the timer dials for the tub jets.

...which brings me to my biggest annoyance of the tubs: the timer dials only go up to five minutes. If I want to sit in a whirlpool for a while, I have to keep getting up and walking to the end of the tub level to turn the dial every five minutes. I imagine it wouldn't be that expensive to replace it with a 20-minute dial... so please, if anyone working there reads this, replace those timers!

Back down to the shower level, there is also a steam room and a dry sauna. The steam room and the sauna were ok temperature-wise; I would have preferred the steam to be a couple of degrees cooler but it really wasn't bad.

Next to the sauna is the scrub area, which it its own little room with two scrub tables, and a divider between the two tables. There's no door between the scrub area and the spa area, so it's not really all that private... not that I have a problem with that.

The number of guys in the spa area ranged from nobody but me to maybe 8 people, so it was never that crowded. Like Wi, I saw some kids there, but not too many. Crowd seemed to be about 50% Asian (presumably straight) and 50% non-Asian (I'd guess at least half of those gay, but a few were definitely straight)

Also off the locker room are a relaxation area with recliners and a TV, and a sleeping room with a warm marble floor. The first time I was there the sleeping room had no lights on, and the second time it was quite well illuminated.

I also checked out the jimjilbang (coed area): very similar to Wi Spa... multiple saunas (which were all hotter than I like, to be honest), restaurant (and the food, to be honest, looked great, but I didn't actually try any.) and open space to relax. The first time I was there, on a weeknight, the coed area was practically deserted, but the second time I was there, on a Friday night, there were probably twenty or so people up there.

However, the first time I was there, I almost didn't find the jimjilbang ... it was down the passage behind the barber area. However, by my second visit they had put up signs pointing the way (and warning not to be naked if you go down there!)

The best and coolest thing about the whole spa, though, and what makes it unique, is if you take the elevator from the jimjilbang down to the first floor... there's a HUGE indoor swimming pool (well, it's actually open to the outside but it's covered) and a few hot tubs scattered around. You're supposed to bring your own swimwear if you want to use these, though. But it's great for people who want to sit in a jacuzzi with a person of the opposite sex. But the pool is big enough to swim laps if you want to. I found out that they're also planning on having a bar selling drinks (possibly alcoholic) and snacks. I could see the pool area becoming very popular once that happens. On my two visits, the pool area had maybe five other people in it one time, and the other time the entire pool area was completely empty. My only complaint about the pool area is that the lighting could be better... it just felt like being in a cave down there.

So, with all of that information, you're probably wondering how much "fun" you can have there. While I got some discreet cruisy vibes while I was there (the one bearded otter who gave me a subtle smile in the locker room as he left last week... give me a call... ;-) ) there's really no place to play. The sauna and steam room have too many windows and they're right next to the scrub tables so there's always staff around there. You can play footsie in the hot tubs, but with the 5-minute timer you can't really do anything more under the water. Maybe the sleeping room but honestly I wouldn't recommend it. With the occasional kids there, I'd just say if you're looking for action, go somewhere else. But, like Wi, there's great eye candy potential. (I had some nice views when I was there).

I can only imagine it's going to get a lot more popular as word of mouth spreads; hopefully it won't become impossibly crowded.

Oh, one more thing... on leaving, I was faced with the turnstiles again. You give them your locker key, they scan it (and, presumably, make sure you don't owe money from the restaurant or whatever) and give you a card so you can put it in the slot so you can go through the turnstile. Why they can't just press a button to unlock the turnstile for you, I don't know. It's strange.

But, all in all, as of this writing, it's near the top of my list of favorite spas... just wish it was less expensive.




Spa Palace
620 S. Union Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(between 6th St. and Wilshire - Enter the parking lot on Shatto)
http://spapalacela.com/

Review: Hyundae Health Spa, Koreatown

Amenities: 2/5
Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $10

Pros: Inexpensive, unlimited small towels, open 24 hours
Cons: Not very clean, limited parking, privacy issues

I'm running out of spas to review, but I found out about this one a few months ago and finally got around to checking it out.

I first tried going there a few weeks earlier, and the parking lot was totally packed, and street parking in the area is limited. So I gave up and ended up at Wi.

I went back recently and was able to find parking. So I went.

When you first walk in, you walk past, basically, a pool hall. Kind of a strange thing to see in a spa. I got to the front counter. Based on their price list, I had assumed that the price was $15, but I gave her a $20 and she gave me $10 change, so I guess I read it wrong. She handed me my key and I headed toward the locker room.

In the lobby, at the entrance to the locker room, is a wall of shoe lockers. Your locker key opens both the corresponding shoe locker and your clothes locker in the locker room. I put my shoes there.

Once in the locker room, I found my locker. The locker room is kind of average. I'd compare it to the locker room at Lions Spa. As I was undressing, I looked at the sign on the wall above my locker, which said something about video surveillance to deter theft. And sure enough, I looked down the wall and there was one of those dome video cameras on the ceiling. IN THE LOCKER ROOM. I mean, I'm a nudist, and there are plenty of naked photos of me on the internet, so I wasn't all that upset by it. But still, as far as I know, that's illegal, right? And I'm sure others might have an issue with it. (Note, you can see the camera on their website here, in the first photo of the gallery: http://www.hyundaehealth.com/facilitiesservices/)

Off the locker room, there was a TV room with recliners, and a restroom.

Once in the spa, the decor and feel of the place was odd... The ceiling was painted blue, and the walls were a brown marble tile that almost looked like wood. And there were some fake plants, and a few large photos of nature scenes on the wall. It felt like I was in the 1980s.

In the middle of the room, right in front of the entrance, were the seated showers. It seemed like a really awkward place to put them. The upright showers were arranged strangely, too. There were clusters of two or three upright showers to the left and right of the entrance, and another pair of showers around the corner. The showers had no barrier between them, and they were pretty close together, so you ended up pretty close to your neighbor. Some of them only had one soap dish to share the bar of soap with your neighbor, too. When I got there, it was actually pretty crowded, with all of the upright showers in use.

The "jacuzzi" (that's what the sign said) was pretty big, and a pretty good temperature, but the jets weren't working. I looked on the walls to see if there was a dial or something to turn on the jets, but I didn't see anything. There might have been a sign, but everything was in Korean. They didn't make much effort to translate many of the signs. While sitting in the jacuzzi, I noticed ants crawling along the wall. There was also a smaller cold pool and hot pool.

The steam room was a moderate size, could maybe handle six or so people. The floor was pebbly, so it was odd to walk on at first if you're not really paying attention to the floor.

Then I went into the sauna. The sauna was a good size, and the temperature seemed ok. I didn't stay in there long though. It had a typical sauna layout with the two-level stair-step benches, but the bottom level had carpet on it. And the carpet looked NASTY. Seriously, looked like several people had ejaculated on it or something. The top level was wood, but it was severely worn down and looked really splintery. So, anyway, I didn't stay more than a minute or so in the sauna. 

They also had a heated-floor room sort of behind where the body scrub area was. (I didn't see anyone getting a body scrub while I was there)... The heated floor room was very large, and there was only one other guy in there while I was there, but most of the time I was in there I had the room to myself, which was kind of creepy. Also strange, there was a restroom off that room. Just for that room, apparently.

The clientele was entirely Korean, probably aged 30s to 60s. I was the only non-Asian in the whole place for the time I was there. And absolutely no cruising going on while I was there. This is not the place to look for sex.

In a nutshell, not my favorite spa, but it's cheap, I guess. I probably won't be returning.

Hyundae Health Center
3625 W. 6th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90020
(Cross streets are 6th and Ardmore - Enter through the parking lot on Ardmore)
http://www.hyundaehealth.com/

Review: Royal Spa, Hacienda Heights

Amenities: 4/5
Cruisiness: 3/5
Price: $25

Pros: Very clean, unlimited small towels, free snacks (!!!) 
Cons: Small, kinda far from central LA, more expensive than most spas

I've been meaning to check out this spa for a while, but I'm just never in the Hacienda Heights area (unless I'm passing through to get somewhere else) so it's usually kind of inconvenient for me. But I finally had time a few days ago, so I went to check it out.

I walked in, paid my entry, and was told by the woman at the counter to remove my shoes and place them on the shelf next to the men's spa entrance. I usually like to put my shoes in my locker, but I felt like it wasn't an option with her staring over my shoulder, so I complied. 

I walked into the men's spa and you're immediately in the TV room with recliners. There were two or three guys in the recliners at any given time while I was there. The lights were a little dim, but not too much. The lockers were on the far side of the recliner area. The locker "room" was tiny, two rows of lockers facing each other. The entire locker area was smaller than my bathroom. There's also a heated-floor sleeping room off the recliner area with a really awkward step up to get into it. But best of all, there's a full snack bar in there: nuts, crackers, fresh fruit and even instant ramen there for the taking. Never seen anything like that at any other Korean spa.

The spa is decorated in stone, and there are those flickering LED "candles" everywhere. It was a nice touch, even though there were so many that it was leaning more toward being tacky. Not too bad though.

Inside the spa, there are four upright showers, three right inside the door and a fourth one beyond the cold pool. There are also several seated showers, maybe six of them but I really didn't look too closely at them to get an accurate count. At the far end of the seated showers was the body scrub table... it's in full view of the seated showers and the hot pool, but otherwise not really visible from the rest of the spa.

The warm pool is the largest pool, could maybe accommodate 6 or 7 guys, with a slightly smaller hot pool and a cold pool. The warm pool was a great temperature... in my opinion, just about perfect for relaxing. The hot pool was too hot for me to stay in too long.

There is also a very small steam room and very small sauna down a little hallway... both would be crowded with three people in them. The steam in the steam room is controlled by a 5-minute dial timer outside of the steam room itself, which is a mixed blessing: it's nice to be able to have complete control over the steam, but having to exit the steam room every few minutes can get annoying.

When I was there (on a Saturday afternoon), the clientele was probably 50/50 Asian and Latino. And me. (There were probably no more than 6 or 7 customers total at any one time while I was there)  Most of the Latin guys seemed to be looking to play, as did one of the Asian guys. The only places to really play are the steam room and sauna, but even then it's difficult... They have full windows into the hallway, so there's not really any privacy, even in the steam room (it doesn't go far enough back for the steam to completely obscure you). But you can usually tell if someone is heading down the hallway, so you might get a short warning before someone stumbles onto you. But if the place is at all busy, it might not be the best place to play.

The spa was really nice though, definitely my favorite spa in the San Gabriel Valley. 

Royal Health Spa
1020 S Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(cross street of Hacienda Blvd & Gale Ave)
http://www.royalhealthspa.net/

Review: Seoul Sauna, Gardena

Amenities: 2/5  
Cruisiness: 1/5

Price: $10

Pros: Inexpensive, unlimited small towels.  
Cons: Small, was pretty crowded when I was there, pretty much all Korean

So after my disastrous visit at Green Sauna in Gardena, I decided to check out another spa only a few blocks away.

This is another men-only spa, but there was a woman working at the front counter. I paid my entry and she held out a tray of razors in case I wanted to shave. I didn't need to, but she insisted I take one. So, I took one... seemed easier than explaining to her that, no, I really didn't need one. It's in my medicine cabinet in my bathroom now, unused. 

I also got a single large towel. However, there was a basket of small orange towels by the spa entrance to use, also.

Put my shoes in the shoe locker, which was only a few feet from my main locker which seemed a bit silly, but oh well.

There was one big bench in the middle of the locker room. In the middle of the bench was a pair of nail clippers, attached to the bench with a ribbon. And a purple plastic tray with probably 50 guys' worth of toenail clippings. Gross.

Entered the wet area and it was pretty small: Three tubs (hot, warm and cold), four upright showers and three seated showers. A small body scrub area in a dark corner near the showers. And a sauna and a steam room. It was fine, actually, nothing too fancy but not bad. It was really crowded though... probably at least 15 other guys in a pretty small area, and I was the only non-Asian there. I felt like they were eying me suspiciously the whole time I was there, which was kind of weird. 

I soaked in the warm tub for a while, then tried out the steam room, which was hot. Seriously, the hottest steam room I think I've experienced in a Korean Spa to date. I could only handle a couple of minutes and I had to get out. The dry sauna was better, still hot but more tolerable.

There was also a sleeping room with a heated floor (I think they called it a Jade Room, but I'm not sure) and a recliner area with a television. The Jade Room was pretty warm, and I was actually sweating quite a lot in there. The biggest annoyance about it was that there was a window between the Jade Room and the Recliner room, so the flickering of the television was kind of distracting.

I went there after work and got there a little after 5... it was crowded then, but most had left by 6:00. Still didn't have the place to myself or anything, but it was easier to relax and have some space.

This place wasn't cruisy at all. Even if you found someone and there was mutual interest, there's really no private place to play here. So if you're looking for that, I'd recommend going somewhere else.

Seoul Health Spa
15212 S. Western Ave
Gardena, CA 90249

Review: Green Sauna, Gardena

Amenities: 1/5
Cruisiness: 2/5

Price: $15

Pros: None.
Cons: Small, dirty, horrible.

Well, I finally have a least favorite Korean spa.

Green Sauna is in a mini-mall in Gardena. It's in the corner, and the storefront is hard to figure out if you're in the right place. Right off the bat, it's weird.

You enter around a curtain and you're immediately in the locker room. The locker room is nothing special. Going into the spa, there are three upright showers (two to the left of the door, one to the right), three seated showers, a large-ish hot pool, and a cold pool. There's a steam room and a "Jade room" at the far end.

The steam room wasn't steamy. The hot pool wasn't really that hot. There were no lights in the jade room (which was basically a room with a headed stone floor), but the walls appeared to be cork or something, and I think the lights would have revealed the cork to be peeling off.

There was mildew on the walls. There was mildew on the floors (seriously, there was a massive black patch on the steam room floor). There was mildew on the ceiling. There was mildew on the bottle of conditioner in the shower. I am not exaggerating. Some of the tiles had come off in the warm pool, creating a little pile of dirt on the bottom (the jets didn't really work, so I could see the bottom... I guess it was a good thing that the water wasn't cloudy.)

I had the place to myself for most of the time I was there, which made it kind of creepy. I've had spas to myself before and I wasn't creeped out, but this place did creep me out.

Pretty much the only thing this place had going for it was the fact that if you did find someone to fool around with, there is both plenty of privacy and the steam room and jade room are cool enough that you can last a while in there without passing out.

When I was getting dressed to leave, a female employee walked through the locker room. It doesn't really bother me (I've been in plenty of coed nudist situations) but it might freak some people out.

I did a google search on this place and I found some old posts on forums alluding to possible "happy ending" massages by the female masseuses. The posts were misogynistic and racist and just seemed creepy to me. Granted, the posts were years old, but still.

Seriously, don't bother with this spa.
 
I'm not even giving out their address.

Review: Beverly Hot Springs, Koreatown

Amenities: 3.5/5

Cruisiness: 2.5/5

Price: $30 weekdays, $40 weekends

Pros: Fed by a natural hot spring, nice facility, combo locks so no need for a key
Cons: Expensive, limited towels, tiny steam room, 9pm closing time

Finally, a new review!

I felt like going to a spa today so I decided to check out one that I'd heard about for years but never got around to checking out until now: Beverly Hot Springs.

It's unlike any other Korean spa I've been to. You enter and are greeted by this 2-story waterfall, surrounded by plants. I went to the front desk and got my entry: $30 for the spa, which is way more expensive than almost any other K-Town spa, and it's $40 on the weekends!

After paying, to get to the men's spa, you take the elevator to the second floor, and the attendant gives you two large towels.  (I actually don't know if they'd give me more towels; I never asked.) The towels are probably way larger than they really need to be, to be honest (practically bath sheet size), but the quality of the towels is nice.  You can pick whichever locker you want; instead of being issued keys, the locks are all combination; you set the combo to whatever 4-digit number you choose. Setting the lock was slightly confusing, but I figured it out. The lockers are huge; they're full height, rather than half-height top/bottom lockers one sees in most locker rooms.

The spa itself is really nice: stone walls, and a waterfall surrounded by green plants at the end of the hot pool. It was pretty clean. My biggest complaint about the spa area in general was that it was so dark! There was very little lighting in the main room, and it was actually difficult for my eyes to adjust after being in the bright lights of the locker room or steam room.

There are four standing showers, but they're kind of scattered: two next to each other, a third one across from them, and a fourth one on the other side of the wall. Additionally, there are three seated showers.

The centerpiece of the spa is the warm pool, which is spring-fed. The pool is huge. The posted occupancy limit of the pool  is 20 people, but I think it could at least accommodate twice that. The minerals in the spring water actually have a noticeable effect... my skin felt super soft after soaking in it. The temperature was pretty close to ideal for me. Another great thing about the warm pool was that the edge of the pool, along the back wall, had a slanted edge that was just perfect for leaning my head back.

Next to the warm pool was the cold plunge. It was also a pretty good temperature. It was just so damn dark in the corner where the pool was. Also, there was a stone sculpture sticking out of the corner that I didn't notice and I hit my head on it.

The steam room was also a pretty good temperature. If it were up to me, I maybe would have lowered the temperature by a couple of degrees, but it wasn't bad at all. The problem was that it was small. It seemed almost crowded when only three people were in there... it probably could have accommodated a fourth, but no more than that. Fortunately, it wasn't too busy on a Tuesday night so we never had to test it out.

The dry sauna was not nearly as hot as I'm used to in most spas. The thermometer in the sauna said it was around 135 degrees. That said, I wasn't complaining... I thought it actually felt great, and I was able to spend more time in there as a result. The sauna was larger than the steam room, with three tiers of benches with a slanted backrest on the top tier. It was great for relaxing, but it wouldn't surprise me if some people complained about it not being hot enough.

There's also a relaxation area. I hesitate to call it a sleeping room because (1) the beds are more like non-adjustable lounge chairs (with foam padding, so they're relatively comfortable), and (2) the noise from the waterfall is loud enough to not be able to relax very much. I would have liked a lie-flat option for resting. 

The spa was never really crowded when I was there... when I got there there were maybe 4 or 5 other men there, mostly older men (generally Caucasian) and I really wasn't getting a gay vibe from them. But there was a younger guy (maybe mid 30s?) who was definitely interested. As my time  went by, the older guys left and the crowd got noticeably younger (and pretty good looking). There were a couple of guys there who seemed like they were on the down-low, like they kind of wanted to play but were too afraid to try.

And that's the biggest issue with the spa if you're looking to play around... there really isn't anyplace to do it. Both the sauna and the steam room have glass doors, and the steam room is small enough that you can't get far enough back in the steam to conceal any "activities" you might be interested in doing.

That said, I actually really liked this spa. The magic waters actually did feel great on my skin, and I liked the decor... felt way more "natural" than most Koreatown spas. I just wish it were cheaper. I'd actually planned on visiting twice, once on a weekday and once on a weekend, before doing my review. But I can't see myself paying $40 for a spa entry. Although the body scrub, at $60, includes the spa entry, so that might make more sense on the weekend. (still pricier than most other spas though!)

If the price were lower, it would definitely be among my favorite spas. But yeah, at twice (or more!) the price of most other spas, I probably won't visit here too much. 

Beverly Hot Springs
308 N Oxford Ave (at Beverly, 1 block east of Western)
Los Angeles, CA 90004
http://www.beverlyhotsprings.com/

Review: Joy Spa, Hacienda Heights

Amenities: 2.5/5
Cruisiness: 4/5
Price: $15

Pros: Unlimited small towels, not too expensive, three pools
Cons: Seemed kind of dirty, or at least in need of a revamp

I "came out" to a friend of mine regarding this blog over the weekend: I knew that he reads the blog so I confessed to him that I was the author. And... he'd already figured it out. There were a few subtle clues that he picked up on, and he recognized my writing style, and that made him pretty sure it was me. Anyway, it was funny.

Part of our conversation was about Korean spas and how (as I discussed in an earlier post) it's supposed to be this Korean cultural thing (and, to a lesser extent, other Asian cultures) but gay guys are using them to hook up without discretion, thereby being disrespectful to the Asian guys. Which I totally agreed with, as I pretty much said in my previous post. Anyway, this becomes relevant later...

So I was on my way back from being out of town over the long holiday weekend and I figured I'd give one of the other spas in the San Gabriel Valley a try. I basically flipped a coin and decided to check out Joy Spa. It's in a strip mall on Hacienda Blvd, fairly nondescript from the outside.

I paid my $15 to get in, and entered the locker room. It's a big locker room, with lockers along the walls and recliners in the middle facing a television. Kind of like Wilshire Spa. There was only one sink in there, which was odd; even the smallest spas I've seen have multiple sinks.

Unlike most spas, the locks here aren't electronic, so you have a big metal key on your wristband. Not as bad as Lions Spa though, where it makes noise when you move around. So I'm thankful for that. Unlimited small towels are folded and stacked next to the door to the wet area.

Inside the wet area, there are standing showers (6 of them I think) to the right, followed by 6 more seated showers beyond that. On the left are the pools: cold, warm, and hot. The pools were decent size; the middle one had a capacity of 8, the others seated 5. Across from the pools (and next to the seated showers) was the body scrub area. There was absolutely zero privacy there... if you're getting a scrub, anyone in the pools is going to get a full view of what's going on.

Past the scrub area is the steam room and the sauna. The steam room wasn't large; it could maybe seat 6 or 7 comfortably. The sauna was a bit bigger though. Both the sauna and the steam room were at good temperatures: hot enough, but not TOO hot. One thing about the sauna, though, was just that it seemed dirty. The wood was old and was showing its age. The door was supposed to be clear glass but what was probably years of moisture and splashes made it partially opaque on the lower 2/3 of it, with no apparent effort made to get those water stains off. And in parts of the sauna, when I put my towel down, the color from the wood transferred to the towel, looking kind of like skid marks. Uhh, no thanks.

After exploring those rooms for a bit, I headed back to the locker room and found two rooms: a sleeping room (with recliners), and a room that was kind of a clay room (had clay walls), kind of a marble room (had a marble floor) but was hotter than those respective rooms at Century Spa. It was the kind of room I'd expect in a coed Jimjilbang, but it was nice to have one off the locker room where I could be nude.

The clientele varied while I was there: when I first got there (mid-afternoon) it was almost entirely Asian guys. Which was pretty much what I expected, being Hacienda Heights and all. Oh, there were a couple of kids there too, at least briefly. Eventually, though, the crowd changed to probably half-and-half Asians and non-Asians. Then as afternoon started to turn into evening, it got more and more crowded, and I think the balance turned more Asian. And this big group of youngish, tattooed Asian guys came in.

But here's the thing... it seemed like the Asians were being more cruisy than the White and Latin guys. Usually, I go in with the assumption that most of the Asian guys are at the spas for the cultural aspect, and most of the non-Asian guys are there to see penises. But it seemed like a lot of the Asian guys (actually MOST of the Asian guys) were looking to play more than the white guys, at least until the tattooed gang came in. So anyway, so much for my friend's observation that it's the Asians that are being disrespected when white guys come to play!

Oh, I forgot to add: there were signs all over the place warning that anyone participating in "inappropriate behavior" would be kicked out and banned. Kind of tacky, actually. But it was being widely ignored, as far as I could tell!

There was this super cute young Asian guy that I could tell was trying not to get a hard-on (and failing! Ha!)... we fooled around a little bit but it started getting crowded and I'd been there long enough anyway.

Anyway, the place is fine, I guess, if you like Asian guys and you happen to be in the area... but I wouldn't make a special trip out there, to be honest.

Hacienda Joy Spa
2020 S. Hacienda Bl. Suite H 
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
http://haciendajoysauna.com