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Sunday, July 3, 2022

Review: Pioneer Spa, Norwalk

Amenities: 3.5/5 

Cruisiness: 3.5/5 

Price: $25

Pros: Clean, lots of parking, priced fairly decently, decent coed area

Cons: Small, limited towels, sauna and steam can get very hot.

A new spa review! Did you miss me?

I'd heard of Pioneer for years, but just never made my way to Norwalk until recently. 

The spa is in a strip mall on Pioneer Blvd. It's a little confusing to get into the parking lot if you're heading north on Pioneer from the 91 Freeway. It's on the northwest corner of Pioneer and 166th, so if you're going north you have to turn left onto 166th and then IMMEDIATELY turn right into the driveway. The driveway is practically right at the corner. If you're driving south on Pioneer, there's a direct entrance. 

A lot of the parking spaces in the main area of the mall are 1-hour parking (although I'm not sure they actually enforce it; on my first visit I parked in one of those spaces and had no problem) and the lot can be crowded, but if you keep driving to the back there's a big lot with plenty of parking and no time limit.

The spa entrance can be found in the building to the south, closest to 166th Street. There's an indoor mall area with a few restaurants and other businesses, and the spa is to the right. I got there and paid my $25. If you want to go into the coed area, make sure you request shorts and t-shirt if he doesn't actually give them to you; one of my visits I wasn't given the uniform and I forgot to ask. Also got three small towels... those are the only towels you get, although on my first visit a few months earlier, I remembered there being unlimited towels in the locker room, so I guess their policy changed in the last few months. I also thought I remembered it being open 24 hours before, but now their hours are 8:30am-10:00pm.

Once I got my key, I put my shoes in the shoe cubby (the first time I was there the attendant made sure I knew to put my shoes there) and entered the locker room. The locker room isn't large. It's basically a square: one wall is basically all lockers, one wall is half lockers and then a hallway to the jimjilbang (coed area) and sleeping room, one wall is the sinks, and the 4th wall is the entrance to the wet area, the hallway to the massage rooms and restroom, and the water dispenser. There is no sign pointing you to the restroom... my first time there I had to figure out that it was down the hall to the massage rooms. There's also a fairly dark TV room with recliners down that hall.

When you enter the wet area, going clockwise from your left, you have the scrub area, the steam room, the dry sauna, the hot pool, the cold pool, and the showers. There are 4 plastic chairs placed around the wet area. 

In one alcove there are six standing showers and in a separate alcove I think 6 seated showers. There is a rack outside the showers with toothbrushes and scrub towels. The showers were fine, although I'm not a big fan of bar soap in a communal shower. 

The hot tub is more shallow than normal for some reason. So you have to slouch to get totally in the water. I do appreciate, though, that the rim around the edge of the hot tub is painted with some smooth paint which makes it so it's not too uncomfortable to rest your head on it. And in my visits I noticed that the temperature of the hot tub varied. It definitely felt hotter the third visit than it did the second visit. The jets on the hot tub are operated by a 5-minute timer (the dial is between the dry sauna and steam room) and it's really annoying if you want to stay in there longer than 5 minutes. Kind of like Spa Palace was before they swapped theirs out for longer timers.

The cold pool felt pretty cold to me, but I don't really like cold that much so I didn't get in past my knees.

The steam room also has a dial timer, next to the steam room's door. The steam room is pretty small (it's crowded with 6 people), and when the steam is going, the steam jets are at floor level, which means if you're sitting on the lower-level bench, your feet and legs are going to get very hot. The rest of the steam room also gets very hot, almost unbearable, if the steam is on for any appreciable amount of time. 

The dry sauna's temperature fluctuated too, but not as drastically as the steam room in that it was usually bearable. The dry sauna is also small, maybe big enough for 6 or 7 at most. My biggest issue with the sauna is that sometimes, usually when someone opened the door when coming or going, I got a whiff of a musty smell in the sauna. It reminded me of a gym sauna almost. I didn't notice it most of the time, again, unless there was a breeze caused by the door opening and closing.

One thing I noticed about the wet area was that they were constantly cleaning. Like, I've never seen any spa being cleaned as much as this one was. 

The sleeping room is off the hallway to the jimjilbang, and although there's a sign in the locker room saying "CLOTHING REQUIRED BEYOND THIS POINT" if you go down that hallway, you don't need to be wearing clothes if you're just going to the sleeping room.

The jimjilbang is small but pretty nice, actually, although I'm not sure if the restaurant was actually open. There are several saunas, including a clay ball room and a salt rock room, and there's a cold room (which wasn't super cold, but cold enough to cool me down.)

As far as cruising goes, in my experience it just really depends on the day. I went one day and it was super cruisy, as if pretty much everyone there was looking to play... The crowd seemed like it was mostly Latino with a few Asians and white guys.  I went exactly one week later (same day of the week, same time) and it felt like a much smaller number of people there to play, mostly Asians and a few white and Latino (and I think a Black guy was there too).  And the fact that the men's wet area is pretty small means that if there's a significant number of people not wanting to play, you're not going to get a chance to play (not to mention the constant cleaning going on). Also, in my latest visit, there was a father with a child there for part of the time, although I think he just stuck to the pools and the jimjilbang.

However, the sleeping room (I think they actually call it the "Relax Room") seems to be where a lot of stuff happens. It's pretty much pitch dark in there when the door is totally closed so it's pretty easy to not get discovered since you can stop what you're doing if someone comes in before their eyes adjust to the darkness. 

As a side note, there are signs around the place warning of "Inappropriate activity". The phrasing on the sign says something like "If a customer complains, you will be kicked out and banned." Which I thought was interesting because if you think about exactly what it says, they're not saying that you'll be kicked out if staff catches you, only if a customer complains. I'm not sure if that interpretation was intentional or not, but it was definitely something I noticed. 

Anyway, if you happen to be in or near Norwalk or Cerritos and have the urge to go to a spa, this one isn't too bad. 

Pioneer Spa & Sauna
16511 Pioneer Blvd suite 108, 
Norwalk, CA 90650
 

Saturday, June 4, 2022

We've all moved to Discord!

This blog isn't dead! But if you're wondering why the "Spa buddy" threads are pretty much dead now, it's because we've all moved to Discord. Join us there! https://discord.gg/mYsZfpdrPw

The blog isn't going anywhere though, and I will still update with spa reviews whenever I have new reviews (I do need to do a Pioneer Spa review sometime) but the social aspect of this blog has now migrated over to Discord. It's a pretty active community, and I hope you join!

UPDATE (10/29): Discord decided we're an adult server, and Apple doesn't like that. Log in either on a desktop or in Chrome (it won't work in safari on an iPhone), go to Privacy and Security settings and turn on the toggle for "Allow access for age-restricted servers in iOS". Then you should be able to access from the app. Or just switch to Android, which doesn't censor adult content like Apple does. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

New Year's Meetup: "Sweat out the old, soak in the new," 2022 edition

UPDATE: I'm cancelling the meetup. Let's do it in a month or two when things have settled down. Sorry.

Hey guys!

Let's have a New Year's Meetup! 

Where: Wilshire Spa

When: January 1st, in the afternoon (I'm planning to get there sometime between noon and 1:00)

Why: Why not?

Rules:
- Don't wear a towel!
- Be respectful!
- Wear your key on your left ankle!
- Don't be that guy that's jerking when nobody else is interested.
- Be careful!
- Say hi to me!


Thursday, October 7, 2021

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




Wednesday, August 18, 2021

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.

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Official Spa Buddy Open Thread Part 84 - Delta Variant edition

NOTE: I started a new post because the other one was getting too full of comments! So use this one instead. 

UPDATE: We have a Discord server now: https://discord.gg/mYsZfpdrPw

I decided to create this post specifically so you guys can post in the comments if you're looking for someone to go to a spa with, or meet up there, or whatever... makes it a lot easier than going through all the previous posts to see if people have posted there. So if you're planning to go and want to meet people there, you can post (or look) here instead!


A few guidelines...

(1) Post some information about yourself...physical description, age, ethnicity, interests and hobbies... I really don't care. I'm not going to force you to reveal everything about yourself, but I'm not going to drive all the way to Koreatown to hang out with someone that I know absolutely nothing about.

(2) Sign your name, nickname, user name, whatever you make up to identify yourself. It makes it a lot easier to reply  to you, as opposed to "hey, third person to reply to this comment"

(3) Be specific...

     GOOD: "I'll be at Century Spa from 7pm-11pm tonight (Nov. 2), wearing a black digital sports watch and my key on my left ankle. And carrying a green water bottle."

     BAD: "I'll be at the spa tonight. I'm the guy with a towel. Say hi!"

(4) If you want to talk to someone privately, leave some kind of contact information! It can be a blogger profile that you're logged into, an adam4adam or dudesnude profile, your email address, whatever. One idea is to post something on Craigslist... when you do that, they give you a throwaway temporary email address that forwards to your own email... it's useful if you don't want to post your email address here.

(5) Maybe make some mention of your expectations. If you're looking to jerk off (or more), say so. If you absolutely don't want to do anything sexual and just want to hang out nude with other guys, say so. Not everyone is going there for the same thing. Also remember that Korean spas are not sex clubs, so please consider moving it someplace else if there's mutual interest, and be respectful of those who don't want to see sexual activity.

(6) Be respectful. Don't be racist, ageist, etc... Remember that this isn't your private home, and you can't just tell a certain class of people that they're not welcome.

(7) Don't ask "What is [insert spa name here] like?"... I've written a LOT of reviews on this website, so why not read them first? Reviewed spas:

Thursday, May 13, 2021

[CLOSED] Official Spa Buddy Open Thread Part 83 - Post-COVID Reopening edition

  NOTE: This thread is locked because there were too many comments! See the next post instead.

I decided to create this post specifically so you guys can post in the comments if you're looking for someone to go to a spa with, or meet up there, or whatever... makes it a lot easier than going through all the previous posts to see if people have posted there. So if you're planning to go and want to meet people there, you can post (or look) here instead!


A few guidelines...

(1) Post some information about yourself...physical description, age, ethnicity, interests and hobbies... I really don't care. I'm not going to force you to reveal everything about yourself, but I'm not going to drive all the way to Koreatown to hang out with someone that I know absolutely nothing about.

(2) Sign your name, nickname, user name, whatever you make up to identify yourself. It makes it a lot easier to reply  to you, as opposed to "hey, third person to reply to this comment"

(3) Be specific...

     GOOD: "I'll be at Century Spa from 7pm-11pm tonight (Nov. 2), wearing a black digital sports watch and my key on my left ankle. And carrying a green water bottle."

     BAD: "I'll be at the spa tonight. I'm the guy with a towel. Say hi!"

(4) If you want to talk to someone privately, leave some kind of contact information! It can be a blogger profile that you're logged into, an adam4adam or dudesnude profile, your email address, whatever. One idea is to post something on Craigslist... when you do that, they give you a throwaway temporary email address that forwards to your own email... it's useful if you don't want to post your email address here.

(5) Maybe make some mention of your expectations. If you're looking to jerk off (or more), say so. If you absolutely don't want to do anything sexual and just want to hang out nude with other guys, say so. Not everyone is going there for the same thing. Also remember that Korean spas are not sex clubs, so please consider moving it someplace else if there's mutual interest, and be respectful of those who don't want to see sexual activity.

(6) Be respectful. Don't be racist, ageist, etc... Remember that this isn't your private home, and you can't just tell a certain class of people that they're not welcome.

(7) Don't ask "What is [insert spa name here] like?"... I've written a LOT of reviews on this website, so why not read them first? Reviewed spas: