My original inspiration for starting this blog was my accidentally stumbling upon a similar blog covering the many day spas of Las Vegas. The blog is here: http://mensspaguide.blogspot.com. Worth checking out if you're headed to Vegas. And despite the similarity in URLs, I came up with mine before realizing the similarity to the Vegas blog's.... it was completely random, honest!
I like visiting a spa at least a couple of times before typing out a review, but I'm hosting an out-of-town guest for the next week, so I won't be able to visit any spas again for a few days. I do have one spa in mind that I may type up a review for (mostly because I don't intend to visit it a second time... you'll have to wait for the review to understand why!) but I might be kind of busy, so you'll have to live with what I've typed up so far.
And, is anyone reading this? I'd appreciate a comment or two!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Review: Century Spa, Koreatown
Amenities: 4.5/5
Cruisiness: 5/5
Price: $20 ($25 with Jim Jil Bang)
Pros: Huge; great amenities; almost entirely gay clientele;
Cons: Stingy with towels; sleeping room is perpetually (permanently?) closed; guys tend to be overly modest and cover up with towels.
Ah, Century Spa. I've been to this one more than any other spa in LA, and for good reason. While, at $20 admission, the price is higher than some other spas, you definitely get more for your money here.
In terms of amenities, most spas have a bare minimum of a hot pool, a cold pool, a dry sauna and a steam room in the men's area. Century Spa has a cold plunge pool, a hot whirlpool (but not too hot), a hotter "tea pool", a dry sauna, a steam room, a mist sauna, a cold sauna, a clay sauna and a marble sauna. This gives you plenty of options for sweating and relaxation. The clay sauna and marble saunas are warm, but not as hot as the dry sauna or mist sauna; their purpose is more toward relaxing. You can spend half an hour or more in the clay sauna (laying down and resting is encouraged in there) without getting heatstroke. The huge whirlpool is warm enough without it being too hot to stand more than a few minutes. There is also an outdoor patio where you can sit and cool off. While there's supposedly a sleeping room upstairs, it's always been closed when I've been there. There is also a "meditation room" upstairs, which I guess can double as a sleeping room (or just sleep in the clay sauna). The meditation room has floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the pools in the men's area.
I've heard complaints from others about the sauna and steam room not being hot enough... I disagree about the steam room; when the steam is going it can get close to unbearable in there. As for the dry sauna, yeah, I guess it could be hotter. The mist sauna seems a little hotter than the dry sauna, though.
One of the dumb things, in my opinion, about the layout is that the showers are pretty much as far away from the lockers as you can get; Since you are supposed to shower FIRST THING when you get there, it'd make more sense to put them nearer to the entrance of the spa. The body scrub area is in a little dark room behind the showers. There are three tables in there. There's a curtain between the showers and the body scrub room, but if you're in there getting a scrub, you're on display for anyone else in there who's also getting a scrub. One time when I was in there getting a scrub, the guy next to me looked like he was enjoying his scrub a little too much, haha.
When you arrive, you're given a small towel and two bath-sized towels. They occasionally bring out more towels (to the cubby area next to the clay sauna where the robes and shorts are located) but when a stack is brought out, they go quickly. Possibly because of the lack of towels, guys tend to keep their towel with them all the time, and the preferred way to carry it is around their waist. So, because of that, the voyeur aspect of the place is less than most. (Don't worry, though. I always parade through with no modestly whatsoever!)
But don't get me wrong--despite the apparent modesty, there's a LOT of cruising going on here. I'm not sure why it is, but Century Spa has become the de facto gay spa in Koreatown... so much so that it's rare to see actual Koreans use the spa. I'm not sure how it came to be (I heard that Century advertised in gay magazines) but I'm not complaining. The size of the spa and the sheer number of different rooms and saunas make consensual play fairly easy here; I have never been to Century Spa and not had some kind of action. While for the most part, etiquette rules and guys don't just go to town without making sure that everyone is ok with it, it's pretty easy to establish mutual interest.
Popular places to play are... well... pretty much anywhere except the pools and the dry sauna. (The dry sauna is located right inside the entrance to the spa area, with floor-to-ceiling windows, so there is literally no privacy)... The steam room gets action in the back (away from the windows), the outdoor patio gets tons of action, the clay room gets quite a bit, the marble room gets a little, and even the meditation room gets plenty of action. I've even played around in the mist sauna before, which also has a lot of windows and doesn't really strike anyone as being particularly private.
Despite all this, I want to urge people to watch what you're doing and who you're doing it in front of. Century has a great thing going right now and I don't want it to be ruined by people who are reckless about who they cruise or show off in front of. But seriously, guys, it's a Korean spa... stop wearing your towels all the time and show off your goods!
There is a Jim Jil Bang here that recently opened, but I've never checked it out. There's also a full gym downstairs with a lap pool, which I've never used.
Century Sports Club & Day Spa
4120 W. Olympic Blvd (at Crenshaw)
Los Angeles, CA 90019
http://centurydayspa.com
Note: their website SUCKS and all of the photos were taken years ago, before an extensive remodel... the interior looks NOTHING like what's represented in the photos.
Cruisiness: 5/5
Price: $20 ($25 with Jim Jil Bang)
Pros: Huge; great amenities; almost entirely gay clientele;
Cons: Stingy with towels; sleeping room is perpetually (permanently?) closed; guys tend to be overly modest and cover up with towels.
Ah, Century Spa. I've been to this one more than any other spa in LA, and for good reason. While, at $20 admission, the price is higher than some other spas, you definitely get more for your money here.
In terms of amenities, most spas have a bare minimum of a hot pool, a cold pool, a dry sauna and a steam room in the men's area. Century Spa has a cold plunge pool, a hot whirlpool (but not too hot), a hotter "tea pool", a dry sauna, a steam room, a mist sauna, a cold sauna, a clay sauna and a marble sauna. This gives you plenty of options for sweating and relaxation. The clay sauna and marble saunas are warm, but not as hot as the dry sauna or mist sauna; their purpose is more toward relaxing. You can spend half an hour or more in the clay sauna (laying down and resting is encouraged in there) without getting heatstroke. The huge whirlpool is warm enough without it being too hot to stand more than a few minutes. There is also an outdoor patio where you can sit and cool off. While there's supposedly a sleeping room upstairs, it's always been closed when I've been there. There is also a "meditation room" upstairs, which I guess can double as a sleeping room (or just sleep in the clay sauna). The meditation room has floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the pools in the men's area.
I've heard complaints from others about the sauna and steam room not being hot enough... I disagree about the steam room; when the steam is going it can get close to unbearable in there. As for the dry sauna, yeah, I guess it could be hotter. The mist sauna seems a little hotter than the dry sauna, though.
One of the dumb things, in my opinion, about the layout is that the showers are pretty much as far away from the lockers as you can get; Since you are supposed to shower FIRST THING when you get there, it'd make more sense to put them nearer to the entrance of the spa. The body scrub area is in a little dark room behind the showers. There are three tables in there. There's a curtain between the showers and the body scrub room, but if you're in there getting a scrub, you're on display for anyone else in there who's also getting a scrub. One time when I was in there getting a scrub, the guy next to me looked like he was enjoying his scrub a little too much, haha.
When you arrive, you're given a small towel and two bath-sized towels. They occasionally bring out more towels (to the cubby area next to the clay sauna where the robes and shorts are located) but when a stack is brought out, they go quickly. Possibly because of the lack of towels, guys tend to keep their towel with them all the time, and the preferred way to carry it is around their waist. So, because of that, the voyeur aspect of the place is less than most. (Don't worry, though. I always parade through with no modestly whatsoever!)
But don't get me wrong--despite the apparent modesty, there's a LOT of cruising going on here. I'm not sure why it is, but Century Spa has become the de facto gay spa in Koreatown... so much so that it's rare to see actual Koreans use the spa. I'm not sure how it came to be (I heard that Century advertised in gay magazines) but I'm not complaining. The size of the spa and the sheer number of different rooms and saunas make consensual play fairly easy here; I have never been to Century Spa and not had some kind of action. While for the most part, etiquette rules and guys don't just go to town without making sure that everyone is ok with it, it's pretty easy to establish mutual interest.
Popular places to play are... well... pretty much anywhere except the pools and the dry sauna. (The dry sauna is located right inside the entrance to the spa area, with floor-to-ceiling windows, so there is literally no privacy)... The steam room gets action in the back (away from the windows), the outdoor patio gets tons of action, the clay room gets quite a bit, the marble room gets a little, and even the meditation room gets plenty of action. I've even played around in the mist sauna before, which also has a lot of windows and doesn't really strike anyone as being particularly private.
Despite all this, I want to urge people to watch what you're doing and who you're doing it in front of. Century has a great thing going right now and I don't want it to be ruined by people who are reckless about who they cruise or show off in front of. But seriously, guys, it's a Korean spa... stop wearing your towels all the time and show off your goods!
There is a Jim Jil Bang here that recently opened, but I've never checked it out. There's also a full gym downstairs with a lap pool, which I've never used.
Century Sports Club & Day Spa
4120 W. Olympic Blvd (at Crenshaw)
Los Angeles, CA 90019
http://centurydayspa.com
Note: their website SUCKS and all of the photos were taken years ago, before an extensive remodel... the interior looks NOTHING like what's represented in the photos.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Review: East West Spa, Koreatown
Amenities: 2/5
Cruisiness: 1.5/5
Price: $10 before 10pm (I forget if it's $15 or $20 after 10pm)
Pros: Cheap; unlimited towels; open 24 hours
Cons: Small; parking is limited; small; cramped; oh, and did I mention small?
So I read a post somewhere about East West Spa, and how it was only $10. I wasn't planning on stopping at a spa that particular day, but I happened to be in the neighborhood so I decided to try it.
The place was pretty small. They managed to get two different temperatures of hot pools in there (plus the obligatory cold plunge, steam room, and sauna). But there really isn't really a whole lot of spare space in there. The seated showers are situated in the middle of the room, with the pools and saunas and upright showers surrounding it. I mean, I'm not a modest guy AT ALL, but I think I'd feel a little self-conscious washing down in the middle of the room like that.
The pools are pretty small, one of them could probably only fit 3 guys without getting inappropriately cozy, and the other wasn't that much bigger. The sauna was a decent size, but the Korean television that you could watch from the sauna was kind of distracting. The steam room wasn't all that large, but considering I never saw more that two other people in there at any one time while I was there, it was probably fine.
Otherwise, the facility was fine, and clean enough. The tile on the floor was unusual in that there was a pattern of high tiles and low tiles, making you have to watch your step so you didn't trip or stub your toe. It was odd. The relaxation/sleeping room had recliners facing a TV (with Korean programming on)... doesn't seem relaxing to me. There may have been a darker sleeping room too, but I didn't see it.
Another thing, the parking lot is this crammed-full clusterfuck. I just parked on the street around the corner. Make sure you read the parking restrictions signs before parking (as one should do everywhere in LA)
As far as cruising, this place really isn't the place to go. When I was there (mid-afternoon on a weekday) the crowd was almost entirely Koreans. There's not a lot of places to play; glass windows and doors on the steam room and sauna make sure you have little privacy. That said, the only reason I gave it a 1.5 instead of a 1 was because when I was there, there was some (very minor) play going on in the steam room when I was there, between the only two white guys in the spa. So I guess it's possible, but it's difficult to get any amount of privacy while you're there, so I'd recommend going somewhere else if that's what you're looking for. That said, if you're just looking for the basics of a Korean spa, for $10 this place is a pretty good deal.
Also, it's men only, so no Jim Jil Bang
East West Health Center
901 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90006
Cruisiness: 1.5/5
Price: $10 before 10pm (I forget if it's $15 or $20 after 10pm)
Pros: Cheap; unlimited towels; open 24 hours
Cons: Small; parking is limited; small; cramped; oh, and did I mention small?
So I read a post somewhere about East West Spa, and how it was only $10. I wasn't planning on stopping at a spa that particular day, but I happened to be in the neighborhood so I decided to try it.
The place was pretty small. They managed to get two different temperatures of hot pools in there (plus the obligatory cold plunge, steam room, and sauna). But there really isn't really a whole lot of spare space in there. The seated showers are situated in the middle of the room, with the pools and saunas and upright showers surrounding it. I mean, I'm not a modest guy AT ALL, but I think I'd feel a little self-conscious washing down in the middle of the room like that.
The pools are pretty small, one of them could probably only fit 3 guys without getting inappropriately cozy, and the other wasn't that much bigger. The sauna was a decent size, but the Korean television that you could watch from the sauna was kind of distracting. The steam room wasn't all that large, but considering I never saw more that two other people in there at any one time while I was there, it was probably fine.
Otherwise, the facility was fine, and clean enough. The tile on the floor was unusual in that there was a pattern of high tiles and low tiles, making you have to watch your step so you didn't trip or stub your toe. It was odd. The relaxation/sleeping room had recliners facing a TV (with Korean programming on)... doesn't seem relaxing to me. There may have been a darker sleeping room too, but I didn't see it.
Another thing, the parking lot is this crammed-full clusterfuck. I just parked on the street around the corner. Make sure you read the parking restrictions signs before parking (as one should do everywhere in LA)
As far as cruising, this place really isn't the place to go. When I was there (mid-afternoon on a weekday) the crowd was almost entirely Koreans. There's not a lot of places to play; glass windows and doors on the steam room and sauna make sure you have little privacy. That said, the only reason I gave it a 1.5 instead of a 1 was because when I was there, there was some (very minor) play going on in the steam room when I was there, between the only two white guys in the spa. So I guess it's possible, but it's difficult to get any amount of privacy while you're there, so I'd recommend going somewhere else if that's what you're looking for. That said, if you're just looking for the basics of a Korean spa, for $10 this place is a pretty good deal.
Also, it's men only, so no Jim Jil Bang
East West Health Center
901 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90006
About this blog and its author
So, yeah, I've already posted my first review, so I guess I should explain my ratings...
The scores (out of 5 points) is completely subjective based on what I feel is important in my own experiences:
For amenities, it's a combination of a variety of indicators: Do they have anything more than 1 sauna, 1 steam room, 1 hot pool and 1 cold plunge? How is the towel service? Is the spa clean? Things I generally won't include in my score (unless they're exceptionally good or bad) are the Jim Jil Bang and associated amenities, parking and location, quality of spa treatments, etc.... the amenities rating is purely from the standpoint of someone who only uses the men's spa area.
For cruisiness, I rate based on my personal experience. If there's no action at all (or little possibility of any), it's a score of 1. Scores of 2 or 3 indicate that there is some discreet action going on, but the layout/setup/crowd isn't really conducive to widespread play. Score of 4 or 5 indicate that there is quite a bit of action.
Additionally, I'm relying on comments from people to augment my reviews. If you have personal experience that either agrees or disagrees with my reviews, feel free to let me know! I'm basing these reviews on my memory, but I've been to a lot of different spas over the past 18 months, and honestly, I'm just not sure I'm going to get the details 100% correct for a lot of them. (For example, there's one spa I went to a few months ago where I clearly remember the relaxation room... but I have no idea which spa it corresponds to!)
Finally, a little about me: I am a gay male nudist in my 30's, I live in the Los Angeles area and have been visiting various Korean spas for about a year and a half. Otherwise, I prefer to remain relatively anonymous.
The scores (out of 5 points) is completely subjective based on what I feel is important in my own experiences:
For amenities, it's a combination of a variety of indicators: Do they have anything more than 1 sauna, 1 steam room, 1 hot pool and 1 cold plunge? How is the towel service? Is the spa clean? Things I generally won't include in my score (unless they're exceptionally good or bad) are the Jim Jil Bang and associated amenities, parking and location, quality of spa treatments, etc.... the amenities rating is purely from the standpoint of someone who only uses the men's spa area.
For cruisiness, I rate based on my personal experience. If there's no action at all (or little possibility of any), it's a score of 1. Scores of 2 or 3 indicate that there is some discreet action going on, but the layout/setup/crowd isn't really conducive to widespread play. Score of 4 or 5 indicate that there is quite a bit of action.
Additionally, I'm relying on comments from people to augment my reviews. If you have personal experience that either agrees or disagrees with my reviews, feel free to let me know! I'm basing these reviews on my memory, but I've been to a lot of different spas over the past 18 months, and honestly, I'm just not sure I'm going to get the details 100% correct for a lot of them. (For example, there's one spa I went to a few months ago where I clearly remember the relaxation room... but I have no idea which spa it corresponds to!)
Finally, a little about me: I am a gay male nudist in my 30's, I live in the Los Angeles area and have been visiting various Korean spas for about a year and a half. Otherwise, I prefer to remain relatively anonymous.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Review: CJ Spa, Northridge
Amenities: 2/5
Cruisiness: 2/5
Price: $20 for spa pass (includes Jim Jil Bang)
Pros: Relatively clean; lots of nudity (because of the lack of towels); if you like 'em college age, CJ Spa apparently attracts CSUN guys.
Cons: Stingy with the towels, could use more maintenance, only the basic amenities in the men's area, everything seemed too hot.
Seeing that CJ Spa in Northridge was the first Korean spa I ever visited, as well as the most recent one I've visited, I guess it's appropriate that I review it first.
The men's area only has the "basics"... upright and sit-down showers, a sauna, a steam room, a hot whirlpool, and a cold plunge pool. The body scrub area is right next to the steam room, affording pretty much no privacy. (As an exhibitionist and a voyeur, that's not a problem for me.) There are four awkwardly-placed plastic chaise lounges around the pools.
In my opinion, the sauna, steam room, and hot pool were all too hot; it was difficult to tolerate more than a few minutes in any of them. The drinking fountain (next to the cold pool) was broken; you could get it to work, but the push-button kept falling off, which was annoying. There was a lot of condensation on the walls around the cold pool, and I noticed there was a mold problem on the ceiling in that area as a result.
There are only four lounge chairs in the wet area, and I was annoyed at the tendency of guys to use them as a place to put their towels while they were in the whirlpool or showers... seriously guys, the chairs are for people, not towels!
Upon entering, I was given a bath-sized towel and a smaller towel. There was no other supply of towels to be had anywhere in the spa area that I saw. In that situation, what one does is carry around the small towel to sit on, and leave the bath towel in your locker to use for drying off when you're ready to leave. I like that idea in theory; it's more encouragement toward nudity (other spas I'll be reviewing later have a lot of guys covering up with towels all the time). But after a few minutes in the steam room, your small towel is completely drenched. Also, it didn't help that the upper benches in the steam room were uneven JUST enough to allow water to pool on them. So I put my towel down and it was immediately saturated. I had to wring out my towel several times.
As far as cruising, it's a mixed bag. The crowd when I went seemed to be roughly 40% gay. The place is small though, with not a lot of places to mess around. Both the sauna and the steam room have large windows facing the whirlpool area. The level of steam in the steam room is JUST low enough to make people in the steam room visible to those outside, but fortunately a conveniently-placed wall pretty much hides you from most of the room unless there are people passing right in front of the window. Likewise, the sauna, while facing the whirlpool area, is in the corner of the room so that much of the sauna isn't really easily visible unless someone is standing right outside of it. But if there's any kind of straight crowd there (and there usually is) it's not really easy to cruise there... some occasional cautious play in the steam room (as long as you can stand it in there, as it's hot), but that's about it. That said, both times I've been there, some brief discreet play did occur.
I've heard other guys say they like CJ because of the number of CSUN students there, but honestly both times I've been there, there didn't seem to be much in the way of college guys. I wasn't really going there hoping to meet college guys though, so I didn't really care one way or the other.
I didn't visit the Jim Jil Bang (I rarely do at these places) so I can't really say anything about it. I'm under the impression that there are more saunas and a restaurant in there, though.
CJ Grand Health Spa
10211 Balboa Blvd., Northridge, CA 91325
http://www.cjgrandspa.com/
Cruisiness: 2/5
Price: $20 for spa pass (includes Jim Jil Bang)
Pros: Relatively clean; lots of nudity (because of the lack of towels); if you like 'em college age, CJ Spa apparently attracts CSUN guys.
Cons: Stingy with the towels, could use more maintenance, only the basic amenities in the men's area, everything seemed too hot.
Seeing that CJ Spa in Northridge was the first Korean spa I ever visited, as well as the most recent one I've visited, I guess it's appropriate that I review it first.
The men's area only has the "basics"... upright and sit-down showers, a sauna, a steam room, a hot whirlpool, and a cold plunge pool. The body scrub area is right next to the steam room, affording pretty much no privacy. (As an exhibitionist and a voyeur, that's not a problem for me.) There are four awkwardly-placed plastic chaise lounges around the pools.
In my opinion, the sauna, steam room, and hot pool were all too hot; it was difficult to tolerate more than a few minutes in any of them. The drinking fountain (next to the cold pool) was broken; you could get it to work, but the push-button kept falling off, which was annoying. There was a lot of condensation on the walls around the cold pool, and I noticed there was a mold problem on the ceiling in that area as a result.
There are only four lounge chairs in the wet area, and I was annoyed at the tendency of guys to use them as a place to put their towels while they were in the whirlpool or showers... seriously guys, the chairs are for people, not towels!
Upon entering, I was given a bath-sized towel and a smaller towel. There was no other supply of towels to be had anywhere in the spa area that I saw. In that situation, what one does is carry around the small towel to sit on, and leave the bath towel in your locker to use for drying off when you're ready to leave. I like that idea in theory; it's more encouragement toward nudity (other spas I'll be reviewing later have a lot of guys covering up with towels all the time). But after a few minutes in the steam room, your small towel is completely drenched. Also, it didn't help that the upper benches in the steam room were uneven JUST enough to allow water to pool on them. So I put my towel down and it was immediately saturated. I had to wring out my towel several times.
As far as cruising, it's a mixed bag. The crowd when I went seemed to be roughly 40% gay. The place is small though, with not a lot of places to mess around. Both the sauna and the steam room have large windows facing the whirlpool area. The level of steam in the steam room is JUST low enough to make people in the steam room visible to those outside, but fortunately a conveniently-placed wall pretty much hides you from most of the room unless there are people passing right in front of the window. Likewise, the sauna, while facing the whirlpool area, is in the corner of the room so that much of the sauna isn't really easily visible unless someone is standing right outside of it. But if there's any kind of straight crowd there (and there usually is) it's not really easy to cruise there... some occasional cautious play in the steam room (as long as you can stand it in there, as it's hot), but that's about it. That said, both times I've been there, some brief discreet play did occur.
I've heard other guys say they like CJ because of the number of CSUN students there, but honestly both times I've been there, there didn't seem to be much in the way of college guys. I wasn't really going there hoping to meet college guys though, so I didn't really care one way or the other.
I didn't visit the Jim Jil Bang (I rarely do at these places) so I can't really say anything about it. I'm under the impression that there are more saunas and a restaurant in there, though.
CJ Grand Health Spa
10211 Balboa Blvd., Northridge, CA 91325
http://www.cjgrandspa.com/
Korean Spas: An Introduction
I visited my first Korean spa about a year and a half ago. I had heard about them, mostly through posts in Craigslist or just word of mouth. One Sunday, I was sore from a particularly tough workout I had in the morning, and I had happened to be running errands in the Valley when it occurred to me that one of those Korean Spas was somewhere in the area, and a good steam and soak would feel good at that time. I honestly didn't know what to expect, but I'm also a nudist and was hoping that what I'd heard (that everyone's nude there) was true. Still, I was a little nervous, not really knowing what to expect, or proper etiquette, etc., but my fears were unfounded and I had a nice relaxing time there.
I am not Korean, and the Korean spas seem to be a part of the Korean culture. I suspect that there is more to the spas than just "go sit in whichever sauna or pool you feel like at the moment." But that's what I do, and nobody's given me a dirty look, so I guess it's not all bad.
So, what kind of amenities can one expect at a Korean spa?
Some Korean spas have a coed area, called a Jim Jil Bang. These areas usually have more relaxation areas, saunas, and even restaurants. For the Jim Jil Bang, the spa will provide shorts and t-shirts to wear... the coed area isn't nude, sorry!
In terms of etiquette, the primary rule is, shower! Once you strip off your clothes and leave the locker room area, your first stop should always be the shower. Never, ever enter a pool without having showered first, especially if you're coming from a sauna or steam room. In a nutshell, the rule is: if in doubt, shower.
OK, so far this seems pretty basic... where does the "gay" part of this blog come in?
Korean spas aren't gay sex clubs or gay bathhouses. I mean, I guess they are "bathhouses" in the literal sense of the word, that is a public place where one bathes.
But, if you get several naked gay guys together, there's bound to be a certain amount of cruising going on. Different Korean spas attract different crowds, and each will have varying amounts of cruising going on. When I review various spas, I'll include a mention of how cruisy they are.
That said, let me reiterate: Korean spas are not sex clubs. There are plenty of gay bathhouses in LA where you can do pretty much whatever you want out in the open. If you get caught doing it at a Korean spa, the consequences can range from being kicked out of the spa to being arrested. I'm sure the last thing you want (other than an STD) is a lewd conduct conviction on your record.
But, admittedly, "things happen." This blog does not condone illegal behavior. But if you're going to do it anyway, try to follow a few common-sense guidelines:
I am not Korean, and the Korean spas seem to be a part of the Korean culture. I suspect that there is more to the spas than just "go sit in whichever sauna or pool you feel like at the moment." But that's what I do, and nobody's given me a dirty look, so I guess it's not all bad.
So, what kind of amenities can one expect at a Korean spa?
- Showers: One of the purposes of these places is to get clean. They pretty much all have two types of showers: Upright showers (the ones we westerners are all familiar with) and sit-down showers. I've never used a sit-down shower... something I've been meaning to do sometime.
- Saunas: Every spa I've been to has at least a dry sauna and a steam room in the men's area. Some have even more: different temperatures, different materials for the walls and floor, etc. For those spas that have a coed area, most of the saunas (other than the basic dry sauna and steam room) are located in the coed area.
- Pools: Pretty much every Korean spa has a hot whirlpool and a cold plunge. Some have multiple hot pools (like a warm and a hot).
- Locker rooms: a place to stash your clothes. You never have to bring anything to a spa; everything you need will be provided by the spa. The sink area usually has shaving supplies and hair products.
- Spa treatments: Yes, it's a "spa." You can get things like massages and facials. A popular treatment at Korean spas is the body scrub: you lay down on a table (completely naked) while a Korean dude scrubs every inch of your body, getting you cleaner than you've been in a long time. And yes, they clean everywhere. The body scrub is usually done in the gender-specific area, but other spa treatments are usually done in coed areas.
- Sleep/relaxation area: Most spas have a dimmed room to rest, either on floor mats or in reclining chairs, or both.
Some Korean spas have a coed area, called a Jim Jil Bang. These areas usually have more relaxation areas, saunas, and even restaurants. For the Jim Jil Bang, the spa will provide shorts and t-shirts to wear... the coed area isn't nude, sorry!
In terms of etiquette, the primary rule is, shower! Once you strip off your clothes and leave the locker room area, your first stop should always be the shower. Never, ever enter a pool without having showered first, especially if you're coming from a sauna or steam room. In a nutshell, the rule is: if in doubt, shower.
OK, so far this seems pretty basic... where does the "gay" part of this blog come in?
Korean spas aren't gay sex clubs or gay bathhouses. I mean, I guess they are "bathhouses" in the literal sense of the word, that is a public place where one bathes.
But, if you get several naked gay guys together, there's bound to be a certain amount of cruising going on. Different Korean spas attract different crowds, and each will have varying amounts of cruising going on. When I review various spas, I'll include a mention of how cruisy they are.
That said, let me reiterate: Korean spas are not sex clubs. There are plenty of gay bathhouses in LA where you can do pretty much whatever you want out in the open. If you get caught doing it at a Korean spa, the consequences can range from being kicked out of the spa to being arrested. I'm sure the last thing you want (other than an STD) is a lewd conduct conviction on your record.
But, admittedly, "things happen." This blog does not condone illegal behavior. But if you're going to do it anyway, try to follow a few common-sense guidelines:
- Never assume the guy you're checking out is interested in you. Don't even assume he's gay, for that matter. There is nothing more pathetic than a guy who's staring at me, playing with his cock, while I'm doing all I can to look disinterested. Actually, I take that back... what's even more pathetic is that same guy, who, after I get up and walk out, follows me around the spa like a puppy dog... as if a different setting is going to make me more in the mood or something.
- Keep it private. If two of you ARE into each other, don't give others a show if you don't know if they're interested in watching. Forcing straight (or otherwise uninterested) guys to watch your sexual escapades is rude, seriously. And an invitation to being reported to the spa management.
- I'll reiterate the previous bullet for when there are kids there. If you're messing around in full view of minors, you deserve to be arrested. Hell, if I'm there, I'll be the one to call the cops.
- Keep it clean. I don't really want to step in your various bodily fluids. Use your towel or your hand or whatever, and keep the common areas clean for the rest of us. Because, eww.
- Take it somewhere else. I know there's a certain allure to public sex for some guys, but if you're really into each other, perhaps going to someone's home or at least exchanging numbers or emails is the way to go.
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