Review: Wilshire Spa, Koreatown

Amenities: 3/5

Cruisiness: 3/5

Price: $15 before 10:00pm, $20 after 10:00pm

Pros: Open 24 hours, convenient to public transportation, unlimited towels, clean, lots of nudity

Cons: in a basement, so seems claustrophobic (and it's hard to find); problems keeping towels stocked, whirlpool a little too hot

Wilshire Spa is in the heart of Koreatown, but it attracts both Koreans and non-Koreans. In fact, both times I went, I'd have to say that the non-Koreans outnumbered the Koreans.

The place is a little hard to find... while the address says it's on Wilshire, the entrance is really on Mariposa Ave, and the signs say "Wilshire Health Club" or something like that, NOT "Wilshire Spa". It confused me for a bit. It's only a block away from the Wilshire/Normandie Purple Line station if you want to take the subway, or there is validated parking. (I haven't used the validated parking, so not sure how long they validate for)

The spa is male-only. (Actually, there is a separate, female spa in the same building, but they have two different entrances.) There's no Jim Jil Bang. There is what appears to be a restaurant, but it was closed both times I was there, so I'm not sure it's ever open.

Once you enter, you walk down the stairs to the large locker room and find your locker. At other spas they have recliners in a separate room for relaxing; here, the recliners are in the middle of the locker room. So that's kind of weird. There's also a separate sleeping room, though, with heated floors. The sleeping room is nice (and the cruisiest part of the spa, at least when I was there) but it is unfortunately located directly across from the restroom, so you get to hear flushing and bodily functions. 

The spa itself is fine... while the walls are tile (instead of marble or granite like one sees at other spas), it's kept clean. There's a hot tub, which was a little too hot for me to tolerate for very long. There's a cold plunge, too, which is nice and cold, but I hate the fact that it's uniformly 5-feet deep (with a ladder but no steps)... so you really have no choice but to fully plunge into the cool pool. I don't really like that because I'm a runner and I often go to these spas to soak my legs (and only my legs) in the cold pools after running, but here it's all or nothing.  There's also a rock pool with a waterfall, the pool is closer to room temperature, I think. 

In terms of saunas, there are three: a regular dry sauna, a steam room (a tad too hot, but not horribly so) and a "Yellow Ocher" room, which is basically a dry sauna but not as hot.

Another amenity that I like is that they have a urinal in the spa area, so one doesn't have to go out to the regular restroom when they want to pee. It's just a little thing, but it's much appreciated by me, and I wish more spas would do this. (I'm looking at you, Century Spa and Wi Spa)

While there are unlimited towels, they kept running out of towels the last time I was there, which was kind of annoying. The towels are small, not large enough to wrap around your waist. Which is good for the voyeurs and exhibitionists, as everyone was walking around naked.

There really isn't a whole lot of cruising going on in the spa area. I'm not sure why; there seems to be plenty of opportunity in the "Yellow Ocher" room and the steam room especially. However, the action in the sleeping room makes up for it, at least when I was there... a lot of jerking off and more was going on when I was there.

One other note: I got a massage there on one of my visits, and it was probably one of the most painful massages I've ever had. (and I've had theraputic deep-tissue massage techniques before for sports injuries that are pretty damn painful)... I was looking for something more relaxing, so I wasn't very satisfied with the massage.

Wilshire Spa

3440 Wilshire Blvd. (Entrance on Mariposa)

Los Angeles, CA 90010

http://wilshirespa.com/