Amenities: 4/5
Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $15, with a spa treatment (waived if over $90 in treatments)
Pros: Big, plenty of amenities in the spa, not at all cruisy (is that a pro or a con?), pleasant staff
Cons: Either membership or spa service required
So a couple of months ago I saw a Groupon offer for $39 for a massage and spa pass for Aroma Spa. I'd never heard of the place, but I looked around Yelp and saw that it was a legit Korean spa. And I'm not going to pass up a $39 massage. So I bought it. I finally got around to using the Groupon a couple of weeks ago.
One thing I learned through reading up on this place on Yelp is that you can't just go in and pay for a spa entry; you have to either get a treatment, or get a membership. From what I understand, memberships are over $2000 per year. Uh, I don't go to the spas THAT much! But I had my $39 massage in hand (I think they're regularly $75).
The spa entrance is on the third floor of the building. I wasn't sure if they validated parking so I just found parking on the street. It's also a short (2-block) walk from the Wilshire/Western subway station.
An attendant showed me around, although the tour wasn't all that helpful as he barely spoke English. I found my locker and took off my clothes and looked around the spa. There were three pools: hot, warm, and cold. There was also a steam room, a dry sauna, and a "mud sauna", which was basically the same as the dry sauna (maybe slightly less hot) and had clay on the walls, and smelled a little like clay. There was also an ice sauna. The spa area also had a heated stone floor area for laying down. Back into the locker room area, there was a separate quiet relaxation room with recliners.
There were TV's in the dry and mud saunas. I was actually getting into this Korean soap opera (there were English subtitles) called something like "A Gentleman's Dignity". It was kind of silly. But I couldn't stand to be in the sauna long enough to figure out where the mystery teenager came from, and which of the "Gentlemen" in the show was his father. Still, some of the most interesting Korean TV I've seen! Haha.
The clientele was almost entirely Korean and middle-aged (although the fact that I was there on a Sunday morning may have had something to do with it). I saw one other white guy there when I first got there... he looked familiar; I'm sure I'd seen him at another spa before. But there was no cruising going on at the spa. The saunas and steam room could have been private enough to mess around, but there wasn't anyone there looking for anything. So this is definitely a spa to go to if you're NOT looking for other guys to fool around with.
My massage was great; probably the best massage I've ever had at a Korean spa (I had the "Swedish/Shiatsu combo massage"), although the women walking barefoot on my back still weirds me out whenever it happens.
I never explored the co-ed areas of the spa but apparently they have a full gym and a pool.
Oh, and I read an article recently (within the past few days) by Margaret Cho... She visited Aroma Spa and apparently they asked her to leave because the women in the women's spa were uncomfortable with her tattoos... so yeah, it definitely attracts the super-traditional Koreans.
Aroma Wilshire Center
3680 Wilshire Boulevard (at Serrano Ave)
Los Angeles CA 90010
http://www.aromaresort.com/