Review: Natura Spa, Koreatown

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

Pros: Clean, unlimited (small) towels, relatively inexpensive
Cons: Small, basically just minimum spa amenities

I've been meaning to check this place out for a while and finally got around to it. It's in the "Wilshire Galleria", which I guess used to be an old department store, but is now a weird little mall that's chopped up into smaller stores. The first time I went there (on a weekend), I took the subway (the Wilshire/Vermont station is only a block away) and the second time (on a weekday) I parked in the lot, which is free with spa validation.

To get to the spa, you have to take the elevator. There aren't any stairs I could find; I usually like to take stairs if I'm only going a floor or two, but it didn't seem like an option. Both times, the front desk staff were friendly. One note... I've been to two different spas on Mondays after work where they didn't have body scrubs available. I guess the scrubbers take Mondays off or something. Just warning you.

So anyway, the spa is small. I mean, similar to East West Spa small. The wet area consists of 7 standup showers, maybe 12 sit-down showers, a steam room, a dry sauna, a warm pool and a cold plunge. And the small body scrub area. And not much room for much else. Outside of the wet area, there's a cooling room (like an ice sauna) and a sleeping area with both recliner chairs and a warm stone floor for sleeping. Oh, and the sleeping area is super dark. The sauna and the steam room are both pretty good size, as is the hot pool.

The clientele both times I went was probably about 80% Asian, presumably straight, so there aren't a whole lot of cruising prospects. But both times I went, there were a few non-Asian guys that seemed interested. The dry sauna and steam room have large glass windows, so unfortunately, there are not many safe places to play, only in the far back corner of the steam room and the sleeping room, but both times I was there both rooms were busy enough that it was nearly impossible to really get anything going. There were even more non-Asian guys that didn't seem to be doing any cruising at all, so really, this isn't the best place to do it. (Even though some of those guys were hot!)

It's a great place for checking out other guys though, as the towels they provide are hand-towel sized, so you can't wrap them around your waist. Everyone was completely nude. Just try not to stare and make guys uncomfortable. ;-)

There's a separate woman's spa, I think, but there's no coed area to hang out if you have a ladyfriend. There's also a restaurant and a gym... I guess you need to being workout stuff for the gym. I think. One thing I liked about the locker room area is that they had ice water with slices of citrus in it, so you got tasty water. :-)

All in all, it's not a bad spa if you're looking for something not so cruisy (like Century) but a little cruisier than Wi (and with no kids running around!)


Natura Spa
3240 Wilshire Blvd, Suite B
Los Angeles, CA 90010
http://natura-spa.com