Review: Beverly Hot Springs, Koreatown

Amenities: 3.5/5

Cruisiness: 2.5/5

Price: $30 weekdays, $40 weekends

Pros: Fed by a natural hot spring, nice facility, combo locks so no need for a key
Cons: Expensive, limited towels, tiny steam room, 9pm closing time

Finally, a new review!

I felt like going to a spa today so I decided to check out one that I'd heard about for years but never got around to checking out until now: Beverly Hot Springs.

It's unlike any other Korean spa I've been to. You enter and are greeted by this 2-story waterfall, surrounded by plants. I went to the front desk and got my entry: $30 for the spa, which is way more expensive than almost any other K-Town spa, and it's $40 on the weekends!

After paying, to get to the men's spa, you take the elevator to the second floor, and the attendant gives you two large towels.  (I actually don't know if they'd give me more towels; I never asked.) The towels are probably way larger than they really need to be, to be honest (practically bath sheet size), but the quality of the towels is nice.  You can pick whichever locker you want; instead of being issued keys, the locks are all combination; you set the combo to whatever 4-digit number you choose. Setting the lock was slightly confusing, but I figured it out. The lockers are huge; they're full height, rather than half-height top/bottom lockers one sees in most locker rooms.

The spa itself is really nice: stone walls, and a waterfall surrounded by green plants at the end of the hot pool. It was pretty clean. My biggest complaint about the spa area in general was that it was so dark! There was very little lighting in the main room, and it was actually difficult for my eyes to adjust after being in the bright lights of the locker room or steam room.

There are four standing showers, but they're kind of scattered: two next to each other, a third one across from them, and a fourth one on the other side of the wall. Additionally, there are three seated showers.

The centerpiece of the spa is the warm pool, which is spring-fed. The pool is huge. The posted occupancy limit of the pool  is 20 people, but I think it could at least accommodate twice that. The minerals in the spring water actually have a noticeable effect... my skin felt super soft after soaking in it. The temperature was pretty close to ideal for me. Another great thing about the warm pool was that the edge of the pool, along the back wall, had a slanted edge that was just perfect for leaning my head back.

Next to the warm pool was the cold plunge. It was also a pretty good temperature. It was just so damn dark in the corner where the pool was. Also, there was a stone sculpture sticking out of the corner that I didn't notice and I hit my head on it.

The steam room was also a pretty good temperature. If it were up to me, I maybe would have lowered the temperature by a couple of degrees, but it wasn't bad at all. The problem was that it was small. It seemed almost crowded when only three people were in there... it probably could have accommodated a fourth, but no more than that. Fortunately, it wasn't too busy on a Tuesday night so we never had to test it out.

The dry sauna was not nearly as hot as I'm used to in most spas. The thermometer in the sauna said it was around 135 degrees. That said, I wasn't complaining... I thought it actually felt great, and I was able to spend more time in there as a result. The sauna was larger than the steam room, with three tiers of benches with a slanted backrest on the top tier. It was great for relaxing, but it wouldn't surprise me if some people complained about it not being hot enough.

There's also a relaxation area. I hesitate to call it a sleeping room because (1) the beds are more like non-adjustable lounge chairs (with foam padding, so they're relatively comfortable), and (2) the noise from the waterfall is loud enough to not be able to relax very much. I would have liked a lie-flat option for resting. 

The spa was never really crowded when I was there... when I got there there were maybe 4 or 5 other men there, mostly older men (generally Caucasian) and I really wasn't getting a gay vibe from them. But there was a younger guy (maybe mid 30s?) who was definitely interested. As my time  went by, the older guys left and the crowd got noticeably younger (and pretty good looking). There were a couple of guys there who seemed like they were on the down-low, like they kind of wanted to play but were too afraid to try.

And that's the biggest issue with the spa if you're looking to play around... there really isn't anyplace to do it. Both the sauna and the steam room have glass doors, and the steam room is small enough that you can't get far enough back in the steam to conceal any "activities" you might be interested in doing.

That said, I actually really liked this spa. The magic waters actually did feel great on my skin, and I liked the decor... felt way more "natural" than most Koreatown spas. I just wish it were cheaper. I'd actually planned on visiting twice, once on a weekday and once on a weekend, before doing my review. But I can't see myself paying $40 for a spa entry. Although the body scrub, at $60, includes the spa entry, so that might make more sense on the weekend. (still pricier than most other spas though!)

If the price were lower, it would definitely be among my favorite spas. But yeah, at twice (or more!) the price of most other spas, I probably won't visit here too much. 

Beverly Hot Springs
308 N Oxford Ave (at Beverly, 1 block east of Western)
Los Angeles, CA 90004
http://www.beverlyhotsprings.com/