Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $25
Pros: Big, not crowded (at least not yet), unlimited small towels, open 24 hours
Cons: Pricier than most, valet parking (not a fan of valets), the spa jet timers
There's actually a new Korean spa in town! I'd heard about it from several different users, who also alerted me to a Groupon for admission to the spa. So, Groupon deal in hand, I went to check it out.
The location is odd, as it isn't actually in Koreatown... it's more in the Westlake neighborhood, between Koreatown and Downtown LA... not really an area that inspires confidence. But, like much of Los Angeles, the Westlake neighborhood is improving, and only time will tell if Spa Palace's investment will prove to have a great payoff.
I pulled into the parking lot (under the building) and gave my keys to the valet. I hate valets with a passion, but I just dealt with it. (On my second visit, I parked at a metered space on the street). From there, I took the elevator to reception on the third floor.
The lobby is spacious and fancy-looking. The front desk receptionist was very friendly, gave me my key and Jimjilbang uniform, and pointed me to the turnstile to the men's entrance. Yeah, turnstile... ok, weird. The admission price is $25, just like Wi Spa, only there's no option for just using the men's area for a discount.
At some point I found out that Spa Palace is owned by the people that own CJ Spa in Northridge (and formerly Hermosa Beach), and, in fact, the manager of Spa Palace (I think he's a manager) is the former manager of CJ Hermosa.
The locker room is huge... probably similar in number of lockers to Wi Spa but instead of the mazelike distribution of lockers at Wi, the locker room here is longer and more organized, and it's much easier to find your locker.
Once I'm naked I go into the spa area... there are a LOT of standing showers... maybe 20 or so. I don't think I've seen that many at any other spa. Glass dividers between the showers come out 18 inches or so from the wall, so not really any privacy when showering... which is fine with me. There were also 6 or 7 seated showers. Typical body wash/shampoo/conditioner selection. Unlimited small towels available by the showers.
The whole spa area is very nice, and clean, and you can tell they put a lot of money and effort to make it look good. I really liked it a lot.
The tubs are on an elevated platform, maybe 5 or 6 feet above the floor level of the showers. There are three tubs: the cold tub, the small warm tub, and the large slightly warmer tub. I detected a slight difference of temperatures between the two warm tubs, but not really a significant difference. There are also windows along the back wall of the tub area that are basically at cock level. They seem to be heavily tinted; it looked like dusk outside when, in fact, the sun was still shining... so I doubt anyone from the outside can see in, even at night. On the right side of the tub level is a television (which was off on my second visit) and the timer dials for the tub jets.
...which brings me to my biggest annoyance of the tubs: the timer dials only go up to five minutes. If I want to sit in a whirlpool for a while, I have to keep getting up and walking to the end of the tub level to turn the dial every five minutes. I imagine it wouldn't be that expensive to replace it with a 20-minute dial... so please, if anyone working there reads this, replace those timers!
Back down to the shower level, there is also a steam room and a dry sauna. The steam room and the sauna were ok temperature-wise; I would have preferred the steam to be a couple of degrees cooler but it really wasn't bad.
Next to the sauna is the scrub area, which it its own little room with two scrub tables, and a divider between the two tables. There's no door between the scrub area and the spa area, so it's not really all that private... not that I have a problem with that.
The number of guys in the spa area ranged from nobody but me to maybe 8 people, so it was never that crowded. Like Wi, I saw some kids there, but not too many. Crowd seemed to be about 50% Asian (presumably straight) and 50% non-Asian (I'd guess at least half of those gay, but a few were definitely straight)
Also off the locker room are a relaxation area with recliners and a TV, and a sleeping room with a warm marble floor. The first time I was there the sleeping room had no lights on, and the second time it was quite well illuminated.
I also checked out the jimjilbang (coed area): very similar to Wi Spa... multiple saunas (which were all hotter than I like, to be honest), restaurant (and the food, to be honest, looked great, but I didn't actually try any.) and open space to relax. The first time I was there, on a weeknight, the coed area was practically deserted, but the second time I was there, on a Friday night, there were probably twenty or so people up there.
However, the first time I was there, I almost didn't find the jimjilbang ... it was down the passage behind the barber area. However, by my second visit they had put up signs pointing the way (and warning not to be naked if you go down there!)
The best and coolest thing about the whole spa, though, and what makes it unique, is if you take the elevator from the jimjilbang down to the first floor... there's a HUGE indoor swimming pool (well, it's actually open to the outside but it's covered) and a few hot tubs scattered around. You're supposed to bring your own swimwear if you want to use these, though. But it's great for people who want to sit in a jacuzzi with a person of the opposite sex. But the pool is big enough to swim laps if you want to. I found out that they're also planning on having a bar selling drinks (possibly alcoholic) and snacks. I could see the pool area becoming very popular once that happens. On my two visits, the pool area had maybe five other people in it one time, and the other time the entire pool area was completely empty. My only complaint about the pool area is that the lighting could be better... it just felt like being in a cave down there.
So, with all of that information, you're probably wondering how much "fun" you can have there. While I got some discreet cruisy vibes while I was there (the one bearded otter who gave me a subtle smile in the locker room as he left last week... give me a call... ;-) ) there's really no place to play. The sauna and steam room have too many windows and they're right next to the scrub tables so there's always staff around there. You can play footsie in the hot tubs, but with the 5-minute timer you can't really do anything more under the water. Maybe the sleeping room but honestly I wouldn't recommend it. With the occasional kids there, I'd just say if you're looking for action, go somewhere else. But, like Wi, there's great eye candy potential. (I had some nice views when I was there).
I can only imagine it's going to get a lot more popular as word of mouth spreads; hopefully it won't become impossibly crowded.
Oh, one more thing... on leaving, I was faced with the turnstiles again. You give them your locker key, they scan it (and, presumably, make sure you don't owe money from the restaurant or whatever) and give you a card so you can put it in the slot so you can go through the turnstile. Why they can't just press a button to unlock the turnstile for you, I don't know. It's strange.
But, all in all, as of this writing, it's near the top of my list of favorite spas... just wish it was less expensive.
Spa Palace
620 S. Union Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(between 6th St. and Wilshire - Enter the parking lot on Shatto)
http://spapalacela.com/