Century now open 24 Hours?

I was at Century Spa today and saw a sign on my way in saying that they're now open 24 hours on the weekends. (As of June 1.) I had meant to take a second look on my way out but completely forgot until after I'd left.

Seems kind of odd to have a 24-hour spa when the sleeping room is permanently closed. Grr.

Anyone been there overnight? Any reports?

And on a tangent, what do I have to do to get guys to stop wearing towels? I swear, Century is the only Korean spa where guys cover up.

Review: Lions Spa, Mid City

Amenities: 2/5

Cruisiness: 3/5

Price: $15 

Pros: Only 15 bucks, easy parking, quiet

Cons: Kinda rude staff, stingy with the towels, cheap decor, three-hour limit

Sorry for the hiatus. I just haven't visited spas much lately, and when I do, I'm often more interested in going to ones that I know I like, rather than going to ones only to review. So anyway, I had some business to do in the area this afternoon, so I decided to stop at a spa. I was going to head to another one, but decided, nah, I need to come up with new material for the blog. So here we are.

Lions Spa isn't really in Koreatown; it's actually more like Mid-City area... I don't really consider anything west of Crenshaw to be Koreatown. The place is rather ugly and rundown-looking from the outside, but they have a parking lot in the back. 

When I got there, there wasn't anyone at the front desk... I guess she was in the bathroom or something. I waited a couple of minutes and she finally came out. I gave her my $15 and pretty much the only thing she said to me was telling me of the 3-hour limit. Seemed kind of rude to me. I mean, I know Century has a time limit policy (at least it's on their signs) but I've often exceeded it and nobody's ever said anything to me about it. She handed me a robe and a couple of threadbare towels. Not that I really expect fancy towels in these places.

The locker key is on a bracelet. Unlike many of the spas I've reviewed, where there's an electronic key, this bracelet has a metal key and a separate number charm to tell you your locker number. Which results in you sounding like freakin' jingle bells when you're walking around the place (especially if you're wearing the key on your leg). The locker doors are a light-colored wood that is not only a bit worn, but there's really nothing to grab onto, making opening the locker doors kind of annoying. 

The sauna area has just the basics (sauna, steam, hot whirlpool and cold pool), plus another "cool pool"... more like a heated swimming pool temperature. I actually really like this pool; it's a great temperature to cool yourself off without freezing your balls off. The hot whirlpool was a nice temperature too. 

The sauna was a fairly comfortable temperature (for a sauna)... I liked it, although I'm sure a lot of people would complain that it's not hot enough. The steam room was also fine, temperature wise. It was a little uncomfortably hot when the steam was actually going, but not too bad. In fact, my biggest complaint is the sound of the steam itself... it's LOUD. Seriously, when the steam shut off, my ears were ringing slightly.

Upstairs, there's a relaxation room (with like 20 recliners) and an "Onyx Room" with floor mats on a slightly heated floor. There's no restaurant or Jim Jil Bang; it's men only.

I've heard people describe this place as dirty or dingy...  I don't really agree that it's dirty, but I can sort of see where they're coming from. Instead of stone tile finishes like we see at other spas, Lions Spa's walls are tiled with cheap ceramic tiles (with printed-on faux-textures) that they probably got on sale at Home Depot. So the place just feels kind of down-and-out.

Another reason why this place feels so down and out is the clientele. I just got this creepy vibe from the place and the people. There was hardly anyone there... probably less than 10 guys total. Almost immediately after arriving in the spa, I sat down in the sauna and this guy (who I was not at all attracted to) immediately introduced himself and complemented my dick. Like, seriously? Can't he at least establish that I'm NOT INTERESTED before sexually harassing me?

There was one guy who was kind of attractive, and we did establish mutual interest. We ended up going upstairs to the Onyx Room... didn't do much there, just started stroking it a bit. But we kept getting interrupted by this middle-aged guy... it's pretty easy to hear people coming in, so we'd cover up when he came in. But he'd come in, stand right in front of us, cock out and hard, and stare at us for a minute or so. The two of us would do everything we could to ignore the creep (and we weren't doing anything sexual when he was there), but he just wouldn't get the message that we WEREN'T INTERESTED. Then he'd leave for a couple of minutes, and then come back and STARE at us again. It was seriously creepy and pathetic. 

So, ugh. Maybe some guys are into that, but I say just leave Lions Spa to the creepy guys.

Lions Spa

4551 W Pico Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90019

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/

Review: Wi Spa, Koreatown

Amenities: 3.5/5

Cruisiness: 1/5

Price: $15 (sauna only), $25 (includes Jim Jil Bang)... but there are specials all the time.

Pros: Nice clean facility, open 24 hours, large sauna area, plenty of towels

Cons: Valet parking (I HATE valet), kids running around

Wi Spa is probably the most popular Korean spa in Los Angeles. The facility itself is huge... even the locker room is like a maze. But one of the reasons for its popularity is the huge Jim Jil Bang, which is always bustling with couples and families. 

But I'm not here to discuss the Jim Jil Bang. So, let me get down to business on the men's spa. As I said before, the locker room is huge. And so is the rest of the spa. While the men's spa area doesn't have the multitude of saunas that Century Spa has, the pools and saunas they do have are all pretty large. They have three pools (hot, warm and cold) and a dry sauna and steam room. They also have an area with a warmed floor to rest... the experience is kind of like the clay sauna at Century Spa, but it's out in the open, not in an enclosed room. 

One big plus for me is that the steam room manages to stay fairly consistent, temperature-wise. At other spas, the steam rooms generate steam until the temperature reaches unbearable levels, then the steam shuts off and the room cools to be more bearable; then the steam kicks in again. At Wi Spa, the steam room somehow manages to stay steady... the steam does kick on and off, but it never gets too hot or too cool. It's nice.  The warm pool is also a great temperature... warm enough that you couldn't sit in there all day, but not unbearably hot. (The hot pool, on the other hand, I can only stand for a few minutes)  

There's also a relaxation area and a sleeping area, both with dozens of recliners. The only difference between the two area is that the sleeping area doesn't have a TV. (The TV is muted in the relaxation area though)... both area are busy though... I was in the sleeping room last night, and there were probably a dozen guys in there, sleeping. 

However, both times I've been there, there has been zero cruising vibe. And it's not that there aren't gay guys there... my gaydar works pretty well, and I was sensing a lot of guy guys. And a lot of very attractive guys too, all naked (not nearly as much covering up as at Century Spa). It's just that (1) it seems like all the gay guys are there with buddies or boyfriends or whatever; (2) the gays are generally outnumbered by straight guys (both Korean and not); (3) there's enough of a crowd that there's no opportunity to be alone anywhere; and (4) there are kids there.

Wait, kids? Yep. The first time I went (on a weekend afternoon) there were tons of (mostly) preteen kids. I think that, in general, fathers are supposed to stay with their kids, but the kids I saw seemed to be pretty much unsupervised, to the point of being annoying occasionally. I mean, I think it's kind of cool to expose kids to nudism and make them comfortable with their own bodies. But at least make sure they behave! (e.g. swimming laps in the warm pool is unacceptable)

But all in all, it's a nice spa, and (other than the kids) perfect for those who want to visit a spa without the cruisiness.

Wi Spa

2700 Wilshire Boulevard (at Rampart)
Los Angeles, CA 90057

http://www.wispausa.com/

Century Spa today

I just got back from Century Spa... damn, there were a lot of hot naked guys there today.

Review: Crystal Spa, Koreatown

Amenities: 2.5/5
Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $30 (includes Jim Jil Bang)


Pros: Quiet, clean, Aveda products in the spa
Cons: More expensive than most other spas, only the basic spa features.


A friend of mine texted me a few weeks ago saying he had heard of a relatively new spa that was really nice, and asked if I wanted to join. So I met him there and checked out the spa... and while it was nice hanging out with my buddy, I was disappointed in the spa itself.


The men's spa only has a sauna, steam room, whirlpool and cold plunge. It's fairly small, but there were so few people there that it never felt crowded. The sauna was a little hotter than is normally my liking, but my friend likes it hot so he enjoyed it. The spa area is laid out sort of linearly; once you leave the locker room you pass the showers first, then down a hallway past the steam room, then up a short flight of stairs to the sauna and pools.  


Because you walk right past the steam room to get to anything else, and there's a large window there, there's no opportunity for playing... but the place is so dead that it's unlikely you'll meet anyone to cruise with anyway... other than me and my friend, I don't think anyone (only 3 other people when I was there) in there was gay.


The showers and sink area are equipped with Aveda products, which is nice. But it doesn't justify, in my opinion, the extra money it costs to get in. 


The spa is on the third floor of the City Center shopping mall... I had trouble finding the place when I got there; the mall doesn't do a good job of providing directories of the place. There's validated parking in the mall. 


Crystal Spa
3500 W. 6th St, Suite 321 (@ Mariposa... one block from the Wilshire/Normandie subway station)
Los Angeles, CA 90020
http://crystalspala.com/

Shoutout!

My original inspiration for starting this blog was my accidentally stumbling upon a similar blog covering the many day spas of Las Vegas. The blog is here: http://mensspaguide.blogspot.com. Worth checking out if you're headed to Vegas. And despite the similarity in URLs, I came up with mine before realizing the similarity to the Vegas blog's.... it was completely random, honest!

I like visiting a spa at least a couple of times before typing out a review, but I'm hosting an out-of-town guest for the next week, so I won't be able to visit any spas again for a few days. I do have one spa in mind that I may type up a review for (mostly because I don't intend to visit it a second time... you'll have to wait for the review to understand why!) but I might be kind of busy, so you'll have to live with what I've typed up so far.

And, is anyone reading this? I'd appreciate a comment or two!