http://www.wispausa.com/

Christmas eve is a night typically reserved for sitting around the piano singing songs about the birth of Christ, magic reindeer and the jolly old fat man that either brings one gifts or coal, depending on their behavior. While some sit snugly around the fire awaiting the arrival of the fat man, others see December 24th as just another day. If the latter applies to you, and you live in the general Los Angeles area, there are other options available besides sitting in the dark drinking whiskey and wondering if you are alone in this regard. One of these options is the Wi Spa located on 2700 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown LA.

I had the pleasure of attending this spa on the eve of the birth of Christ and herein is the review and recommendation to attend. I’ll break up the review into three parts (to make it both easier to write and read) based on the men’s spa area, the coed area and the scrub treatment. There is, of course a women’s spa area also, but alas, I was not able to go there. If you have been there, please add you experience in the comments.

Men’s Spa
The men’s spa is a clothing optional (although most people opt nude) area that contains tubs, saunas, a scrub area and hygiene areas. Using a brilliant RFID lock that is disguised as a watch with ones locker number on it, one places their street clothes in the locker and heads towards the men’s spa where there are three tubs ranging from cold to medium to incredibly hot. As I was there on Christmas eve, there were not a whole lot of people and migrating from one spa to the other was pretty uneventful, although I will say the cold tub is c.o.l.d. and the incredibly hot tub is just that. The water is not overly chlorinated and the environment is incredibly clean bordering on sterile. The floors are heated (pretty much in the whole building) which allows the spa to have a small zone where one can lay and have their whole body warmed by the ground. One thing to note, if you are shy about nudity, this may not be the place for you.

In addition to the spas, there are two saunas. They are a wet and dry sauna. Personally, I prefer the wet sauna as the dry sauna is almost too hot. In between the two saunas, there is only what (from a chemists perspective) I can call an emergency shower. Upon exiting the sauna, one pulls the lever and freezing water dumps down causing hyperventilation and shortness of breath. If you are into this (which I totally am) it is a very refreshing way to exit a sauna.

For hygienic purposes, there are what I have been calling shaving/scrubbing stations where razors and shaving cream and salts are provided for that ultimate clean. There are also showers with soaps, shampoos and conditioner as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste. Upon exiting the spa, there are hairdryers, gels, tissues, Q-tips and just about everything you would have in your own bathroom to prepare yourself to enter the street world. Technically, I should discuss the scrub I received here, but that is a whole story itself and will be discussed later.

Coed Area
Upon exiting the men’s spa, there is a coed area upstairs where clothing is mandatory and provided by the spa. As one ascends the stairs, there are families lying around with the men in white shirts and the women and children in yellow shirts. There are five temperature controlled rooms as well as a cafeteria and a library of comics (unfortunately all in Korean).

Three of the rooms are kept ca. 130 ºF. The themes for these rooms are “Jade, Clay and Salt.” I would explain these in greater detail but if you’ve made it this far in this review, then you probably have enough of an imagination to figure out what those are like. I’ll give special attention to the clay room because it has a floor made of small clay balls ranging from about 1-5 cm in diameter much like a play room in your average Mc Donald’s or Burger King, except smaller, made of clay and heated and about a foot deep. Upon leaving any of these three rooms, one can go to the super hot room kept at ca. 200 ºF or enter the cold sauna, a.k.a. ice room, which is kept at 60 ºF.

If you are hungry, there is a cafeteria with predominately Korean food (although there is a chicken quesadilla) where one can conveniently charge the food to their account with the RFID watch. I had the inari, a kit-kat and some Gatorade and it was all good.

Body Scrub
Being a total hippy raised in Northern California, I’m pretty accustomed to different massages, salt washes, mud baths, aural cleansing, etc. and this was my first experience with a body scrub and I have to say it was a mixed bag. First of all, the scrub is done in the nude in a small alcove to the side of the men’s spa. I laid on my back with nothing but a towel on my junk. The scrubber, a Korean man in his mid-50’s asked me if I was Israeli. I assumed this was either because of my giant beard or the fact that I was in a spa on Christmas eve. I told him no. Judeo? No. German? No … English? Nope. When he asked what? all I could offer was Californian to which he shrugged and decided it was time to start scrubbing.

The most accurate description I can give is I felt like an old dresser being sanded and primed for a new coat of lacquer. As he was scrubbing me, pills of skin were flying off my body onto the table. The scrubbing of my body was periodically interrupted by what I would call water boarding, but others might call a rinse. I’m pretty sure he was trying to remove my tattoos with his scrubbing and the only truly uncomfortable parts were when he was scrubbing my inner thigh while racking my nards and the instance when he decided to clean the inner areas of my ass checks. Literally, a layer of skin was removed from my entire body and I am one shade whiter (as acknowledged by my girl friend).

Somery
Overall, the experience was pretty amazing. I totally enjoyed the men’s spa and the scrub was a very unique, and completely cleansing, experience. The coed area was very nice and relaxing and the food was quite delicious. When I do move to Los Angeles, I plan on getting a membership and spending most of my down time here as there are also lounges and wireless internet. There are memberships and a day pass is only $25, while the treatments are extra. Did I mention they are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? I didn’t? Well, they are and it is awesome.