49. Sweat in a Koreatown spa
Los Angeles County
If you need to sweat, shiver, shed skin or just mellow out, Koreatown may be calling you. No, not the barbecue joints and karaoke bars, not this time. The spas.
The spas in and near Koreatown offer baths; saunas involving salt, clay, jade and ice; facials; manicures and pedicures; massages; and more. Body scrub? Sure. You’ll feel clean and tender as a piece of lumber that’s just been planed and sanded. A 30-minute session usually costs about $50.
Every spa does things its own way, but nudity in gendersegregated areas is a common feature. Co-ed and family areas are known as jimjilbang, and there’s usually a food option. The Crystal Spa (open daily, $30 a day) serves men, women and children over age 10. The Olympic Spa (closed Wednesdays) serves only women 18 and over. Aroma Spa & Sports includes yoga, aerobics, an Olympic-style swimming pool and a driving range. Wi Spa, a few blocks east of Koreatown on Wilshire, invites families and has a gym, restaurant, computer area, kid zone, an area for sleeping on the floor and a rooftop terrace with shade and misters. (It’s also open around the clock, charging nonmembers $30 per adult.)
Bonus tip: Koreatown, which begins about four blocks west of Wi Spa, was born in the 1970s as Korean immigrants moved in along Olympic and Wilshire boulevards between Vermont and Western avenues. The multiplication of restaurants and bars has transformed it into perhaps the city’s busiest nightlife zone, with heavy participation by college students and 20-somethings. Among restaurants, one dinner favorite is Sun Nong Dan. (If there are at least two of you, get the galbi jjim, short ribs in a spicy stew.) Among bars, you’ll get an oldschool feel from the nautically themed H.M.S. Bounty, which dates to 1962. But for noraebang, or Korean-style karaoke, you’ll need to head elsewhere, maybe (if you’re sticking with an old-school theme) Cafe Brass Monkey.