This is a little gem of a gym and it's found right in the center of the city in the Opera neighborhood. It's what I call a neighborhood gym. It has the look and the feel of one: the staff are friendly and helpful and the members are courteous and chipper, always offering a "hello" or "see you later", and there seems to be a general focus on fitness. I've never gotten that weird sense of competitiveness or pick-up place that you might encounter in other gyms. No one seems overly concerned with fashionable workout clothes, either. The members are there to stay fit and it's refreshing that that's the principal concern. It's also highly motivating.
Another plus, and this is very important in a gym, is that it is clean. And, it smells fresh without smelling overly sanitized. The womens' locker room has ample space with plenty of lockers and sinks (with soap!), showers, mirrors, hair dryers and benches. You can rent a locker on a monthly basis or you can use one free for the day. There's a weight room, of course, and though it's 98% male occupancy, I feel perfectly comfortable working out in there. There's a great variety of weight machines and they are new and well maintained. There's a stretch room with mats and one of those giant rubber balls. And, my favorite, the music video room. Here is where my gym buddies, Beyonce, Gaga and JLo help motivate me to burn, baby, burn. And there are 6 nice elliptical machines, 6 modern running machines with incline, a couple of stationary bikes, a small Stairmaster and two tvs permanently set to music video stations on mute (whew!). 4 on the floor blares through the overhead speakers, but mostly everyone is sweating it out to their own tunes while either reading or trying to count the number of edits in an average pop video.
I have yet to check out the classes that they offer. There are two different rooms where they hold aerobic, step, pilates, kickboxing, and yoga classes. There's also a pool, but it's tiny. It looks nice and clean and people and kids use it, but you can't get much of a workout doing laps. Smallness aside, it's a nice gym. You can sign up for a month, 3 months or for a year, and the prices are very reasonable. read more