Not far from Los Angeles’ infamous sprawl and bumper-to-bumper traffic, you can still find more than one beach oasis with a surfs-up attitude and a sparkling selection of spa treatments that will have you saying “I’m ready, Mr. DeMille,” before you know it.
Casa Del Mar
If you’re looking for a dose of beachside, star-level elegance, you’ll find it at the Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. Once home to the Pritikin Longevity Center, this luxurious, historic oceanside resort was one of the original legendary California beach clubs.
Today, it offers a hip, Casablanca-esque ambience, private outdoor massage cabanas, and a variety of spa services including seaweed wraps, facials, manicures, and pedicures. The resort also offers a customized Exclusive Spa Retreat Package that begins with a personal assessment by fitness expert Michael Thurmond. Thurmond then designs a body blueprint focusing on individual health goals, daily training, and spa cuisine.
Executive chef Quinn Hatfield, a California native and veteran of New York’s acclaimed Bouley and Jean Georges restaurants, oversees the menu at Oceanside. Hatfield’s healthy, signature selections include carrot ginger soup, slow cooked salmon with roasted apple and endive, and poached organic chicken breast with mushroom ragout, butternut squash, and barley.
As for entertainment, the Casa Del Mar is cleverly positioned just a short stroll from the Santa Monica Pier and within walking distance of an excellent array of shops along the Third Street Promenade.
Debra Bokur
Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Club
A little further south, in the village of Huntington Beach where surf culture is alive and well and board-carrying locals jog across the Pacific Coast Highway between cars are a fact of life, sits the Hyatt Regency’s new Pacific Waters Spa. Facing the ocean, the resort’s medley of earth tones and natural surfaces resemble the ripple of the sea floor. Tile mosaics throughout the property suggest the movement of waves and water.
One of only a handful of U.S. spas to offer genuine Thalasso Hydrotherapy, the resort pipes purified seawater directly into the spa. A private bathing oasis provides you with ample space to stretch and soak and a multitude of adjustments that allow you to customize the flow from the jets and waterfall features. You’ll be served a cool elixir to sip, along with chilled cucumber slices. Follow up your saltwater experience with a Pacific Rim Vital Force Asian Massage, which features elements of Thai, Shiatsu, and deep tissue massage with hand-held rocks.
Special touches include the spa’s signature orange and vanilla bath products, ornate bowls on the floor beneath the face cradles (so you can gaze at something more interesting than your therapist’s feet), and genuine beach sand beneath the glaze of the wall tiles in the treatment rooms. Tea is served not only with lemon and honey, but also with a fresh stick of cinnamon on the tray.
Debra Bokur
Montage Resort & Spa
Just south of Huntington in Laguna Beach another luxury property has recently emerged, and one even the locals seem to love. While lounging at Montage Resort & Spa’s poolside bar, you’ll see tourists, celebrities, and local patrons enjoying the breathtaking coastal view seen from the bluffs.
The 262 rooms at Montage Resort reflect the resort’s cozy craftsman feel with dark simple furniture and unique California artwork; added luxuries such as 400-thread-count bed linens, marble bathrooms, and ocean views make Montage Resort the perfect weekend getaway.
The spa, located on the bluffs above the beach, offers unique treatments that focus on the healing powers of water. One of their signature treatments, Elements of Life, is a wonderful combination of therapies designed to cleanse your body inside and out. You begin the session with an application of warm ocean mud designed to detox the skin. The mud is then gently removed via a long soak in a rose and jasmine-scented bath. While you’re soaking, the therapist gives you a mini-Watsu, massaging your neck, shoulders, and head until you’re unable to climb out of the tub without help. Before emerging from the tub a warm hair mask is applied to your scalp for nourishment. But you’re not done. The treatment ends with you drooling on the table while the therapist exfoliates your skin with a fresh citrus preparation and finishes with a brief massage.
There are three dining options at Montage Resort: Studio, the up-scale dining experience; Mosaic Bar & Grille for poolside dining; and The Loft for a casual dining experience. Don’t miss the dinner at Studio with Executive Chef James Boyce preparing such exquisite dishes as grilled Maine Diver sea scallops with black olives and cornichon ravioli, shaved Perigord truffle risotto, or the dark chocolate souffle. If you have the time, opt for the Chef’s Tasting Menu where you will treat your tastebuds to an extraordinary night out.
Melissa Scott
address book
Casa del Mar, Santa Monica
Casa del Mar oceanfront rooms begin at $595 per night; non ocean views $370; 60-minute massage, $105
(310) 581-5503, www.hotelcasadelmar.com
Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Club, Huntington Beach
Rates begin at $350 per night; 25-minute Thalasso Hydrotherapy, $40
(714) 845-4772, http://huntingtonbeach.hyatt.com
Montage Resort & Spa, Laguna Beach
Rooms start at $540 during the summer/ fall season. 125-minute Elements of Life, $315
(866) 271-6953, www.montagelagunabeach.com
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