The front lobby of Heimat, the new private health club opening in Hollywood on June 29, feels like a home away from home.
The walls are adorned with floral wallpaper, caramel-leather couches, and flea- market tchotchkes. The credenza is from 1975. The large black fireplace burning at the early morning hour seems out of place for June in Los Angeles, but ’60s soul music is always right, so you decide to go with it.
You can leave the lobby and walk through a set of silently sliding doors. The cavernous chambers of a former Cadillac plant are filled with treadmills.
There are studios specifically built for reformer Pilates, hot yoga underneath the ceiling, a huge space for group Kinesis classes, boxing, cycling, dance, and the popular TRX workout that involves hanging from the ceiling.
Chef Michael Mina has a restaurant on the roof that overlooks the pool and the Hollywood Hills. Sebastian Schoepe says there is a bar that opens at 10 a.m. and a hamburger that is worth the calories. The 160 seat space is open to the public from 7 a.m. to midnight and Heimat members get priority seating in the intimate booths, bar, and tables.
Heimat might include enough workout options to satisfy the world. The group's newest health house should not have the word "gym" in it's references.
According to Schoepe, most gym are about sacrifice and discipline. We don't have that burger. You can go out on a Friday night and have a good time. You go to the gym on Saturday. It might not be your best workout, but you have to have both.
Heimat, which is the German term for a sense of belonging, has additional outposts planned for Paris, San Francisco.
During its soft-open launch, I was bombarded with art from Mr. Brainwash and Kate Bush and locker rooms with Dyson dryers.
I wasn't sure why LA needed another gym, especially when the city's abundant hiking trails, soundbath studios, and Crossfit boxes seem to do the trick for many of my health enthusiasts. Heimat feels more like a Soho House with better food and better facilities than a gym because of its popularity.
It is difficult to meet people in LA, but Schoepe hopes that this will create an environment where you bond over a glass of wine or a class. In the morning, bring your laptop, work a bit, get your workout in, chill by the pool in the afternoon, have a lunch meeting, invite your friends for dinner and have a glass of wine by the fire pit. It's a good place to be. It should make you feel at home.
There is a house filled with people.
For people under 25 years old, the membership fee is $200 a month. The fee does not include parking, massage and beauty treatments, private training, or the restaurant and bar.
Schoepe isn't forthcoming on how potential members are evaluated, besides the cursory glance over social media channels, but emphasizes they'll be more adult and cosmopolitan than those at DJ-heavy John Reed Fitness The demand has been very high, according to a Heimat spokesman.
The upper-end feel of the club will be important to differentiating itself from the rest.
Heimat's overbudget opening has been in the works for at least twice as long. It has been a pain to hire, but no more so than for any other provider. The club will have a staff of 200 that includes restaurant attendants, trainers, aestheticians, yoga guides, valets, and hospitality specialists.
The Heimat team believes that instead of killing the need to join a fitness club, coronaviruses made it worse.
People didn't notice that working out is more than just a physical activity. It is possible to work out at home, but you have to work out with other people. If the environment is right, you can go for another 10 minutes on the treadmill.
In one of the weight rooms with Jordan Taylor, one of Heimat's personal trainers, I saw people doing bench presses and free weights in the mirror. They were more toned and fit than oiled up. The artwork by Jessalyn Brooks and Sophia Dherbecourt was6753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531675316753167531 Private training for members hadn't started when I visited the space.
We were impressed by the quality of the club's design, like the refurbished original multipane windows and multitiered chandeliers strung with large globe lights throughout. The entrance to parking was located behind the front of the building in a clean, wide-open lane, which was marked as the valet spot.
I was surprised by how well the walls between each room and floor were made of. I felt like I could consolidate my fitness and social club memberships here.
According to Market Research, the fitness industry will be worth $434 billion by the year's end.
The report stated that health club membership and usage trends indicated sustainable growth. Recovering from the current downturn will be difficult but the health club industry has shown resilience.
Schoepe handed me a brown paper bag as I walked back into the lobby after taking a few selfies.
He said it was the best he had had.
Banana bread isn't something I like. But ensconced in that wallpaper-lined living room, wonderfully relaxed after all those crunches, that little loaf of carbo-indulgence felt about right.
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