24 Hour Fitness Hollywood’s Dirty Secret
I was wrong.
But first, let’s focus on the few positives I noticed:
TONS of equipment. Big gym. I doubt you ever have to wait for anything. That’s cool. Good class schedule, too, though I don’t know what the room or instructors are like.
Guess what? That’s all I can tell you about 24h, because it was so nasty, as soon as I could get dressed and cleaned up I got the hell out of there.
Lots and lots of hot eye candy, and even the “straight” guys were glancing over at me a few too many times. Ya know? Uh-huh.
GREAT pool: clean, good temperature, everyone in it was cool and sharing lanes.
And now the crappy parts:
OMFG OMFG OMFG the men’s locker room was GROSS. The floor was filthy, black and sticky in places (let’s not even go there), TUFTS OF HAIR here and there from where someone obviously shaved (and NOT THEIR FACE! EWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!)…. 2 of the 6 showers were broken… and finally, sadly, I’ve been to highway rest stops with cleaner toilets.
The facility is probably worth 4 stars, the parking is 3-4 stars, but GOOD GRACIOUS SAKES ALIVE THE LOCKER ROOM WAS SO ROOTIN’-TOOTIN’ RAUNCHY. And that’s a deal breaker, baby. I don’t want to get any flesh-eating bacteria, m’kay? Is it really that hard to have someone mop the locker room a couple times a day? 15 minutes with a mop could have dramatically changed my life tonight 
Overall: YUCK. Yuck, yuck. Nassssssty. And so fixable! What a freakin’ shame.
GYM RATING — 2 OUT OF 5 STARS
—Eric Mueller has been living in L.A. for 18 years and working out for just about the entire time. When he’s not in the gym, you’ll find him playing with his Acappella radio stations.
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 am
Well, that’s the gym I go to, and the women’s locker room has always been really clean.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I’ve been there–the men’s locker room is disgusting. Deep-down filth.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I had to cringe when I read your description of the men’s locker room. Makes you wonder what else is lurking about. MRSA? (staph…) or other nasty things?
I heard once that the best way to determine if a restaurant kept a clean kitchen is to look at how they maintain their bathrooms. Maybe the true test of a gym’s sanitation is best demonstrated by the locker room?
Thanks, Eric, for revealing the downside of this popular Los Angeles gym. This is the kind of inside information people need before making a big commitment to a gym membership and exactly what PLL is alllll about.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:33 am
I’ve been to all the ‘mass audience’ gyms; Bally’s, 24 Hour and LA Fitness. They all appear to have the same business model of getting a lot of money from members when they join, then hoping they’re not committed to their personal fitness, lose interest in a few months, but keep making their monthly payments.
How’s this for a twist?
LA Fitness’ minimum work-out age is 11 years-old. That’s right. If you go to an LA Fitness in the ‘burbs like Pasadena or Woodland Hills, you’ll have rugrats roaming around the locker room with you’re dropping your drawers. How do you i.d. an 11 or 13 year-old? You don’t. So a lot of parents sneak kids who are obviously younger than 11 because the day care in the gym closes at 9pm.
I get the impression it may be worth the extra money to go to an Equinox or Sports Club where it appears they’re more serious about their members fitness interest. I’ve never been to one of those. What do you think?