High-end spas are worlds apart from these wannabes and feature luxurious surroundings, specialty massage and skincare services, and all the amenities, including complimentary hair products, plush robes, and lotions.

As someone who worked for more than 10 years as a massage therapist and so knows a good massage and facial when she experiences one, I set out to indulge at three of Long Beach’s high-end day spas.



If you’re into rewards for hard work, Executive Fitness & Med Spa, opened a year ago Mother’s Day by Lisa and Casey Kammel, is the place for you. On the first floor is a high-energy, fully equipped gym for those with scheduled appointments with personal trainers. Upstairs is another world—quiet, relaxing, and geared to soothe every aching muscle that might have been strained during a workout.

After a brief respite in the reception area, stocked with fresh fruit and ice water with lemon slices, I was treated to an hour-and-a-half customized facial with Rebecca Herrell. “You can go anywhere to have an aromatherapy facial if you just want to relax,” she said, “but I have nine years in the business—and I’ve worked for two plastic surgeons—so I provide treatments that give you noticeable results as well as relaxation.”

For me, Herrell applied a mask of papaya and pineapple enzymes, followed by dermaplaning—a gentle sloughing off of dead skin cells—an added benefit of which is the removal of “peach fuzz,” thereby leaving my skin baby smooth. Herrell then applied hydrating creams and finished with a face, scalp, and hand massage; a collagen-infusion mask; and Vitamin C serum.

Next up was the infinity Sok tub scented with milk, honey, and vanilla. Tiny jets lifted my body so that it floated in the warm water. The room was dark except for the soft underwater lights that changed colors every few seconds, moving from the red of the root chakra through the violet of the crown. I, however, closed my eyes and entered that beautiful place between waking life and dreams. All too soon, massage therapist Erika Pritchard was at hand to wrap me in a towel and help me out of the tub.

Pritchard capped off my day with an hour-and-a-half hot-stone massage. First she drizzled me with warm oil, then placed hot stones under my back, in my hands, and on my forehead. Throughout the massage, she used hot stones to rub my body. She finished with an exquisite wrap, enveloping me with hot, moist towels, then freshly picked lavender and a warm sheet. She pressed my body, allowing the scent of the flowers to permeate my skin. Ah!



The Queen Mary Spa is located in a suite aboard the grand dame of ocean travel. If you have not been aboard lately, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. An every-nook-and-cranny cleaning has resulted in a vessel whose polished floors and wood paneling are as ship-shape as the day she was launched more than seven decades ago.

Office manager Rebecca Rogers is a delight in and of herself. She is one of the most bubbly people I have ever met, and it is worth a phone call just to hear her trill “fantastic.” Her chiropractor-father, Dr. Will Rogers, owns the spa, and her mother, Theresa Rogers, was my massage therapist. The spa has two other therapists, Ghorge Leonte, who gives a sports massage like the one he gave to the Romanian Olympic gymnastics team he once coached, and Janie Becker, who offers raindrop therapy and hormone balancing.

Theresa Rogers led me to a softly lit, butter-cream-colored room with all the accents from the 1930s intact—sconces, built-in Art Deco furniture, push-button light switches, and even foot pedals in the private bathrooms for flushing the loo. The spa truly conveys a sense of stepping back to a time when people spent a week crossing the Atlantic and dressed to the hilt for dinner. Rogers incorporated some unusual moves into her routine, including kneading up the spine and turning my leg to the side to better work my inner thigh.

Aesthetician Cheryl Thompson followed with the royal body polish, buffing my skin with scented salts. She removed most of the granules with warm, moist towels, but then escorted me to a nearby shower and rubbed the remaining crystals from my back. During my facial with Thompson, she repeated positive messages like “You’re lovely” and “I want you to know that the treatment you are about to receive is absolutely loving your body.” And she was absolutely right.



Part Zen and part loft look, Ten Salon and Spa is an eclectic mix of old and new—”just like Long Beach,” said owner Kwanna Gregory. I left the reception area with the larger-than-life Buddha statue, passed the stylists’ stations and the manicure-pedicure chamber, and entered the hushed back rooms of the spa.

The hot towel pressed against my back, the scented eye pillow, the warm towels wrapped about my feet, and the long, firm, slow strokes along the length of my body were unusual and welcome touches that Jenise Smith added to a standard Swedish massage.

Aesthetician Jaclyn Smith then painted me with mocha-scented, hydrating mud; cocooned me with warm, lavender-scented sheets; massaged my scalp and face; and, after 15 minutes, unwrapped me. Then she transported me from heaven to somewhere even better with a Vichy shower. As I lay on my back, Smith first turned on the faucet above my feet and worked her way up, turning on each of seven faucets fastened to a metal bar above me. My face was protected from the spray by a towel. I felt as if I were a newly born creature welcomed to life by a warm rain.

Certainly, my day should have ended with this peak experience, but, no, next up was Kiersty Tarantino’s geranium-and-lavender facial, with herbaltoner- soaked gauze, and, lastly, stylist Jennifer Hill’s magic touch for my seriously mussed-up hair.

Three glorious days at three luxurious spas that have nothing but their name in common with strip-mall “spas.” If you’re looking for pampering and near-out-of-body experiences, nothing but the best will do.




6535 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562.598.7730
thesatorispa.com

1180 Studebaker Ste. H
Long Beach, CA 90815
562.594.8303
mysweeteuphoria.com

3519 E. Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90803
562.433.9665
spasidney.net

203 Glendora Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562.987.4799
salonsoma.com

3946 E. Fourth St.
Long Beach, CA 90814
562.621.1121
ambianceskincare.com