Westside Way Station

We must've done something right in a past life because we were given the star treatment at Brentwood Retreat, a cozy spa tucked into a courtyard off of busy 26th Street. First up, Chat, the owner, performed the fully customized Retreat Facial. She started with cleansing and exfoliation, then an anti-bacterial cranberry enzyme treatment. Next, she massaged our face, neck and shoulders while steam opened our pores. Extractions (if you have dry skin, she will do a hydration treatment here instead) were followed by an active clay mask and a bacteria-banishing high-frequency treatment. While the mask dried, Martha gave our feet and hands an expert rubdown, then dipped our hands in paraffin wax. Chat finished us off by dousing our face with pure, cleansing oxygen.

Next came the Swedish Miracle Wrap and Alpha Session, meant for weight loss and detoxification, but not for the modest, the claustrophobic or those with hypertension. Martha and Sheila dry-brushed our body and applied active creams, the stronger one to parts we hoped would shrink. We were wrapped in cellophane from shoulders to toes, and helped into the Alpha machine, sort of like a tanning bed, but with our head sticking out. Martha set the timer to 30 minutes, and the temperature to 180 degrees. We enjoyed the heat at first, but it began to feel uncomfortable about halfway through, so Sheila immediately lowered it to a comfortable 130. When the time was up, we were rubbed down with hot oils, then a cooling cream that gave us chills (the good kind).

Note: The Retreat has a few parking spots in the back (where their celebrity clients can slip in unnoticed), but if those are taken, there is two-hour parking on side streets and metered parking on 26th.

Review originally published 11/10/2005.