73rd and Central Park West

Well depending on how you look at it, being the second most attractive person in the gym can be a GREAT thing!  That was the case today.  In the easily most confusing location I have been to thus far, I was also one of hottest members; not the easiest task.

Normally with a photo like this I would excuse the gym and blame myself.  "Oh I'm sorry the picture sucks, but I was drunk!"  Something along those lines would typically accompany such a quality.  However, this is a completely accurate photo and depicts precisely how I felt about this club: confusing, blurry, and difficult to spot.  No red awning looms over the entrance like I have come to know and love.  Instead you enter and follow a confusing path of stairs to an equally confusing/non-existent "lobby."  I asked the receptionist where the locker room was and even SHE didn't know (she claimed to be new and had to call someone to answer for her).  Not surprising that even the employees can't find their way around this death-trap maze.

Here's why I feel like it is confusing:  there are three floors that are sectioned off into groups. 1) first floor: stretching (yay!), lots of cardio, and random machines placed all around with no strategic planning.  I was surprised I wasn't given a map upon entering.  Down a hall on the left is where you find, well, MORE machines of no particular set.  And - shocker! - down a further, longer, and scarier hall is where the tiny free weight room was located.  Actually, I had given up hope that there even WERE free weights and found them by chance (I thought I was going into the locker room...silly me!).  2) bottom floor is the main studio and 4 or 5 RANDOM treadmills.  I suppose these hidden gems are great for the UWS mommy who just dropped her baby off at infant-yoga and doesn't want to be seen with spit up on her dress in front of the other stroller-pushers on the main floor.  3) top floor.  There are two entrances to the top floor.  One says "employees only" and the other takes you to the women's locker room and smaller stretching area with (another shocker coming up..are you sitting down?) randomly placed machines.

I was expecting a gold-trimmed theme with a nod to the prohibition "old money" times of the luxurious UWS; This is not quite what I found.

It wasn't all awful.  The locker room, while a bit small, was clean and tidy and had towels to offer inside.  Numerous showers (not too busy for a rush hour either), steam room and sauna.  The steam room seemed to be running on borrowed time as it randomly spit out steam at a moderate temperature.  Additionally, I'm sure if I was able to find this location on the street on a regular basis (without the use of a flashlight and GPS if it was after dark) and got to know the layout better, I'd probably find that there were plenty of machine options.

My grade: C-