The Chicago area’s premier Korean spa is located in an unassuming strip mall in Niles, next to a Super H Mart and across from a Subway, a dental clinic, and a handful of other typical suburban businesses. The entrance to King Spa & Sauna is flanked by stone lions gazing over a dreary landscape of parking lots and an apartment complex. But through its doors and down a long hallway with mirrors, fake plants, and canvas prints of Audrey Hepburn is an alternate dimension.
One thing that you will be judged upon is not following the rules, so here they are: No bathing suits or outside towels in the baths—the spa provides small orange towels for drying or modesty as one sees fit. You must shower before entering the pools and steam room. Tie up your hair if it’s long. After the steam room, shower again before reentering the pools. One of the central thrills of the spa is the experience of sudden temperature contrast, and it can be tempting to jump straight into the cold pool after heating to your limit in the steam room. Since you have to rinse off before doing so anyway, I recommend just blasting the cold shower and letting the endorphins course through your body.
I saved the “Base Room” for last. It’s advertised as a special attraction, one offered exclusively at spas in Chicago, Dallas, and Japan, and “not even available to South Korea.” Patrons who’ve paid for the experience receive a special green towel before entry. Inside, it’s dim; there are no sounds. The scalding walkway between the stones on which people lie is paved with large pebbles and covered with rugs. A little smoke fountain erupts silently at the center of the space. The wall is inlaid with charcoal pieces and rocks in the shapes of tree trunks. One side of the room is 140F, the other 130F. I picked the cooler side, laid down on my towel, and noted the time on a big round clock.
