Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: The Former 'It' Spa for Hollywood A-Listers Tries to Reclaim Its Glory... It was the place for Hollywood to recede refresh and renew. Or more accurately to drop out dry out and lose those stubborn last 10 pounds before the next project. Burt Lancaster Bob Cummings and Johnny Weissmuller went on hikes here; Marilyn Monroe Elizabeth Taylor Natalie Wood Kim Novak Barbra Streisand and a thousand lesser lights hid out here. Aldous Huxley loved the mud wrap. The place was the Golden Door a 300-acre oasis in the desert hills of San Marcos Calif. less than an hour north of San Diego. In 1959 Deborah Szekely and her husband Edmund a famous philologist and linguist opened a mountain-lodge-meets-Japanese-tea-garden spa here promising restoration and sanctuary. In those early days Golden Door was known as a fat farm says Susie Ellis a former staff member and now chief executive officer of the Global Wellness Institute in Miami. Every woman was given pink warmup suits called pinkies with matching pink turbans. And they all had avocado oil in their hair. It was quite a scene. Szekely in front of the golden door; the original gym. Source: Golden Door Golden Door remained a scene weathering competition from spas such as Canyon Ranch and the Peninsula and drawing visitors like Nicole Kidman Oprah Winfrey and Arianna Huffington. However some tarnish started to appear in 1998 after Deborah Szekely sold the spa to a hotel chain which in 2005 sold it to an investment groupeach owner in turn cutting staff and amenities to help the bottom line. Oddly this downward spiral began right as the U.S. spa movement started booming cutting further into profits. Resort hotels amped up offerings to lure tourists and the day spa once considered a strip-mall afterthought manifested in upscale incarnations giving women who couldnt afford to drink guava juice for a week in the desert a taste of the wellness life. A Turkish bath; Jim Backus Gilligans Islands Thurston Howell III in a weight loss machine;. Source: Golden Door Golden Doors savior was an apostle: Joanne Conway the wife of Carlyle Group LP co-founder and co-CEO Bill Conway Jr. who purchased the property and its 40 guest rooms for $24.8 million in 2012. Since then Conway whod visited 22 times has been on a mission to return the spa to its rightful place. And shes succeeding albeit with a different clientele. Our demographic was people who were here to lose weight says Kathy Van Ness Golden Doors chief operating officer and the former CEO of Diane von Furstenberg Studio LP. Now we get people who are as fit as you could possibly be and theyre exhausted. Their stress levels are so high. Van Ness. Photographer: Chuck Grant for Bloomberg Businessweek To better cater to these exhausted stressed-out people Van Ness doubled down on the idea of Golden Door as a luxury respite and diversified its revenue streams investing in a line of high-end organic beauty products and a farm stand. It needed a complete overhaul she says. It wasnt in need of a brandit was a brand that needed to come back to life. The spas chef prepares dinner from vegetables harvested that morning; a facial in progress. Photographer: Chuck Grant for Bloomberg Businessweek Van Ness spent $15 million doubling the spas grounds opening a boutique and expanding its farm: The majority of the food that ends up on spa-goers plates is cultivated on-site. There are 45 varieties of vegetables (Golden Door just put in 10000 tomato plants) honey from beehives and eggs from a chicken coop. Van Ness says that by 2027 farming could account for 5 percent of total revenue. Of course theres also a pool a salon and access to daily massages as well as a bamboo garden 20 miles of hiking trails and intangibles such as lush groves of orange pear and lemon trees; century-old oaks; and a weathered bell that gongs nightly beckoning kimono-wearing guests inside for dinner. A Watsu massage; orange groves line the propertys entrance; the on-site farm. Photographer: Chuck Grant for Bloomberg Businessweek Occupancy which was 55 percent in the first quarter of 2013 hit 71 percent in the first quarter of this year. A new generation of A-listersAmy Schumer Rooney Mara Lauren Conrad Olivia Wildehas discovered the place and to attract more of them the spa included gift certificates for free weeklong stays (price tag: $8850 each) in the gift bags of this years top Oscar nominees. Conway meanwhile donates all the profits to childrens charities. My decision to buy the Golden Door was never about personal financial gain she says. It was about preserving a special place.
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
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