A recent LA Times article (referenced at WSJ.com), treats 24-hour gyms as LA’s answer to Manhattan’s 24-hour schedule. Frankly, I miss being able to work out after 4:00 PM on a weekend. While the city sleeps, they’re working out:
Exercise doesn’t belong just to the bright-eyed bushy-tailers who wake pre-dawn to start their workouts, or to the after-work crowd still flush with workday stress. It also belongs to night owls who consider midnight to 3 a.m. prime time. For some, it suits their unorthodox schedules. Los Angeles may not have the 24-hour cachet of Manhattan, but it does have a substantial population of entertainment industry types, club-goers and hospital workers who don’t have a 9-to-5 routine.Others find that the graveyard workout shift is a way to avoid the roar of the crowd. Although only 12% of the population belongs to a health club, at some popular locations it can feel as if 99% of those folks decided to converge at the same time. The interminable wait for machines drives some to seek all-night gyms and some peace and quiet.