The 7,000-square-foot Ocean Spa & Fitness has just reopened at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, and now provides a relaxing dose of eco-friendliness to go with its revamped facilities and salty air. Plus One Health Management oversaw the redesign and manages the spa, which means you're probably in good hands -- the same company has spent 13 years creating such oases for Merrill Lynch, Trump, and Google.

The greenness comes courtesy of the gym rebuilt with Ecoresin panels made from 40-percent post-industrial recycled resin, Armstrong sustainable ceiling tiles, Mondo recycled rubber floors, and Shaw carpet with Cradle to Cradle Certification. Even the furnishings do their part, coming from reclaimed wood.

As for the spa itself, the treatments have also gone into the revamp shop and come out more verdure. Essential oils from Red Flower are certified organic and come in numerous scents, from Indian jasmine to Icelandic moonflower. Skincare is provided by Pevonia Botanica, all of whose products are paraben- and chemical-free. Our favorite is the Beachcomber, with heated tiger clam shells used to knead away any ill you might have brought in with you. It's the best use of a clam since, well, chowder.

The extensive spa menu is filled out with the usual suspects: manicures, pedicures, a full-service hair salon with cutting, coloring and styling services, dry saunas, and eucalyptus steam rooms. But if you're committed to things of iron and muscles of steel, the gym's cardio equipment comes from Technogym, networked Expresso bikes allow for side-by-side "racing," and the group fitness studio is a playpen for adults that offers all of the c'est necessaire twisty-bendy classes.

And you don't need to be a hotel guest to take advantage; locals can join sign up for memberships, with terms as short as three months. Once you do, you'll get discounts on spa services and restaurant visits, and you can avail yourself of the guests-and-members-only pool deck whenever you wish. Put that all together -- a masseur's hands, poolside cocktails, and ocean air -- and it doesn't get more environmentally friendly than that, does it?



[Source: Loews]

The popular Fred Segal store in Santa Monica, California will be the setting for a new reality series on the Bravo channel. The show will document the daily drama at the store covering the fashion-centered lives of the sales team as they cater to the upper class shoppers. The show will likely feature cameos by a few celebrities who make their way into the store for a little shopping. Fred Segal opened the Santa Monica store in 1985 and the store is still owned by the Segal family who will appear on the show.

This summer you don't have to be rich or well-connected to enjoy a Santa Monica beach house. The Annenberg Foundation and City of Santa Monica are opening the Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach.

The beach facility will open to the public beginning April 26th, 2009 and on April 25 there will be a public opening celebration that includes a "First Splash" performance from "O™" by Cirque du Soleil in the house's historic tiled pool.

The Annenberg Community Beach House revitalizes a five-acre beachfront property. The house was originally built by William Randolph Hearst in the late 1920's for actress Marion Davies. In the late 1940s, the property was sold and become Oceanhouse, a hotel owned by Joseph Drown who eventually demolished the large mansion but kept the original guest house and pool as well as cabanas and a locker building. It was later sold to the State of California and leased for thirty years to the Sand and Sea Club until the City of Santa Monica assumed responsibility for the site in 1989. A $27.5 million Annenberg Foundation grant led to the site's rehabilitation.

The space now includes volleyball and beach tennis courts, event and meeting space, the Back on the Beach Café, children's play areas, gardens and an accessible boardwalk extending westward toward the ocean. A pool pass will cost $10 for adults, $4 for children and no membership is required.

Last week, we looked at a home in Santa Monica, California that was pretty charmless but this week I've got something in Santa Monica more to my (and I hope your) liking, It's the home of actress Julianna Margulies, the curly-haired brunette actress best known for her role on the NBC drama "ER." Her home is currently rented to Kyra Sedgwick, star of TNT's "The Closer" and the wife of Kevin Bacon. There's much to love about this home, which was built in 1927. It's a cozy three-bedroom with charming details like a living room with a wood beamed ceiling (the listing describes this as an "emotional living room") and a bathroom with Delft-style tiles. The small property includes a pool and directly opposite the pool is an adorable guest house with one bedroom, kitchen and bath. You might need to rent that out to afford this one, it is listed at $4.5 million which seems a bit ambitious given the fact that the main house is under 3,500 square feet.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

[via LA Times Hot Properties]

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might be about to lose one of the perks of his job. Schwarzenegger regularly commutes by a Gulfstream IV provided by NetJets from Sacramento to Santa Monica but Bloomberg reports that a federal judge will decide on May 15 if he can continue to land at the municipal airport. The airport is a fast commute to Schwarzenegger's Brentwood home but Santa Monica city council members including the governor's brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver recently voted unanimously to ban the jets. The town of Santa Monica is now fighting the temporary restraining order obtained by the FAA that blocks enforcement of the ordinance and a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles will decide whether to allow the ban or send the matter to trial.

Part of the problem is that the Santa Monica airport is an older, small airport that was not built to accommodate jets that land at fast speeds and there is just one runway. There hasn't been an accident involving a jet on the runway but there are homes located very nearby. The FAA which wants to use the airport to help relieve air traffic in the crowded skies over Los Angeles has offered to add a concrete-like material at either end of the runway that would slow runaway jets and to help the city buy homes to make more room for planes landing and taking off. There is also a possibility that Santa Monica may try to close the airport in 2015, when its agreement with the FAA expires although it seems unlikely that will occur. As for Schwarzenegger, it's likely he will circumvent any potential ruling by either traveling by helicopter or landing at another airport but Bobby Shriver is already anticipating some teasing complaints around family gatherings from his beefy brother-in-law.