The Wanderlust spirit at a new Hollywood yoga mega-studio
Wanderlust Hollywood aims to reinvent the yoga studio by helping patrons internalize the Wanderlust philosophy: Find your true north (that is, your best self).
The center, in the former home of Golden Bridge Yoga, opened July 24 after an artful nine-month remodel. Now it’s a nouveau Bohemian community center and social club with multiple missions. Foremost, the multilevel, 10,000-square-foot space aims to capture within its Zen interior the essence of a Wanderlust festival — that blissful sense of escape and well-being that comes from immersion in soulful music, clean food and all-day yoga.
The address at Highland Avenue south of Sunset Boulevard is the urban opposite of festival locations on Oahu’s shores or Whistler’s peaks, but classes in the 3,800-square-foot studio feel festive with a mass of bodies moving to theatrical lights, screen images and sound. Future events will include lectures, dance parties, screenings, nutrition classes and other wellness and yoga lifestyle programming.
Members enter through a cafe and gift shop. In the compact cafe, chef Seamus Mullen offers his take on juices, tonics and smoothies ($8 to $9); grain bowls with black rice and bok choy, or ancient grains with feta ($11 to $16); salads with an array of greens, fruits and vegetables ($10 to $15); or vegetarian wraps and meaty sandwiches ($9 to $13).
Overlooking the cafe, a second-floor workspace is outfitted with a countertop, stools, electric plugs and Wi-Fi. Sip a kombucha on one of the leather couches in the members-only lounge. Slide open the barn door to join a rotating schedule of 45-minute meditation sessions.
The third floor offers changing rooms and a smaller studio space for yoga. Single classes are $23. You can add meditation for an extra $10 or buy a 10-pack for $199. To become a member, you make an appointment and discuss details.
“We are very much into the balance of dynamic, intricate, artfully crafted sequencing with long holds,” said Chad Dennis, Los Angeles director of yoga.
Though the new center seems like a full-service gym for yoga, Wanderlust co-founder Jeff Krasno sees it as a gathering place to create a community around yoga, food and correlated interests.
“We realized the thirst that people have here for a community space,” said Krasno. He’s moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., with his family to the Hollywood Hills to guide the center’s development. He aims to bring the feeling of his festivals’ “four-day transformation experiences” to Hollywood. “It’s a 365-day festival,” he said.
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