Members Left High and Dry by Another Health Spa Closure
A stream of angry customers filed into the parking lot at Nautilus Dynamics in Woodland Hills on Monday after the owners abruptly closed the health club and hauled away the equipment.
The shutdown is the latest in a series of health club closures in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles. More than half a dozen clubs have closed their doors in the Valley alone since the beginning of last year.
At the Ventura Boulevard club, the owners posted a message saying membership would be honored at Galleria Fitness Center in Sherman Oaks. Managers of that facility, however, said they would only subtract the value of the Nautilus Dynamics membership from their $249 annual rate.
According to former employees and customers, Nautilus Dynamics had been having financial troubles for more than 18 months. One former employee, who asked not to be identified, said a deal to sell the club fell through last summer.
Owners Sold Other Clubs
Eric Motel, who helped with sales at Nautilus Dynamics for several months last year, said the owners, Scott Beardsley and Gilbert Lo, had sold off four or five clubs throughout the Los Angeles area during the last two years. Beardsley and Lo were unavailable for comment; their West Los Angeles telephone number was disconnected.
An aerobics instructor said employees did not learn of the impending shutdown until they were called to a staff meeting Sunday night. He said Beardsley and Lo handed out final paychecks to about a dozen employees before announcing the closure.
Customers who arrived at the club late Monday afternoon found only locked doors and the posted message about the Galleria Fitness Center. A barren workout room with two broken weight-lifting benches was visible through the windows.
Members standing outside the club said two U-Haul moving trucks pulled up to Nautilus Dynamics about 2:30 p.m. Monday to strip the building of equipment.
Someone had posted an additional sign saying, “Feel Ripped Off?” and listing telephone numbers for West Valley Councilwoman Joy Picus, the city attorney’s consumer protection bureau and the nearest Los Angeles Police Department division.
A smiling club member, Jill Donnellan, 28, greeted other members as they approached the building and offered to take their names and numbers to pass on to Picus.
Some members said they had paid from $30 to $50 as early as 10 days ago to extend their memberships. Jim Nestlerode of Calabasas said he paid the club’s manager $250 on Dec. 24 to get two-year extensions for his wife and two sons. He said he also paid $100 six months ago to add two years onto his own card.
“I don’t understand this because they just put new carpeting in and repainted the whole place over the Christmas holidays,” he said.
As he spoke, he was approached by a young salesman from the Nautilus Plus Aerobics chain, which has clubs in several locations in the Valley. The salesman declined to be interviewed but offered Nestlerode a one-year membership at the chain for $133.
The operations manager at Galleria Fitness Center, Jeff Moorhouse, said there is no affiliation between his club and the defunct Woodland Hills club. “We just found out late Saturday night that this was going to happen, and they handed over a membership list of more than 4,000,” Moorhouse said. But he said usually only about 10% of all members actively use health clubs.
