Massage Therapists Attain Legitimacy : Licensing: New law increases training requirements. It allows therapists to work in hotels and health clubs.

Michael Levi makes a living smoothing away stress. Give him a little gardenia-scented almond oil and he will knead the kinks out of those knotted muscles.

He has been a licensed massage therapist for 14 years. Even when adult bookstores and nude dance halls cluttered Ocean Boulevard, Levi tried to persuade officials that not every masseuse was a prostitute.

Today, reputable high-rise office buildings have replaced the boulevard’s seedy theaters, and Levi gives rubs in the posh Ramada Renaissance Hotel. His annual treks to City Hall finally paid off with a new law that legitimizes his work.

The Long Beach City Council has made it legal for Levi and other licensed therapists to work in hotels, beauty parlors and health clubs. The newly passed law increases the number of hours therapists must train and allows “corporate massages” or back rubs in the workplace.

“It gives us a more bona fide status,” said Levi, who also is a visiting professor of health science at UCLA. “People will feel safer making their choices.”

Therapists have given massages at area hotels and clubs in the past, but only with informal consent from the city. They hope the written law will persuade the public and the Police Department vice squad that they are health professionals.

“When you’re inside a hotel or health club, people don’t confuse you with ‘the other kind of massage,’ ” said Shanna Wallis, who runs sports-massage centers at two Long Beach health clubs.

In the last 10 years, Wallis has had her business disrupted twice and almost went bankrupt.

Wallis said she was told by city officials that her employees at In Touch Massage could work under her license but later undercover officers cited them for not having proper licensing. It happened again when she opened a second location.

Police confirmed that Wallis’ business was not cited for sexual misconduct and said her licensing problems had been cleared up.

“We were really being victimized,” Wallis said. “The law wasn’t written down anywhere. It was like they were making it up as they went along.”

The ordinance, passed unanimously March 3, allows licensed professionals to give massages in any city business but not in private homes. It requires that therapists wear identification badges and work in an unlocked room, and it increases the hours of training required from 200 to 500.

City officials and therapists modeled their ordinance after those in Irvine and Santa Monica and consulted the standards set by the American Massage Therapists Assn.

Twenty-nine therapists are licensed with the city, according to the Police Department’s special investigation division.

“I think we have a group of people making very positive steps at professionalizing their occupation,” said Cmdr. Dale Brown, who heads the division.

The ordinance does not keep officers from policing the centers, but it will save them time because it is now easier to differentiate between legal and illegal uses of the trade, Brown said. Officers respond to about five complaints a year of prostitution affiliated with massage parlors, he said.

“We’ve just prevented it from growing. . . . The people who are going to misuse the business are not going to go get the 500 hours of training,” Brown said. “They’ll go somewhere else where they don’t need the permit.”

In the first 300 hours of training, a student learns the academics of massage--anatomy and physiology, for example, said Roland Clark, founder and director of the California College of Physical Arts in Huntington Beach. Nearly 30% of the school’s students are from Long Beach, he said.

The last 200 hours of training allow a student to specialize in clinical massage, used primarily for health improvement, or sports massage, which is geared toward the athlete.

A massage costs $45 to $60 an hour. Tailored to meet the needs of the client, the treatment may be used to rehabilitate muscles after an injury, to supplement psychological counseling, or to aid athletes who are training or recuperating from injuries. Through a series of rubs, a therapist rids muscles of inflammation and toxins, allowing the body’s nutrients to flow more easily, Levi said.

Although 40% of Levi’s clients are physically active, the majority use the massage as a means of reducing stress.

“People are learning how to relax in the ‘90s,” Levi said. “A massage is a way of recharging yourself.”

Massage Therapy Law at a Glance

The massage ordinance passed by the Long Beach City Council: * Allows licensed therapists to work within city hotels, health clubs and beauty parlors.

* Increases the required training for therapists from 200 to 500 hours.

* Allows licensed therapists to give “corporate massages” or back rubs to clothed workers in area businesses.

* Forbids the professional massage within private homes.

* Requires therapists to wear identification badges on the job and to work in unlocked rooms.