Pure Barre celebrates 15 years in Orange County
Marcia Lanum is a strong woman.
She’s also 70, but that popular saying that age is just a number seems like it’s meant for people like her.
The Huntington Beach resident had gone to the gym before, tried Jazzercise and even boxing. When a Pure Barre studio was set to open in the Seacliff Village Shopping Center in 2009, it piqued her interest because it offers a full body workout that’s described as a mix of Pilates, yoga and ballet.
Fifteen years later, she still tries to come to classes at least four times a week.
“My husband has had two strokes, so at my house, I’m the go-to for strength and all of the heavy lifting,” Lanum said. “It’s helped my posture, my energy level, certainly my emotional and mental state. When I’m stressed, I know I can come here and leave it all out the door. This 50 minutes is for me, and there’s a great community here. Women can be very competitive, but here, everyone supports each other and cheers each other on.”
This kind of success story is why Monica Pommier Grubin loves her job so much.
Grubin is the owner of four Pure Barre studios in Orange County — Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Huntington Beach and Irvine. This month, she’s celebrating the 15-year anniversary of opening that first location on 17th Street, which is technically in east-side Costa Mesa.
In that time, Grubin has gotten married to her husband, Tim, and had two children. But her studios have also impacted the lives of countless amounts of women.
She has a staff of about 50 people total, which does include one man. Men are also welcome to take the classes, though she said the clientele is about 95% women.
“It feels like a big sorority sometimes,” said Grubin, who turned 40 last year and lives in Costa Mesa herself. “Some people move here and they don’t have friends. They taught at the Pure Barre in Mississippi, and they come in and they have instant community. Next thing you know, we’re good friends and we’re at each other’s barbecues and hanging out on the weekends.
“Everyone’s stories motivate me, how people found this and then they found friends and the community. It changes people’s lives and their health.”
Grubin, originally from San Diego, fell in love with the classes after the Pure Barre founder, Carrie Dorr, opened a small studio down the street from where she grew up in Solana Beach.
“I was very broad and thick from playing water polo, and I saw my body go long and lean and tall and flexible,” Grubin said. “My mom was loving it, too. We were doing it together. We always grew up kind of working out together, and kind of fell in love with it.”
Grubin was moving to Orange County, but the plan was to go to Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona to become a physician assistant. That path soon changed.
She took the money she had saved for school from living at home and jumped into Pure Barre instead. At the age of 24, she became the first to open a barre studio in Orange County.
“Everyone was like, ‘You’re nuts.’” Grubin recalled. “But my dad was a small business owner. He was like, ‘You’re the most relentless human being I’ve ever met. You’re not going to let this fail.’ And here we are, 15 years later.”
Her studios started with just classic classes, but new ones have popped up. “Empower” has wrist and ankle weights and is a bit more cardio based. “Reform” uses resistance tubes. The newest class is “Define,” which is more of a weight-training class and one that Lanum loves.
Martha Ventimiglia started coming to Pure Barre in 2016. Two years later, she became manager of the Huntington Beach studio.
“I had just started working out after I had my last child, and I just loved it,” said Ventimiglia, who had two sons play for the Huntington Beach baseball program at the stadium that’s little more than a stone’s throw away from the studio. “I felt like I had connected with my instructors, and I loved the workout. I didn’t have the learning curve that a lot of new clients do. It just checked all the boxes for me. Ever since then, I take like six days a week.”
Of course, there’s also the younger generation. Maddy Harris graduated from Huntington Beach High in 2021 and is an instructor-in-training at Pure Barre.
Harris was a standout swimmer for the Oilers, though she no longer swims competitively.
“My arm strength is the one thing that I’ve noticed a huge difference,” Harris said. “Even how my arms look, because I know people work out for looks too.”
Grubin is now the longest standing owner within the Pure Barre franchise. Especially with two kids in tow now, she has no immediate plans to expand.
“I feel like if I go any bigger, it’s going to dilute the secret sauce that makes it what it is, you know?” she said. “Maybe when my kids get older, or maybe I’ll just really do great with these four and focus on the community we’ve built.”
That word — community — is what keeps women coming back.
It’s something that Lanum certainly cherishes.
“Especially as you get into my age, a lot of older women become isolated and feel like they’re not seen,” she said. “I feel like you need something like this, which has a community that lifts you up and supports you. I’ve found all of that here.”
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