A foot massage price war is raging in fancy Chinese areas to the East of downtown L.A.

And, this is a very interesting area with terrific food. Well worth a visit. You could easily spend the day (or night) around here eating, shopping and getting a massage.

I was just there and was amazed to find that foot massages which were $30-40 a few months ago are now $15 or less. I saw one place advertsing $11.99 for weekdays.

Very much like getting a foot treatment in China, including the opportunity to watch mainland TV on a giant screen. Unlike Thai style, no pointed stick is used.

See Los Angeles Times story below for more.

"Archrivals in foot massage

By David Pierson, L.A. Times Staff Writer
July 31, 2007
Shortly before midnight on a moonlit corner of Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel, a crowd waited impatiently outside a store with a yellow banner advertising one-hour foot massages for $9.99.

Inside the dimly lighted business decorated with Chinese bamboo screens, a room full of customers sank into black leather armchairs while uniformed masseuses rubbed their feet with lotion. As a Mandarin-language film beamed from a flat-screen television, the workers carefully pressed their fingertips on pressure points believed to promote better circulation and improve overall health.

There was a poker dealer from a nearby casino who needed the tension lifted from her muscles after a day on her feet, a nail salon worker who visited because he believed the therapy boosted his fertility and an investment analyst who injured himself jogging and wanted the scar tissue rubbed.

"It's cheaper than my insurance co-pay," said Johnson Li, an avid runner who chose not to receive therapy for his ailing feet through his insurance company. "If I'm in the neighborhood, I always stop by."

The Oriental Natural Treatment Center is at the hub of the hotly competitive world of foot massage in the San Gabriel Valley — home to the nation's largest Chinese American community.

About 20 foot-massage businesses can be found on this small stretch of Valley Boulevard between Del Mar Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard, and dozens more are popping up in neighboring communities. Square foot by square foot, it is the foot-massage capital of the country."

See the entire article at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/heal...,4055311.story