Last weekend, my friend Michelle and I
decided to try to get massages in Westwood. I had ran the Nike Women’s
Half Marathon in San Francisco the previous weekend, and I was looking for a
massage therapy place nearby that had reasonable prices. It turned out to be a very drawn-out,
fun adventure for us, and the whole day only cost us about $35!
In
order to find the place, I searched “massages in Westwood” on Yelp. The top results were all out of my
price range, but one called “Footssage” on Santa Monica Boulevard stood out to
me. Once I clicked on the link, I
learned that this place was only two miles away and had 60-minute full body
massages for only $25.00, which I thought was an unbeatable price! All of the
reviews on the website were extremely positive, which is rare for Yelp as
usually there are more bad reviews than good. I think this is usually because people are more likely to
write a review if they are extremely upset about a place rather than overly
enthused with it. I decided to
call and make an appointment.
Since
the place was only 2 miles away, we decided to walk there for an added
adventure. Little did we realize,
two miles turned out to be a very long walk! We went down Manning Avenue the whole way, and went through
a few nice neighborhoods. The
first couple neighborhood was filled with very upscale houses, and second was
not quite as expensive and was a bit more middle class. We first went to a French restaurant
for brunch called Café Chez Marie, which had a price range between $10 and $15
entrees. Then we walked to the
massage place. Both the massage
place and the restaurant were very difficult to get to on foot- it turned out
to be a very hilly walk and had a few little streets without sidewalks or
pedestrian paths. In the reading
“Postsuburban California”, Kling, Olin, and Spencer wrote about postsuburban
cities that are designed to be navigated by a car. The reading states here- “Shopping areas are
concentrated in regional centers or neighborhood centers that are too far to be
a convenient walk for most residents. Although there is a substantial bus
system, it is not widely used, and the private automobile is essential.” The massage place was too far to be a
convenient walk for those that lived in the neighborhoods, and it was
definitely inconvenient for us to walk there from our home in Westwood. Also, in lecture, we talked about how
the postmetropolis was structured by automobility- it is evident that in this
part of Los Angeles, the automobile is an integral part of daily life.
Once
we got to the massage place, I immediately noticed a sticker on the door that
said “Find us on Yelp”.
Then, below the sticker, there was a sign that stated that any customer
who wrote a positive review on Yelp for the company would receive a $5 off
coupon for their next massage.
This finding was interesting to me, and I started to wonder if the
reason there were so many positive reviews for Footssage was because of this
particular deal. Nevertheless, we
ended up really enjoying their services and found the reviews we read earlier
were extremely accurate.
This
occurrence caused me to start to think about social media websites like Yelp
and how they have impacted cities and social difference. By just searching a business name on a
website, a person can find a rating, a price range, the location, service
details, and a variety of consumer reviews. Later, I found an article in the Los Angeles Times about
Yelp entitled “Yelp cracks down on businesses that pay for good reviews”. This article discusses how websites
like Yelp have changed the way that consumers approach daily life activities
like getting a carwash or choosing a doctor. I do not think that Footssage is paying for their good
reviews, but I did find it interesting that they are essentially bribing their
customers in order to get more people to use their services. This advertising scheme is very modern
and would not be possible without social networking sites like Yelp,
UrbanSpoon, or CitySearch.
I
am really glad I ventured out into Westwood that Saturday and was able to
experience a part of Westwood that I had never been to before. I was happy with both the restaurant
and the massage, and although the walk was tricky it was interesting to see the
transition from residential districts to shopping districts. The decentralization of Los Angeles was
extremely evident. Connecting this
experience to a social media site like Yelp helped me to see how consumers
interact with services offered in their cities, and how much people in urban
areas rely on social media to make decisions on what services to use. This is a concept that would not be
prevalent ten, or maybe even five years ago, as social media has only begun to
take over the world in the last decade.
The LA Times article also helped me to see how social media can impact
people that live in cities, and caused me to wonder how people from different
economic standings use this site in different ways. I would love to do further research on what types of people use
Yelp, and what economic and social backgrounds they are from.
Picture of Footsage Storefront
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