A budget gym chain known for light shows and thumping music just dropped eight figures on a piece of Hollywood real estate with serious entertainment-industry pedigree. Speakeasy Fitness has acquired the building at 1336 N. La Brea Ave., where Hollywood meets West Hollywood, and plans to open a new gym there in the spring.
The property most recently housed the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which shut down its Los Angeles campus in 2024, according to Seeing-Stars. That closure ended a roughly 50-year presence in California for the acting school, which first set up shop in Pasadena in 1974, per Plexuss, before relocating its West Coast campus to the La Brea Avenue address in late 2000, per Seeing-Stars. As reported by Bisnow, the acquisition and planned renovations together total about $20 million, according to Speakeasy Fitness president Jeh Meher.
A&M Records Had Studios Nearby
The building is connected to the A&M Records complex, whose recording studios were at the historic 1917 Chaplin Studio lot at the southeast corner of La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, which was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, per Wikipedia. That site was purchased in late 2024 by musician John Mayer and producer McG, the same entry notes.
The Bisnow report frames the deal as part of a broader real estate strategy. Speakeasy Fitness is assembling a portfolio of Los Angeles real estate, and the company already owns about half of the properties it occupies, with those holdings controlled by Meher himself. Meher told Bisnow that Speakeasy does its own real estate and serves as its own anchor tenant, which lets it sidestep escalation clauses, regular lease negotiations and changing charges that come with renting retail space. He said that arrangement makes the transaction one-and-done once an interest rate is locked in — a preference he's acted on before, including a 2025 purchase of a building on Beverly Boulevard in Historic Filipinotown that's set to open within the next month or so.
Budget Pricing, High-Vibe Branding
Speakeasy Fitness markets itself as a budget-friendly operator, with light shows and thumping music, and monthly dues ranging from $42 to $55, according to Travel Today LA.
Crowded Fitness Corridor, Bigger Southern California Push
Per Bisnow's reporting, Meher did weigh proximity to potential competitors when scouting the La Brea site — the area has at least five pilates studios within a mile along Santa Monica Boulevard — and he said a pilates or cycling studio counts as competition, though he doesn't base location decisions solely on that factor.
The wider fitness market is expanding fast around Speakeasy's move. Boutique fitness operators plan more than 700 new U.S. store openings in 2026, totaling over 1.5 million square feet of new retail space, according to CBRE figures reported by Bisnow, with chains like Club Pilates and Strong Pilates leading those expansion plans. Real estate broker Ken Shishido, who represented EOS Fitness in a 43,000-square-foot lease in Canoga Park, told Bisnow that midmarket gym operators face pressure balancing reasonable prices with facility and offering quality — a dynamic playing out as gyms often require substantial parking and can cost more in tenant improvements than typical big-box tenants, given amenities like pools, jacuzzis and saunas.
Once the La Brea gym opens, it will become Speakeasy's eighth location in operation, joining existing gyms in Panorama City, Sylmar, Canoga Park, North Hollywood, Pasadena and south of Koreatown on Western Avenue. The company has said it wants geographic concentration across Southern California and is working to build a strong Los Angeles presence, even as it has also pulled back in some spots — Meher sold a North Hills building that had housed a Speakeasy location in 2025, and that location is reported closed according to Yelp.
