Radium Sulphur Springs was an early-20th-century hot spring and spa located on the north side of Melrose Avenue between Larchmont and Gower Street in Los Angeles, California, United States. It originated from an unsuccessful attempt to drill 1,500 feet (460 m) for oil.
The spring was "discovered" in 1905 and opened as a spa by G. P. Gehring in 1908. The owners marketed the water as radioactive, germicidal, and blood purifying, advertising its supposed radioactivity as "liquid sunshine." This was part of the larger radium fad of the early 20th century, during which radium-infused products were widely promoted as beneficial to health.
The spa was located in Colegrove, an electric-railway stop and community just south of Hollywood. In 1915, a U.S. government geologist reported that the spring's water temperature was 34°C (93°F) and that the water contained measurable levels of calcium, carbonate, phosphate, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and sulfate. That same year, owners claimed the waters were "wonderfully curative" for ailments ranging from catarrh to neurasthenia. The spring water was also bottled and sold for drinking.
The name changed to Hollywood Mineral Springs in 1924. Services offered in 1928 included "mineral Roman tub, mineral steam, marathon bath, mineral colonic, mineral Scotch douche and massage by a graduate." The spa operated until approximately 1929, when the Great Depression and the death of the owner led to its closure. The site briefly reopened as California Mineral Springs in the late 1950s. By around 1968, the California Department of Water Resources reported that the well's water level had declined below the land surface and that the well was being pumped. The well has reportedly since been capped off.
