In Brentwood these days, there’s a quiet buzz moving through the community and a subtle shift taking place. Almost inevitably, conversations about strength, clarity and renewed energy seem to circle back to the same spot. “Oh, I’ve been working out at this place called Monarch,” someone will say with a smile. With no splashy signage or performative culture, Monarch Athletic Club has somehow become the most talked-about yet under-the-radar wellness space for those in-the-know. And at the center of it all is Dr. Ryan Greene, who decided that if the traditional healthcare system wasn’t built to keep people well, he would build something that was.
Greene grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, where his parents instilled a deep work ethic. “We worked hard and were taught that you had to earn your way,” he says. Drawn to both athletics and science, he pursued a master’s degree in exercise physiology, immunology and nutrition at the University of Illinois before fully committing to medicine. The motivation was simple. “Really, what I wanted to do was to help people,” he says. “And I had a passion for really seeing people in their worst moment and helping guide them into living their best quality of life.” But after his clinical training at Dartmouth, he began to sense the limits of a system built around crisis management rather than prevention. “Getting better was not just getting people out of the emergency room," he says.
It was during his fellowship at Mayo Clinic that everything crystallized. Greene noticed elite athletes openly discussing the extraordinary resources they invested each year in longevity and recovery. “If LeBron James has to pay $1 million or more a year to have a team of people, what chance do you and I have if we don’t have a similar team?” he remembers thinking. “The answer is basically zero.” Suddenly, the solution became obvious: everyday people needed access to that same coordinated care—movement, medicine, nutrition, recovery and data—working in harmony. “The pathway will be revealed, step by step by step,” he says of the vision that began forming.
After relocating to Los Angeles, Greene met the hospitality leaders of Noble 33—the group behind Toca Madera, Casa Madera and the original creators and former owners of Tocaya. Together, they fused Greene’s integrated health model with Noble 33’s expertise in elevated, high-touch environments. Their first Monarch opened in West Hollywood in January 2020. Two months later, the pandemic arrived.
While gyms across Los Angeles went dark, Monarch was miraculously able to remain open because it was licensed as a medical facility. “This allowed us to survive,” Greene says. Members kept coming, progress continued and a community formed almost organically during a moment when connection felt scarce. And the model—once novel—suddenly felt essential. Many of those early clients lived on the westside and soon insisted he expand. “They told me I needed to cross the 405,” he recalls.
The Brentwood studio opened in April 2023 in a 9,000-square-foot ground-floor space—formerly Velocity Sports Performance—located in the medical building attached to Toscana. Greene and his team redesigned it with their signature restraint: bright airiness, thoughtful lines and a functional clarity that avoids excess without sacrificing refinement. Brentwood immediately felt aligned. “It’s people that have been in the area for a long period of time,” Greene says. “They have roots. They tend to know each other, whether it’s through work or kids or activities.” Mornings fill quickly, evenings carry a quiet hum and the hours in between reveal a steady flow of members restructuring their day to make sure they show up.
A major reason for that consistency is Monarch’s intake process, which sets the tone from the first visit. New members meet with medical, movement and nutrition teams to assemble a comprehensive picture of health. Mobility screenings expose long-standing compensations. “People often learn they haven’t been squatting appropriately for the last 30 years,” Greene says with a laugh. Medical assessment includes bloodwork, hormone analysis, metabolic markers and an in-depth conversation about stress, sleep and lifestyle. Nutrition experts evaluate gut health, sensitivities, eating patterns and energy demands. The result is a 360-degree blueprint that informs every training decision, recovery protocol and goal adjustment. “It is not guesswork, it is precision,” Greene says.
What follows is unlike anything else in the health and wellness landscape. Members receive unlimited personal training with credentialed strength and conditioning specialists, unlimited physical therapy and medical sessions that cover preventive care, longevity, hormones, peptides and general medicine. They also receive ongoing nutrition support and access to all recovery amenities, including a sauna, cold plunge and hyperbaric chamber. Each personal training session is a real 50 minutes, and programs refresh every four to six weeks—or are customized for pregnancy, postpartum, injury, travel, races or life changes. Select group classes are also offered on Saturdays. “We are going to assess everyone,” Greene says. “And we will go at the pace that they’re comfortable with.”
This level of access comes at a significant investment—memberships begin around $1,600 a month—but Monarch quickly reveals its value. Many clients were already spending similar amounts by piecing together personal training, physical therapy, medical visits, labs, nutrition counseling and boutique recovery services across multiple locations. Monarch compresses that entire ecosystem into one coordinated team, under one roof, guided by one plan.
Over the past year, Monarch has also evolved into a cultural hub. Its event series, Discourse, brings members together for community-driven gatherings featuring founders, thinkers and innovators. Greene also hosts the Monarch Metamorphosis podcast, where he highlights remarkable members and wellness leaders from within his orbit. “Relationships run the world,” he says, and Monarch—intentionally or not—has become a place where those relationships begin.
The company’s expansion continues thoughtfully. In addition to a newly opened Playa Vista club, upcoming locations include South Beach and Boston, with Pasadena, Scottsdale and a second Miami space in Wynwood underway. Yet growth is not about scale—it’s about intimacy. “We don’t need 10,000 people,” Greene says. “We want it to be something where there’s an emotional connection.”
In Brentwood, that connection is already unmistakable. The transformation happening behind Monarch’s modest entrance speaks for itself. Health, Greene believes, is built through quiet consistency, small choices and the decision to show up. “The choice is ultimately ours,” he says. And here in this community, more people than ever are making it a priority.
Monarch Athletic Club
11611 San Vicente Blvd., Suite GF4
424-246-9594
monarchathleticclubs.com
“I had a passion for helping guide people into living their best quality of life.”
Members receive unlimited personal training, unlimited physical therapy and medical sessions. “We are going to assess everyone,” Greene says. “And we will go at the pace that they’re comfortable with.”