On the Upper East Side, a blush-colored haven for mothers and their social circles is quietly drawing an in-the-know crowd.
The Pearl is a hybrid space: part boutique fitness studio, part private-feeling social club and part event venue, hosting everything from personal development programming to bachelorette celebrations. Tucked inside an otherwise unremarkable building on an ordinary Upper East Side block, it is easy to miss.
There is no sign out front and little to suggest that an elevator ride to the fifth floor leads anywhere more glamorous than a dentist’s office or a tax consultant’s suite.
Step inside the 5,500-square-foot venue, though, and the scene changes quickly: soaring ceilings, polished interiors and an unmistakably feminine atmosphere. Groups of ponytailed women in neutral Alo workout sets swap updates on weekend weddings and the previous night’s fund-raiser. “Rachel, where did you get that tan?” one woman asks. “Spray tan!” comes the reply.
Further down the hall, a lively group moves to Lil Jon’s “Get Low” in a popular hip-hop class taught by professional dancer-turned-founder Marcella Guarino Hymowitz, who had chaired a youth ballet gala just the evening before.
In the large studio next door, another class stretches and sculpts under the direction of Kara Liotta, founder of KKSweat, a fitness brand with a loyal Hamptons following. “There are a lot of crossover clients who live in this area,” Liotta told The Post.
The entire space is awash in pink — from the walls, tabletops and upholstery to tinted glass tiles, exercise balls and even the MacBook at the front desk. A pink mahjong set sits in the lounge area, where women gather and tweens film TikTok clips.
“I love pink — I wore pink to my proms,” Guarino Hymowitz said. The soft color scheme also serves as a clear tribute to her ballet roots.
Harvesting The Pearl
Guarino Hymowitz, a philanthropist who’s married to billionaire Gregg S. Hymowitz, opened The Pearl last summer after leading fitness classes for Upper East Siders in her home studio and in Central Park during the pandemic and beyond.
The former Knicks City Dancer wanted somewhere to continue teaching, as well as to house New York Cheer and Dance, a youth cheerleading program she started in 2023.
At the time, the city didn’t have such an offering, and Guarino Hymowitz’s daughter — one of six kids in their blended family — took to cheer, like her mom, as her preferred after-school sport.
“I need something with high ceilings so that we can do stunts, and I need somewhere where I can also do my dancing and my working out, and I want it to be for adults. I want it to be for kids,” Guarino Hymowitz thought. “And so I slowly started thinking, what is this?”
Turns out, it was The Pearl. The girly getaway bills itself as a “health and wellness club dedicated to personal growth for girls, teens and women.”
It hosts fitness classes from some of the city’s most sought-after trainers, workshops on topics like healthy eating and journaling for stress, and events like book launches with pro ballerinas and dance parties for Galentine’s Day.
There’s also space for working — or homeworking for the school-aged set — and vanities for freshening up after sweating it out.
“My mom has a brand, and once I remember there was an event and it was uptown, and I had nowhere to get ready,” said 13-year-old Pearl regular Scarlett, who lives in the West Village. “So I just came here because they had everything I need.”
She also comes to hang out with her friends from camp and to dance — though not too strenuously on Sundays. “We’re usually more tired [then] because we usually have bar mitzvahs on Saturday,” Scarlett said.
The Pearl has everything adult devotees say they need too: workouts from industry-leading studios like Post House and the Sculpt Society for themselves; dance instruction ranging from hip-hop to jazz for their daughters.
It’s a place to get out of their heads and into their bodies. A home away from — or in many cases, close to — home.
“I just love that it brings us together, has created a community of like-minded individuals,” said Natasha Caronna, a mom of 10- and 15-year-old girls who worked in fashion before becoming “head of operations” of her family five years ago.
“That’s what we’re all striving for at our age — to connect with people who think the same and want the same for each other. And there’s no judgment.”
Indeed, Scarlett’s friend Olivia says the environment is more forgiving than the formal dance team she’s on.
“If I make a mistake here — like if in a dance there’s something I don’t understand — they’ll actually explain it to me,” she said. “They’ll be like, ‘Olivia, it’s fine, just keep going, you got this.’”
A hidden gem
Is there a (freshwater) catch?
A monthly membership at The Pearl costs $250 for one person and $450 for two. A family of three or more can join for $600 a month.
Each class costs an additional $30 to $50, depending on factors like season and time of day, age and whether you’re a member or just dropping in.
That’s no sticker shock.
Most boutique fitness studios and high-end wellness clubs charge comparable amounts. And unlike many of the city’s elite social clubs, which charge plenty more, The Pearl requires no application or references to join. In fact, to work out there, you don’t have to join at all.
“Membership is completely optional,” Guarino Hymowitz emphasized.
But, as a word-of-mouth third space not on ClassPass, not on the ground floor and only modestly online — a search for “The Pearl NYC” first turns up the hotel — the real barrier to entry seems to be knowing about it at all.
A trio of moms joked they’d prefer to keep it that way. Their tongue-in-cheek takeaway for less looped-in locals? “The place is no fun,” they said. “Don’t come!”
Cool mommy and me
Mother-daughter wellness hubs like The Pearl are, like its namesake, rare. Sure, there are family-friendly gyms and membership clubs, but those have men and boys. There are co-working communities and professional societies, but those don’t have kids.
At the Pearl, patrons say the cool factor appeals to Gens X and Alpha alike.
“It has given me and my daughter something to do together on the weekends because often, now at 15, she’s off with her friends,” Caronna said. “To her, this is a very cool place. Marcella is a cool mom.” There’s no bargaining needed to lure her teen inside.
Scarlett concurs. “I personally love it because my sister, she’s in fourth grade, she also goes here, like, all the time. She goes here with all her friends, and so does my mom,” she said. “I love to see different ages here.”
Research shows having an age-diverse social life may boost cognitive functioning and longevity, among plenty of other mental and physical health benefits for both the young and the old(er).
And while most studies looking at the benefits of real-life female role models for girls focus on kids in underprivileged communities or those pursuing traditionally male-dominated professions, Pearl moms find Tribeca teens can also gain from watching accomplished women prioritize self-care.
“If you think about modeling and what a healthy lifestyle looks like in New York, it’s really difficult to do because most women work out during the day and their kids don’t see them being active, apart from whipping something up in the kitchen,” said Pearl member Amanda Perrin, a CEO of a placement organization and twin mom of 10-year-old girls.
“What’s special about this is that there have been [times] where the kids are doing classes and we’re doing a class and they’re seeing us take care of our bodies and what it means to take care of your mind and have a good time and laugh and dance,” she said. “So it’s setting a tone.”
That tone is what Guarino Hymowitz was looking to strike when she christened her creation “The Pearl.” The gem, her birthstone, requires time and the right conditions to shine.
“The girls come in here and we protect them and we coat them and we give them tools for life about self-esteem, about wellness, about body image, about nutrition, about health and about community, about friendship, about what it means to be a good person and to help each other out and to be a team player,” Guarino Hymowitz said.
“They’re getting all those little things inside here, so when they emerge, they can emerge as pearls.”
