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Sal Anthony’s has been a fixture in the New York Italian dining scene since its first restaurant opened in 1966, and it wasn’t long after that franchise owner Anthony Macagnone began martial arts training as a means of dealing with the physical and mental stress of the business. As his restaurant chain evolved, so did his interest in fitness, and in 1999 Macagnone opened Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon with the goal of helping stressed out New Yorkers rediscover physical balance through strength-building exercises like yoga, Pilates, and Gyrotonics (a method similar to yoga but which involves mechanical resistance). The Salon occupies an entire historic four-story building; its many architectural vestiges blend curiously with the modern equipment: Rich wood paneling, stained-glass skylights, statues, and paintings in the vast entry room soar over an assortment of Pilates and Gyrotonic machines. In addition to private and semi-private lessons on the equipment, and open workouts with trainer supervision, the Movement Salon offers hatha and vinyasa yoga and Pilates mat classes, which are held in large brick-walled studios on the upper floors. The basement level comprises a succession of rooms for Swedish, deep tissue, Shiatsu, and Thai massage, as well as acupuncture and chiropractic services. Macagnone personally teaches and certifies Pilates instructors. — Sarah Walker

The historic nineteenth-century building that houses Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon was once (respectively) a German immigrant meeting hall, a raucous college rathskeller, an alleged hub for German WWII spies, a postwar jazz club, and a burger joint.

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