Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

The Royal Touch's massage bus, Ruth, parked at Los Gatos High School during the CCS invitational track meet on April 27 to offer participating athletes massages. Ruth also makes rounds to corporate clients in the South Bay.

Massage bus brings rolling relief to overworked muscles

Ruth is ready to roll!

By Shari Kaplan

Named for the late grandmother of master massage therapist Royal Jacobs, owner of The Royal Touch massage therapy on E. Main Street in downtown Los Gatos, a 1966 GMC school bus has been born again--after a year or so of renovations--as Ruth the Massage Bus.

Like a rolling purple-and-yellow fun house, the 4 1/2-ton, 35-foot bus is turning up everywhere, from sporting events to high-tech companies. With three separate massage rooms outfitted with swanky lighting, intricate wall artwork and a sound system, it really does provide fun--in the form of relief--on wheels.

On April 27, Jacobs and a handful of his trained massage therapists parked Ruth on the Los Gatos High School campus for a statewide track meet. Later this month, their hands will again get a workout--at the Master's National Swim Meet at Santa Clara University.

Sometimes athletes prefer to get a massage before engaging in their sport, Jacobs says, while others prefer it afterwards. As far as the employees of high-tech firms or any other type of office are concerned--they're not picky, as long as they get a massage!

"I wanted the bus to be something no one has ever seen before. I want it to just take people away when they get into the bus," Jacobs says, smiling. "Hopefully it will take them to a different place, even though it's still in the parking lot of their office.

"A lot of people are walking around hurting, but they won't do anything about it. A chair massage is good, but you just have to get your mind away from the office," agrees Royal Touch massage therapist Matt Allen, who is the bus manager as well. "The bus is also more accessible for people who work too far away to come [to Royal Touch] for a massage.

The inspiration for the bus' interior came to Jacobs after a vacation he took one year to Spain, where he says he was "blown away" by the beauty of the Moorish artwork in The Alhambra. Los Gatos artist Joselyn Paul created the interior artwork, while Jacobs' fiancée Nicci Trieu and Allen did much of the interior and exterior painting.

The inspiration for being a massage therapist in the first place came to Jacobs much earlier. By the time he was 4 or 5 years old, he'd already been fascinated by the practice of reflexology, thanks to "Grandma Ruth," whom Jacobs says was a friend of Eunice Ingham, the founder of reflexology.

"I think you get off to a good start when you get that exposed to something at an early age," Jacobs, now 33, says of his grandmother's diligent lessons to him about the human body and the healing power of hands.

"I think she'd think the bus is awesome!" he adds.

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The Massage Bus will park at any location--office or home--where at least six people wish to purchase a massage. For more information, or to make reservations, call 408.354.7779, or visit www.theroyaltouch.com on the Internet.

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