LOS ANGELES, July 1: Angeleons and New Yorkers will soon be able to take a real breather - if they can afford it. The first oxygen bars in the US are due to open shortly in the two cities. They will serve not beer or spirits but pure oxygen.

And the taste of oxygen will be so exhilarating, the two women behind the venture say, that customers will enjoy a happy hour even without the bargain prices that are usually charged during a bar's happy hour.

Lissa Charron and Shamila Hunter plan to set up five oxygen bars in Los Angeles and New York. For roughly a year they have run the O2 Spa Bar in Toronto, Canada, where customers can sit back and enjoy an oxygen boost.Charron says the response was so encouraging that they decided to set up in business in the United States too. And talks are under way with numerous people from other countries who are interested in a licence to run similar bars.

It will cost $ 16 to run thin plastic tubes up your nostrils and inhale pure oxygen for 20 minutes. You can have your oxygen served pure or with a whiff of fruit.

Customers who prefer their oxygen neat can drink fruit juice while inhaling - and listen to jazz or watch tropical fish in the aquarium. That is how it works in Toronto, and that is how Charron and Hunter plan to fit out their oxygen bars in the states.

There have long been bars in Tokyo and Beijing where you can inhale pure, clean air. Both cities suffer, like New York and Los Angeles, from serious atmospheric pollution. But they serve only filtered air, whereas in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto the oxygen served is - or will be - pure. ``We serve only the highest quality oxygen, as used by ambulance crews on emergency service,'' says Charron. Smog is not the only reason why the US premiere is to be in LA and New York. Both cities are trend-setters and people there have a reputation for being particularly fitness-conscious, she saysr. ``It's like an expresso,'' says Charron, ``but without the caffeine kick.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.