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So I said to myself dammit, airpendleton23 and his post on
Gold's Gym, now you got me reminiscing, thinking and writing
again. And not wanting to hijack his post with my long winded
copious dribble, thought it might be fun to go back in time and
start another thread.
I'm showing my age here and do not claim to have been a
regular at any of these gyms but . . .
In my opinion, no gym compares to the original Gold's
on Pacific in Venice Beach, CA. I visited and worked
there many times during the "Golden Years", the 70's.
Maybe it was because it was my first time to ever
see a real bodybuilder or for that matter, set foot into a
real gym, but there was something magical about that place,
the lighting, and all the great bodybuilders that worked out
there. It was small by today's standards (does that tell you
anything about what it takes to build a champion physique?)
and you were free to move around at will or just sit down
out of the way and let the feast for the eyes begin. And it was
inexpensive to work out there. I don't recall exactly what
the day rate was, maybe 5-7 dollars. Not much.
When it was sold and moved to Santa Monica, I visited
and worked out there many times. It was far bigger then the
original, had some fair light but it just did not compare favorably
in my opinion. Many of the same guys worked out there.
I remember before one of the Mr. A's all the contestants work
out there. It was like a mad house. It was here that I was
asked to do a "pick-up" for one of the famous bodybuilders at the
time. Boy of boy did I feel special but it never occurred, his
source failed to show.
World Gym when it first opened in Venice Beach
was close thanks to Joe Gold. Some great bodybuilders
who trained there. Joe tried to duplicate the same look and
feel, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
When Gold's Gym opened in it's current in Venice Beach, I
visited and trained there a few times but it has been a few years
so can't really comment on how it is now but at the time,.it
seemed like a business them gym. You could not just walk in
the front door and stroll around the gym floor, were restricted to
the observation deck if my memory serves. Maybe things have
changed, but at the time, I was not impressed, but that's just me.
If you go, maybe you will see some monsters, but monsters
are not in as short supply as they were back when, or at least
in such a concentrated area.
On my first visit to New York City, I visited Tom Minichiello's
Mid-City Health Club (or should I say dungeon, I believe it was
in the basement). Dark and dank, I did not stay and workout,
could not wait to leave.
Vince's Gym in North Hollywood was a nice small gym that
received no small amount of attention due to some of the
notables in bodybuilding that had worked out there. It was before
my time when these guys were working out there. Vince, whom
I met very briefly, seem like a decent guy, without the chip-on-the-
shoulder that I had heard and read about in advance. And it was
one of the few gyms that the owner / operator had any real body-
building knowledge and had no qualms about sharing his opinions.
I have no clue what has happened to this gym since Vince died.
Another gym in which the owner was present and made no
bones about the proper way to workout, was in Deland, Florida
where Arthur Jones was using a quonset hut out back of the local
high school to train people in. Though I was never privy to what
actually occurred there, the stories about Arthur and those that
trained there are legion.
In the early 70's I did pay a visit his next gym, or laboratory, in Lake
Helen, Florida where Casey Viator was the resident bodybuilder.
Many notable bodybuilders worked out there for brief periods of time
but it was not a commercial gym, though if you wanted to work out
you could (all machines), free of charge. It was a no frills gym if your
definition of a gym is a place where once could work out. But I really
think it was more of a show room for his latest inventions.
The attached photograph is of Casey Viator and I back in 1979
in the Nautilus gym, in DeLand, Florida. I do not know what Casey
weighted at the time but I do know that I'm 5' 10" tall here, weighting
150 pounds soaking wet, having recently lost about 15 pounds as a
result of summer being spent in East Africa traveling around, eating and
sleeping very little, just trying to stay alive. So I'm not exactly a big guy,
that is if you can take your eyes of Casey's arm. Not bad.
I have some other photos of bodybuilders from when I was at various
gyms in LA but I need to get them all back from my cousin and scan them.
And never under estimate the power of good looking woman to wrangle a
photo from a bodybuilder. She, my cousin, had a body that could drag
the moon out of orbit, and a personality and face to match. And when
she asked for a photo, they were always happy to oblige.
Gold's Gym, now you got me reminiscing, thinking and writing
again. And not wanting to hijack his post with my long winded
copious dribble, thought it might be fun to go back in time and
start another thread.
I'm showing my age here and do not claim to have been a
regular at any of these gyms but . . .
In my opinion, no gym compares to the original Gold's
on Pacific in Venice Beach, CA. I visited and worked
there many times during the "Golden Years", the 70's.
Maybe it was because it was my first time to ever
see a real bodybuilder or for that matter, set foot into a
real gym, but there was something magical about that place,
the lighting, and all the great bodybuilders that worked out
there. It was small by today's standards (does that tell you
anything about what it takes to build a champion physique?)
and you were free to move around at will or just sit down
out of the way and let the feast for the eyes begin. And it was
inexpensive to work out there. I don't recall exactly what
the day rate was, maybe 5-7 dollars. Not much.
When it was sold and moved to Santa Monica, I visited
and worked out there many times. It was far bigger then the
original, had some fair light but it just did not compare favorably
in my opinion. Many of the same guys worked out there.
I remember before one of the Mr. A's all the contestants work
out there. It was like a mad house. It was here that I was
asked to do a "pick-up" for one of the famous bodybuilders at the
time. Boy of boy did I feel special but it never occurred, his
source failed to show.
World Gym when it first opened in Venice Beach
was close thanks to Joe Gold. Some great bodybuilders
who trained there. Joe tried to duplicate the same look and
feel, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
When Gold's Gym opened in it's current in Venice Beach, I
visited and trained there a few times but it has been a few years
so can't really comment on how it is now but at the time,.it
seemed like a business them gym. You could not just walk in
the front door and stroll around the gym floor, were restricted to
the observation deck if my memory serves. Maybe things have
changed, but at the time, I was not impressed, but that's just me.
If you go, maybe you will see some monsters, but monsters
are not in as short supply as they were back when, or at least
in such a concentrated area.
On my first visit to New York City, I visited Tom Minichiello's
Mid-City Health Club (or should I say dungeon, I believe it was
in the basement). Dark and dank, I did not stay and workout,
could not wait to leave.
Vince's Gym in North Hollywood was a nice small gym that
received no small amount of attention due to some of the
notables in bodybuilding that had worked out there. It was before
my time when these guys were working out there. Vince, whom
I met very briefly, seem like a decent guy, without the chip-on-the-
shoulder that I had heard and read about in advance. And it was
one of the few gyms that the owner / operator had any real body-
building knowledge and had no qualms about sharing his opinions.
I have no clue what has happened to this gym since Vince died.
Another gym in which the owner was present and made no
bones about the proper way to workout, was in Deland, Florida
where Arthur Jones was using a quonset hut out back of the local
high school to train people in. Though I was never privy to what
actually occurred there, the stories about Arthur and those that
trained there are legion.
In the early 70's I did pay a visit his next gym, or laboratory, in Lake
Helen, Florida where Casey Viator was the resident bodybuilder.
Many notable bodybuilders worked out there for brief periods of time
but it was not a commercial gym, though if you wanted to work out
you could (all machines), free of charge. It was a no frills gym if your
definition of a gym is a place where once could work out. But I really
think it was more of a show room for his latest inventions.
The attached photograph is of Casey Viator and I back in 1979
in the Nautilus gym, in DeLand, Florida. I do not know what Casey
weighted at the time but I do know that I'm 5' 10" tall here, weighting
150 pounds soaking wet, having recently lost about 15 pounds as a
result of summer being spent in East Africa traveling around, eating and
sleeping very little, just trying to stay alive. So I'm not exactly a big guy,
that is if you can take your eyes of Casey's arm. Not bad.
I have some other photos of bodybuilders from when I was at various
gyms in LA but I need to get them all back from my cousin and scan them.
And never under estimate the power of good looking woman to wrangle a
photo from a bodybuilder. She, my cousin, had a body that could drag
the moon out of orbit, and a personality and face to match. And when
she asked for a photo, they were always happy to oblige.
