WEST COAST (USA) GYM OWNERS THROUGHOUT RECENT HISTORY !!

[stuntmovie]

I go back a ways, so I've met and/or associated with most of them!

And here's my story.

A story which many GetBiggers can elaborate on providing that they have been around long enough ... or have even set foot inside of one.

First of all .... You gotta realize that gyms of any kind and the lifting of heavy things were noy too popular way back then.

ED YARICK .... Ed had a small place within a commercial neighborhood in the city of Oakland, California, just across the bay from the city of San Francisco where a kid by the name of Reeves trained, but you only heard of him if you lifted heavy things or just happened to run into him at one of the summer resorts along the Rssian River (Rio Nido was the big draw at that time) roughly 70 - 80 miles from the Bay Aea in a northerly direction.

Back then no one looked quite like Reeves so he attracted a lot of stares and even a knock down punch from someone who was offended by Reeves physical condition ... but that'sanother story for another time.

So ... the first real gym that I ever knew was Yarick's Gym over there in Oakland, California ... where once upon a time a kid by the name of Steve began a very successful career as a result of lifting heavy thins.

Most likely the first to do so on the good old West Coast of California!

That's one gym and two individuals ... but many more were to follow .....

Appears to be a yoing Reeves outside of Yarick's!

[HTexan]

Not in the west coast, but I had 2 friends that owns different CrossFit gyms, and an old friend-ish that owned a hardcore powerlifting gym.  All have sold or shutdown their gyms. Everybody wants to own a gym but no one realizes that you can’t just lift weights all fucking day.

[stuntmovie]

TEX, Your 'story' sounds to have occured most recently, but I hope you will elaborate on it a bit.

So meanwhile on the other side of the Bay in the City of San Francisco .... there were two individuals who were in the same gym business but who were takng very different paths.

One such individual was a guy by the name of Jack LaLanne. He owned a gym on the fifth floor of an old building on Market Street in downtown, San Francisco.

The gym itself was nothing to brag about but Jack was well known for doing strange things which required an ample amount of strength and stamina..... such as pulling a boat-load of San Franciscans while swimming across the San Francisco Bay.

I'm sure that all you gym-fanatics have already heard that story many times so I won't go into those details here. .....  but then Jack became super famous wwith his wife and his dog and an electric food-blender on the famous, West Coast, "Jack LaLanne TV Show".

His only competition within the world of TV Fitness shows was one other TV program in which the star squatted with the same calf on his shouders each week in an attempt to establish a Calf Squattng World Record.

But that live TV show went off the air within a few weeks because the calf let go with a massive shit while on that guy's shoulders and that was the end of that TV show and another attempt to set that calf squatting record was never undertaken to the best of my vast but sometimes inaccurate knowledge.

And then Jack got into the big time gym business along with the help of a guy by the name of Wynn Paris .... but I my have spelled that wrong.

And those old and rusty gyms became a classy enterprize with chrome plated barbells and upholstered benches .... and a different class of people altogether.

These were the days when these so-called gyms began to become an interest to the masses, but the Personal Training business was still a far way off.

So let's proceed to that second San Fran gym I mentioned above and the owner whose route took a different path.

That gym owner was Walt Baptiste!

But the following is a photo of Jack.

[HTexan]

TEX, Your 'story' sounds to have occured most recently, but I hope you will elaborate on it a bit.

Not really much too say. Boring stories. Power lifting gym was sold about 9 year ago. Dude was big but not too bright when it came to business, and lack all people skills.
2 CrossFit gyms were in the past 5 years.

[BEEFYHEAVYWEIGHT]

Just trained at Leo Sterns gym in San Diego. It is still there. Old school prices...somewhat. What a gem this place is. I am surw that you have stories of Sterns. Bill Pearl got his early years in at Sterns Gym.
http://www.sternsgym.com/

[stuntmovie]

Yea, BEEF, but my first time visit to Sterns in San Diago took place many years after what I have been posting above ..... Sometime round the early to mid 1960's if my memory serves me correcttly.

But I'll get into that a few posts later.

Right now I gotta tell anyone who is still awake about the 2nd gym operator wihin the city of San Francisco . (You might recall earlier that LaLanne was the 1st.)

The second "gym" operator was Walt Baptiste! If tou're inro yoga, you have most likely heard of Walt.

Actually was a yoga instrtuctor and known by many as one of the wolrd's leading advocates on the benefits of yoga .... of which I know nothing at all.

But walt and his wife had a yoga studio above a major automobile dealership on Van Ness Blvd. with a few pounds of weights over in an otherwise unoccupied cornor which he apparently used on  a frequent basis because he had the build of an early day bodybuilder.

I think that Walt won the Mr. America back  then but just about no one knew what a "Mr. America" even was.

I'll attach a photo of Walt and his wife someplace below but about 40 years later I had the opportunity to meet Walt's daughter who was carrying on the family tradition of all things yoga and is possibly one of the leading yoga authorities within the USA today.

And then came Vic Tanny's with call-chrome equipment and fancy carpeting on Market Street, Bill Stathis' with his 600 square foot gym in the Sunset neighborhood, and an neven smaller gym on Irving Street which was also in the Sunset neighborhood and American Health Studios which was set up some old time Northern California boduybuilders some of you old GetBiggers may still be able to recall ...
but I cannot!

But that one had a lifespan about the same as a pregnant woman and was never heard from again.

But there were enough of these origninal gyms in the city of San Francisco so that competition was getting fierce  .... but the so called customers who had any interest in lifting heavy things were few and far between .... and in most cases bodybuilders were referred to as 'freaks of nature' ... and more often than not .... somthing even worse.

But something was happening about 350 miles further south which was causing problems .....whcih a few years later would have a happy ending.

It all started on a beach in Santa Monica.

[tommywishbone]

Right now, in my opinion the coolest & best old school gym is in Portland, Oregon.  It's called Loprinzi's Gym.  I train there two separate times every year when I'm in Portland for work.  This place is awesome.

A full line of the 1st & 2nd generation Nautilus. Universal multi-station and all Univeral brand single stations from the early 1970's.  Dumbells to 150. Some new stuff as well... bars, bumper plates.  Still $10 per workout.  Good hours.  I highly recommend Loprinzi's Gym for a workout when you're in Portland. Good cheap food close by too for that post workout feed.

[tommywishbone]

 

[tommywishbone]

 

[BB]

Right now, in my opinion the coolest & best old school gym is in Portland, Oregon.  It's called Loprinzi's Gym.  I train there two separate times every year when I'm in Portland for work.  This place is awesome.

A full line of the 1st & 2nd generation Nautilas. Universal multi-station and all Univeral brand single stations from the early 1970's.  Dumbells to 150. Some new stuff as well... bars, bumper plates.  Still $10 per workout.  Good hours.  I highly recommend Loprinzi's Gym for a workout when you're in Portland. Good cheap food close by too for that post workout feed.

I always liked the looks of that one -

.

[tommywishbone]

Very cool BB! That's the place.  

I swear to god, his Mom works the front desk sometimes. She has to be 90. Last time there I gave her a $10, signed the clipboard and walked in.  She said, Wait! Stop!  She then gave me $90.  She was positive I gave her a $100. I was POSITIVE I gave her a $10.  She finally, reluctantly took back her $90.  

[tommywishbone]

Last post, I promise.  

Loprinzi's even has both of these 1st generation Nautilus neck machines.  The one with the resistance handles is very rare.  The one with the girl using it. Those handles control the weight/resistance.

[AusBB]

Last post, I promise.  

Loprinzi's even has both of these 1st generation Nautilus neck machines.  The one with the resistance handles is very rare.  The one with the girl using it. Those handles control the weight/resistance.

If that chick was in the same gym as me, I would make her spot me.....



With her anus.

[oldtimer1]

I actually used that twisting neck machine. It really was a good piece. I think the design died with Arthur Jones. To my knowledge no one else made anything remotely like it.

[tommywishbone]

Very cool OT.    You rarely ever see that piece anymore.  Very unusual piece- no weight stack, no weight pin. Just the resistance you apply to those handles.  I do not know of any other Nautilus piece designed that way. I much preferred the other selectorized weight stack piece.

[stuntmovie]

TOMMY, The name 'LOPRINZI' sounded familiar, but I couldn't place the face ... so I did some research and came across the attached photo which I've never seen before and thought that it may be of interest to some GetBiggers.

Plus there is a hell of a lot of good info on the Joe Loprinzi family up there in Portland.

This photo may not be too clear but it is interesting to read the names of all those in it. One grenade accurately tossed and there would be no bodybuilding today!!!

Back row, left to right: Bob Delmonteque, John Isaacs, Glenn Sundby, George Redpath, Les Stockton, Pudgy Stockton (the only woman to be included in this historic picture), Red Lerille, Vince Gironda, Steve Reeves, Russ Warner, Leo Stern, Bill Pearl, Dennis Tinerino, Jimmy Payne, Leroy Colbert, Larry Scott, Chuck Krauser, Al Berger, Pat Casey, Don Peters, Babe Stansbury, George Coates, Bill Cantrell.

Front row, left to right: Joe Loprinzi, Sam Loprinzi, Orville Wertzbaugher, Johnny Gibson, Joe Abbenda, Ed Jubinville, George Eiferman, Joe Weider, Harry Smith, Walt Marcyan, Armand Tanny, Mits Kawashima, John Grimek, Jack LaLanne, and Don Arnold.

It would be interesting to see how many of these individuals GetBiggers have actually met. And it us amazing that all these pioneers were able to get together for this historic photograph!

Anyone missing?

[Big Pat]

Greetings Stuntmovie,

This was the gathering Mr. Stern and Mr. Coates put on here is San Diego.  Sort of a West coast AOBS (Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen). YouTube used to have a 3 or 4 part video series on the gathering. I talked to David Stern about it many years ago and he said it was amazing to say the least (and he grew up knowing a lot of the participants).  Sad to note that only one or two of those in the photo are still alive today.

I remember Sam Loprinzi advertised a Gym Owners handbook in Mr. Rader's IronMan magazine for many years. Maybe Funk can post an image of the ad.
 
Be safe and strong,

Pat

[stuntmovie]

BIG PAT, Thanks for that info. It's really appreciated.

I just counted and I have either met or have known for a long time .... 17 of the individuals as shown in that photo. And I'm surprised that one of those individuals was at that meeting.

Looking back to the early 60's .... PAT CASEY was one of the first of those 17 individuals I've met. That was in the early 60's when he set a world's bench record at the Police Academy in San Diego, Ca.

I recall that day clearly as... at the exact moment when the officials called it a good lift, a lion let out a huge roar. The San Diego Zoo must have been close by.

AND ... It would be amazing if YOU are actually PAT CASEY!

[Ronnie Rep]

Right now, in my opinion the coolest & best old school gym is in Portland, Oregon.  It's called Loprinzi's Gym.  I train there two separate times every year when I'm in Portland for work.  This place is awesome.

A full line of the 1st & 2nd generation Nautilus. Universal multi-station and all Univeral brand single stations from the early 1970's.  Dumbells to 150. Some new stuff as well... bars, bumper plates.  Still $10 per workout.  Good hours.  I highly recommend Loprinzi's Gym for a workout when you're in Portland. Good cheap food close by too for that post workout feed.

Awesome Tommy.

[Big Pat]

Hello Stuntmovie,

Thank you for the kind words, I, as many others do appreciate your posts.

"AND ... It would be amazing if YOU are actually PAT CASEY!"

Sorry to report that I am not the famous Pat Casey. Mr. Casey died in 2005 from cancer. If you get a chance, read Bruce Wilhelm's book on him called "King of Powerlifters", a excellent read I am told. You can get it from the Iron Mind Co. in Calif., if interested. Something I found interesting is the powerlifting rivalry  between Mr. Casey and Terry Todd (West coast vs. East coast thing). I never got to ask Mr. Stern about it but I'm sure he would have had some interesting facts to share.

Look forward to the rest of the posts in this thread.

Be safe and strong,

Pat
PS. Dave Draper has an thread on Pat Casey at his site.

Pat Casey, RIP - - Dave Draper
https://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/3806/
Apr 25, 2005 - 11 posts - ‎6 authors
Pat Casey was the reason that I started lifting in the late 60s. ... On page 37 of the book Pat Casey King of the Powerlifters by Bruce Wilhelm, ...

[stuntmovie]

OK, Let me get back to the subject at hand and return to Muscle Beach.

First of all I'll have to say that it was appropriately mis-named because the main characters who hung out on that small piece of ocean-front sand just south of the Santa Monica Pier were mainly  gymnasts of ever size and discription ... male and female, young and old, lean and fat.

You name it and they were all there doing front-flips and back flips, handstands and sommersaults, and human towers four bodies high.

Those who thought that they were bodybuilders or were trying to be confined themselves to a small, three foot tall wooden fenced in area
 that was full of rusted metal plates and rusted bars ... the kind you had to look around for and put together so that you could curl them to make your biceps bigger.

There were a few but very limited number of dedicated individuals who did well in even fewer summer bodybuilding events that were held here on the beach or within the L.A. basin .... usually at the Downtown Embassy Auditorium  which was usually 'hosted' by none other than Gene Mozee.

Back in them good old days the unworthy bodybuilding competitors  (usually 1 or 2 out of a total of 12) would be booed, pulled off the  stage by one of those iron hooks you never see nowadays ... or possibly get hit with a rotten tomato.

Those who came to see the show repreented members from the original Gold's Gym, the local Y's , and Vince's 'over thar' on the other side of Mulholland Drive where the stunt guys (very few in number) trained their horses fom motion picture work.

If you ever saw "Spin and Marty, I got the autograph of that old sway-ack horse that made his owner very wealthy.

And bodybuilding trophies that were usually passed out  by one of Gene's girlfriends were the metal-cup type because the plastic ones were yet to be in vogue.

So as all GetBiggers already know, the Santa Monica Muscle Beach lasted for a few good years, but apparently something happened beneath th Santa Monica Pier that encouraged the Santa Monica city hierarchy to shut it down ... so the weight-pit was removed along with all those rusty bars and plates .... and a good part of bodybuilding history drifted away ... but would soon drift back in a mile or two south where the WWII Jewish  'settlements' used to be.

History does indeed repeat itself.
 

[stuntmovie]

BIG PAT,  Thanks for your input.

I have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind.

Is "Mr Stern" the same Mr Stern who was a good friend of Pearl's.

I worked with Terry  and Jan Todd many years ago. Are they still as active as they were back then?

I gotta assume that you knew my old friend, Bill Star, who passed away a couple of years ago. I helped him a very little, little bit while  he was writing "ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE!"

I don't know if you reside in So. Cal but you possibly knew  Rev. Zuver and his son, 'RHINO'. I have  heard that Rino also passed away a while back. Zuver's Gym in CostaMesa should have been declared a Historical Monument by the city fathers.

I'm hopeing to go into all this past history stuff as we proceed... so input such as yours and Tommy's and BB's, and Old Timer's, etc. is really appreciated.

Oh yEA!!! ...And AusBB also.

HEY! Whatever happened to Mr. MB? He seemed to like this kind of 'stuff'.

Thanks!!

[AbrahamG]

Last post, I promise.  

Loprinzi's even has both of these 1st generation Nautilus neck machines.  The one with the resistance handles is very rare.  The one with the girl using it. Those handles control the weight/resistance.

That's a damn nice set of tits.

[Vince B]

I enlarged the photo so we can see the people better.

[calfzilla]

Right now, in my opinion the coolest & best old school gym is in Portland, Oregon.  It's called Loprinzi's Gym.  I train there two separate times every year when I'm in Portland for work.  This place is awesome.

A full line of the 1st & 2nd generation Nautilus. Universal multi-station and all Univeral brand single stations from the early 1970's.  Dumbells to 150. Some new stuff as well... bars, bumper plates.  Still $10 per workout.  Good hours.  I highly recommend Loprinzi's Gym for a workout when you're in Portland. Good cheap food close by too for that post workout feed.

Cool, I’m in Portland maybe I’ll go check it out. Heard of it but never been. So just ten bucks for a visit?