Ozzy - the FBI just gave me your number, tried calling you at midnight, but you didnt answer. So if you hear a knock at the door, don't freak out.
Everything is in the form of entertainment... however, yes, some threads should be kept without the blatant remarks.
Cool pics. And I have been fortunate to have been in the Weider offices a number of times. The first time I visited was on a request from Joe Weider to see a special mold of a bottle for the American Body Building brand a long while ago. We met in the upstairs conference room, which was pretty cool, with past WNI president Richard Bizarro present to. Joe asked us about our opinions on this mold and new product, and was really interested in what we had to say. I was impressed with Joe then because at that time, I thought he wouldn’t speak to regular folks, but I was wrong. That is why my opinion of people is reserved until I meet them, not on what I have heard. I saw Joe again at a special meeting for Powerhouse Gym Santa Monica (it isn’t there anymore), and Joe drove himself to the event (along with his sneakers instead of dress shoes). I always thought that was pretty cool. A few of us got into a discussion of bodybuilding, and I had even more respect for him in how he truly admired the sport.
Anyway, Joe wound up showing us his room, which has huge, in the Northeast corner of the building, and with pride of many of his sculptures around the building, including a real American flag which I think is over 200 years old. Vince Scalisi at the time was in the office right next to Joe (which eventually went to Bill Geiger), and everyone was truly friendly to us. Joes office was to the east of the Conference Room.
Another time, we went to say hello to Eric Weider, whose office was to the west of the conference room. Eric also was very nice, much more businesslike, but still showed interested in what we had to say.
You can see the Weider building from the corner of Erwin and another street (which I forgot right now), but currently, they are building condominiums right across the street. The funny thing is that I used to visit the Wieder offices a lot at one time there because my wife used to work at Applause (toy company) which was on the same street as them.
It is definitely worth visiting them if you get an invitation, but you need to have one to get in. There is a door which you must be buzzed in to get inside, and then get a pass to go past the reception desk.
Two floors to the Weider offices, and they are bigger than you think, especially with the building next door that used to house other various operations of the Weider group. Peter McGough’s offices are upstairs, as well as a number of the editorial stuff.
But in the past few months, some offices have moved around. I have a lot more stories too, but yes, it was an honor to go into the building and check it out. There is even a private underground parking garage there…
There is a lot of history in that building. I was even impressed in the room where hundreds of thousands of pictures were kept, some really old pics and cool magazines - a blast from the past.
