Author Topic: Photos of where it all began in California (Read 8204 times)

will938 · « **Reply #25 on:** April 15, 2009, 10:33:26 AM »

Great thread so far stunt, more pics please

stuntmovie · « **Reply #26 on:** April 15, 2009, 10:37:08 AM »

Thanks, Will, but as I said earlier, most of the better shots are on a disk someplace. I gotta talk to Ron about the archives here!

This one is for you, Will ..... One more Venice Beach character .... Where were all these crazy people back in the 50's and the 60's? Did we all become "crazy" just recently? Did chlorine in the water have anything to do with it?

My brother recalls that back in them good old days these colorful characters were simply locked up in some far off mental institution and it took someone like Ronald Reagan to set them free. ANd they immediately packed up and headed down to Southern California with their principal headquarters at Venice Beach.

Photo courtesy of the internet someplace.

stuntmovie · « **Reply #27 on:** April 15, 2009, 11:40:30 AM »

Getting a bit off track here but some of these pictures that follow will have to do until I find the others that are locked up someplace between here and there.....

Identify all three of these characters and win a prize .... (probably an old DVD collecting dust someplace) .... But it's damn near impossible to ID all three.

And if you guess all three, then you got to tell us the year it was taken (I took it so I know) for a even bigger prize (maybe a free meal for you and your GF/BF at Ellis Island). Order the prime rib! It's really good!

Anyone in this photo is ineligible to participate.

crownshep · « **Reply #28 on:** April 15, 2009, 11:42:51 AM »

Great pics Stunt,i also remember a really fat black guy,must have been 400lbs,sat on the floor with a sign that said "I`m anorexic,give me money for food".

And a shop that had a couple of fit babes stood in the window,with the windows open,modelling bikinis.every 30 seconds they would move from one pose to another.

stuntmovie · « **Reply #29 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:40:26 PM »

Yea, Crown, I remember that place too. For a while there was a first class Be-Be shop selling expensive jackets and women's clothing. Then it was a radio broadcasting studio and at present it is vacant and available for lease. It would be a great spot for one of these bodybuilding internet radio "shows" during the summer months.

I don't recall that fat guy though. He must have been off to lunch while I was there.

Speaking about "being there", I used to run/walk that broad-walk from the Santa Monica Pier down through Pacific Ocean Park (POP) and on further south to the present day Venice Pit.

Back then you had a couple of options....

You could pay a dime and ride an electric trolly along that beach-walk or simply run the route along the high water mark. Back then that whole stretch of beach was just about deserted except for the area immediately surrounding the SM Pier and the former Venice Pier where bands like Lawrence Welk used to play.

All those residences and businesses along that beach-walk within the Venice neighborhood were either Jewish Synagogs or old apartments/homes for the newly arrived Jewish community from war ravaged Europe. And all those old folks would spend the day sitting on old wooden benches and speak in foreign languages and never have a problem with gangs of any type. To the best of my knowledge there were no gangs in West LA back then.

It was a darn peaceful neighborhood and the beach was seldom used except for a few surfers trying to catch some miserable two foot waves.

Here's a recent photo of how things were more like back then along that Venice beach-walk.....

stuntmovie · « **Reply #30 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:50:45 PM »

Name this gym...... and the 3 streets/locations on/in which it was located since the early 60's.

If you really know this shit, name every owner/partner of this gym since the 60's. (You'll miss at least one!)

And further yet .... name the first female who was famous for being the 'first female' to train right along side the guys in this gym and the exact location of the gym when she first joined up.

You gotta know your shit to get this one completely right.

ronrico · « **Reply #31 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:55:15 PM »

Stunt- I've eaten at Big Deans many times in the last few years. Cheeseburger and a 32 oz. beer. Some neet photos on the south wall that date anywhere from the 50's up through the 70's. Unfortunatly I don't know much of the history of the place, but judging from some of pipes and fittings in the restrooms, I guess it has been there a long time. Next time I go in there I will try to get background info. It sure looks like it was from a fun era.

ronrico · « **Reply #32 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:02:32 PM »

Golds, Venice. Locations- Pacific ave. ,Second street, and now on Hampton. Owners- Joe Gold, r. Danteles, Ken Sprague, Pete Grymkowski, Tim Kimber, Ed Connors. No clue who owns it now though. First female- not sure, I do remember when Christine Zane started training at the first World Gym and Joe had to put in the changing room for her where the desk used to be.

stuntmovie · « **Reply #33 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:25:34 PM »

Darn good again, Ronrico! I thought for sure that you'd overlook Sprague. I never had the opportunity to meet Danteles but I met everyone else including Joe Gold himself. I'll let you stew a bit about the 'first lady' question and if my memory serves me right - didn't one of the ladies use to shower with the guys before that second shower was installed at World's??

Yea! It was a great time to be living in So Cal, Ronrico. No traffic jams at all that I can remember. You even had a straight shot from Santa Monica to Disneyland through huge orange orchards and strawberry fields once you got a bit past the airport. And the Hollywood and Vine area wasn't the mess it seems to be today.

And all those So Cal cities that are continuous now had open country space between them. And Irvine was nothing more than a huge, undeveloped wilderness owned by people I used to have a couple of beers with on the weekends when and if I got to Laguna Beach. And Hobie Alter was a surf rat bumming beers after a hard day on the waves of Laguna Beach.

A lot of the LA guys who lifted seriously worked for the movie studios in some capacity or another and seemed to be able to hit the beach on any given sunny day. And a full day at Disneyland cost you less than $10.

And weekend contests and beauty pageants would draw only a handful of competitors, usually the same competitors who competed the previous week in the Embassy Auditorium or Muscle Beach or someplace in the Venice area or further on down the California coastline. I don't think that those events were even sanctioned by the AAU back then. And the IFBB and the NPC never even existed.

Here's a recent shot of Dean's for ya, Ron, just in case ya ever get 'losted'. There used to be a damn good chicken plate meal served out of a little window right next door (north side) of Dean's. I preferred it more than the burgers at Dean's, but I'd always stop in for a beer on any hot summer day.

Second photo is a sight you'd seldom see outside of the Venice area.

ronrico · « **Reply #34 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:33:11 PM »

Just guessing on the females,- Lisa Lyon or Pillow?

wes · « **Reply #35 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:40:15 PM »

Great thread as usual stunt......thanks bud!!

stuntmovie · « **Reply #36 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:49:59 PM »

Thanks for reading it, Wes!

Yep, Ron! Lisa was the first lady in Gold's who trained as seriously as the guys. As far as I know, Lisa was the start of female bodybuilding and set the standards of the day even before Rachel Mc Lish and Cory Everson and the very beautiful black girl whose name I presently forget..... DAMN!! Help me out here, Ron!

WOW! I haven't thought of Pillow or even heard her name mentioned in one hell of a long time.

What is she up to now?

Here's a shot of Lisa off the net with Robert Mapplethorpet.

stuntmovie · « **Reply #37 on:** April 15, 2009, 01:57:35 PM »

And Pillow can be seen on Youtube here --------->

&feature=related

dodger · « **Reply #38 on:** April 15, 2009, 02:16:42 PM »

the black girl,are ya talkin about carla dunlop,that last photo,that dude looked like mick jagger,lol...no Barbarian david paul pics stunt?

stuntmovie · « **Reply #39 on:** April 15, 2009, 02:44:53 PM »

Yea, Carla! Damn! How the hell could I have forgotten Carla!

Thanks, DODGER!

I do have a few good pics of the Barbarian Bros but as I stated earlier, most of those old shots are on a disc in a trunk someplace. I hope to find those discs ASAP though.

I've known both the bros casually since they first came out to California but I still get them mixed up, but one day one of them and myself went around town in search of a VIP who he had some business with and during that process of VIP searching we stopped off in Venice Beach and while walking down the broad-walk David ( I think it was David) asked me if I'd be interested in hearing the new song he had recently written.

And I said, "Sure!" thinking that he'd give me a recording of this "new song he wrote", but instead he assumes the position of a rock star and starts singing this new song he wrote right there on that broad-walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon while hundreds of people were walking by.

And before he was done singing that new song there was at least a crowd of 120 people standing around and singing along and giving him a well deserved standing ovation when he was done.

He took a courtious bow and thanked everyone and handed me a disc of all the songs he had written and recorded and I ended up giving them to Keith because they are good friends and Keith likes that kind of music. Yea, the same Keith that is presently in limbo or whatever you call it while he is waiting to return to all his beloved GetBig fans.

Both the bros are major characters and great guys to hang with for short periods of time.

Yea, yea.... I'll try to find those pictures.

KevinP85 · « **Reply #40 on:** April 15, 2009, 03:54:21 PM »

Man, makes me miss California. Born and raised, but I was wayyyyyyyy too young to know what the hell was going on. Plus I didn't get into BBing until 2000. By the way, how old are you Stunt, if you don't mind me asking. Sounds like a hell of a time, and by the way I was born in Santa Monica.

nycbull · « **Reply #41 on:** April 15, 2009, 05:10:17 PM »

Quote from: stuntmovie on April 15, 2009, 10:22:24 AM

NYCbull, No time at present to load these photos at any other site, but I'll be glad to send ya some via IM if and when I get some time to do so.

thanks dude, .....my bf still has a house in Laguna Beach, he lived there when it was an artist commune...says it was amazing...I cant go downtown Laguna with him cause he just hates what has happened to the place, hates the people, I dont blame him, the people are low life rich assholes, furthest thing from artists.....but it sounds like Laguna Beach was an amazing place to live at one time...I would have loved to seen it in its hey day...All I can do is buy retro Laguna Beach T-shirts now

chainsaw · « **Reply #42 on:** April 15, 2009, 05:37:26 PM »

You should show the old world gym that turned into a gymnastics studio,
Firehouse, omellate factory and Main st. Also Rio tan, which has been the
tanning of champions for 15plus years the Joe owns. The bodybuilder crossing sign
at the current golds.

dodger · « **Reply #43 on:** April 15, 2009, 06:43:00 PM »

Quote from: stuntmovie on April 15, 2009, 02:44:53 PM

Yea, Carla! Damn! How the hell could I have forgotten Carla!

Thanks, DODGER!

I do have a few good pics of the Barbarian Bros but as I stated earlier, most of those old shots are on a disc in a trunk someplace. I hope to find those discs ASAP though.

I've known both the bros casually since they first came out to California but I still get them mixed up, but one day one of them and myself went around town in search of a VIP who he had some business with and during that process of VIP searching we stopped off in Venice Beach and while walking down the broad-walk David ( I think it was David) asked me if I'd be interested in hearing the new song he had recently written.

And I said, "Sure!" thinking that he'd give me a recording of this "new song he wrote", but instead he assumes the position of a rock star and starts singing this new song he wrote right there on that broad-walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon while hundreds of people were walking by.

And before he was done singing that new song there was at least a crowd of 120 people standing around and singing along and giving him a well deserved standing ovation when he was done.

He took a courtious bow and thanked everyone and handed me a disc of all the songs he had written and recorded and I ended up giving them to Keith because they are good friends and Keith likes that kind of music. Yea, the same Keith that is presently in limbo or whatever you call it while he is waiting to return to all his beloved GetBig fans.

Both the bros are major characters and great guys to hang with for short periods of time.

Yea, yea.... I'll try to find those pictures.

Yea thanks stunt,,,yeah whenever you can find those pics of him,that would be great,,,yeah funny story to,,i think i remember reading that before from you but a little more of it this time,very kool.Hey these are fantastic stories to,love all the old photos of the area.Looking forward to seeing this thread go on and on..great stuff stunt..d

Krankenstein · « **Reply #44 on:** April 15, 2009, 09:02:32 PM »

Quote from: stuntmovie on April 14, 2009, 10:56:54 AM

OK, I'll do that, Drug! More than likely within the week. Can you tell us what year that was?

Around 2002 - 2003. He said that Phil just got out tent city. He said to mention Scott and Terry (Scotts wife)

DOGGCRAPP · « **Reply #45 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:49:10 PM »

Quote from: stuntmovie on April 15, 2009, 11:40:30 AM

Getting a bit off track here but some of these pictures that follow will have to do until I find the others that are locked up someplace between here and there.....

Identify all three of these characters and win a prize .... (probably an old DVD collecting dust someplace) .... But it's damn near impossible to ID all three.

And if you guess all three, then you got to tell us the year it was taken (I took it so I know) for a even bigger prize (maybe a free meal for you and your GF/BF at Ellis Island). Order the prime rib! It's really good!

Anyone in this photo is ineligible to participate.

Im going to take a crack at it...Arnold, Draper and Kent K? 1969?

dr.chimps · « **Reply #46 on:** April 17, 2009, 04:00:26 PM »

Quote from: stuntmovie on April 15, 2009, 10:22:24 AM

Here's one for ya... Name the movie that that Merry Go Round was featured in. The principal character in that movie had his office in the back.

Stunt. I gotta go with The Sting and Henry Gondorff's office.

/rip paul

stuntmovie · « **Reply #47 on:** April 17, 2009, 09:54:59 PM »

DAMN! Some of you guys are pretty smart for GetBiggers!

First of all... Crap.... You are correct on Arnold and Draper but the third person is not Kent Kuhn (spelling?!!). That third person is Wayne, a good friend of mine who was in the Corps with us over at Kaneohe Bay. He won some good titles back then and trained with Arnold for a while. Now living in Las Vegas.

Dr. Chimps, you do know your movie stuff well .... Yep, that Merry Go Round was in "The Sting" as well as many other second rate/featured films of the 50's, but I think that the actual office scene was built in the studio, and what appears to be an office in the building is actually a storage space. How the hell did you recall the character's name ...... Henry Gondorff?

Drugfree ... Tent city?

Chainsaw, I do have recent photos of each of those places you mentioned.... The gymnastics studio (originally World Gym), Firehouse, Omellate factor(?) and Main St. and Rio Tan ( Is that the one on Lincoln?) and the Guido bodybuilder crossing sign. I got all of those someplace and I will or else reshoot each of them on my next trip back to LA. You failed to mention a couple of interesting places such as Zucky's, the original Gold's, the German's, Gold's on 2nd, Weider's first California office, etc. These are all in the archives someplace.

Dodge, gotta find them pictures either here in the archives or in one of my storage spots.

NYBull, I actually lived in Laguna Beach when it was at the height of its "Artist" period. Those were the days of the Laguna Greeter and Hobie Alter and the Sandpiper (USMC hangout), John Wayne visits, the new surfing craze, playing vollyball with the Ozzie and Harriet Nelson kids behind there home on the beach, and at the main beach area in town with the TV crew from "The Virginian", the Laguna Beach Art Festival, Dana Villa, and some damn good and mostly unbelievable times. I drove through there a couple of months ago and it still appeared to be a damn nice place to live. I think that a lot of the old money Hollywood movie retirees are living down there now.

ozman · « **Reply #48 on:** April 17, 2009, 09:57:44 PM »

love these threads mate

onya

Krankenstein · « **Reply #49 on:** April 18, 2009, 12:48:44 AM »

Quote from: stuntmovie on April 17, 2009, 09:54:59 PM

Drugfree ... Tent city?

Yeah...Phil will know what it is. Did he remember Scott?