NAILS, good to meet a fellow Venice Beach enthusiast! But I'm so old, I can't count that high.
I can recall the Venice Beach Pier and its dancehall when Lawrence Welk was the main attraction and when five people on the beach on a Wednesday was considered a crowd and the ladies wore bathing suits that left a lot to the imagination.
And by the Santa Monica Pier was a small 'pit' called Muscle Beach which was mainly populated by gymnasts and circus performers and the occasional bodybuilder who wanted a workout in the sun if he could find the tools to adjust the rusted weights.
Vollyball and the lifeguard station were still many years away.
Back then we'd park along the PCH and walk down the hill towards the pier. No parking meters then so it was free parking all day long. We'd climb over three foot wooden 'fence' and lift some ten pound dumbbells for a couple of reps and start our daily run to Venice Beach and back along the water's edge and seldom see another person along that two mile stretch.
Sometimes we'd catch the electric trolly (ten cents in each direction) and then head on back again because nothing was happening in the Venice area except for old time Jewish ladies knitting stuff and talking in languages none of us understood while their counterparts were visiting the three or four synagogs that lined up along the Beachwalk you are familiar with today.
No one alive remembers who owned the veery small gym beneath one of the Santa Monica beachfront hotels, but the most reliable guesses tell me that it was Joe Gold's original and very temporary location before his move a mile or so south into the Venice area.
These were the Muscle Beach days of Doug Strtohl, a kid named Reeves, his good friend (and soon to be my good friend also) George Eifferman, Pudgy(?), and many others whom I have forgotten.
ANd then one year the city of Santa Monica closed it down for some long forgotten reason (sexual activity under the pier was only a rumor back at that time), and some enterprising young bodybuilder moved it south (apparently with the blessing of the City Council - if there is such a thing in Venice, Ca).
ANd to the best of my recollection, that move was of great benefit for Venice Beach.
And then a few years later a US President by the name of Kennedy somehow got the US interested in something to do with fitness and gyms with names like American Health Studios, Tanny's, and Jack Lalanne (something or another) became recognized by the general public.
But Joe Gold and two brothers by the name of Joe and Ben and Hoffman, and Dan Louri were slightly ahead of everyone else and carried the ball for the next few years, but only three of those previously named rose to the top .... Joe and Joe and Ben .. while the rest followed miles behind.
And that's when guys like Scott appeared on the scene and on the magazine covers only to be replaced by a kid from Austria who caught Joe's eye and garnished the attention of every kid who lifted weights.
And on a few occasions we'd sit on Santa Monica Beach just north of that huge parking lot that separates the city of Santa Monica from the berg of Venice and talk with the likes of this big kid from Austria, his friend from Italy, a guy who had the most muscular legs in the world, etc. (You can name each of them if you think hard enough.)
And a guy back east by the name of Pete was soon coming to the West Coast but he
was'nt aware of that move just yet nor of the part he'd play within the world of bodybuilding.
And from that point on it must be fairly documented someplace.
If it ain't .. I might give it a try .... but I'll have to depend on a lot of other old farts who can correct me when I'm wrong ... or when I start to lie or exaggerate a bit.
Anyone know if this has been done yet?