Its part of the City of L.A. Park system. They do have a modest membership fee to use the facility. The history here is unlike any other place in our sport with the possible exception of Joe Gold's original gym up the street. The current site was moved there years ago from up the beach in Santa Monica. The original outdoor gym and the current has seen most every big name Bodybuilder train there at on time…"The Pit". No chrome or pazazz glitz….just HISTORY. Just ask fellow GB member Stunt up at the top of this category….or me. I went to Muscle Beach first in 1951.(I'm the kid in the stripe T shirt sitting on the stage) I have seen Reeves, Scott, Zane, Drapper, Arnold, Columbo, Joe Weider,Ferrigno,Ric Drasin, Coleman, and dozens of other stars in the Pit and/or on the stage. If you want your 15 min. of fame, show up in the pit on a sunny weekend in near contest condition, pay your one day dues, and you will have your pic taken a hundred times by tourists, the foriegn press and local paparazzi. You might even get an interview by Japanese, French or Greek TV as I have. Your physique will be shown around the world. Show up on Memorial Day, Labor Day or July 4th and you will see 2,000 + people in the audience going crazy nutz for Bodybuilding and the contests, albeit amatuer and Regional in quality.