Bigtoe in USA

[Bluto]

I stumbled onto some site about a guy called "bigtoe" some japanese bodybuilder, most of the text is in japanese so I have no idea who this guy is, but here's some cool old school pictures from when he visited the US and met with bodybuilding celebrities there:

With Stallone

[Bluto]

Big Lou

[Bluto]

"Japanese bodybuilders at the Samurai" (well that's what the description said!)

[Bluto]

Ed

[Bluto]

With Franco and Joe

Damn you just gotta love that old school atmosphere in the gym, clothing etc

[Bluto]

Platz

[Bluto]

Fox

[Bluto]

David le roth

[Bluto]

Bob Paris

[Bluto]

Arnold!

[Bluto]

There's more photos on his site:

http://bigtoe.pos.to/photo.usa.html

I don't recognize all, the filename of the photos says the first name though

[Bluto]

here's some before and after pictures of bigtoe himself, he's now in his 50's i believe

at 20 years of age



later

[onlyme]

Those outside pics are from the original World Gym.  The Samurai pic is the front of Gold's Venice.r  Cool pics.  Rare that Joe let anyone (regular person) take pics inside the gym.  You always had to get his permission.  Never forget Tony yelling and screaming at a photgrapher then pushing him down the stairs.

[bmacsys]

Those outside pics are from the original World Gym.  The Samurai pic is the front of Gold's Venice.r  Cool pics.  Rare that Joe let anyone (regular person) take pics inside the gym.  You always had to get his permission.  Never forget Tony yelling and screaming at a photgrapher then pushing him down the stairs.

Wow, this Japanese guy must have had some connections I guess.

[Gord]

Nice pics.

The guy sure got around.

[JPM]

Great pic's. Wonder how much Big Lou charged for that photo. I think that was Kay Baxter with David Lee. She died in a car accident when still somewhat young. One of the all time best women's BB'ers.

[knny187]

You know asians & their picture taking

Good pictures nonetheless

[tommywishbone]

Cool shots. You don't see David Lee Roth & Kay Baxter every day. Thanks for posting the pics.

Also, in the photo of Big Toe, Joe Gold  & Franco, the guy standing to the left w/the blue shirt is Dr. John Gergott. He was one of the first World Gym franchise owners and a good friend of Kay Baxter. His World Gym in Marin was pretty damn good. FWIW.

[Bix]

Here he is with a great Jap bodybuilder from the 70s....

[onlyme]

Man seeing those pics ofWorld Gym brings back memories.  Look at that equipment.  Plus, those pics are at Gold's Venice and World Gym which were maybe a mile from each other or a little more.  David Lee Roth was at Gold's just about everyday.  Pete G.  bought David Lee Roth's Rolls Royce that he used in the video California Girls.

[tommywishbone]

Keith... the beige four-door Rolls?

[onlyme]

Tommy I think so.  It was kind of Invory colored.  I only saw that one once.  He had 4 I think.  Theone he had here belong to some Prince or something.  It is still here I believe at his condo on Oahu.  I never really liked the Rolls,  They aren't as big inside as they are outside.  The headroom is defintiely nothing to brag about.  I always told him he should get the Bentley Azure.  We went and saw one and that car isjust awesome.  He was on the way to Vegas one time for the Olympiaa few years ago and his Rolls quit on him.  He caught a ride the rest of the way from someone he called.  They towed the Rolls back to his house and he ended up buying a car in Vegas.  He just sold a 69 Camero all tricked out with blower and everything to someone in Australia.  He still has two Porsches that are unreal.  I had some pics ofthem somewhere.  An awesome 961-959-935 S2  I think I got that right.  Worth a few hundred thousand easy.  His other one is a yellow 911 that won somegrand prix back in79 or so.  He has a poster of it in his garage.  He put a 900 hp blown V-8 in it and he just told me he but in a bigger motor.  It has 1100 hp.  He likes his fast cars

[tommywishbone]

K-

Man, I didn't know about all those cars... sounds very cool. One thing that Pete did that was very strange was, sometimes he would show up at Gold's Venice driving the cream/ivory Rolls and then the next week, he would show up driving a 1987-88 red Chevy Caprice Classic w/no hub caps. He would always park in the same space and come in and say hi. I would ask about the Rolls and Pete would just laugh and say something about it breaking down. I sort of remember a Camaro hot rod, but I can't picture it.

-Tom

[onlyme]

The Caprice was his girlfriend Linda's.  It always seemed all his Roll's broke down.  I was never impressed with Rolls Royce.  My uncle had one too and got rid of it in a matter of months.  But, for having the money Pete has he is very down to earth and approachable.  He loved buying dinner for people.  Our favorite restaurant here is Roy's and he would always spend $500+ a night for dinner for just 3 of us.  He has a house down in Cabo now and spends allot of time their.

[Mr. Intenseone]

 Hey Onlyme, I'll bet we trained there at the same time. I used to train with a guy named Doug Brignole. Remember when Joe (Gold) used to be in the office that sat above the gym floor and yell if people didn't put away their weights?..LOL