The following may only be of interest to a very few GetBiggers, but if someday anyone were to write the complete encyclopedia regarding the World of Bodybuilding it should be included within that encyclopedia under the heqding, “YEA! THIS REALLY DID HAPPEN!”
But first … a little bit of background to set the mood and attempt to take you 21st Century Centurions back to a time when bodybuilders were seldom seen, gyms as we know them today never existed, and the somewhat dreaded personal trainers showed no signs of their eventual arrival, self importance, and popularity.
So ...... There is a city within the northern section of California called San Francisco where a young kid by the name of Steve used to walk to the top of that city’s seven hills on his tip-toes in an attempt to have bigger calves. (Or so that story goes.)
But no one gave a damn about this kid named Steve ….. simply because no one gave a damn about muscle growth back then except for Steve and a handful of other young guns who wanted bigger calves, or bigger arms, or bigger chest, etc., etc.
This is sort of the condensed version of how it all began up north in that City by the Bay … .... Walk or run those hils or through those parks or along that dirty beach .... and do it in in some unique manner…. until you were either bigger, faster, or stronger than the kid next door who most likely lacked the 'secret' of how to get it done.
So back in them god old days, a kid had to do it with whatever nature provided simply due to the fact there were no gyms in this city of the Seven Hils that a decent kid would ever consider entering.
Sure …. there was LaLanne’s down on Market Street which seemed to cater to a much older gfoup of overweight citizens who picked up heavy things and put them back down (but never in the correct location).
And there was the downtown YMCA for those who preferred being bulked up odd-lifters of one sort or another. These characters would soon be known as powerlifters and garner world wide reputations and most likely still do to this very day.
And then there was a mid-town Yoga ‘Gym” owned by Walt Baptiste above a well known auto showcase on Lombard ...... but anything resembling heavy objects that one could lift over one’s head were somewhat scare and hard to find.
And NoCal had its very own Muscle Beach called China Beach which 99% of the NoCal population had never heard of.
So China Beach was seldom visited by any individual who lifted heavy things and it eventually became a long forgotten memory as far as being somewhat muscle related.
But before the 1950's ended something long forgotten happened which resulted in the opening of something new within the muscle related world.
To the best of my knowledge it was the grand opening of Vic Tanny's gym on Market Street in San Francisco which was unique in that it was clean and bright.
And everything was chrome plated!!
Wow!!
But no one in there at first knew what a "rep" or a "set" was!
And soon thereafter a US President by the name of Kennedy spoke a few forgotten words on national TV that somehow got part of the US citizenship to do some exercises on a semi-regular basis.
And that’s when shit began to happen within the northern regions of California.
Bodybuilding ‘shit’ that is!
A gym of some sort sprang up in every neighborhood.
American Health Studios was my preference and is the place where I firstmet Steve (the tip-toe kid I mentioned earlier).
But way down south in the Los Angels region ….. they were years ahead of us up north.
Years earlier on a small strip of beach in Santa Monica …. Muscle Beach had grabbed a foot-hold and had already become a major tourist attraction and somewhat of a headache for the ‘City Fathers’ who seemed to want something different for the ‘endearment’ of their ‘fair city’.
More to follow ...the "Yea! This really did happen part!"
