Getbig.com: American Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure
Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: Max_Rep on June 02, 2011, 02:28:07 PM
-
Posted this earlier to my blog. Some might enjoy it.
http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/training-at-gold%E2%80%99s-gym-venice-in-the-early-eighties.php
-
Great Footage!
-
Great Footage!
You could give Chris Rock a run for the money.
-
That was a great time to be a bodybuilder and living in Venice! :)
Sad what the Gold's Gym in Venice and bodybuilding has became nowdays! :'(
-
Good stuff David!!
Sadly those days are long gone. :(
-
This is FANTASTIC footage. Thank you so much for making me aware of its existence. Truly awesome. Gives me goosebumps.
-
This looks more like around 1986 or even early 1987. Luiz freitz wasn't in Venice much before then.
-
Posted this earlier to my blog. Some might enjoy it.
http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/training-at-gold%E2%80%99s-gym-venice-in-the-early-eighties.php
That's the way gyms should be - nowadays it's either smelly minorities hogging the equipment, or stony faced MMA queens shadowboxing their way to imaginary glory [holes]
-
Cool.
-
Shit looked fun back then. Man, I can't even stand going to the gym most of the time. Love training, but they gym and the people there suck nowadays.
-
Charles glass already working with clients while sporting his " my first dread lock training kit".
Classic!
-
I gotta say the girls still looked fuckable too.
-
I gotta say the girls still looked fuckable too.
I'm not positive but that looks like my ex-wife doing preacher curls next to Teagan. I remember her twlling me she saw Teagan doing some weird stuff and it looked like her but I just can't tell. If it was yes it was f-able for ME. Ha.
-
Posted this earlier to my blog. Some might enjoy it.
http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/training-at-gold%E2%80%99s-gym-venice-in-the-early-eighties.php
wow draper looks like the dark crystal
-
Part 3
Who's is the guy in the beginning? Looks huge
-
Platz looked insane, so did many others.
Whos that crazy chick at 5:10? ;D
-
Part 3
Who's is the guy in the beginning? Looks huge
Looked and posed like Jeff King.
Platz looked insane, so did many others.
Whos that crazy chick at 5:10? ;D
You mean Teagan Clive?
Samir’s back looked insane at the end of Part 3. Must have been all those Bent Rows we did.
-
amazing stuff,
-
This looks more like around 1986 or even early 1987. Luiz freitz wasn't in Venice much before then.
Luiz raced against Mark Spitz in the 1976 olympics , Montreal .
-
seems like the golden age of bodybuilding had a lot to do with people wearing sweatpants when they worked out, not neon spandex that enables you to see the "pros" asshole veins when they squat.
-
looks like bbing was for nutcases and outcasts even at that time.
-
Posted this earlier to my blog. Some might enjoy it.
http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/training-at-gold%E2%80%99s-gym-venice-in-the-early-eighties.php
Good find. I think Pete owned it back in the day.
-
fantastic
-
Don Ross died early. A strange, wild individual wrestled and lived on the edge best I have read.
-
mike christian later admitted to being high on coke (and more) throughout most of the 80's, and trained sporadically, yet sported a very impressive physique, and seemed like a congenial fellow
-
Posted this earlier to my blog. Some might enjoy it.
http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/training-at-gold%E2%80%99s-gym-venice-in-the-early-eighties.php
fuck off old fart .. nobody cares
-
fuck off old fart .. nobody cares
actually its one of the best threads here ever
-
Part 3
Who's is the guy in the beginning? Looks huge
If you mean the guy posing before Mike Christian's bicep curls, i'm pretty sure that's David Dearth.
-
Good find. I think Pete owned it back in the day.
Pete, Tim and Ed were co-owners with Pete owning 51%.
-
Don Ross died early. A strange, wild individual wrestled and lived on the edge best I have read.
Wow...brings back memories. I used to love going to Gold's in the 80's. Nothing like it. I was intimidated and inspired at the same time! Always a bunch of pros and celebrities there. That's when bodybuilding was legit.
Cool footage of Don Ross. I actually met him and got to know him at World when I used to train there. He'd come in with his wife Rita. Very nice lady. I used to bullshit with Don a lot, he was quite the character, lol. He was actually the age I am now when he died. Wow.
I remember going to Rita's apt. for a trouble call. She related the whole story about how he came home from the gym complaining of spasms in his back. He asked for a massage to work it out, and had a massive heart attack while she was massaging him on the table. Died right there. She broke down and was crying like a baby telling me this. Very upsetting to hear. PIP Don...
-
mike christian later admitted to being high on coke (and more) throughout most of the 80's, and trained sporadically, yet sported a very impressive physique, and seemed like a congenial fellow
Yup, Mike was a cokehead, lol...and yes, congenial is a good word to describe him. Very cool and genuinely friendly guy.
-
Wow...brings back memories. I used to love going to Gold's in the 80's. Nothing like it. I was intimidated and inspired at the same time! Always a bunch of pros and celebrities there. That's when bodybuilding was legit.
Cool footage of Don Ross. I actually met him and got to know him at World when I used to train there. He'd come in with his wife Rita. Very nice lady. I used to bullshit with Don a lot, he was quite the character, lol. He was actually the age I am now when he died. Wow.
I remember going to Rita's apt. for a trouble call. She related the whole story about how he came home from the gym complaining of spasms in his back. He asked for a massage to work it out, and had a massive heart attack while she was massaging him on the table. Died right there. She broke down and was crying like a baby telling me this. Very upsetting to hear. PIP Don...
Good history right there. A sad story.
-
Good history right there. A sad story.
Yes, very sad. She said when the paramedics arrived, they tried to revive him for about ten minutes with no luck. Then they wheeled him out.
She told me she loved him very much, and didn't know what she was going to do without him. I didn't know what to say. Very uncomfortable.
-
Yes, very sad. She said when the paramedics arrived, they tried to revive him for about ten minutes with no luck. Then they wheeled him out.
She told me she loved him very much, and didn't know what she was going to do without him. I didn't know what to say. Very uncomfortable.
thats a real shame, is she the lady in the clip, when he's sporting the mohawk?
-
The blond? No.
-
This looks more like around 1986 or even early 1987. Luiz freitz wasn't in Venice much before then.
It is '86.... "Captain of Her Heart" was playing on the radio in the background of the first vid... it wasn't released until 86
-
Posted this earlier to my blog. Some might enjoy it.
http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/training-at-gold%E2%80%99s-gym-venice-in-the-early-eighties.php
That was back when training actually meant something.
-
great thread,brings back lots of memories,that was the first year i started competing.
-
Outstanding physiques.. EVERYONE looked great back then, even the "gym rats". 8)
-
That was back when training actually meant something.
LoL
-
Wow...brings back memories. I used to love going to Gold's in the 80's. Nothing like it. I was intimidated and inspired at the same time! Always a bunch of pros and celebrities there. That's when bodybuilding was legit.
Cool footage of Don Ross. I actually met him and got to know him at World when I used to train there. He'd come in with his wife Rita. Very nice lady. I used to bullshit with Don a lot, he was quite the character, lol. He was actually the age I am now when he died. Wow.
I remember going to Rita's apt. for a trouble call. She related the whole story about how he came home from the gym complaining of spasms in his back. He asked for a massage to work it out, and had a massive heart attack while she was massaging him on the table. Died right there. She broke down and was crying like a baby telling me this. Very upsetting to hear. PIP Don...
Rita was actually married to someone else when I was training there circa 1980-Mid-1982. She was Rita Brown then. And Don Ross was once married to Teagan if I’m not mistaken. When I moved to Redondo Beach and was training at Ray Mentzer’s Muscle Mill, Don came down for a few days. He used to carry around a picture of a woman’s pussy and he called it his “schevik” repellant to scare off gay guys. What a character.
That was back when training actually meant something.
It sure did Joe… hard to believe it’s been 30 years since I trained with Samir and almost that since Rory coached me. Samir loved the post and these clips BTW
-
Truly part of the golden age of bodybuilding. Sadly I was only born in 1980 so I obviously didn't care for bodybuilding during those years but my golden years was the late 90's. Stuff just seemed more real back then, people more helpful and smiles more easy. We were a group of 3 guys and a gal that trained together. Everyone was there to get shit done but afterwards half the gym would visit Mochacha's Chicken next door and socialise until the early hours. These days it's fucking bullshit. My gym is loaded with twinks, gays, blacks, and fatties slowly wandering about taking up space and doing fuck all. I've even seen a fat piece of shit sitting on a stationary bike, drinking a coke! In the 90's Kieran (gym owner) would've slung his ass out of the door but all the good guys are gone and replaced by weirdo's and kunts only interested in loading the gym to the bring with people and taking the money.
-
Truly part of the golden age of bodybuilding. Sadly I was only born in 1980 so I obviously didn't care for bodybuilding during those years but my golden years was the late 90's. Stuff just seemed more real back then, people more helpful and smiles more easy. We were a group of 3 guys and a gal that trained together. Everyone was there to get shit done but afterwards half the gym would visit Mochacha's Chicken next door and socialise until the early hours. These days it's fucking bullshit. My gym is loaded with twinks, gays, blacks, and fatties slowly wandering about taking up space and doing fuck all. I've even seen a fat piece of shit sitting on a stationary bike, drinking a coke! In the 90's Kieran (gym owner) would've slung his ass out of the door but all the good guys are gone and replaced by weirdo's and kunts only interested in loading the gym to the bring with people and taking the money.
Sounds like a great enviroment...I love the gyms where people finish their workout and then sit to chat and joke for a bit, have a cigarete and not worrying about missing "the anabolic window"..most of the gyms you se those fools rushing into the locker room to drink their "shake" and then get the fuck out to eat their supposed meal within 45. Fortunately my gym is like the first i described/ 8)
-
It is '86.... "Captain of Her Heart" was playing on the radio in the background of the first vid... it wasn't released until 86
also platz had the bi tear already
-
what was the cause of teagan clive's death?
-
It sure did Joe… hard to believe it’s been 30 years since I trained with Samir and almost that since Rory coached me. Samir loved the post and these clips BTW
bannout looked like a fun character, that was serious about his profession, in other words,
a real pro, that enjoyed what he did..
-
what was the cause of teagan clive's death?
Teagan is alive and well living out in Thousand Oaks, CA with her husband Stan. He’s some very well paid Hollywood producer director. She’s in good shape but WAY slimmed down. She just posted on my FB page yesterday. I occasionally get an e-mail from her and she attends the LA Fit Expo nearly every year.
Maybe you were thinking of Mishay Santos (not sure about C of D), Kay Baxter (car accident), Annie Rowe (cancer), Candy Csencsits (cancer), Shellie Beatie (suicide)?
Truly part of the golden age of bodybuilding. Sadly I was only born in 1980 so I obviously didn't care for bodybuilding during those years but my golden years was the late 90's. Stuff just seemed more real back then, people more helpful and smiles more easy. We were a group of 3 guys and a gal that trained together. Everyone was there to get shit done but afterwards half the gym would visit Mochacha's Chicken next door and socialise until the early hours.
Sounds like a group of people who would have fit right in at Gold’s Venice during that era. Most of us who trained there had come from other parts of the country and trained just the way you described. You’d be surprised but most of the top guys were just down to earth guys who loved to train and loved to have new people join in during their workouts. That’s how I got to train with most of them. I’d be training nearby. I’d spot them or they’d spot me and we’d start training together. Then they’d ask me what I was training tomorrow and next thing I’d know, we were training together.
Yes I miss the days when a bunch of us would go out to eat after the gym. At Gold’s Venice it was often the Swedish Inn Smorgusbord (gone now) near Loyola Marymount. Monday nights at Dinah’s in Westchester was like a Gold’s Gym convention – all you can eat fried chicken. At Ray Mentzer’s Muscle Mill it was the Great Earth Restaurant at Jim Rockell’s Powerhouse Gym in Rochester it was Country Buffet -- yes bad food but we’d load up on baked chicken and rice.
-
bannout looked like a fun character, that was serious about his profession, in other words,
a real pro, that enjoyed what he did..
Very true Samir loved to do Joe Weider imitations. He's a fun guy but trained hard.
-
8)
-
Teagan is alive and well living out in Thousand Oaks, CA with her husband Stan. He’s some very well paid Hollywood producer director. She’s in good shape but WAY slimmed down. She just posted on my FB page yesterday. I occasionally get an e-mail from her and she attends the LA Fit Expo nearly every year.
Maybe you were thinking of Mishay Santos (not sure about C of D), Kay Baxter (car accident), Annie Rowe (cancer), Candy Csencsits (cancer), Shellie Beatie (suicide)?
Sounds like a group of people who would have fit right in at Gold’s Venice during that era. Most of us who trained there had come from other parts of the country and trained just the way you described. You’d be surprised but most of the top guys were just down to earth guys who loved to train and loved to have new people join in during their workouts. That’s how I got to train with most of them. I’d be training nearby. I’d spot them or they’d spot me and we’d start training together. Then they’d ask me what I was training tomorrow and next thing I’d know, we were training together.
Yes I miss the days when a bunch of us would go out to eat after the gym. At Gold’s Venice it was often the Swedish Inn Smorgusbord (gone now) near Loyola Marymount. Monday nights at Dinah’s in Westchester was like a Gold’s Gym convention – all you can eat fried chicken. At Ray Mentzer’s Muscle Mill it was the Great Earth Restaurant at Jim Rockell’s Powerhouse Gym in Rochester it was Country Buffet -- yes bad food but we’d load up on baked chicken and rice.
Nice stuff, David...
The good ol days.
-
Interesting to read most of these posts as they bring back old memories from the great days of bodybuilding.
I spent a lot of time in the Santa Monica location and was a good friend of Pete's when he first bought it. (And still am.)
If my memory serves me correctly, Pete and his partners purchased it from Ken Sprague but someone who was more involved than I was ... claims that there was an owner after Sprague and before Pete.
I'm gonna check that out.
A few years back I posted some old time memories about those great bodybuilding years and the personalities involved and the good and bad times we all experienced. I'm still in contact with some of the gang and I do plan to contact some of them in order to get a kick in my memory banks.
Once I get that adjusted ..... I'll post some interesting shit.
-
also platz had the bi tear already
Do you know on which exercise did he tear it?
-
MAX, You mentioned the Smorgasboard place in one of your above posts. There used to also be a Smorgasboard buffet a couple of blocks from Gold's when it was located in Santa Monica, but it had to close down once it became the favorite place to 'fine dine' and so popular with the gym members.
I wonder if those were the same owners who opened the Smorgy by Loyola.
Back then Joe Nazzario worked the front door at a "new" restaurant called TONY ROMA's a couple of blocks north of Gold's and that place also drew a lot of the members. If I recall right you could get a full rack of ribs with all the trimmings for around $6. ANd that included high class piano player playing mellow Broadway tunes and white table cloths.
And I bet you can remember "The German's" in Venice that served a dozen egg omlet and a bowl of strawberrys for less than $5. It was a dump but the food was good and cheap. And every bodybuilder in So Cal ended up fine dining there at least once or twice a week. I think it was managed and staffed by some kind of "recovery group".
And of course .... The Fire House.
Way back then there was an old beachfront hotel that was vacant and up for rent. Some of us suggested that some profitable organization open it up for wayward bodybuilders who had no place to stay while in LA but that never did get off the ground.
Eventually that same building was purchased by a well known and successful addict recovery organization but today I think it is a very exclusive high rise, beachfront, apartment complex.
Getting off track,,, memory banks running overtime. Sorry bout that.
Just want to tell ya that it's good reading your input, MAX
-
Sounds like a great enviroment...I love the gyms where people finish their workout and then sit to chat and joke for a bit, have a cigarete and not worrying about missing "the anabolic window"..most of the gyms you se those fools rushing into the locker room to drink their "shake" and then get the fuck out to eat their supposed meal within 45. Fortunately my gym is like the first i described/ 8)
I know, it's almost heartbreaking. I never enjoyed training as much as I did back then. I hated rest days as I wanted to be there, in the mist of my pals and the action. The new kids ( I was one of them) that came in was willing to listen, learn and try hard. It's not like that today. Today you get groups of morons strutting around being in the way and taking up space. Back then the gym owner would quickly boot you out the door if you were messing about being a nuisance. Today they want your money only. Every night after gym closure there was socializing. Every. Single. Night. Obviously I didn't go every night but I went a lot. Nick van Beeck used to pop round sometimes and I'd just freak out at his size. He was MASSIVE. I considered everyone in there to be my friends. It was more than just a gym or just a hobby. Anyway, slowly life started happening and I moved away for university and old friends started dying off. It was before social networking so we didn't really keep in touch, apart from the times I went back home and swung round the gym. Needless to say, the winds has blown us all in different directions or paths in life and it's something you just gotta deal with. I look at young guys in the gym and hope they can find the same joy out of this as I did back then. That's the type of experiences that keeps bringing us all back in there, slogging it out.
Anyway, I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to, but, and this made sound melodramatic, my 'freshman' experiences in the gym still resounds today and it's just something that's not gonna die soon.
-
And of course .... The Fire House.
Never made it out to Cal when Fire House was still there. One of my greatest regrets.
-
James, unless it closed down within the past few months, it's still there. Or did I miss something?
What years were you training at Gold's Venice?
OH yea! As far as bodybuilding fine dining in Santa Monica and Venice ... I forget to mention ZUCKY's which was a favorite hangout for every Gold's Gym (Santa Monica) member in them olden days.
-
Back then Joe Nazzario worked the front door at a "new" restaurant called TONY ROMA's a couple of blocks north of Gold's and that place also drew a lot of the members.
[/i]
Probably not the restaurant founder, but Tony Roma also was a BB in the sixties/seventies? I remember his picture from a book by George Butler.
-
Nice stuff, David...
The good ol days.
Yes you are correct Bob... they friendships were always the best part of it. I often think of the crew from Rochacha.
-
Teagan is alive and well living out in Thousand Oaks, CA with her husband Stan. He’s some very well paid Hollywood producer director. She’s in good shape but WAY slimmed down. She just posted on my FB page yesterday. I occasionally get an e-mail from her and she attends the LA Fit Expo nearly every year.
Maybe you were thinking of Mishay Santos (not sure about C of D), Kay Baxter (car accident), Annie Rowe (cancer), Candy Csencsits (cancer), Shellie Beatie (suicide)?
Sounds like a group of people who would have fit right in at Gold’s Venice during that era. Most of us who trained there had come from other parts of the country and trained just the way you described. You’d be surprised but most of the top guys were just down to earth guys who loved to train and loved to have new people join in during their workouts. That’s how I got to train with most of them. I’d be training nearby. I’d spot them or they’d spot me and we’d start training together. Then they’d ask me what I was training tomorrow and next thing I’d know, we were training together.
Yes I miss the days when a bunch of us would go out to eat after the gym. At Gold’s Venice it was often the Swedish Inn Smorgusbord (gone now) near Loyola Marymount. Monday nights at Dinah’s in Westchester was like a Gold’s Gym convention – all you can eat fried chicken. At Ray Mentzer’s Muscle Mill it was the Great Earth Restaurant at Jim Rockell’s Powerhouse Gym in Rochester it was Country Buffet -- yes bad food but we’d load up on baked chicken and rice.
I read on another thread Mishay Santos died of HIV complications...
View Profile
Re: What was the cause of death of Mishay Santos?
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2008, 05:35:52 PM »
wasnt she the one that married a bodybuilder who was bi sexual and did g4p who also goty aids.. she in turn also became infected and died..
-
Stuntmovie.... I never went to "THE Germans" but I do Remember ZUCKY'S. "The Omelet Parlor” they had an omelet called Arnold’s Favorite. I had breakfast there once with Pete Grymko and Dennis Tinerino but it was kind of pricy and not really frequented by a lot of bodybuilders. I only saw Joe Nazzario once and he had Morgan Fairchild with him. She was real hot back in the 80's.
The SpritzO… I can’t really confirm or deny anything about how Mishay passed.
-
Stuntmovie.... I never went to "THE Germans" but I do Remember ZUCKY'S. "The Omelet Parlor” they had an omelet called Arnold’s Favorite. I had breakfast there once with Pete Grymko and Dennis Tinerino but it was kind of pricy and not really frequented by a lot of bodybuilders. I only saw Joe Nazzario once and he had Morgan Fairchild with him. She was real hot back in the 80's.
The SpritzO… I can’t really confirm or deny anything about how Mishay passed.
I just got the info by checking another thread- she was apparently living with a male bodybuilder doing G4P who contracted it... for me the saddest deaths were Don Ross (we probably would have had a few good laughs, he had an incredible sense of humor!) and Mike and Ray Mentzer (I did meet Mike in '93 in front of Gold's, the newer bigger gym further from the beach).
-
David,since reading this thread,I`ve been watching all of Ric Drasins videos on YT......awesome shit that just makes you wanna` train hard.
I remember back in the day when the new mags would finally come out,we`d read them from cover to cover over and over again........they inspired and made you wanna` bust balls in the gym.
I now no longer buy mags except occasionally (usually just to read David Youngs articles) ;D
Just not the same these days......I could go on and on but don`t wanna` bore the young `uns!!
-
David,since reading this thread,I`ve been watching all of Ric Drasins videos on YT......awesome shit that just makes you wanna` train hard.
I remember back in the day when the new mags would finally come out,we`d read them from cover to cover over and over again........they inspired and made you wanna` bust balls in the gym.
I now no longer buy mags except occasionally (usually just to read David Youngs articles) ;D
Just not the same these days......I could go on and on but don`t wanna` bore the young `uns!!
Tim... that's because they actually had pictures of people who were really training and not pretending to be training. Those Art Zeller photos were the best.
-
Zeller was stellar.
-
WES, Fook the young uns and keep on writing about them good old days, It's good to recall the principal players and those long gone places we used to hang out in.
I've known or have met or have worked with just about 90% of the good folks mentioned above plus many, many more ..... including Zeller who was mainly responsible for the initial success of Steve Reeves.
I can recall talking with Joe Gold while he was welding equipment out in the back of his original location where a year's membership was something like $24.
I can recall the first time I met Joe and Ben when they argued for the rights to be "associated with" the newly formed NPC and the heated objections of the guys from York as well as the argument from Dan Louri himself amid the accusations from many that the IFBB was a worldwide scam consisting of only PO boxes in the worldwide major cities.
I spent time with Reeves, LaLanne, Scott, Arnold, Frank and Christine, Jeff and Cory, Peter G. and each of the Gold Gym partners, Grant, and his family and bodybuilding buds, Platz, Mike and Ray, Teufel, Pearl, and even a pre-Hulked Lou when his photos didn't cost a dime, etc., etc.
And each of those meetings or get-togethers ended with great stories to tell, but sometimes can't be repeated.
So Im grateful to you guys who are posting these long ago gym-rat tales.
Bodybuilding is a history of colorful characters which should be recorded before its founders pass on to bigger weight rooms up there someplace.
If the young'un don't like it, they can simply refuse to read it and continue to make obnoxious commentaries about something they know nothing about.\\
To the rest of ya, I say, "Thanks for the history lessons, guys!"