Bill Keyes
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Over the years I've trained in many gyms. The first was the San Jose, CA YMCA around 1960. By today's standards it was primitive - an old lat machine suspended from the ceiling, an Iron Stair Case made of pipe - same for dip bars - but it rocked. There were few other gyms in San Jose at that time.
In the 70s one opened on Bascom Avenue not too far from West San Carlos by the name of Ironworks. Lot of home made equipment and exceptional place. In time they moved over to a far bigger building on Winchester Blvd in Campbell...
I trained at the Central Y in San Jose from the summer of '69 thru late '72. Absolutely loved it there. Remember the chlorine smell from the pool? It was the first place I trained after graduating from h.s. After lifting, I'd cool down for a half hour then go into the gym and play basketball. Ah, the energy of youth!
Russ Warner relocated his store on The Alameda a little closer to downtown after he got tired of all the break-ins at his East 14th St location in Oakland.
Also worked out a few times at the IronWorks gym in Campbell in the late 70's when revisiting the area.
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Edited by Bill Keyes on 01-29-08 02:28 PM. Reason for edit: spelling
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Bill Keyes
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Bump for you, Ken O.:
The Central YMCA in San Jose, CA had a dynamite little weight room in the late 60's/early 70's. I use the word 'little' somewhat facetiously. Square footage wasn't much, maybe 750 sq ft, but lots of powerhouse lifters/athletes. Bob Kemper, Richard Marks, Blair Kephart, Ray Leso, John Powell, Al Fuerbach among the most notable. All benches, racks, appartus, etc. made by the lifters themselves most of whom were firemen and policemen. York was the 'brand of choice' for barbells both Olympic and standard.
The weight room was stuck in a box like room across the hall from the indoor swimming pool and next to the basketball gym. Lots of chlorine odor. Cinder block walls with the only ventilation being open louvres at the top of the wall. Chalk dust everywhere especially on the lifting platform. At the top of one wall was a blackboard with the best competitive lifts in all classes of powerlifts and Oly lifts. It was that high so it could only be reached with a ladder and no one could screw around with it placing bogus numbers.
Remains one of my favorite training venues to this day.
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Laree
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01-29-08 10:54 AM - Post#402362
I trained at the Central Y in San Jose from the summer of '69 thru late '72. Absolutely loved it there. Remember the chlorine smell from the pool?
I went there to a few powerlifting meets back in the early '80s, probably when you were overseas.
Russ Warner's is still there, at that corner spot on The Alameda. He sold to Jim Higgins and Richard Brooks; Jim sold out his share a few years ago.
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Bill Keyes
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01-29-08 02:36 PM - Post#402479
...I went there to a few powerlifting meets back in the early '80s, probably when you were overseas...
They used to hold them in the basketball gym. What I always found interesting is that in the AAU days for both Powerlifting and Oly meets, the crowd would be anywhere from 30-50 people throughout the day.
Then after the heavy classes had completed their flights - usually about 9pm or so - they'd rig up a posing dais and hang lights from a backboard and set up a white backdrop for the physique contest. I usually had a seat near the front and as the contest got underway I'd turn around and see every seat taken and SRO around the edges - at least 150 people and usually closer to 200! And the AAU never understood the power of what they had hold of. Ol' Joe W did, however. 
Bill2
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Budhi
Total Posts: 552
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Before the Y there was Bob's Garage in Sunnyvale, the garage of Kemper's parent's home from around 1963. Three of us combined our weights there, built a 2x4 power rack, and soon were joined by Johnny Yamamoto - all of us off competing in AAU events. And occasionally doing a workout at Moonlight Health Spa in Santa Clara with Howard Capps managing it, or down to the Y on the Alameda during Bill Yarborough's tenure as athletic director. Bob's garage grew out of frustration we all felt with the short lived Sunnyvale Health Studio, a gym in a converted Purity Market in the long ago plowed under downtown Sunnyvale. Our pride and joy at Bob's were several boards nailed together by Tommy Kono having driven a spike through them.
Pumping Iron was a partnership involving Lee Evans, another Sunnyvale High grad and friend of us all. that came in the late 70s. Took Zane in there once.
Ironworks originally started on Bascom Ave in the 70s, moving in the early 80s to off Winchester - and Scott Connelly purchased it at some point.
In between there was Iron Works on Meridian, an old house and garage full of home made equipment, and another dumpy place in South San Jose whose bipolar owner chain smoked in the gym when in one of his blue funks. Yikes.
My favorite other than those was Anastasia's on Winchester.
Bob went into a downward spiral in the late 70s, due to a host of emotional and substance abuse problems. He was incredibly powerful in his days of greatness.
One guy you forgot who also trained at the Y was Bruce Jenner, the Olympic decathalon champion.
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Budhi
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02-21-08 04:41 PM - Post#411652
Russ Warner's was originally in Hayward on Foothill Blvd in the 70s. Was so happy when he relocated to San Jose in the late 70s. That store was Mecca to us all, a beehive of muscleheads and gossip.
Well before then - in the 50s and early 60s - on West San Carlos near Race Street was the Gateway to Health Gym run by the late Ray van Cleef. Ray did the Strongmen the World over column in each issue of Strength and Health up to his death. Local custom was to call Ray for Mr America and Senior National Olympic lifting results.
Around the same time Palo Alto had Flyod Page's gym, himself a Mr A contender of some note - and notoreity. Poor man tried getting back into intense training in the early sixties while not dealing with a severe alcohol problem, ending up dead of a heart attack.
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Budhi
Total Posts: 552
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02-21-08 04:44 PM - Post#411658
...I went there to a few powerlifting meets back in the early '80s, probably when you were overseas...
They used to hold them in the basketball gym. What I always found interesting is that in the AAU days for both Powerlifting and Oly meets, the crowd would be anywhere from 30-50 people throughout the day.
Then after the heavy classes had completed their flights - usually about 9pm or so - they'd rig up a posing dais and hang lights from a backboard and set up a white backdrop for the physique contest. I usually had a seat near the front and as the contest got underway I'd turn around and see every seat taken and SRO around the edges - at least 150 people and usually closer to 200! And the AAU never understood the power of what they had hold of. Ol' Joe W did, however.
The early 60s treat between lifting and physique was the intermissions featuring Karl Nordberg doing his strong man presentations. At 76 he was bench pressing 460, holding an empty Olympic bar at arms length and twirling it like a baton, then the incredible feat of pinch gripping the hub of a 45 lb Olympic plate, standing up with it, raising it to an extended arm out front. He taught us chronological age means nothing! Yeah, Karl - RIP.
Or SF police office, Oly lifter, and Mr America hopeful Bill Stathes. He'd come on stage for a heavy lift with a cloud of smoke enveloping his head, exhaling from that last drag of his cigarette backstage before executing his lifts. Once an criminal stabbed him in the back, the great depth of his musculature sparing him from harm.
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gem1
Total Posts: 825
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02-21-08 09:42 PM - Post#411743
Jim Manions Gym above the Foodland in Carnegie PA. It had a wierd setup but most of the big guy's coming through town trained there. I got into a 3-way back workout with Jesse The Body and Adrian Adonis once. I can remember Ex-Steeler Steve Courson repping 405 on the benches like it was 100 pounds and all the 45's clanging on each rep.
My favorite gym was below a night club called "Someplace Else" in Baldwin, right next to a sleezy motel. It was dank, smelled like stale beer, and all concrete. It was $20 a month and consisted of a great bunch of core lifters who had their own unique personalities....
Guy
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gem1
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Guy: If you find those tapes, load 'em up on YOUTUBE!
Does anyone know how to load a VCR tape on to You Tube?
Guy
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cajinjohn
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02-22-08 11:45 AM - Post#411926
The gym in Lockhart Texas. I fell in love with that place as soon as I walked in the door.
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Bill Keyes
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...Pumping Iron was a partnership involving Lee Evans, another Sunnyvale High grad and friend of us all. that came in the late 70s. Took Zane in there once.
Sunnyvale High? You mean the spinoff from Fremont High? (Fremont class of '69)
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Bill Keyes
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02-22-08 02:42 PM - Post#412057
Russ Warner's was originally in Hayward on Foothill Blvd in the 70s. Was so happy when he relocated to San Jose in the late 70s. That store was Mecca to us all, a beehive of muscleheads and gossip.
I first ran into Russ when his store was on East 14th Street in Oakland. I bought a flat bench with removable uprights and a 310# Oly set in the summer of '73 and an E-Z Curl bar and a couple of 45's in the summer of '74. Still have everything and that stuff has been all over the world, the Philippines, Kenya, England, and finally back home to California.
On my first overseas move, the company said they wouldn't move my weights as it would be too expensive. For the first time (I was 25 at the time) I raised a little ruckus with the company and said that would be a deal breaker - no weights, no Bill. The situation actually got up to the Executive Vice President of Del Monte Int'l before it was agreed. I met the guy personally a year later when he came out to look at our banana operations. Upon being introduced to me he said, "Ah, I know your name. How are those weights doing in this humidity?"
The next day I took him on a tour of several plantations. On the way back to the office we got into a discussion of the expatriate exerience. During that conversation he said that while he thought my insistence on my weight paraphrenalia going with me was kind of a silly issue, he did respect that I stood up for what was important to me which was why he approved the move. *And* he said he'd been looking at my work over that past year (reports and such) and was gratified that his decision was the right one.
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Bill Keyes
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Before the Y there was Bob's Garage in Sunnyvale, the garage of Kemper's parent's home from around 1963. Three of us combined our weights there, built a 2x4 power rack, and soon were joined by Johnny Yamamoto - all of us off competing in AAU events...Bob's garage grew out of frustration we all felt with the short lived Sunnyvale Health Studio, a gym in a converted Purity Market in the long ago plowed under downtown Sunnyvale... Bob went into a downward spiral in the late 70s, due to a host of emotional and substance abuse problems. He was incredibly powerful in his days of greatness.
I didn't know Bob came from Sunnyvale. He was one of the most powerful people I've ever seen. He totaled over 1100# in the three Oly lifts and I recall seeing him total almost 1700# in a powerlifting meet and he never practiced the bench press or the dead lift! All as a 242 lber.
As I recall he never recovered emotionally from the broken arm he suffered in the aftermath of a barroom brawl. The arm meant he was unable to compete in a major int'l Oly meet (Pan Am Games?).
The story I heard was that he'd 86'd several Hell's Angel types at the club he bounced at and 7 or 8 of them were waiting for him in the parking lot after the place closed. His arm got broken in the melee. I got this from Jim Schmitz at the time.
Bill2
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Bill Keyes
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...One guy you forgot who also trained at the Y was Bruce Jenner, the Olympic decathalon champion.
Never saw him there. I was pretty much out of the Central Y after mid-73 outside of occasional workouts when back in the area.
Bill2
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cajinjohn
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02-23-08 01:39 PM - Post#412349
The gym in Lockhart Texas. I fell in love with that place as soon as I walked in the door.
It had two signs I liked. IF YOU THINK THE FLOOR IS DIRTY THEN GET A BROOM AND SWEEP IT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE CHALK DUST THEN GET OUT.
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Hack
Total Posts: 4182
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Guy, Did you know Ron Semkiw or Gary Demar? Someplace Else was a good spot. I knew it well back in the 'lost years'.
As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.
Ernest Hemingway
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Garykissell
Total Posts: 442
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Someplace Else...haven't heard that in a long time. Used to go there, and some of the older guys told us to cruise Brownsville Road to meet "chicks!"
Gyms: *Curinga's...legendary. A gym below a steak house. Steak provided thru Kolb...Kolb&Dickinson Meat packing. Pretty limited to 70's Steelers. Before Curinga's it was Red Bull. Will soon be torn down for a car dealership. Washington, PA
*Bill Pearl's...late 70's-early 80's the first true California style gym out here. Nice place...now an Auto Body shop! Washington, PA
*The old Washington YMCA...the gym was way down in the basement far below the city streets. Gone now as well as the new YMCA that took it's place
*The YWCA in Washington...yes, YW a long tunnel room in the bottom of the Y
*The Weight Place, Canonsburg up the stairs like World Gym 1 in Calif. Dean Tornabene would stop in when back in his home town Now a Plumber's headquarters.
*Prince's in the warehouse area of Canonsburg down, dirty, hardcore. A look out the window viewed a massive collection of car bumpers(chrome) remember them?
*Anybody remember the Gold Coast Gym in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.? Or the Sandbar?
*Others around on the hill in Pleasant Hills...a Golds...gone & is now some no name. Another nice place tucked in behind Century 3 Mall. A Dobish family franchise. Pitbull maybe? Forgot the name?
*The Nucleus...spelling? Near the Pittsburgh airport. Now gone...office space.
*The Golden Triangle YMCA...the place in town. Big Arnold visited when in town.
*Manion's...a shame I never went there. But even back then Manion recognized that fitness was taking over.
*Kings Fitness...big place, basic...moved up the road.
Anybody out there remember any of this?
| "Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be."........."But what will happen in all the other days that ever come."........."can depend on what you do".........."today." Ernest Hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls |
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gem1
Total Posts: 825
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Guy, Did you know Ron Semkiw or Gary Demar? Someplace Else was a good spot. I knew it well back in the 'lost years'.
Yeah, after working out on a Friday or Saturday we'd go upstairs and grab a few.
I only know Ron through a friend. He was a heckva shot putter and strong guy. Gary sounds very familiar so I would probably recognize him if I saw him.
Guy
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gem1
Total Posts: 825
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Someplace Else...haven't heard that in a long time. Used to go there, and some of the older guys told us to cruise Brownsville Road to meet "chicks!"
Gyms: *Curinga's...legendary. A gym below a steak house. Steak provided thru Kolb...Kolb&Dickinson Meat packing. Pretty limited to 70's Steelers. Before Curinga's it was Red Bull. Will soon be torn down for a car dealership. Washington, PA
*Bill Pearl's...late 70's-early 80's the first true California style gym out here. Nice place...now an Auto Body shop! Washington, PA
*The old Washington YMCA...the gym was way down in the basement far below the city streets. Gone now as well as the new YMCA that took it's place
*The YWCA in Washington...yes, YW a long tunnel room in the bottom of the Y
*The Weight Place, Canonsburg up the stairs like World Gym 1 in Calif. Dean Tornabene would stop in when back in his home town Now a Plumber's headquarters.
*Prince's in the warehouse area of Canonsburg down, dirty, hardcore. A look out the window viewed a massive collection of car bumpers(chrome) remember them?
*Anybody remember the Gold Coast Gym in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.? Or the Sandbar?
*Others around on the hill in Pleasant Hills...a Golds...gone & is now some no name. Another nice place tucked in behind Century 3 Mall. A Dobish family franchise. Pitbull maybe? Forgot the name?
*The Nucleus...spelling? Near the Pittsburgh airport. Now gone...office space.
*The Golden Triangle YMCA...the place in town. Big Arnold visited when in town.
*Manion's...a shame I never went there. But even back then Manion recognized that fitness was taking over.
*Kings Fitness...big place, basic...moved up the road.
Anybody out there remember any of this?
Most are familar names and places around the Pittsbiurgh area to me. The 70's and early 80's had the best gyms!
Guy
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Hack
Total Posts: 4182
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Guy said,"The 70's and early 80's had the best gyms!"
Or is it that we were young then? err Younger!
As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.
Ernest Hemingway
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gem1
Total Posts: 825
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True Hack, I was younger but I did enjoy the smaller hardcore gyms. They had a different quality about them before the industry went mainstream. The guy's that showed up there day after day had the iron in their blood......down to the bone. If you didn't you didn"t last long in the place.
Guy
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Hack
Total Posts: 4182
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02-27-08 09:32 PM - Post#414034
I mentioned the trips to the Downtown 'Y' in Pittsburgh to watch the likes of Bruno Sammartino and his gang squeeze out reps and those other guys who 'made it by night and hoisted it by day' before heading home from the mills we used to have 'round these parts.'You'd see guys with smoke on their faces trudge in and wash up in the big sinks in the locker rooms, then climb the steps up to the weightroom. They were no nonsense guys who could probably chew those York 45's and spit out 15's. They kinda watched their language around us kids.(Guys did that some back in those days) Anyway, they'd load up and crank out amazing numbers. Heck, a guy we used to see down who handed out towels for tips there said most of them could lift higher numbers than they could count. They were mill workers,(hard men with hard jobs) and they lifted for the camaraderie of it although they didn't know the word and so the jackhammers they danced with every night didn't seem so heavy. Later, during a summer break from college and for a time while trying to pay my college loan off, I took up jackhammering, while tearing down and rebuilding furnaces at Homestead Works of US Steel and did the same. Maybe those days are remembered too fondly. Maybe not.
As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.
Ernest Hemingway
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Big Pat
Total Posts: 34
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I have always had my own home gym, but I used to visit the local gyms now and then. It was always special to see and talk to Leo Stern when he had his gym. I spent a lot of time at Gene Fisher's gym (an orginal George Redpath gym), he made some great equipment. I had a few friends that trained at Bill Golumbick's, Valley Barbell Club when it was in El Cajon (now Parkway Fitness in La Mesa). I even had the chance to see and talk to Ralph Kroger at his place. I met Scott Wilson through the Recreation dept programs that his sons attended. A lot of good memories. The San Diego area has had it share of title winners running gyms for sure. It was interesting to see and be a part of.
Big Pat
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Laree
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03-24-08 10:43 AM - Post#423952
Hey, Pat, we got a letter from Leo Stern just last week. It's great to hear from him.
Thanks for posting after all this time onboard. :~)
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dsun
Total Posts: 4565
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Clancy Ross Mr. America Club in Walnut Creek, CA
Was there with my grandpa who trained in Oakland,CA along side Steve Reeves, and Jack LaLane. Arnold was there for the grand opening. Think it was back in '79. Best. Gym. Ever.
David
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Bill Keyes
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03-31-08 03:47 PM - Post#426749
The space that Clancy's club was in became a Gold's Gym owned by Rene Casella's husband (he was a nationally ranked PLer whose name escapes me now).
I stopped by there in the summer of '84 and met Don Ross, who was managing the place for Clancy at the time. Prince of a fellow. We spent an hour or so chit-chatting about the iron game and the folks in it. At the time he was in transition from the East Coast to the West.
At the other end of that shopping center was a Jack LaLanne European Fitness Center from '75 to about '81. Very plush facility that my wife belonged to. Back in those days they had "Women only" times, "Men only" times, and co-ed times.
Bill2
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gymnation
Total Posts: 28
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08-24-08 11:34 PM - Post#476152
I envy some of you guys. But I did train in a few gyms with real personality. I started training back in the 70s at the downtown Denver YMCA. It was a real hardcore gym and had a great atmosphere, though you had to watch out for some 'admirers' in the locker room after your workout....
I train at a place now in Lakewood Colorado, Flex Gym, that is a real throwback. No equipment under 10 years old, and a hardcore atmosphere that is tempered with tolerance for anyone dedicated enough to walk in the door. I hope it never closes, because I intend to train there until I die (doe that mean I'd live forever?).
| "The Iron never lies to you...You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total ...The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend... Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds." - Henry Rollins |
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cajinjohn
Total Posts: 12495
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Started with home gym. Then military gyms. Downtown St. Louis YMCA, American Health on Hampton. Later became Norm Sandon gym ( he was a big rip off artist) Sold memberships then closed the doors. He would go to stores rome around and sell memberships. He later went to jail. Then there was Gironda's. After that home gym, or where ever I was at.
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james
Total Posts: 16
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There was the York Barbell Gym on Ridge Avenue in York, PA. My sister worked in the snack bar from 1979 to 1986 when they sold out to Formprest Cleaners and closed it as a gym.
At the time, the gym was only used for demonstrations and some few and rare powerlifting meets (early 1980's). I used to hang around to walk my sister home, but since I was so curious about all the trophy's and old magazines and such, Dick Smith let me lift in the back. I met some greats: Bob Hoffman, John Grimek, Jonny Terpak, and the mighty-might himself Bob Mitchel who competed in the 1932 Olympics in the lightest weight class. He was 73 in the early 1980's.
One day, I was in the back doing incline presses on this really old incline bench when Bob Mitchell shuffled by. He was always shuffling around (as I hope to be doing when I'm 73).
Anyway, he looked over at me and said, "Reeves used to love that bench!" I dropped the weights and exsclaimed, "Steve Reeves?"
He said, "Yeah, he used to sit there hogging it all day doing incline curls. The other guys used to get mad because he was always using it."
"Wow," I thought, and after that I used the bench with reverence, knowing then that it had been worn smooth through the ages by the sweat and labor of some of the greats.
Edited by james on 08-26-08 04:56 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Wicked Willie
Total Posts: 16864
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08-27-08 09:27 AM - Post#476937
Neat story, James. Thanks for posting it.
Wicked
"I'm in good shape for the shape I'm in."
"Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man comes to the Father, but by me." John 14:6 |
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Budhi
Total Posts: 552
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Richard, that IronWorks, wasn't that Scott Wilson's place back then? And he sold out to someone who turned it into a Gold's?
Iron Works original location was on South Bascom Avenue, closer to West San Carlos. Sometime in the early 80s it moved to its own new location off Winchester. And sometime after that it was sold to owner number 2, a Stanford University Medical Hospital anesthesiologist with a penchant for developing a food product that would work almost as well as steroids for pre- and post-surgical needs, and was testing it also on weight athletes. It must have worked. A decade later he combined with Bill Phillips to make a fortune on MetRx - so it was a Scott, but in this case Scott Connelly was the second owner of Iron Works.
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Budhi
Total Posts: 552
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02-25-09 11:23 PM - Post#531459
Although this is an old thread, I'll nevertheless reopen it.
Learned just the other night of Catalyst Athletics in Sunnyvale, not far off of Bayshore and Lawrence Expressway.
Back in 1963 or thereabout, three recent graduates of Sunnyvale High School met through training at the Sunnyvale Health Club. That gyms one and only one Olympic set had more users than just the three guys. And it could only be loaded to 310 lbs. What's more, men's days restricted use to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. So the three young men pooled their collection of weight equipment into one of their parents' garage off Santa Ynez and Chico in Sunnyvale. For a spell that garage gym was a mecca for serious training athletes in the South Bay, kind of a rival to the YMCA. Some of it's growing inspiration came from having competed against Bill West (Westside Barbell Club) and his awesome buddy Big Steve Marjanian in the 1964 California powerlifting championships in Fresno.
The gym was known as Bob's Garage. It's cofounding figures were Bob Kemper, Ken Sisler, and myself - Ken O'Neill. We shared a passion for the irongame, Bob and me competing in Olympic lifting, power lifting, even bodybuilding back then. the icon of that garage were some 2"x4" boards held together by a spike driven through them by Tommy Kono just for us. Our weights were standard, Olympic, and a hodge podge of scrap iron, 8' bars, 4x4" power rack - and more gusto than imaginable.
Bob went on to weigh in around 242, pressing 418 as the last official record for that lift in the 1971 Pan Am games.
Now nearly 50 years later I train at the Bodhibuilding Dojo of Longlife Fitness, Inc - my garage gym. I've sure trained at plenty of commercial gyms over the decades - here and overseas. As my training style has evolved, so has my home gym - I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's also home to a group of early 60s to late 70s bodhibuilders, lifting weights, having fun, and spinning muscles.
best
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Bill Keyes
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02-26-09 03:08 PM - Post#531674
Ken, wasn't the Sunnyvale Health Club an old Vic Tanny's? Located in the Town & Country Village downtown?
Any news on whatever happened to Bob Kemper? I stopped hearing about him in like '73/'74.
Bill2
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rickicello
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I used to workout at IronWorks on winchester blvd. i was 16-17 yrs old till my spinal injury. i was training for mr teenage san jose. i trained with kevin winter and tim talogin. i ended up in a wheelchair and been in one since breaking my neck during a boating accident in 1982. i remember big lou at the front desk. they had alot of free weights. anybody remember me? do you guys have pictures of the old ironwork gym? my email is rfutia@hotmail.com
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stilldrugfree
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04-21-09 03:06 PM - Post#545546
let me see..Weight-room at Texas Tech. as a teenager, (ogled Doug Young).Duncan Y.M.C.A. in Chicago when 17, took a bus down there 3 days in a row to see Bob Guaida and Sergio Oliva train, (sergio spent his time sleeping on the incline board). Dufresne gym outside Philly, (old chicken coop). Central y.m.c.a. (4 years) in Honolulu.Used to see the pro-wrestlers in there, (super star Billy Graham e.t.c.)Gym at Uni. Hawaii, (Bill Starr was always there coaching the football team).Oh, Golds Gym Venice in 73, Arnold, Franco, Waller, Robinson were all memebers.Then,1979, Clarks gym in Pacific Beach, (San Diego), then Golds, San Diego (the first), Valley Barbell in El Cajon, Fitness and Muscle, World Gym (San Diego). Golds Gym Sarasota Florida, Golds Gym Temecula Ca. and now, in the twighlight of a mediocre career, Powerzone gym in Douglas Az. I was never a monster, but benched over 400 weighing 200 lbs. and 'did it the right way'. Mike B
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stilldrugfree
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04-21-09 03:40 PM - Post#545556
Anyone remember Olympic health Club on Olympic blvd. in L.A,? Bud Mucci was the owner, we had some good times there. I took a drive up to check out the famous Vince Girondas gym, after reading about it in the muscle mags. It didn't look like much, but Vince had some top guys training there, (Larry Scott e.t.c.). They told me that Vince would give a guy a training routine and if you didn't follow it, he would scream and yell at you or throw plates at you.
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Laree
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You got yourself some HISTORY there, Mike!
PS: Regarding >>sergio spent his time sleeping on the incline board<<
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stilldrugfree
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04-21-09 09:27 PM - Post#545631
Memories, memories, working out in a gym in San Salvidor, Central America in 1967 with pictures of Arnold on the wall.Leo Sterns gym in San Diego in the early 80's.A small gym in the pineapple fields of Hawaii (Haliewa) in the early 70's.Esquire health club in jenkintown Penn. in the early 70's. Boy's club, Cottman Ave. Philly,early 70's,
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jesseisrael
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04-22-09 12:30 PM - Post#545768
My two all time favorite gyms were Iron Island in Alameda California because that is where I caught the powerlifting bug back in the early 80's. Second is Leo Sterns in San Diego. I worked out there from 1989-2004 before moving to the barren wasteland of gyms in Montana.
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Bill Keyes
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Didn't realize you are a Bay Area alum, Jesse. Iron Island was also a source of many fine local/regional caliber bodybuilders in the 70's.
Bill2
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Edited by Bill Keyes on 04-22-09 02:06 PM. Reason for edit: spelling
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jesseisrael
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Didn't realize you are a Bay Area alum, Jesse. Iron Island was also a source of many fine local/regional caliber bodybuilders in the 70's.
Bill, I lived in Oakland for 15 or so years. Served in the Coast Guard in Alameda and YBI and stayed there until I made a run from the crackpipe in the late 1980's. Russ at Iron Island was a good guy. I still have fond memories of being allowed to be Lee Moran's plate loader(this was quite the treat for me at the time.) In between bodyparts we would go and get super burritos and boston creme pie(the food of champions.) What a time 
I was just thinking that there were a good deal of bodybuilders there at the time too. Don Ross took a stint at managing the place at one time too.
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Edited by jesseisrael on 04-22-09 02:22 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Bill Keyes
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<<Don Ross took a stint at managing the place at one time too.>>
I met The Ripper at Clancy Ross' Mr America Gym in Walnut Creek in '84, I believe it was. I didn't care for his persona as portrayed in MTI, but I really liked him in person. Very nice fellow and we wound up talking for an hour or so.
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obarbarian
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10-12-09 01:27 AM - Post#583231
athletes international.. that was my dads gym in az and the leftovers are in my garage... love it. but goldens in mesa, az was nice until it was bought out by a conglomerate and ive always wanted to train out at thorbeckes in tempe, az its a legend in az powerlifting.
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jesseisrael
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athletes international.. that was my dads gym in az and the leftovers are in my garage... love it. but goldens in mesa, az was nice until it was bought out by a conglomerate and ive always wanted to train out at thorbeckes in tempe, az its a legend in az powerlifting.
Wasn't Thorbeckes originally in Tolleson/Avondale? I could've sworn that I trained there when I lived in Phoenix. Damn place had no air conditioning..Brutal 
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Edited by jesseisrael on 10-12-09 06:28 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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obarbarian
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10-12-09 08:43 PM - Post#583443
i thought it was in tempe but maybe im wrong.. but regardless ive always wanted to go train there... at least do a few workouts with the big dogs
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jesseisrael
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10-13-09 01:25 PM - Post#583586
i thought it was in tempe but maybe im wrong.. but regardless ive always wanted to go train there... at least do a few workouts with the big dogs
The new Thorbeckes is in Tempe but I am pretty sure that the old one was on Litchfield Road. Old dingy building without air, can I say that enough times. On the surface of the sun without reprieve 
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obarbarian
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10-17-09 01:46 PM - Post#584338
haha in arizona with no ac that has gotta be brutal.
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hubby
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Wicked Willie
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10-23-09 10:28 AM - Post#585467
Now THAT'S a gym!
Wicked
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Boomer718
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10-27-09 12:07 PM - Post#586254
Great old school equipment!
Keep Pumping
R.I.P. Jesse Marunde
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