Muscle Beach
I remember seeing some old movies and documentaries about bodybuilders training on a beach in Los Angeles. It was the famous Muscle Beach. I was recently in LA and had to see it. I wanted to exercise among the bodybuilders there; I would have posted the video on YouTube and people would have laughed so hard they would have forwarded the link to their friends and their friends to their friends and in no time the video would have become a hit sensation.
I somehow figured it had to be between Venice Beach and Santa Monica so my wife and I took the bus to Venice Beach and we started to walk toward Santa Monica. And we walked and walked and there were no bodybuilders on the beach. We arrived at the hotel and I felt defeated. It was there that I began to research (not before, but after the fact, but this is the story of my life). Where was Muscle Beach? And the answer was that the original Muscle Beach – the one from the old movies and documentaries – is in Santa Monica.
But I was in Venice Beach! I used the Google satellite view and saw the area; I could even make out the training equipment. Isn’t technology amazing?
Today, there is a new Muscle Beach just a little bit south, in Venice Beach. The next day, I had to leave around 4:00 pm, and I wanted to spend the morning on the beach. We stayed for an hour: it was windy and the water was cold, but, since I had failed to check off seeing Muscle Beach from my list of things to do, I had to at least be able to say I went to the beach.
Coming back to the hotel, I saw a bike available, free for the guests. It was around 12:00 pm, so I calculated that I could still make it back to the hotel in time for a 4:00 pm departure. And I rode the bike, passing almost anyone who I could, and I arrived at the famous beach, where there was a competition and free goodies being offered at various stands. I sat at the shortest queue, and got one of the sleeveless t-shirts people wear to the gym, but it would be sometime before I can wear it. Maybe this was the reason I had not been able to find Muscle Beach the day before; I was offered the opportunity to see something better.
