Product Description

Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California is known as the birthplace of the physical-fitness boom of the twentieth century. In the 1930s and 1940s, it was the trendsetting spot where Steve Reeves, Jack LaLanne, the Tanny Brothers, and Joe Gold built their bodies, as well as their reputations.

With first-hand experience in the world of hard bodies, Harold Zinkin (the first Mr. California as well as inventor of the Universal Gym Machine) tells the story of Muscle Beach and the people who worked out on its sand. He shares not only the stories of Hollywood celebrities who frequented Muscle Beach-including Mae West, Jane Russel, Jayne Mansfield, and Kirk Douglas-but also provides an insider's account and photographic view of how this small strip of sand became a haven for the health-conscious and bodies beautiful.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144089 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 127 pages

Customer Reviews

Childhood Memories
It is with much anticipation that I wait for the release of this book. As a child in the 50s and 60s,visiting from my home in Canada, I spent many Sunday afternoons with the folks at Muscle Beach. My uncles Russ and Ray Saunders and good family friend Paula Boelsems were some of the original muslcle beach folks and they are on the cover of this book. The acrobatics that were taught to us kids was great fun. They always put on a wonderful show. Some of these folks (including my uncles) were stunt people in the movies and went on to become world class gymnastic judges. They contributed a great deal to the Pier and it became a way of life for a lot of us. As a kid I remember eating too many corn dogs and drinking too much lemonaide, from the stand beside the grass in front of the lifeguard building, before being tossed in the air from the teetor board by Uncle Russ. You can guess what happened. Buy the book and bring back some memories of a simpler time in Santa Monica.

Loved It !
I got my copy of the book, went home and read it cover to cover that night. It brought lots of memories of Muscle Beach. I put faces to the names that I have heard since I was a kid visiting my Uncles Russ and Ray Saunders and family friend Paula Boelsems. They used to toss us around in the 50's and 60's at Muscle Beach. For all these years I have heard the names mentioned in "Remembering Muscle Beach" and now I can put faces to the names. Even now visiting with Russ Saunders I hear the names repeated over and over. Muscle Beach was such a huge part of all these people's lives. It moulded their careers and their leisure time for their whole life. It will give you a good picture of what life was like in Santa Monica. The early years of Hollywood stunts and the movie industry came directly from the regulars at Muscle Beach. Even if you don't personally know the people in this book, you will recognize at least some of the names. What a great documentation of this era of Muscle Beach. PS I somehow think I might be related to the other reviewer!

The story behind the story
My dear father is now 86-years-old and his memory has grown weaker with age. I try to visit him frequently as I know his time on this earth is drawing to a close. One night, he started talking about his memories of his family home at 213 14th Street in Santa Monica. He told me that he and his twin brother Ed Fuller would go down to the Santa Monica Beach and hang out.

My father was a very handsome man in his youth and very strong. He and Ed began working out on the beach and one day, the Lifeguard down at the beach referred to them as "The Muscle Twins."

Before long, more men and women started joining their little mini-fitness craze and lifting weights on the beach. Sometimes, their antics would draw quite a crowd. My father and his brother would get very competitive and see who could lift the most weight.

As my father told this story, I grabbed a pen and started making notes. He mentioned several names, including "Pudge Stockton" and more. I scribbled away as he talked. I had my doubts. After all, my 86-year-old father was telling me that he and his brother Ed started the phenomenon known as "Muscle Beach"?

As a surprise, I ordered THIS book for my father and when it arrived, I read the first few pages and found the same names my father had mentioned. My father's joy at receiving this tome was beyond words. He read it over and over and over again, saying, "Yep, there's Pudge and there's Bruce..."

So what do I think of this book? I loved it. Loved the vintage photos and the concise information and the easy-breezy layout.

Most of all, I rejoiced at my father's delight as he fondly turned the pages, rekindling old memories of a happy time long ago on a beach at the end of Santa Monica Blvd.

Rose Fuller Thornton
daughter of one of the original "Muscle Twins"
gentlebeam@hotmail.com