Customer Reviews

Remembering Muscle Beach: Where Hard Bodies Began--Photographs and Memories

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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.

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!

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

`Memories" will provide the reader with some great historical photos and interesting tib-bits about some of the original muscle beach participants. Like the author says, it was a sub culture at a specific local during a specific period. Therefore, if you're looking for a general documentary on the more recent origins of acrobatics and bodybuilding, this book might not be for you.

However, if you just happen to be somewhat familiar with Santa Monica's `muscle beach' (other reviewers) then you can probably gleam quite a bit of information and enjoyment from the presentation. Personally, I spent the better part of my weekends, especially Sundays during 1962 and 1963 at Santa Monia famous beach area, honing my gymnastics skills, the fun ones, not necessarily the competitive ones and it definitely was a cultural thing as described by Zenkin. Where I enjoy the reading and photos was finding out about the period before I had ever heard of muscle beach. Ironically, I discovered MB by reading `Modern Gymnast' by Glenn Sunby who was one of the originals mentioned throughout Zenkin's book

I guess what it really comes down to, if you have a desire to know more about the history of an interest like acrobatics, gymnastics or bodybuilding. Zenkins book will fill in some of the blanks, especially if you're an early `baby boomer' like myself. Old enough to remember when the circus came to town, when great performers were watched in ah like people today observe the current generation of extreme athletics. The only difference was in those days; acrobatic tricks were performed with a different set of props. Today, Cirque de Soleil, is a testament that acrobatics is still an endearing form of family entertainment and not dead by any means, but IM afraid that for the good old USA, its not the same either.

While enjoying the great photos and reading about the amazing characters and individuals who pioneered physical culture in the 1930's and 1940's at muscle beach, I found the book to be a little unstructured and would have preferred to read more about how muscle beach developed, the impact it had, and the local politics and changes from the 1950's to today.

The book tended to be just a series of character portraits (wonderful as they were) but is obviously a valuable historical artifact as these pioneers of fitness are now fading from our 21st century view.

I may be wrong, but from a European perspective muscle beach has always meant bodybuilders and the focus in the book was more on acrobats/gymnasts. My own recollection of first hearing of muscle beach was as a teenager seeing Arnold in the weights compound area in 'Pumping Iron' - a period that post dates all of this book.

What I learned reading this book is that muscle beach now only exists as a concept being, as it was, close to where Golds and World gym are now.