Leo Stern

Ian Dryden

• “Exercise and temperance can preserve something of our early strength even in old age.”
• —Cicero

In a kind of scattered rhythm around San Diego, muscles are flexing and unflexing, weights are going up and down, and perspiration is breaking out on backs and brows. The three main reasons why people work out are strength, beauty, and health. Power and Olympic lifters strive for great strength. Body builders treat their bodies like sculpture, molding the shape of each muscle. And larger numbers of people work out simply for conditioning and toning.

San Diego offers a diverse collection of gyms, one to fit any type of person, or goal, or pocket-book. There are serious muscle-building gyms like Health by the Sea, and strictly feminine, figure-controlling gyms like Betty Coates’. There prices ranging from $1.50 per day at Vic’s Gym, to the Atlas Health Club’s $300 initiation, plus monthly dues. Apart from the cost, you get out of gyms exactly what you put in, in time and energy.

Maylen’s La Jolla Health Club is a store-front gym that opens on the street in the Birdrock area. It has a men’s side and a women’s side. Maylen presides at his desk in the middle next to the water cooler, and is surrounded by photos of sportsmen, a couple of movie stars, and a portrait of Jack LaLanne saying, “I work out at Maylen’s.” Maylen has owned the gym since 1963. Short, bald, with feathery eyebrows and a gentle twinkle in his blue eyes, Maylen looks after his clients like a mother hen.

Most people can stay fit by exercising one hour three times a week, he says. “It’s not necessary to come in every day. The important thing is to be consistent. When people ask me, ‘Do 1 have to do it forever?’ I tell them, ‘It’s your body—and not just from the neck up, but from the neck down.’

” Most of us, he points out, continue to feed our minds by reading, taking classes, and so on. Our minds grow as we get older, and our bodies go downhill. “It is a fact that anyone over 30 doesn’t look as good as they did earlier. But you can look good, just like being smart—you develop it.”

Maylen says there is no single goal. He believes in treating each customer in an individual way, which is why he doesn’t believe in classes. “Why work on leg lifts when leg conditioning or development isn’t your goal? You could be a good runner, but perhaps your pectoral muscles are out of shape. Time is too valuable to be wasted. I try to help people find out their goals, and then see how to help them get there.” He also helps people who have a weak part of their body, a wrist or maybe a back injury. He helps them work with that problem and develop strength.

“The idea that women will build big muscles if they work out is a myth,” says Maylen. “You only build big muscles if you are working on doing that. The number of times you do an exercise plus the momentum determine whether you are toning and shaping or muscle building.” Cathy Barker, 35, who is a potter, has been going to Maylen’s for four years. She maintains that the strength and discipline help her in her work. “I got into weightlifting because I wanted to throw bigger pots,” she says. “Now I have incredible stamina. I can throw huge pots and I can throw them all day.” “People think it is complicated,” Maylen adds. “It is not. Most people love to laugh at us doing exercises.” Since his gym has a window front, people walking down the street can look right in. “They make faces and laugh. In our culture we are not used to seeing people working out. In ancient Greece they wouldn’t have had that attitude.”

Earl Clark’s Health Club in Chula Vista is a large independent gym. It is a two-story building, the men’s gym downstairs, and the women’s upstairs.

Rachel Roberts, a small, dark-haired woman, showed me around the two large rooms of the women’s gym, carpeted in striking rose and red colors. There is a playpen in one corner for a baby to stay in while his mother exercises (a wonderful idea—why don’t we see more of this?).

In the men’s area, Alfred Warren Hitchcock, who has been in the business for 40 years, was on duty. He is 59 years old, bald, but looks 10 or 12 years younger. He took part in the Mr. Universe contest in 1958. “We often baby people here at first,” Hitchcock says, “but then we push.” He feels privately-owned gyms are the best ones. “The large gorgeous studios that aren’t privately owned often are run by people who don’t care about anything except getting your money. They don’t really care if people get results. We are concerned here,” he says. “Of course, we like to make a little money too. But I always tell people, ‘If you want to make money, play the horses or open a house of ill repute. Don’t open a health spa.’ ”

Hitchcock knew Jack LaLanne years ago in Oakland when Jack had a gym there, taught fitness, and took acting classes. Then TV came along. “He was a natural,” Hitchcock says, “good looking with a nice personality, and he just jumped on the band wagon, and started with a 15-minute exercise program. Jack LaLanne is a heck of a guy. These spas have his name, but they are franchises, so I doubt if they are really like him.”

Vic’s Ocean Beach Gym is on Newport in Ocean Beach, in back of his health food store. Vic Gerardi is red-haired, fortyish, tanned, and muscular. He has a Master’s Degree in nutrition and is working on his Ph.D. He gives free nutritional counseling by appointment.

This gym is a collage-vegetables, vitamins, a pregnant girl getting nutritional advice, two little ten-year-old wrestlers running around, a young couple inspecting the gym equipment. A punching bag that Muhammad Ali used to get in shape for Ken Norton hangs in the gym, a diagram of muscle structure from an anatomy class is on the wall, and a box of Wheaties on the nutrition counter bears the picture of Noel Johnson, 78. (Johnson started working out with Vic Gerardi and getting nutritional advice after a heart attack when he was 70. Now he holds all records for long-distance running in the 70 to 75 age bracket of the AAU Masters Program. He is the only one in his age bracket to run the 26-mile marathon.)

Gerardi adds other bits of interest to the scene. He says the boxing commissioner works out in his gym; also two former Mr. San Diego’s, Tom Kitch and Jerry Anderson. The sauna, he points out, was shipped from Finland, every board and rock.

Tom’s Point Loma Health Club is owned by Tom Haugh. It is the only gym in the Ocean Beach area that has separate ladies’ and men’s sections. Haugh caters to school teachers and students, and to people who work in Point Loma and stop at the gym before going home. There are also two ladies, one 70 and another 71, who work out very hard. They have worked out for 25 or 30 years, and they could pass for 50 or 60, Haugh says. One man is in his 70s, has a pacemaker, and does mostly cardiovascular work. “A lot of retired couples come for general exercise that they don’t get at home,” Haugh adds.

He sells vitamins and protein powder at slightly reduced rates to members, and will also advise people on their diets. An interesting feature of the gym are the plants that are also for sale. “They soften the room a little,” Haugh observes, “and the humidity from the showers is good for them.”

Stern’s Gymnasium in North Park is the oldest privately owned gym in America. It has been owned for 31 years by Leo Stern, who also sells gym equipment to local gyms and gyms all across the country. His wife Bettye runs Bettye Stern’s Figure Salon, which has been operating for 20 years. The two gyms are a block apart. When you first open the door to Stern’s gym, you look up a flight of 20 or more steps. At the top is a large wooden room. Pictures of weightlifters, body builders, and athletes cover one wall. There seems to be more equipment in this gym than in others. And because of the wooden walls and floor, the room seems like the inside of an old wooden music box, congested with wires and metal weights.

“We used to emphasize champion body builders,” says Stem. “Now more and more people just want to stay fit.” Bill Pearl, who was Mr. America and Mr. Universe in 1953, worked out at Stern’s gym. Pearl competed again for Mr. Universe at the age of 41.

“A lot of ideas have changed about working out,” muses Stern. “In the 40s coaches wouldn’t allow athletes to lift weights. We always said it was good. Now the doctors say it is good, and so they take the credit.”

Like the analyst’s couch (or chair) and the group therapy sessions where we bare our psyches in order to change, so in gyms we have to be able to face up to how we would like to improve physically. The price to pay for our goals is time, a little money, and some real effort.

All the gyms I visited freely gave me information about the services they offer and about the cost—all except Jack LaLanne’s. I discovered, there, that no information is given to prospective customers on the phone. You absolutely must come in. Once in, you must give your relevant information, name, address, etc., before you are shown around. No prices are quoted until you enter a small private room and someone comes in, shuts the door, and proceeds to take more information.

This procedure raised a few questions in my mind. Shouldn’t people be made aware that there are alternate gyms? Is the La Lanne-style psychological warfare against our bodies really necessary? (Questions such as “How young are you?” and “When were you last in a structured exercise program?”—this followed by a slightly horrified look when you say you haven’t been in one.) There are two prime ways to persuade people. One is flattery. The other is shame. Jack LaLanne Spas use shame. Are they more interested in the results you might get or in signing you up for the longest time possible? They have a special five-year plan if you make your decision the first day you walk in, but they must realize most people stop coming after three months. They obviously want our business, but do they really want our bodies?

Granted, Jack LaLanne personally has worked wonders in popularizing physical fitness. He has always been a perfect example of a healthy man and now a healthy older man. Granted, the gyms themselves are beautiful, appear well equipped, and have a country-club atmosphere. And granted any time you move your body, and have fun doing so, it is apt to be good for you. Many people go to the LaLanne gyms and enjoy it, and there is value in that. But there are many choices of gyms in San Diego. In fact, there’s a whole little gym culture unto itself. Following is a listing of most of what’s available.

• All American Gym, 3000 Mission Boulevard, Mission Beach, 488-4344. Open 7-10 weekdays, 7-6 weekends. $17.50 per month. Mostly weightlifting.

• Atlas Health Club, 901 Hotel Circle South, 298-9321. Open 7-10 weekdays, 8-9 Saturday, 8-8 Sunday. $300 initiation fee and $34 monthly dues; family memberships, $450 initiation and $50 per month. Gym facilities, exercise program, pool, jacuzzi, steam-bath, running track, masseur and masseuse on duty.

• George Brown’s San Diego Handball and Racquet Club, 5205 Kearny Villa Road, 278-7232; 3666 Midway Drive, 223-9857; 7171 Alvarado Road, 461-8880. Open 6-midnight, seven days a week. $75 for 3 months for rac-' quetball, and $265 a year for general membership. Midway Drive location has separate women’s workout room. Includes jacuzzi and sauna. (Also, for $3.50 per hour anyone can use court, gym, etc.)

• Cabrillo Athletic Club, 1399 Ninth Avenue, 234-4944. Open 10-9 weekdays, 10-6 Saturday. Gym facilities, shower, lockers, individual exercise program, pool, jacuzzi, tennis, basketball. Aerobic class for women Monday-Wednesday-Friday at noon, and Monday-Wednesday 5:15-6:15. $125 per year, or $170 per year for a couple.

• Earl Clark Health Club, 1228 Third, Chula Vista, 420-2020. 9-9 weekdays, 9-1 Saturday, $60 for 3 months, $ 100 for 6 months, $ 150 for a year. Special get-acquainted rate now offered, $36 for 6 weeks. Separate gym facilities for men and women, individual exercise program, 40-foot enclosed pool, jacuzzi, sauna.

• Clark’s Gym, 4695 Cass, Pacific Beach, 488-1956. Open Monday-Saturday, $25 per month, $55 for 3 months, $145 per year. Caters to men and women both; corrective exercise, physical fitness. Athletes train here (for example, San Diego State basketball team members, some of the Chargers). Bob Clark is also a designer of gym equipment.

• Betty Coates Figure Salon, 3563 Adams Avenue, 280-2969. Open 5Vi days per week, $25 for first month, then $15 thereafter. Turquoise blue interior. Over-all toning and bust development. Leglifts, feminine gym (women only). Betty Coates has English accent, giving the atmosphere a refined air.

• Fisher’s Gym, 8622 Troy, Spring Valley, 464-9010. Open Monday-Friday, 8-9:30, and Saturday 8-4. $28 first month, $14 per month thereafter, or 3 months for $50, 6 months for $75, and one year for $140. Separate men’s and women’s facilities. General conditioning, but also power lifters and body builders work out here. Sauna and racquetball facilities.

• Ralph Kroger’s Health Club, 115 Rea Street, El Cajon, 440-9896. Hours for women, Tuesday-Thursday 8-12 and 3-8, Saturday 8-12. Hours for men, Monday -Wednesday-Friday 12-9, Saturday 12-4. Price, $24 per month, 3 months for $55, 6 months for $90, 1 year for $145. Personal instruction. This gym is next to Kroger’s Nutrition Shop. Large exercise room with dumbbells, bicycle, dry-heat sauna and shower.

• Maylen’s La Jolla Health Studio, 5733 La Jolla Boulevard, La Jolla, 459-6542. Open Monday-Friday 8-9, Saturday 8-2. $65 for 4 months, $95 for 8 months, $135 for 14 months. Separate facilities for men and women, showers, sauna, personal instruction, nutritional advice.

• Bettye Stern’s Figure Salon, 3807 Utah, 296-2207. Open 5Vi days a week. $75 for first 3 months, $15 thereafter. Women only. Personal instruction, gym equipment, sauna, steam cabinet, sun room, showers, facial sauna, body wrap, bust development. They are in the process of building a jacuzzi.

• Stern’s Gymnasium, 3831 Granada, 296-9340. Open Monday-Wed-nesday-Friday 9-9, Tuesday -Thursday 3-8, Saturday 10-1. $35 first month, $30 for second, $25 for third, $15 thereafter, or 3 months for $75, 6 months for $106, and 1 year for $160. Stem’s has 4 Olympic sets, 2 barbell racks, and resistance machines, dry-heat sauna, showers, and sun lamp.

• Tom’s Point Loma Health Club, 3677 Voltaire, 224-0971, Monday-Friday 8-9, Saturday 8-5. $30 first month, $25 second month, and $20 third month. 3 months for $60, 6 months for $95, 1 year for $140. Occasional specials. Separate facilities for men and women, personal instruction, nutritional information, sauna and showers.

• Vic’s Ocean Beach Gym, 4935 Newport, Ocean Beach, 224-3111. Open 7 days a week, $1.50 per day, $5 per week, $12.50 per month (June special, $9.50 a month), $78 per year (June special $68 per year), personal instruction, weightlifting, body building, conditioning, showers, sauna, small gym in back of health food store. Free nutritional counseling.

• Valley Barbell Club, 8419 Broadway, La Mesa, 474-9557. Hours 8-10, 7 days a week. $50 initiation, $15 per month. Serious body building, weightlifting. Men and women.

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