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Joe
Gold
opened
the
first
Gold's
Gym
in
August
1965,
in
Venice
Beach,
California,[2][3]
long
before
the
modern
day
health
club
existed.
Featuring
homemade
equipment
and
dubbed
"the
Mecca
of
bodybuilding",
it
was
frequented
by
Arnold
Schwarzenegger[4]
and
Dave
Draper[5]
and
featured
in
the
docudrama
Pumping
Iron
(1977),
which
brought
attention
not
only
to
the
gym
itself
but
also
to
bodybuilding
and
physique
in
general.
To
this
day,
Gold's
Gym
is
considered
a
landmark
in
bodybuilding
culture[6]
and
has
achieved
cult
status.[7]
After
Gold
to
Pumping
IronEdit
In
1970,
Gold
sold
the
at-the-time
failing
gym
to
Bud
Danits,
most
commonly
known
as
an
antique
dealer,
and
Dave
Saxe,
a
jeweler.
They
ran
the
gym
for
almost
two
years
together
as
co-owners,
and
when
they
realized
that
this
operation
was
not
plausible
for
them,
they
were
going
to
close
it
and
reopen
the
location
as
an
antiques
shop.
They
offered
it
to
a
frequently
visiting
gym
member,
Ken
Sprague,
who
purchased
it
in
late
1971,
and
Gold's
was
saved
as
a
gym.
Sprague
was
the
first
owner
of
Gold's
to
actually
sponsor
and
hold
bodybuilding
competitions,
and
his
promotional
skills
and
film
industry
contacts
helped
build
the
establishment's
profile.
By
1975,
when
George
Butler
was
going
to
film
Pumping
Iron,
it
was
Sprague's
savvy,
telling
Butler
that
he
would
paint
the
windows
over
to
minimize
back
light,
and
let
Butler
mount
a
lighting
grid
to
the
inside
ceiling
that
made
Gold's
Gym
the
primary
location
for
filming
Pumping
Iron.
After
the
release
of
the
movie
in
1977,
and
along
with
the
1977
Mr.
America
contest
and
Mr.
America
Day
parade
held
in
Santa
Monica,
sponsored
and
conceived
of
by
Sprague,
the
profile
of
Gold's
gym
grew
even
larger.
That
year's
Mr.
America
had
more
press
requests
than
the
1977
Academy
Awards.
By
1979,
when
Sprague
had
sold
Gold's
Gym,
it
was
the
most
famous
gym
in
the
world.[8]
Subsquent
ownership,
franchising,
and
imageEdit
From
1979
to
1999,
Gold's
Gym
was
owned
by
Peter
Grymkowski
(a
Mr.
World
body
building
champion)
and
his
partners.
After
two
years
of
ownership,[9]
they
moved
from
the
5500-square-foot
facility
into
a
60,000-square-foot
building
over
a
six-year
period.
Grymkowski's
brother
became
the
licensing
director,
which
helped
bring
the
Gold's
Gym
name
from
one
location
to
over
534
throughout
the
U.S.
and
the
world
in
1999,
when
it
was
sold
to
private
equity
firm
Brockway
Moran
&
Partners.
Another
private
equity
firm,
TRT
Holdings,
bought
Gold's
Gym
in
2004.[10]
Gold's
Gym
was
one
of
the
first
companies
in
the
health
and
fitness
industry
to
franchise,
starting
in
1980.[11]
The
company
licenses
its
name
to
products
such
as
fitness
equipment
and
clothing.
The
original
Gold's
Gym
logo,
a
bald
weightlifter
holding
a
barbell,
was
designed
in
1973
by
professional
wrestler
Ric
Drasin,
who
was
Schwarzenegger's
training
partner
for
four
years.[12]
Notable
users
of
Gold's
Gym
have
included
such
celebrities
as
Jessica
Alba,
Jodie
Foster,
Morgan
Freeman,
Dwayne
Johnson,
Jim
Morrison
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