Where Arnold and the Golden Era Legends Trained in Los Angeles

Arnold Schwarzenegger trained mainly at Gold's Gym in Venice, Los Angeles, which he started using soon after moving to the United States in 1968. He also lifted and posed outdoors at Muscle Beach on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, and Pumping Iron filmed him in both places. Those Venice landmarks, together with the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, make up the core map of Golden Era bodybuilding, and you can still visit every one of them.

This guide covers where Arnold and his peers trained, why it happened in this small stretch of coast, and what a visitor will actually find at each place today.

Where did Arnold Schwarzenegger train when he came to America?

Arnold arrived in the United States in the autumn of 1968, aged 21, already a Mr. Universe winner and speaking little English. He settled in Los Angeles and began training at Gold's Gym in Venice, the gym Joe Gold had opened in 1965.

Joe Gold was a Los Angeles native and a veteran of the original Muscle Beach scene. He built a lot of the gym's equipment himself, including hand-welded cable machines, and called his place the first gym made specifically for bodybuilders. When Gold died in 2004, Arnold described him as a trusted friend and father figure.

The gym's main draw was the people training in it. Arnold, Franco Columbu and Dave Draper trained there; Draper recalls training alongside Arnold, Mike Katz and Frank Zane for the 1970 contests, and training next to the best in the world every day raised everyone's standards. That density of champions is why Gold's came to be called the "Mecca of Bodybuilding."

For the full story of the gym, read the history of Gold's Gym Venice.

Why did Arnold and the Golden Era legends train at Venice Beach?

A few things came together in Venice at the same moment:

• Sunshine and the beach. Joe Gold opened his gym a short walk from the Venice beach scene, where lifters could train outdoors most of the year.
• A beach-lifting tradition. Outdoor training had been part of Southern California life since the 1930s, when the original Muscle Beach started in Santa Monica.
• A media industry next door. Magazine publishers, photographers and Hollywood were close by, so a good physique in Venice could make you famous.
• Each other. Champions moved to Venice because other champions were already there.

Arnold and Franco Columbu also had to pay the rent. In 1969 they started a bricklaying business, European Brick Works, to cover their living costs while they trained. Arnold also took classes, including English, at Santa Monica College.

Landmark 1: Gold's Gym Venice, Arnold's training base

Why it matters: This is the gym name most closely tied to Arnold. He trained here through the years of his Mr. Olympia run: six straight titles from 1970 to 1975 and a seventh in 1980. When the filmmakers George Butler and Robert Fiore began shooting Pumping Iron in 1975, Gold's was their main location.

What you need to know as a visitor: Gold's Gym has moved since the Golden Era. Joe Gold's first gym was on Pacific Avenue in Venice. Today's Gold's Gym Venice is a much larger building on Hampton Drive, where the gym settled in the early 1980s after a stretch in Santa Monica in the mid-1970s. It carries the name and the lineage, but it is not the room Arnold walked into in 1968.

Joe Gold sold the business around 1970. He later founded World Gym, which became another home for Golden Era lifters. Our article on who Joe Gold was covers that second chapter.

What you can see today: The famous exterior and signage on Hampton Drive, a few blocks from the beach. Gold's is a private, working gym with its own guest policies. See our Gold's Gym Venice stop guide.

Landmark 2: Muscle Beach Venice, Arnold's outdoor stage

Why it matters: The outdoor weight pen on Ocean Front Walk is where the world saw Golden Era bodybuilding. Most histories date the first outdoor weightlifting platform at this spot to the early 1950s, although the City of Los Angeles gives 1963. Pumping Iron filmed Arnold's training at Muscle Beach as well as at Gold's, and the film contrasted that sunlit California scene with Lou Ferrigno training in a dim basement gym with his father.

What you can see today: The pen is still there and still in use. The City of Los Angeles runs it, and in 1987 it was officially named Muscle Beach Venice to tell it apart from the original site in Santa Monica. Anyone walking the Boardwalk can watch from outside the fence.

See our Muscle Beach Venice stop guide.

Landmark 3: The Venice Beach Boardwalk

Why it matters: Ocean Front Walk was the public stage for Venice bodybuilding. Lifters trained, tanned and posed in front of Boardwalk crowds, and photographers turned those moments into the images that sold the California fitness lifestyle around the world.

What you can see today: The Boardwalk is as busy as ever. Along with the Muscle Beach pen you'll find the skate park, the basketball courts, murals, vendors and street performers. Walking it is the easiest way to get a feel for the setting the legends knew.

See our Venice Beach Boardwalk stop guide.

Landmark 4: The Original Muscle Beach, Santa Monica

Why it matters: Arnold's Venice existed because of Santa Monica. In the early 1930s (1934 is the date most often cited), a Works Progress Administration program put exercise equipment on the sand just south of the Santa Monica Pier. Through the 1940s and 1950s, gymnasts, acrobats and strongmen turned it into a fitness mecca. The regulars included Jack LaLanne, Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton, Steve Reeves and a young Joe Gold.

In the late 1950s the City of Santa Monica had the equipment removed, and many regulars moved about two miles south to Venice. That move led directly to Gold's Gym and to the Venice scene Arnold joined a decade later.

What you can see today: Santa Monica officially rededicated the site as the Original Muscle Beach in 1989. Today it is built for gymnastics, rings, rope climbing and acrobatics, not heavy barbells.

See our Original Muscle Beach stop guide and our full Muscle Beach history.

Who else trained in Venice during the Golden Era?

Many champions passed through Venice. These names are well documented:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger: seven-time Mr. Olympia and the defining figure of the era. He later became a Hollywood star and Governor of California.
• Franco Columbu: Arnold's closest friend and favorite training partner. They met at a 1965 contest in Stuttgart. Columbu won the Mr. Olympia overall title in 1976 and again in 1981.
• Dave Draper: a Gold's regular famous for his classic California physique.
• Lou Ferrigno: Arnold's rival in Pumping Iron, who was filmed training with his father in a dim basement gym rather than at Gold's.
• Ric Drasin: one of Arnold's training partners in the early 1970s, credited with designing the original Gold's Gym logo in 1973.

Pumping Iron also features Mike Katz, Ken Waller, Ed Corney and Serge Nubret. For the wider cast, see the Golden Era legends of Venice Beach, and for the film itself, our Pumping Iron guide.

Can you visit Arnold's LA landmarks in one day?

Yes. The three Venice landmarks are a few minutes apart, and the Original Muscle Beach is a short drive up the coast. What's hard is the logistics: beach parking is limited, and these places can look ordinary unless someone tells you what happened there.

That is why a guided visit helps. LA Gym Tours runs a guided history tour, not a workout: over about six hours, a working LA strength coach drives the group in a van to each Stop and tells the Golden Era stories on the spot. The day covers a guided stop outside Gold's Gym Venice (going inside is not part of the tour), Muscle Beach Venice and the Boardwalk, a healthy lunch, and the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica.

Tips for an Arnold pilgrimage

1. Watch Pumping Iron first. You'll recognize the Boardwalk and the pen, and you'll know which details have changed.
2. Know what moved. Gold's Gym today is on Hampton Drive, not in its 1960s building. Knowing that keeps the visit honest and more interesting.
3. Go early. Venice mornings are cooler and calmer, and the pen is easier to watch.
4. Respect the regulars. These are working training spaces, so ask before you film anyone.
5. Finish in Santa Monica. Ending at the Original Muscle Beach brings the story back to where it started.

Visit Arnold's landmarks and hear the history on a guided tour

Reading about these places is one thing; standing where Arnold trained while someone explains what happened there is another. The Golden Era LA Tour takes you to every landmark in this guide and walks you through the Golden Era history at each Stop. A Seat is $199 all-inclusive, with van transport, guided visits to every Stop, the coach's storytelling, a healthy lunch and a t-shirt. It is a history tour, not a training session. Groups and families can reserve a Private Tour, and for the Arnold fan in your life a gift card never expires. Questions? See the FAQ.

LA Gym Tours is an independent operator and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Gold's Gym, World Gym, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Monica, or any person named in this article.