A One-Day Itinerary in Los Angeles for Bodybuilding Fans

The best way to spend one day in LA as a bodybuilding fan is in Venice and Santa Monica, where every major landmark of gym history sits within a few miles. Start the morning outside Gold's Gym Venice, walk to Muscle Beach Venice and along the Venice Beach Boardwalk, break for lunch, then head about two miles north to the Original Muscle Beach near the Santa Monica Pier for the afternoon. That covers the most important places in Golden Era bodybuilding history, and you will still be done in time for sunset.

This Los Angeles itinerary for fitness lovers sets out a realistic plan, hour by hour: what to see at each stop, why it matters and how to get around. At the end we compare doing it yourself with taking a guided tour.

Why spend the day in Venice and Santa Monica?

Los Angeles is huge, but its bodybuilding history is packed into one short stretch of coastline. The story starts on the sand in Santa Monica in the 1930s. After the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, a New Deal Works Progress Administration program put gymnastics equipment on the beach just south of the Santa Monica Pier. That patch of sand became Muscle Beach, where Jack LaLanne, Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton, Steve Reeves and a young Joe Gold trained in public.

In the late 1950s the Santa Monica City Council ordered the equipment removed, and many regulars moved about two miles south to Venice. In 1965 Joe Gold opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice. In the 1970s that gym became the center of what fans now call the Golden Era of bodybuilding, and the documentary Pumping Iron (1977) made it famous worldwide.

So all four landmarks are close together, and each one adds a chapter to the same story. You can see every one of them in a day without ever getting on a freeway.

What does one day in LA for bodybuilding fans look like?

Here is the plan in brief. The times are a guide, not a timetable.

1. 8:00 a.m.: Breakfast in Venice
2. 9:00 a.m.: Gold's Gym Venice, seen from outside
3. 10:00 a.m.: Muscle Beach Venice
4. 11:00 a.m.: Walk the Venice Beach Boardwalk
5. 12:30 p.m.: Healthy lunch near the beach
6. 2:00 p.m.: Travel north to Santa Monica
7. 2:30 p.m.: Original Muscle Beach
8. 4:00 p.m.: Santa Monica Pier and the beach path
9. Evening: Sunset over the Pacific

Where should a bodybuilding fan start the morning?

8:00 a.m. Breakfast in Venice

Eat early and keep it simple. Venice has plenty of cafés with high-protein breakfasts and smoothie bowls a short walk from the beach. Getting going early also means quieter streets and easier parking, and the morning light is good for photos outside the gym.

9:00 a.m. Gold's Gym Venice

Start at the place many fans call the Mecca of Bodybuilding. Today's Gold's Gym Venice is at 360 Hampton Drive, a few blocks inland from the Boardwalk. The first Gold's Gym, opened in August 1965, was in a building Joe Gold owned on Pacific Avenue, so the Hampton Drive building is the gym's long-time home, not its first one. In October 2025 local press reported that this Venice gym is the last remaining Gold's Gym in the Los Angeles area. Other Southern California locations were being converted to EōS Fitness, while the standalone Venice gym kept its name and ownership.

Even from the sidewalk, the building is worth the trip. Fans come to photograph the famous logo and the signage, and to stand where so much bodybuilding history happened. If you want to train inside, remember that it is a private business with its own guest rules, so check the gym's official website for current policies and pricing before you go. For the full backstory, read the history of Gold's Gym Venice.

10:00 a.m. Muscle Beach Venice

Walk west toward the ocean to Muscle Beach Venice, the outdoor weightlifting pen on the Boardwalk. This is where the beach lifting tradition settled after Santa Monica closed its version. The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks reopened the pen in March 2022 after a renovation that lasted several years, with new racks, benches, machines and plates.

You can watch the lifting from the Boardwalk for free, and mid-morning is usually lively. Use of the equipment inside is managed by the city, so check with Recreation and Parks for current rules, fees and hours if you want to lift. The area also hosts competitions, including the annual Muscle Beach Championship, held at the Venice Beach Recreation Center on Labor Day in recent years.

What is there to see on the Venice Beach Boardwalk?

11:00 a.m. Walk the Venice Beach Boardwalk

From the pen, walk the Venice Beach Boardwalk, also known as Ocean Front Walk. It is a promenade about two miles long that dates to 1905, the year Abbot Kinney's Venice development opened. Along the way you will pass the Venice Beach Skatepark, basketball and paddle tennis courts, murals, street performers and vendors. Together they make up the beach culture that drew the Golden Era lifters here in the first place.

Take your time. This is the part of the day for people-watching and photos.

On the Golden Era LA Tour, this is the stretch where the coach slows the group down and tells the stories of the places you are standing in. These include who trained where, how the Venice scene grew out of Santa Monica, and why the 1970s crowd made this neighborhood world-famous.

12:30 p.m. Lunch near the beach

Refuel close to the Boardwalk or a few blocks inland. You will have walked a fair distance by now, and you still have the afternoon ahead. Choose something light and protein-forward, and drink plenty of water. The coastal sun is stronger than it feels.

Why finish the afternoon at the Original Muscle Beach?

2:00 p.m. Getting from Venice to Santa Monica

The Original Muscle Beach is about two miles north of the Venice pen. You have three easy options:

• Walk or bike the beach path. The paved Marvin Braude Bike Trail runs 22 miles along the coast between Will Rogers State Beach and Torrance Beach, through both Venice and Santa Monica. A bike or scooter makes this a scenic 15 to 20 minutes.
• Rideshare or taxi. This is the quickest option if your legs need a rest. Traffic near the beach can be slow on weekends.
• Drive. It works, but expect to pay for parking at both ends and to circle for a space on busy days.

2:30 p.m. The Original Muscle Beach, Santa Monica

This is where it all began. The Original Muscle Beach is on the sand just south of the Santa Monica Pier. The city officially rededicated the site in 1989. Today it is mostly about gymnastics: rings, bars, ropes and acrobatics, much closer to the 1930s and 1940s spirit than to Venice's barbells.

Stand here and picture the crowds who once came to watch hand-balancing and strongman feats on weekends. To see how the two sites compare, read Muscle Beach Venice vs. the Original Muscle Beach.

4:00 p.m. Santa Monica Pier and the beach

The Santa Monica Pier is right next door. Its Municipal Pier opened in 1909, and the Pacific Park amusement area with its Ferris wheel opened on the pier in 1996. Walk out to the end for views back along the coast toward Venice, the route you just covered.

How should you end the day?

Stay for sunset. The beach just south of the pier faces west over the Pacific, and on clear evenings it is one of the best free views in Los Angeles. If you still have energy, walk the beach path south as the light fades. Or settle in for dinner in downtown Santa Monica, a few blocks inland.

What should you know before you go?

• Wear comfortable shoes. On foot alone you can easily cover several miles.
• Bring sun protection and water. There is very little shade on the Boardwalk or at the beach sites.
• Go on a weekday if you can. Weekends are livelier, but parking and crowds are harder.
• Keep valuables close. As at any busy tourist area, keep an eye on phones and bags.
• Check third-party rules yourself. Gyms, the Venice pen and parking lots all set their own fees and hours, and those change.

Should you do it yourself or take a guided tour?

Both work. The right choice depends on what you want from the day.

Doing it yourself

Pros: it costs less, you set your own pace, and you can stay as long as you like anywhere.

Cons: you handle the logistics yourself, including parking, the trip between Venice and Santa Monica, and finding lunch. You also see the places without the stories behind them. A sidewalk outside a gym or a patch of sand with rings on it can look ordinary if you don't know what happened there.

Taking the Golden Era LA Tour

The Golden Era LA Tour follows almost exactly this route over about six hours. The guide is a working Los Angeles strength coach who drives the group in a van between every Stop. The tour visits Gold's Gym Venice (a guided stop outside, since entry to the gym is not part of the tour), Muscle Beach Venice, the Venice Beach Boardwalk and the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. A Seat is $199 and covers transport, guided visits, the coach's storytelling about Golden Era history, a healthy lunch and a t-shirt. An outdoor photo/video Add-on is optional.

It is a history and sightseeing tour, not a workout. No training session is included. The point is to visit the vital places of bodybuilding history and learn the stories behind them, without worrying about logistics.

Pros: no driving or parking, lunch is sorted, and you get the history at the spot where it happened. Cons: the schedule is fixed, and it costs more than doing it on your own.

Plan your day

If you would rather spend your one day in LA visiting the landmarks of gym history and hearing the stories than reading maps, book a Seat on the Golden Era LA Tour. Traveling with friends or training partners? A Private Tour starts from $999 for up to four guests on a date you choose. Planning this for someone else? LA Gym Tours gift cards never expire. Have questions first? See the FAQ or browse all our Stop guides.