World Gym History: Joe Gold's Second Act in Venice

World Gym history starts with Joe Gold: it is the gym he opened after he had sold Gold's Gym and lost the right to use his own name. He launched it in Santa Monica in the late 1970s. The company gives 1976 as its founding year, and newspaper obituaries say 1977. The gym later moved to Venice, becoming the World Gym Venice fans remember, and then to Marina del Rey, and it was frequented by Golden Era bodybuilders including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Dave Draper and Franco Columbu. From there it grew into an international franchise known for its gorilla logo.

If you know the story of Gold's Gym Venice, World Gym is the sequel. It's the same founder with the same handmade iron and the same crowd, but the sign over the door had to change.

Who founded World Gym?

World Gym was founded by Joe Gold (1922–2004). He grew up in Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, lifted at the original Muscle Beach as a teenager and served at sea during World War II and the Korean War. He also toured with Mae West's revue of musclemen. In 1965 he opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice. It was a bare-bones room full of equipment he designed and welded himself.

Gold sold the Gold's Gym business around 1970 and went back to the merchant marine. Most histories give 1970 as the year of the sale; a few sources suggest a slightly later date. Under new owners, Gold's Gym went on to become a national and then international chain. For the full biography, see Who Was Joe Gold?.

Why is it called World Gym and not Gold's?

The name came from necessity. When Gold sold Gold's Gym, the sale included the rights to the Gold's name. By the time he wanted back into the gym business, he could no longer use "Gold" for a new gym, and he reportedly regretted giving it up.

So he opened his new gym in Santa Monica under the name World Gym.

When did World Gym open?

Sources disagree by one year:

• World Gym's official history says Joe Gold opened a small gym full of custom-made equipment in 1976. Industry coverage of the brand repeats that date.
• Obituaries from 2004, including the Associated Press report and Iron Man magazine, say Gold founded World Gym in 1977.

The safest way to put it is that World Gym opened in 1976–77. Either way, it opened at the peak of the Golden Era. That was the same moment Pumping Iron (released in 1977) was making Venice bodybuilding famous around the world. One detail is easy to get wrong: Pumping Iron was filmed at the original Gold's Gym, not at World Gym. Our Pumping Iron guide covers the film itself.

Where was the original World Gym? Santa Monica, Venice and Marina del Rey

World Gym had three main homes under Joe Gold:

1. Santa Monica. Gold opened the first World Gym in Santa Monica.
2. Venice. He later moved World Gym to Venice. This is the "World Gym Venice" that many fans still talk about.
3. Marina del Rey. World Gym's last move under Gold took it to Marina del Rey. He kept working at World Gym's Marina del Rey headquarters right up to his death in July 2004, and that gym closed after he died.

We don't list exact street addresses here because sources don't agree on them, and the buildings have changed hands over the decades. If you visit the area today, don't assume a gym at any of those addresses is the original.

What made World Gym different?

World Gym was not a reinvention so much as a continuation of what had made Joe Gold's first gym special.

Joe Gold's handmade equipment

Gold was a trained machinist, and he built much of his own equipment. Dave Draper, a Golden Era champion who later owned World Gyms himself, remembered "muscle-building equipment of thick iron engineered and constructed by Joe Gold himself," and wrote that even the newer gym conveniences "bore the Joe Gold signature." World Gym's own history still describes Gold as a muscleman who built much of his own training equipment.

A house, not a franchise box

Gold ran his gyms with a simple rule, which Draper recalled as "run your gym like you run your house." Draper noted that Gold's gym "displayed no graffiti or broken windows." He described Gold as "a tough guy, an authority figure" who could still poke fun at life without meanness, and he praised Gold's "generosity to the underdog."

The Golden Era crowd

Wikipedia's World Gym history names Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Dave Draper and Franco Columbu among its famous members, and the company's own history names Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno and Draper. Schwarzenegger had trained under Gold at Gold's Gym since 1968 and called him "a trusted friend and father figure." When Gold fell ill in 1991, Schwarzenegger reportedly helped run World Gym for about a year. For more on the people behind the era, see The Golden Era Legends of Venice Beach.

Who designed the World Gym gorilla logo?

The World Gym logo is a muscular gorilla hoisting a loaded barbell over its head. It was drawn by Ric Drasin (1944–2020), a Golden Era bodybuilder, professional wrestler and artist who, according to a Santa Monica Daily Press profile, trained with Schwarzenegger daily from 1970 to 1974.

Drasin had already drawn the original Gold's Gym logo, a cartoon sketch of a bald weightlifter, reportedly as an unpaid favor to Joe Gold. According to his biography, World Gym asked him to design a logo in 1978, and he came up with the gorilla. That means one artist drew the logos for both of Joe Gold's gyms, two of the best-known logos in fitness.

The gorilla was a good fit for Gold's gym. It stood for raw power, heavy iron and a crowd that didn't take itself too seriously, and gym T-shirts carried it far beyond Los Angeles. Many people who have never been to Venice still recognize the shirt.

How did World Gym expand worldwide?

World Gym grew mainly through licensing and franchising. World Gym's official history says the brand spread to franchise locations across the United States and abroad, and that every World Gym is independently owned and operated.

Some milestones in that growth:

• By 2004, Iron Man magazine described World Gym as a chain of more than 300 locations. Around the same time Dave Draper put the number at about 350 worldwide. Draper and his wife Laree owned two World Gyms in central California.
• After Gold's death, the business continued as World Gym International. Wikipedia reports that the Cammilleri family owned the company from 2009.
• In October 2024, World Fitness Services, the Taiwan-based parent of World Gym Taiwan, acquired World Gym International. World Gym Taiwan was the network's largest franchisee and already operated about 130 gyms in Taiwan. Taiwan News reported the price as about US$9 million, and Athletech News counted more than 230 franchised locations on six continents.

So the brand that began as one man's comeback gym near the beach is now controlled by its biggest franchisee, on the other side of the Pacific. Location counts change often, so check the brand's own locator if you need current numbers.

World Gym vs. Gold's Gym: what's the connection today?

People mix the two brands up all the time, and it's easy to see why:

• Same founder. Joe Gold started both.
• Different companies. Gold's Gym and World Gym have been separate businesses with separate owners for about five decades.
• Same neighborhood. Both trace their roots to the Venice and Santa Monica waterfront, near the outdoor lifting platforms of Muscle Beach.

The famous gym that still operates in Venice under a Joe Gold-era name is Gold's Gym Venice. It is the successor to the original Gold's, not World Gym. Our Gold's Gym Venice guide explains what you can see from the outside.

Seeing Joe Gold's Venice in person

Joe Gold's own World Gym locations closed long ago, but the neighborhood that produced both of Joe Gold's gyms is still there to explore. On The Golden Era LA Tour, a working LA strength coach drives a small group to the places where this history happened. The Stops are Gold's Gym Venice, seen from outside because the tour doesn't include gym entry, Muscle Beach Venice, the Venice Beach Boardwalk and the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. At each one, the coach tells the stories of Joe Gold and the lifters who followed him from gym to gym.

Plan your visit

The Golden Era LA Tour is a guided history tour, not a workout. It runs about six hours, and the $199 Seat includes van transport, guided visits to every Stop, the coach's Golden Era storytelling, a healthy lunch and a T-shirt. If you'd like the day for your own group, Private Tours start from $999 for up to four guests. If you're shopping for a lifter who already owns a gorilla-logo shirt, gift cards never expire. You'll find more background reading in our Venice and Santa Monica guides and answers to common questions on the FAQ.

LA Gym Tours is an independent operator. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by World Gym, Gold's Gym or any person mentioned in this article.