Joe Gold

Joe Gold, born Sidney Gold on March 10, 1922, was an American bodybuilder and gym entrepreneur who died on July 11, 2004. He grew up in Boyle Heights, built his first training equipment from scrap taken from his father's junk yard, and as a teenager trained at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. A machinist who served in the Merchant Marine and the United States Navy, he later toured with Mae West's revue as one of her musclemen. In 1965 he opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice, California, which became a gathering place for local lifters, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he designed much of the equipment himself. After selling the Gold's chain in 1970 he founded World Gym in 1977 and ran it until his death.