California Trip

arpeejay · #1 November 6th, 2007, 11:21 AM

Naoyuki and I just returned from 10 days in Southern California, about half of it in Los Angeles, the other half in Palm Springs. He had a conference but it was pure vacation for me. For the Los Angeles portion we stayed in Little Tokyo AND we had a car so for the first time in my life I got to do as much exploring there as I liked! And, boy, did it like it!

Sunday morning (first morning) there I met my friend Dougie (http://www.bigmuscle.com/~douger) at his place in West Hollywood and then from there we went to Gold's Venice, the self-proclaimed "Mecca of Bodybuilding." I saw exactly one famous (to me) bodybuilder, i.e., Tom Prince, but naturally I was too shy to do anything about it! I figured the last thing he needed was some dork coming up to him during his workout.

Tom, of course, is quite a bit smaller than he was during his heyday (5'8 and 310 lbs. offseason!) He had some illness (bypass surgery?) a few years ago and had to drop the competitive mass. He's still built like a brick shithouse (which you could tell even though he was wearing track pants and a longsleeve tee shirt.)

Tuesday evening Naoyuki and I had dinner with my chat friend Tom, a big, beefy lad who, unlike me, makes 49 look good! We got our wires a bit crossed so Tom and I didn't have a chance to work out together but that was not the case with Dan (http://www.bigmusclebears.com/~teufelherz), a.k.a. our own Wbhunk, who really really really needs to drop the "wb" from his name. He's both a hunk AND a hulk and I look like a little girl standing next to him! We worked out at Gold's Palm Springs which for my money had much better eye candy overall; no Tom Prince, of course, but Dan was a more than acceptable substitute!

Now it's back to Buffalo where lyrics from the Mamas and the Papas suddenly seem completely relevant:

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray...
California dreamin'
On such an (almost) winter's day!

xoxo

Richard

indygary · #2 November 6th, 2007, 12:35 PM

man, what i wouldnt give to lift with two of my favorite hunks, dan and richard!!!

wbhunk · #3 November 6th, 2007, 11:46 PM

One, Richard looks like a little girl only if little girls are built, cute, and hairy.

Two, I am SO blushing right now.

omelissokomos · #4 November 7th, 2007, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arpeejay

Wbhunk, who really really really needs to drop the "wb" from his name.

Nah... just change its meaning to "Whatta big" and you're good to go.

arpeejay · #5 November 16th, 2007, 11:21 AM

For a full description of the trip, take a look at my "onegaydad" blog:

http://onegaydad.blogspot.com

xoxo

Richard

mslheet · #6 November 16th, 2007, 07:07 PM

Hey Richard
I went to Roosterfish in August. That has to be one of the smallest bars I've ever been in. Yet packed to the gills with gays. I liked it though - very unpretentious. i loved Venice.

arpeejay · #7 November 16th, 2007, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mslheet

Hey Richard
I went to Roosterfish in August. That has to be one of the smallest bars I've ever been in. Yet packed to the gills with gays. I liked it though - very unpretentious. i loved Venice.

We didn't stay very long and it was very unpacked, which partly had to do with the time of die (late afternoon / early evening) and possibly the fact that it was Halloween. From there we went to dinner at the C.O. Trattoria, which was quite good.

xoxo

Richard

SouthPaw · #8 November 19th, 2007, 08:05 PM

I remember a visit to Gold?s in Venice in the early 80?s when the place was crawling with Wieder?s boys. Just an ordinary morning. A friend and member took me along for a look around. Mike Metzer was hanging out in the lobby. Pete Grymkowski was manager and met us at the door and shook hands all around. There were a good half dozen name bodybuilders working out. Bob Jodkiewicz and Rod Koontz are two I can remember. And a blond guy, I think Andreas Kahling.

We were there to see Chris Dickerson who had an office upstairs. This was before he moved to New York. My guide claimed he was friends with Dickerson. Hey, his office was empty that day, so I can?t refute the claim.

That same weekend we worked out at the original World Gym. The owner, Joe Gold, yelled at me. I guess I was handling the weights wrong. My buddy told me that Arnold still worked out there on occasion, but there weren?t any ?stars? there that day.