West Coast Bodybuilding Scene The Golden Era
November 14, 2009 by Jim Made
Filed under Bodybuilding
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Muscle UP!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If you are seriously into the fun & history of the excellent times in Bodybuilding. Then you can’t go incorrect buying this book. It’s written with an simple going style that helps the reader feel the vibe ,sweat & excellent hard workouts of these very strong men. You’ll learn a lot about why these guys worked out so hard & loved it!
What they did,,how they trained, what they added to Football, Boxing & other sports, Well they just made sportsmen & women quicker & stronger. Lift some weights, feel the buzz come alive. Ladies & gentlemen these guys were ahead of their time. It’s a excellent read.
Terrific Book Covering The Golden Age Of Bodybuilding!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Wow! I nearly dropped a dumbbell on my toe in excitement when I learned the publication of this book! I was indeed pleasantly surprised by this literal treasure-trove of original articles, anecdotes, and amusing characterizations of many of the most well-known of the insiders in the golden age of bodybuilding in southern California in the 1950s and 1960s, all those amusing tales of the exploits and observations of all the most well-known denizens from the golden age of bodybuilding back in the ‘excellent ancient days”, when few and far between such serious palaces of steel as the local Gold’s Gym or World facility available for the faithful aspiring bodybuilders. Instead, most of us labored in valiant pursuit for larger and stronger muscles either alone in our makeshift home gyms in our basements or garages, or just as often we worked out in the shabby but better equipped environs of the local YMCAs, where we were considered more muscle-headed curiosities than seekers after strength and fitness.
Indeed, all of those ancient memories and recollections are reincarnated by the recollections and observations in this wonderful book. Dick Tyler, a practicing Chiropractor (as is his excellent friend, former Mr. Olympia Franco Columbo), breathes fresh life into all the ancient legends, as does famed 60′s sensation the Blond Bomber himself, Dave Draper, (who writes the preface for the book), throwing open the wide window allowing the reader to see these stars of the bodybuilding world as real breathing people, as individual personalities who just happened to comprise the inner elite of this special small world of the bodybuilding subculture. These recollections also serve as to provide a unique glimpse into an extremely small but quite special period of time within that bodybuilding world, at the very moment of its most incredible transformation from what had formerly been a small and curious small world of right believers comprised of dedicated bodybuilders who went about their lives chasing the “power of the pump”, into all the other aspects of what they became at that moment that bodybuilding went “mainstream”, as it became a national phenomenon in the wake of the rise of Arnold Schwarzenegger to prominence in the early 1970s.
As someone who spent his own formative years reading about that rarified world of the top bodybuilders living in the sun and surf along the backdrop of ocean and Santa Monica, I can finally say that a book exists that faithfully recreates the essence of that now long-gone world, a world more emblematic of a simpler, kinder, and less complicated existence, when one might just as easily catch Larry Scott or Steve Reeves working out in the free Muscle Beach gym as view newcomers like a young Dave Draper or the incredible Frank Zane walking along the street. This is a fantastic book, and one that deserves a wide readership by all of us who might well find the golden age of bodybuilding as fascinating as those of us who grew up reading and dreaming about it still do. Delight in!
Wanna be Inspired?
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This wonderful book gives a backstage pass to the life and times of some of bodybuilding’s greats! Just to name a few, we have Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, Franco Columbo, and Mike Katz. Pages of gorgeous photography accompany this explicitly written novel, one of my all time favorites. Dick has the unique ability to take you back in time, show you the real men of muscle, and give a bird’s eye view of what their lives were really like on a daily basis. Lighthearted humor and truthfulism is expressed throughout. This book is enlightening, inspiring, and motivational. This is the genuine article, a certain keeper. Special thanks to my fantastic friend Karen DeCoster for giving me this, the best birthday present ever.
A wonderful read you won’t be able to place down
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The book has been described well in other reviews. So mine will be small and to the point. The years of the 1960s and 1970s was indeed the golden age of bodybuilding. Some would argue that it was the fifties, some even the forties. But the sixties and early seventies were the brief years when bodybuilding evolved from a hidden, disregarded sport into a full-fledged, respected athletic event with its own contests. It became respected.
Moreover, this was the time when the greats to whom we look to as models today were made. We meet Arnold when he started out, Dave Draper when he was soft and unformed, yet tenacious. We meet the very small but unique young, handsome men who, for a very brief time in history, came together to form the golden age of bodybuilding.
This was the time when the men looked fantastic. No freaky hideous muscle — rather lovely, sleek, striking and handsome muscle that made the male form look perfect.
This well-written book will take you back to that time and into the places that were alive for these men in those days. You’ll learn about them in intimate ways heretofore untold.
Highly recommended.
- Susanna K. Hutcheson
Outstanding!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is without a doubt the best read on where the present multi-billion dollar bodybuilding culture sprouted from. The purity and innocence of the crew that chugged away, and improvised methods that became bodybuilding gospel is well evidenced in this eyewitnessed discription. I couldn’t place it down and you could practically smell the sweat and hear the clanging of the weights! The only thing I can say is, “BUY THIS BOOK!”
They were having fun
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got this book as a gift but flipped through the pages before wrapping it. The gift recipient is a huge fan of Dave Draper and Arnold and all the rest and just LOVED it. A lotta fun to read. Fantastic pics, too.
OLD SCHOOL!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If you’re a newcomer to bodybuilding and all you know is what you read in “Flex” or “Muscular Development”, you need this book.
Set in the laidback style of the 60′s and early 70′s, Tyler shows us what it was like to be on Muscle Beach, or Gold’s Gym (not the spas they have now). Written in the easygoing prose of the time, it does a fantastic job of transporting you back to that time and place, even if you’ve never been there (like me).
You won’t find the latest workout tips here. Instead you are whisked away to the culture and place where bodybuilding first hit the huge time in the USA. No six figure paychecks here, just hard work and hard iron.
At 48, I’m constantly on the lookout for books and videos to keep me motivated for daily workouts. “West Coast Bodybuilding Scene” fits the bill from every angle.
The Golden Era is a Treasure
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Indispensable for anyone that want to relive the greatest era the sport of bodybuilding has ever known. Dick Tyler brings you behind the scenes while writing articles for Joe Weider’ s magazines in the mid 60′s to early 70′s.
Anyone interested in bodybuilding from the 60′s will delight in Dicks writing. Amusing, insightful and informative, you get the feel of what it was like when guys named Pearl, Sergio, Franco, Zane, Draper and Arnold were on the scene.
Brilliantly complemented with captions written by the Blond Bomber himself, Dave Draper. This book contains more photos then any other book of it’s type I have seen. The tales and photos in this book are priceless!
Excellent “history” book
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
If your looking for bodybuidling advice – then you’ve come to the incorrect place. This book is on events that occured back in “the Golden Era” on the beaches of California. Overall the book is written honestly and allows you a glimpse into the different aspects of the bodybuilders lives. If your looking for a history lesson, this book does the trick. If your looking for advice – look for something else.
o.k. book
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This book is excellent for those who want to hear tales about body building from the 60′s era. It does give tales of The Oak, but I wish it covered more of the 70′s era, like Pumping Iron.
It Was All So Simple Then
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If you’ve ever wondered what Bodybuilding was like during the “Golden Era”, then this is the book for you. Culled from contemporary tales and articles published in the Weider magazines from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies, this book describes the simplicity and innocence of huge-time bodybuilding in Southern California before health and fitness became a multi-billion dollar industry.
Want to know what Governor Schwarzenegger was like in those days? Dick Tyler met Arnold and wrote about him within weeks of his arrival in the US!
Want to know about Muscle Beach and how it really was? Or what happened to the denizens of that stalwart arena after it was shut down? Read about it here.
Before all the money, before all the hype, before all the questionable supplement practices, heck — before ephedra — it was all happening here. Read about it and delight in and perhaps long for that simpler time.
dick is my step mom’s dad
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i am very pleased for him and wish him all the luck in the world with sales of this book.
A Vivid Account of a Forgotten Era
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Dick Tyler has written a charming and quietly brilliant piece about an era few remember. I remember Muscle Beach and my heroes back in the early 60s. This is the FIRST opus I have read that allowed me to re-live those terrific memories… when men with muscles built them with honest hard work and they impressed us, not with intimidation, but with a sense of pride in their appearance and a genuine like of the sport. Dave Draper’s intro is marvelous and it’s fantastic to read anything he writes.. he KNOWS his subject. I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to remember, or wants to research this magical time and place. Magnificent!!
Ancient School at it’s Best!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Dave Draper & Dick Tyler hit it on the head with this blast from the past of ancient school training. Awesome book on the golden era of Bodybuilding.