Muscle Beach, Outdoor gym in Venice, Los Angeles, United States

Muscle Beach Venice is the outdoor weightlifting platform on Ocean Front Walk in Venice, Los Angeles, two blocks north of Venice Boulevard. It is an open playground with a gated area holding weightlifting equipment and a second sand-box area with gymnastic and acrobatic bars and a climbing rope. The City of Los Angeles dedicated it under the name "Muscle Beach Venice" in 1987.

Muscle Beach began in 1934 with gymnastics on the south side of the Santa Monica Pier, where the Works Progress Administration installed exercise equipment. A beach platform with weights drew bodybuilders Vic Tanny, Jack LaLanne and Joe Gold. After the Santa Monica site closed, athletes moved to the Venice Beach weight pen, run by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, which the city dedicated as "Muscle Beach Venice" in 1987.

The name Muscle Beach was coined at the Santa Monica site; in 1987 Los Angeles dedicated its Venice weight pen "Muscle Beach Venice" to honour the original. Bodybuilders Dave Draper, Larry Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger trained here. A white sign on two poles marks "The Original Location of Muscle Beach" and calls it the birthplace of the twentieth-century physical fitness boom.

Muscle Beach Venice lies on Ocean Front Walk, two blocks north of Venice Boulevard, and is split into a gated weightlifting pen and a sand box with gymnastic and acrobatic bars. The City of Los Angeles charges a fee for the outdoor gym; the sand area is open as a playground. Look for the white sign on two silver poles reading "The Original Location of MUSCLE BEACH, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA".

The white sign on two silver poles reads "The Original Location of MUSCLE BEACH, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA" and calls the site the birthplace of the twentieth-century physical fitness boom. It stands on sand near metal swing sets, two miles north of the Venice weight pen.