Muscle Beach
* During the summer of 1935 my family vacationed in the Purser Apartments overlooking Muscle Beach (“Santa Monica Shows Off a Restored Muscle Beach,” Oct. 2). It was an exciting place for an 11-year-old, watching the gymnasts, roaming the beach and exploring the forbidden territory under Santa Monica Pier. Our favorite athletic pastime was hitching a ride on the electric trams that plied the boardwalk, hopping on the back scrunched down to keep the driver from seeing us.
Muscle Beach was the beginning of the fitness movement. But in those days fitness and health were seen as another nutty Southern California fad. The bemused public lumped Muscle Beach athletes with the octogenarian Bernard McFadden, publisher of Liberty magazine, who advocated going barefoot to draw strength from the Earth.
In the depths of the Great Depression the boardwalk provided great inexpensive entertainment. For a nickel you could ride the merry-go-round at Santa Monica Pier or slide down the giant bamboo slide at Venice Pier. You could watch for free the Pioneer Day parade, featuring mule teams and fireworks. Then, as now, the beachfront was one big carnival.
STUART WALZER
Carmel, Calif.
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