South Bay, and I Don’t Pay

I’d written about Dave Fisher’s new Powerhouse Gym in Torrance, CA, in a previous blog, but decided to get an up close and personal look at the facility on Saturday.

I was joined by John (Gotta Have) Heart (www.intenseheart.com), one of the top personal trainers in the San Gabriel Valley (my side of town), who not only made the 40-minute drive into the South Bay area, but picked up the lunch tab at the Cheesecake Factory in nearby Redondo Beach to boot! It was John’s “Anti-Shawn Ray, I Ain’t Gonna Make L.T. Pay” campaign against Sugar Shawn, and all others who mysteriously can’t find their wallet’s right about the time the bill arrives.

I’ll get back to the grubbing later; let me tell ya more about Dave’s facility. Very good location (22216 Palos Verdes Blvd). About 4,000 square feet. Good equipment, with more on the way. Extremely clean. No weights left in the bar in this gym, gang. Not crowded.  Friendly members. Charley, Dave’s loveable pug, guards the couch, where I sat and watched the 2000 “Road to the Olympia” video while Heart and Fisher, who met two decades back when both trained at Gold’s Gym, Redondo Beach, had a nice reunion chat. All the major mags were on the table, including several issues of IRON MAN. Dave’s cover shot from 2007 hung in a frame on the wall. A large, quaint bathroom I’d expect to see in one of the exclusive homes in Pasadena.

Fisher is busting his fanny to give the local folks a great place to work out. Already, he’s given Michael Neveux a great place to shoot gym training shots; New Wave has done five different shoots there in the past few couple of weeks, according to Fisher. Makes sense, since Powerhouse is located but a few minutes away from Michael’s Gardena studio. Dave says Tricky Jackson, who scored a major upset with his win in the 202 and under at the Sacramento Pro, was the subject of New Wave’s lenses on Tuesday. And that Dan Hill, on the cover of the December issue, was working with Michael again recently. As was Lee Apperson.

It was a nice visit, and I’d like to encourage anybody living in or around the area to at least give the gym a visit. Think you’ll like what you see.

I really liked what I saw when Heart and I tooled on down to the Cheesecake Factory after leaving Powerhouse. Another lemon herb chicken dish for me; it was pizza time for John, who has a “cheat” day once a week. I have a non-cheat day once a month. I figured the eight pieces of bread, with butter, was more than enough.

It was nostalgia time for me as well. This is where all the folks congregated after the IRON MAN PRO that New Wave and Balik produced at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center years back. Seemed like yesterday. The moral of this story: don’t get old, time passes by WAY too fast.

Heart, in great shape at 6’ and 210 pounds, was so excited about the trip, and the view of the boats docked in the water next to the eatery, that he added some blueberry cheesecake to complete the occasion. Me? Hey, a lot of sacrifice goes into maintaining this grade-A physique, so I had to pass on the dessert. It was the first time, by the way, I’ve skipped on the goodies, in the past month. Okay, so now you know the real reason.

Heart insisted on using his credit card for the meal, in a bond of solidarity against the likes of Ray, who doesn’t include the words “I’ll pay” in his dictionary. Just in case you don’t think I’m a cheesecake, er, cheapskate, I put in most of the tip, and gave Heart some cash for the parking.

We then stopped for a tour at the Redondo Beach Gold’s (200 N. Harbor Dr.), but a few yards away. Really nice place. Added two floors since the days John trained there, and a membership includes use of the Crowne Plaza Hotel pool on the third floor.

I planned on training when we got back—I’d left my car at Gold’s Pasadena—but was too exhausted. It was time to watch USC football. And wish I had some of that blueberry cheesecake John gulped down but a few hours earlier.

I’m out. But I’ll be back.