Muscle Beach - Definition and Overview

Muscle Beach, in the United States is an area Venice, California on Ocean Front Walk two blocks north of Venice Boulevard, that is set up by the city as an outdoors weightlifting gym.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, the original Muscle Beach was located in Santa Monica immediately south of the Santa Monica Pier. Popular gymnastic exhibitions were routinely held there on city-provided equipment. In the late Fifties the popularity began to wane and the area grew less attractive. Outcry over a rape at the site led the city to shut it down in 1959. Subsequently the body-building milieu moved south to Venice. A small, spartan weight pen was built near Windward, later replaced by the large current facility, which sports a huge concrete barbell on the roof and bleachers for spectators.

By extension, it refers also to a high concentration of weightlifting and fitness businesses in the area.