# Joe Gold > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Joe_Gold > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Joe_Gold.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gold > Source revision: 1342326763 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American bodybuilder and businessman (1922–2004)}} {{for|American basketball player|Joe Dan Gold}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Joe Gold | birth_name = Sidney Gold | image = Joe Gold.png | caption = Gold in 1954 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|03|10}} | birth_place = [East Los Angeles, California](/source/East_Los_Angeles%2C_California), U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|07|11|1922|03|10}} | death_place = [Marina del Rey, California](/source/Marina_del_Rey%2C_California), U.S. | occupation = Bodybuilder and businessman | known_for = Founder of [Gold's Gym](/source/Gold's_Gym) and [World Gym](/source/World_Gym) }} '''Joe Gold''' (born '''Sidney Gold'''; March 10, 1922{{cite news|last1=Luther|first1=Claudia|title=Joe Gold, 82; Legendary Bodybuilder|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jul-13-me-gold13-story.html|access-date=2 August 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=13 July 2004}} – July 11, 2004) was an American bodybuilder and businessman. He was the founder of [Gold's Gym](/source/Gold's_Gym) and [World Gym](/source/World_Gym). He has been credited with being the father of the [bodybuilding](/source/bodybuilding) and the fitness craze. ==Early life== Joe Gold was the youngest of four siblings, Robert Gold (born Ruben Gold), Nathan Gold and Eunice Gold Fiss. His parents, Max Gold (born Abraham Mordechai Goldglejt) and Jennie Gold Glick Sussman (born Zelda Feierman) were both Jewish emigrants having relocated from [Belarus](/source/Belarus) to [Boyle Heights, Los Angeles](/source/Boyle_Heights%2C_Los_Angeles). Max Gold was the neighborhood junk collector and the family's back yard and garage served as a makeshift junk yard. His mother, Jennie, was a seamstress who divorced Joe's father and remarried twice. Joe attended [Theodore Roosevelt High School](/source/Theodore_Roosevelt_High_School_(Los_Angeles%2C_California)).[http://www.nndb.com/people/760/000052604/ NNDB] He developed an interest in bodybuilding at the age of 12, when he saw his sister-in-law's design for strengthening her arms. She had attached a filled bucket to each end of a broom handle and was using them as lifts. Joe and his brother, Robert Gold, got the idea for building their own equipment from scrap obtained from their father's scrap yard in Boyle Heights. As a teenager he headed for [Muscle Beach](/source/Muscle_Beach) in [Santa Monica](/source/Santa_Monica%2C_California). ==Military service== A [machinist](/source/machinist), he worked in the [United States Merchant Marine](/source/United_States_Merchant_Marine) and served in the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), where he was badly injured in a [torpedo](/source/torpedo) strike.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1466933/Joe-Gold.html |title=Joe Gold |newspaper=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) |date=July 14, 2004}} He also served in the [Korean War](/source/Korean_War).{{cite news |last1=Jordan |first1=Pat |title=Body by Joe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/magazine/26GOLD.html |newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 December 2004 |access-date=2 August 2015}} ==Career== As a professional [bodybuilder](/source/bodybuilder), he auditioned for [Mae West](/source/Mae_West) with a group of musclemen. West approved, saying "I'll take all of you." Gold subsequently toured the country with her [revue](/source/revue). He also appeared as an extra in two epic movies, ''[The Ten Commandments](/source/The_Ten_Commandments_(1956_film))'' and ''[Around the World in 80 Days](/source/Around_the_World_in_80_Days_(1956_film))'',{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0325009/|title=Joe Gold|website=IMDb|access-date=2017-11-09}} both released in 1956. In 1965, Joe Gold opened the first Gold's Gym in [Venice, California](/source/Venice%2C_California). It quickly became a [landmark](/source/landmark) for local bodybuilders despite the dirty fixtures of its first incarnation. Joe Gold was known for the personal encouragement he gave trainers, although delivered in sarcastic jabs at their faults. Among Joe Gold's many devotees was [Arnold Schwarzenegger](/source/Arnold_Schwarzenegger), who began working out at the gym in 1968 soon after arriving in the US. Schwarzenegger called Joe Gold "a trusted friend and father figure." Joe Gold opened new gyms and designed the equipment for them. His innovations revolutionized the sport, enabling people to exercise more easily with machines. He sold the Gold's Gym chain in 1970. In 1977, he launched [World Gym](/source/World_Gym){{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ric-drasin/the-birth-of-world-gym_b_11172306.html|title=The Birth Of World Gym|last=Drasin|first=Ric|date=July 26, 2016|website=Huffington Post|language=en-US|access-date=1 June 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120214955/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-birth-of-world-gym_b_11172306 |archive-date=20 Jan 2022}} in Santa Monica (later in [Marina del Rey](/source/Marina_del_Rey%2C_California)), which he owned and operated until his death. ==Death and legacy== Joe died on July 11, 2004, at age 82, in Marina del Rey. The first [Joe Gold Lifetime Achievement Award](/source/World_Gym) was presented to [Ric Drasin](/source/Ric_Drasin) at the 2012 World Gym International Convention in [Las Vegas](/source/Las_Vegas), [Nevada](/source/Nevada).{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160703171948/http://www.buildersandlifters.com/2012-world-gym-convention/4569366392 2012 World Gym Convention]}} Builders and Lifters. Retrieved October 9, 2012. ==See also== *[List of male professional bodybuilders](/source/List_of_male_professional_bodybuilders) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.goldsgym.com Gold's Gym] Official website *[http://www.worldgym.com World Gym] Official website {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Joe}} Category:1922 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Jewish American military personnel Category:United States Navy personnel of the Korean War Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Sailors from California Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles Category:Jewish American sportspeople Category:Sportspeople from Los Angeles Category:People associated with physical culture Category:People from Marina del Rey, California Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:American male bodybuilders Category:20th-century American Jews Category:21st-century American Jews Category:People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Category:20th-century American sportsmen --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Joe Gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gold) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gold?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.