Two things elevated Muscle Beach over these earlier Meccas of strength and health: first, the "Beach" did not depend on the personal force of one man, and second, the location was unbeatable.
American photography, art, advertising, television, and film have traded on the image of a magical Southern California lifestyle since the beginning of the twentieth century. "California dreamin"' is, in a way, the logical extension of the American Dream; and names such as Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Sunset Boulevard evokeglamour, youth, and good vibrations throughout America. All that was needed to ignite an explosion of interest in the beach lifestyle was a group of insouciant young folks who, by their own example, showed Southern Californians and the world how to have fun in the sun.
Although some historians note that a gymnastics "horse" was set up on the Santa Monica beach in 1924, or that Kate Giroux, a playground instructor at the beach, installed parallel bars, rings, and a gymnastics platform in 1934, the real Muscle Beach began when Abbye "Pudgy" Evile (Pudgy Stockton) and her boyfriend, Les Stockton, began to meet in the summer of 1939 with a small group of tumblers and hand balancers at a platform built there by the W.P.A.
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