Lawrence Mace In Search of Whole Rainbows, Unpublished Manuscript, 1994, 1952, 1949, 1948, 1942
"High school gymnastics in Southern California was far ahead of Northern California in 1948. All schools in the Los Angeles area had gymnastics teams, and competition there was fierce. Often, I heard of new, impossible movements on the rigs and high bar that gymnasts were doing in LA.
"In particular, I heard of a place called Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, where the greatest of all high school gymnasts congregated on weekends to practice togeether. I hitchhiked four-hundred miles south one weekend to see the place for myself. The rumors were true. I was dazzled! In Oakland, I was a top gymnast. At Muscle Beach I was a novice again. I learned several movements that weekend that astonished my teammates the next week at Fremont High in Oakland.
"There were many other things going on at Muscle Beach that caught my attention. It was a Mecca for circus acrobats and night club performers from all over the world. They did stunts and tricks that amazed me, performing on a mat-covered wooden platform. It was raised above the sand with bleachers along one side for spectators who watched and applauded.
"Nearby there was a fenced weight lifting area. I watched several of the strongest weight lifters in the United States working out, lifting impossibly heavy weights.
"There was a full length mirror on one side of the weight lifting enclosure. The body builders were easily distinguishable from the weight lifters. They spent much of their time in front of the mirror, flexing particular muscle groups after pumping up those muscles by exercising with weights. They were training for muscular bulk and definition rather than sheer strength like the weight lifters.
"There was table tennis, played on concrete Ping-Pong tables. I watched the current US table tennis champion meet all challengers.
"There were chess boards attached to tables. I heard that the current world chesss champion played there sometimes.
"There were volleyball courts on the sand nearby. I had never seen volleyball played with only two players on each team. Defending players dove headlong into the sand to save and return a ball hit hard downward from above the net by an opponent. Two-man beach volleyball was invented at Muscle Beach.
"I met forty-year-old Deforest Most, Manager of Muscle Beach for the City of Santa Monica. Moe, in later years, became a hero and long time friend. He greeted me then for the first time, making me welcome immediately in the friendly fashion that was his trademark. I was impressed when he told me he held the world record for consecutive, bare handed giant swings on the high bar. He showed me the palms of his hands. They were like thick leather from performing on the bar."