At gyms, cozy can be better

Gymgoer Hilary Beane was having a tough time transitioning from her previous upscale, state-of-the-art gym to Body Builders Gym, a 24-year-old independent club in Silver Lake, which is best described as “funky.”

She wasn’t sure about the weight stacks that had weathered to a bronze patina, about some of the older equipment that meandered over several rooms and up a steep, narrow staircase, or about the tiny locker room with bright blue unlockable wooden cubbies.

“So I called up my old trainer,” says Beane, 50, “and said, ‘Would you please come over here? I don’t know anything about the machines, they look very funky to me.’ He’s something of a training snob, and he took one look and said, ‘This is a real gym. This is a great place to work out. You’re not missing out on anything.’ ”

That stamp of approval was enough for Beane, an L.A. jewelry designer, who’s been a member for four years. “This,” she says, “is not a scene.”

What members give up in amenities such as massages and enormous stacks of fluffy towels, they gain in a true neighborhood club, where friendships are made between sets of triceps pull-downs and the owners worry about members who suddenly stop coming.

While independent gyms are not exactly an endangered species in the city, they offer something different for those who seek them out or stumble upon them, something the corporate mega-gyms don’t have.

Body Builders Gym suits Silver Lake and its residents, who are both appreciative and protective of their small-townish neighborhood. The people you work out with are the people you see at the local Trader Joe’s, Gelson’s and the Coffee Table restaurant. When Erik Flowers and his aunt, Jackie Joniec, bought the place four years ago, they knew the responsibility for keeping the close-knit feeling resided with them.

Both are from Michigan via Las Vegas, where 44-year-old Flowers worked for the city’s film commission and 53-year-old Joniec was the office manager for a small publisher, and did catering on the side. Flowers, a lifelong athlete who is also a personal trainer, burned out on local government and moved to L.A. six years ago where, after working as a trainer at an L.A. Fitness, bought the gym with Joniec. Neither was looking to buy a facility, but an opportunity through a friend was too good to pass up.

Just like any fixer-upper, “It had a lot of potential,” Flowers recalls of his first impression. “This was kind of a throwback to the Jack LaLanne philosophy that if the equipment works and gets you where you want to be, fine.”

They put in air conditioning, beefed up the cardio equipment to include new weight machines, elliptical trainers, StairMasters and treadmills, and reupholstered some of the cracked, faded weight benches. Flowers and Joniec also put as much effort into keeping what they considered the gym’s good energy.

Joniec has become a self-designated mother hen, greeting practically everyone by name and fretting when she hasn’t seen a member for a while, worrying that someone may have succumbed to illness.

The Christmas party has become a tradition, with Joniec making all the food. This year the gym held a competition on the Jacob’s Ladder, a lung-busting cardio machine with rotating steps.

“It’s easier to come to a place where you’re welcomed,” says actor John Glover, who’s been a member since 1988 when he moved to Silver Lake. “I go all around the country and go to a gym that’s convenient to my hotel, but I always long to get back to this one because of that neighborhood feeling.”

The front desk is often the hub, as members stop before, during or after a workout to chat with the receptionist. Cardio machines are in a small room upfront that overlooks Hyperion Avenue, and members can watch one of two televisions tuned to news, or stare outside at the nonstop traffic.

Weights, both machine and free, are scattered among several rooms, and between sets the men and women make small talk or trade workout advice. A vintage jiggle-belt machine sits in a corner near the door. Joniec says the fitness relic, which works but hasn’t been pulled into service, came with the place and she refuses to let it go.

The 1,500 members are young and tattooed, middle-aged and fighting paunches, and old and graying. No one pays much attention to things like fashion, preferring mostly colorless sweats and T-shirts. A young man doing bench presses gets some advice from a buff fellow member, who coaches him on a demanding set.

“Squeeze the bar tighter!” he shouts. “Tighter! One more! You cheated on that last one! You cheated!” he teases as the bench presser erupts into laughter.

Membership rates are posted on the wall behind the front desk: A year is $400; daily, weekly, monthly and tri-monthly memberships are also available. Before new equipment is added, it’s voted on by members, who are polled on their preferences.

The gym’s previous owners had given discounts to clients of AIDS Project Los Angeles, but eventually stopped. Flowers and Joniec started up the relationship again, and also have given discounted memberships to the nearby Alternatives residential treatment program, which caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people dealing with AIDS, HIV, addiction and other problems.

“We had to look back at the gym’s history and saw what it went through with the AIDS epidemic in the ‘80s,” says Flowers. “You have to be considerate in order to be part of the neighborhood. Some of the people who are HIV-impacted or have addictions don’t have cars anymore, and they can only survive in the neighborhood and what it has to offer them.”

A few doors down, Alternatives program director Mike Rizzo talks about the impact Bodybuilders has had on his clients: “Exercise is so important in early recovery,” he says. “It helps the body make its own natural stress relievers, and people who exercise have a better chance of long-term recovery as a result.”

Body Builders Gym doesn’t offer classes except for an outdoor circuit-boxing class that Flowers teaches on a tiny outdoor terrace using heavy bags and speed bags. “I show them how to safely and effectively throw a punch,” he explains, proudly adding that two people have used techniques they learned to successfully defend themselves during attacks.

Ask Flowers and Joniec about future goals for the gym and they point out the property’s limitations, set on a crowded street with scant space to grow. Flowers is considering sponsoring a local fitness challenge, something that would utilize the neighborhood’s steep hills and daunting array of stairs.

But what they’d most like to do is continue the family feeling, offering residents “a safe place to work out,” according to Flowers. “We’re all under all sorts of stress. Life in general can feel out of control, and the gym is a safe place where you can talk with people, and have a sense of gaining control back. The important thing is to get away from the chaos, settle down and do something for yourself.”