Gay gyms have always been places for more than body building. They often function as samll de-facto community centers for the men who work out at them.
Beginning sometime soon after it opened, those of us who worked out early in the morning at Chelsea Gym began to refer to the group of regulars who would arrive between 6:00 and 7:00 AM as "The Dawn Patrol." Numerous friendships developed among the men, and many of us socialized outside the gym based on the camraderie we felt working out at the same time day after day, week after week, month after month. One time one of the men and I co-hosted a Saturday evening party for single employed men of Chelsea Gym who were husband hunting. Over forty men attended. It was at this party that I first asked the man who was to become my partner to spend the night, and he accepted.
One morning an announcement over the public address system spoke for itself. "Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. Try to remember that this is Chelsea Gym, not Chelsea Baths." We all roared! The gay comic Frank Maya had referred to the Chelsea Gym steam room as "The low self-esteem room" in one of his acts.
Another morning, Leonard, the young man who worked the desk on the early shift, got on the PA system and in a very serious voice said: "Gentlemen, may I please have your attention? Please stop what you are doing and pay attention to a very important announcement." We began to look at one another and wonder had the president been assasinated or had war been declared? "I regret to inform you that Lucille Ball has just passed away at a Los Angeles hospital. Let us all observe a moment of silence in her honor." And we did, with not a few people becoming choked up. Now really, where else but a gay gym would that have happened?
One Halloween morning one of the regulars, a slender, but very well built attorney originally from the San Francisco Bay area was doing his regular work out, only wearing a splendid pair of pumps!
As AIDS began to take it's toll, there were certain noticeable changes and ultimately losses in the ranks of the gym. Notices of deaths and upcoming memorial services would appear on the bulletin board. I remember checking out a lovely looking man in the locker room, only to be surprised as he took his shirt off to see a Hickman catheter taped to his chest. After overcoming my brief moment of shock I immediately thought "how brave that man is to just come in and bare his chest with that indication of his being on infusion therapy for AIDS." I got very overcome with feelings and became teary eyed in admiration for him.
Another man David continued to work out even when his arms and legs were covered with KS lesions that he was having burned off. One day shortly before he died I saw David working out with the assistance of someone else, only he was completely blind by now and still at the gym. Talk about a profile in courage and stamina.
One of the stories that is closest to my heart has to do with the play Jeffrey. On a friend's recommendation my partner Lee and I got tickets and went to the WPA theater on West 23rd St to see the play knowing nothing about it except that it was gay themed. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that the story line was very much our story. Lee was an HIV positive unemployed actor who was earning his living as a cater waiter at Glorious Foods when we met at Chelsea Gym. This is the story of Jeffrey. We were introduced to Paul Rudnick, the author of Jeffrey at a party, and teasingly asked him if we could get royalties since he had written our story. His reply was that he knew it was someone's story, only he had not known whose until then.
Immediately after Lee's death I was literally inundated by men expressing condolences and inquiring about how I was doing when I returned to the gym. Some were not even people I was friends with, but rather had only known to sya hello to ont he floor of the gym. Noone seemed to mind when I broke down in tears telling a story about a particular part of his dying. Could our gay gyms actually be one venue where while pumping up on the outside to look like traditional American men a culture of gentleness, concern and nurturing male support is flourishing?
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