Venice Beach Bodybuilders Fear Google Is Kicking Sand at Them
2012年06月28日
Monica Almeida/The New York Times
A painting for sale on the boardwalk in
the Venice section of Los Angeles, where Google has set up offices and
may lease more space.
LOS ANGELES — This city’s boardwalk
community of Venice has long celebrated its seediness, accepting —
embracing, really — the kind of sensory assaults that would faze more
conventional places: beachfront bodybuilders, ragamuffin street vendors,
tattoo artists, Hare Krishna chanters, skateboarders, drug dealers,
gangs, homeless encampments, rowdy tourists, film crews and, more
recently, a colony of medical marijuana dispensaries.
But Venice might have met its match in what many see as its most unsettling threat yet: Google.
“As soon as I walked in, they said: ‘You heard about Google? Why don’t you have your staff look into this?’ ” former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who began his professional career as a bodybuilder here 44 years ago, said after he emerged from a throng of worried muscle-bound admirers at Gold’s Gym. “It’s this conspiracy theory: ‘Google is coming! They are going to take over and wipe out our bodybuilding.’ ”
In November, Google moved an army of sales and technology employees into 100,000 square feet in two Venice buildings. It is negotiating leases on another 100,000 square feet, according to real estate agents. That includes the 31,000-square-foot expanse that is Gold’s Gym, the very bodybuilding symbol of Venice, if not the universe, where Mr. Schwarzenegger stopped by the other morning.
No matter that Google officials said they had no plans to displace the fabled gym. Although a spokesman, Jordan Newman, said, “We’re not taking over Gold’s,” the company’s reluctance to talk about its long-term ambition for Venice, or why it would want anything to do with the Gold’s building, has stirred a storm of speculation and anxiety.
“They’ll buy it, they’ll kick us out, and we’ll have to relocate,” said Jerry Martin, a bodybuilder standing in front of the gym.
Nathanial Moon, bulging with muscles, called it “the ultimate revenge of the nerds, the greatest way of getting back at all the guys that stuffed people from Google into lockers from high school and stole all their prom dates. And you can’t fight against Google, because they’ve got billions of dollars.”
“But,” he added, “I love their search engine.”
People are even beginning to refer to Venice — the Venice of movies, surfing and Muscle Beach — as Silicon Beach. That may sound like progress to some, but not to those along the boardwalk, where a synagogue shares the same strip of sidewalk with a freak show advertising a two-headed turtle.
“I don’t want to see Venice look like Santa Monica,” said DeAlphria Tarver, 26, who was selling handmade hats on a boardwalk crammed with vendors, stragglers and skateboarders as homeless people slept on the adjacent grass. Google, she said, will “want it to look a lot more polished, and not hippielike.”
Mr. Schwarzenegger said that the community was “freaking out” and that he appreciated why. “Google has bought everything in Venice that is available,” said the former governor, who has been buying and selling buildings here for close to 30 years.
But he welcomes Google as a neighbor and said the fears that it would turn Venice into a sanitized Silicon Valley on the Pacific were exaggerated. “This is the mecca of bodybuilding,” he said. “They will never leave.”
Mr. Schwarzenegger may well be Venice’s biggest fan, as he demonstrated during a two-hour tour of the place he came to as an aspiring bodybuilder and where he still keeps his office. Unabashedly nostalgic, he pointed out the fading remains of the sign on an old Gold’s Gym building; the wall outside the onetime home of Rudolph Valentino that he built as a bricklayer; and the outdoor gym at Muscle Beach, where he happily posed for pictures. (“Excuse me, are you the Terminator?” one boy asked nervously.)
Even as governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger preferred to greet out-of-town visitors at his private office, arguing that Venice presented a better face of California than, say, Sacramento. And most weekends, when he is not acting in movies, he comes here from his Brentwood estate for a bicycle ride down the boardwalk. Or tries to.
“There are days when we can’t get through,” he said. “It’s wild, because the homeless wake up in the morning when you get there. They are there with their bags. They are coming out of holes and places. And you smell the incense. The touch of the ’60s is all there, and all the street vendors are coming out.”
“This place is insane,” he said. “You never have to smoke a joint in Venice. You just go on a bicycle ride in the morning, you just inhale, and you live off everyone else.”
He stopped to point out where he and Jack LaLanne had worked out, as what could have been a younger version of the governor whacked a punching bag by the beach. “You can see the way it’s built up,” he said. “The grass. The bathrooms. None of that was here. Some people think it’s lost personality. I don’t think it’s lost personality.”
Venice today is hardly like the community Mr. Schwarzenegger found when he first arrived, drawn by a promise of “nice buildings and hotels, kind of like a French Riviera type of look,” he said. “But when I got here, it was totally like a dump. It was dreadful.”
As recently as early 2006, it was still regarded as dangerous. Drug dealers could be found at all hours at Oakwood Park. Prostitutes roamed the surrounding streets wearing bright-red heels and leopard-print miniskirts. Crack cocaine addicts, their faces welted with sores, staggered along sidewalks that were broken or littered with trash.
But a crackdown by the Los Angeles Police Department helped transform Venice, as officers aided by helicopters swept out drug dealers and gangs. Abbot Kinney Boulevard, once just another forlorn Venice street, was named “The Coolest Block in America” by GQ magazine in its Style Bible this spring. There are plans to build a 720-foot-long zip line over the boardwalk.
Mr. Newman said Google had no desire to pick a fight with the bodybuilders. But the bodybuilders were not buying that. “If you don’t want the building, leave it alone,” said Big Will Harris.
In truth, Google may not be the only culprit here. The old World Gym at the top of Abbot Kinney, the place that was Mr. Schwarzenegger’s gym, has been bought. World’s is gone, and the space is being transformed into high-end shops and offices. The new owner and future tenant?
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Venice might have met its match in what many see as its most unsettling threat yet: Google.
“As soon as I walked in, they said: ‘You heard about Google? Why don’t you have your staff look into this?’ ” former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who began his professional career as a bodybuilder here 44 years ago, said after he emerged from a throng of worried muscle-bound admirers at Gold’s Gym. “It’s this conspiracy theory: ‘Google is coming! They are going to take over and wipe out our bodybuilding.’ ”
In November, Google moved an army of sales and technology employees into 100,000 square feet in two Venice buildings. It is negotiating leases on another 100,000 square feet, according to real estate agents. That includes the 31,000-square-foot expanse that is Gold’s Gym, the very bodybuilding symbol of Venice, if not the universe, where Mr. Schwarzenegger stopped by the other morning.
No matter that Google officials said they had no plans to displace the fabled gym. Although a spokesman, Jordan Newman, said, “We’re not taking over Gold’s,” the company’s reluctance to talk about its long-term ambition for Venice, or why it would want anything to do with the Gold’s building, has stirred a storm of speculation and anxiety.
“They’ll buy it, they’ll kick us out, and we’ll have to relocate,” said Jerry Martin, a bodybuilder standing in front of the gym.
Nathanial Moon, bulging with muscles, called it “the ultimate revenge of the nerds, the greatest way of getting back at all the guys that stuffed people from Google into lockers from high school and stole all their prom dates. And you can’t fight against Google, because they’ve got billions of dollars.”
“But,” he added, “I love their search engine.”
People are even beginning to refer to Venice — the Venice of movies, surfing and Muscle Beach — as Silicon Beach. That may sound like progress to some, but not to those along the boardwalk, where a synagogue shares the same strip of sidewalk with a freak show advertising a two-headed turtle.
“I don’t want to see Venice look like Santa Monica,” said DeAlphria Tarver, 26, who was selling handmade hats on a boardwalk crammed with vendors, stragglers and skateboarders as homeless people slept on the adjacent grass. Google, she said, will “want it to look a lot more polished, and not hippielike.”
Mr. Schwarzenegger said that the community was “freaking out” and that he appreciated why. “Google has bought everything in Venice that is available,” said the former governor, who has been buying and selling buildings here for close to 30 years.
But he welcomes Google as a neighbor and said the fears that it would turn Venice into a sanitized Silicon Valley on the Pacific were exaggerated. “This is the mecca of bodybuilding,” he said. “They will never leave.”
Mr. Schwarzenegger may well be Venice’s biggest fan, as he demonstrated during a two-hour tour of the place he came to as an aspiring bodybuilder and where he still keeps his office. Unabashedly nostalgic, he pointed out the fading remains of the sign on an old Gold’s Gym building; the wall outside the onetime home of Rudolph Valentino that he built as a bricklayer; and the outdoor gym at Muscle Beach, where he happily posed for pictures. (“Excuse me, are you the Terminator?” one boy asked nervously.)
Even as governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger preferred to greet out-of-town visitors at his private office, arguing that Venice presented a better face of California than, say, Sacramento. And most weekends, when he is not acting in movies, he comes here from his Brentwood estate for a bicycle ride down the boardwalk. Or tries to.
“There are days when we can’t get through,” he said. “It’s wild, because the homeless wake up in the morning when you get there. They are there with their bags. They are coming out of holes and places. And you smell the incense. The touch of the ’60s is all there, and all the street vendors are coming out.”
“This place is insane,” he said. “You never have to smoke a joint in Venice. You just go on a bicycle ride in the morning, you just inhale, and you live off everyone else.”
He stopped to point out where he and Jack LaLanne had worked out, as what could have been a younger version of the governor whacked a punching bag by the beach. “You can see the way it’s built up,” he said. “The grass. The bathrooms. None of that was here. Some people think it’s lost personality. I don’t think it’s lost personality.”
Venice today is hardly like the community Mr. Schwarzenegger found when he first arrived, drawn by a promise of “nice buildings and hotels, kind of like a French Riviera type of look,” he said. “But when I got here, it was totally like a dump. It was dreadful.”
As recently as early 2006, it was still regarded as dangerous. Drug dealers could be found at all hours at Oakwood Park. Prostitutes roamed the surrounding streets wearing bright-red heels and leopard-print miniskirts. Crack cocaine addicts, their faces welted with sores, staggered along sidewalks that were broken or littered with trash.
But a crackdown by the Los Angeles Police Department helped transform Venice, as officers aided by helicopters swept out drug dealers and gangs. Abbot Kinney Boulevard, once just another forlorn Venice street, was named “The Coolest Block in America” by GQ magazine in its Style Bible this spring. There are plans to build a 720-foot-long zip line over the boardwalk.
Mr. Newman said Google had no desire to pick a fight with the bodybuilders. But the bodybuilders were not buying that. “If you don’t want the building, leave it alone,” said Big Will Harris.
In truth, Google may not be the only culprit here. The old World Gym at the top of Abbot Kinney, the place that was Mr. Schwarzenegger’s gym, has been bought. World’s is gone, and the space is being transformed into high-end shops and offices. The new owner and future tenant?
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
美國
谷歌不是好鄰居？
, 報道 2012年06月28日
Monica Almeida/The New York Times
洛杉磯威尼斯木棧道上一幅待售的油畫。 谷歌在此設立了新的辦公地點，而且有可能租賃更多地方。
洛杉磯——本城的威尼斯木棧道社區長期以來以其邋遢破落而聞名於世，它接受乃至擁抱那些
能嚇到更為保守之地的感官刺激：海濱健美愛好者、衣衫襤褸的街邊攤販、紋身街頭藝人、印度教克利須那派歌者、滑板玩家、毒販、黑幫成員、無家可歸的流浪
漢、喧嘩的遊客、電影劇組，以及一批新近進駐的醫用大麻藥房。
但是谷歌也許會讓威尼斯棋逢對手。在很多人眼中，它是最令威尼斯心神不定的威脅。
“我一走進去，他們就問：‘你聽說谷歌了嗎？你為什麼不讓手下管管這事兒呢？’”前任加州州長阿諾德·施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)從“金吉姆健身中心”(Gold’s Gym)裡面色憂鬱、肌肉發達的仰慕人群中走出來說道。44年前，他在此開始了自己專業健美生涯。“他們說的是這樣一種陰謀論：‘谷歌來了！他們將會買下 這裡，把我們健身中心趕出去。’”
11月，谷歌把一大批銷售和技術人員搬進了威尼斯社區兩棟大樓里共計10萬平方英尺（約合9290平方米）的新辦公區。按照一些房地產經紀人的說 法，谷歌正在就另一個面積10萬平方英尺區域的租約進行協商，其中包括金吉姆健身中心所佔的31000平方英尺。即使不是全世界健美運動的象徵，該健身中 心也稱得上威尼斯健美運動的象徵。施瓦辛格那天駐足停留的正是這裡。
谷歌的管理層表示他們並不打算趕走這個帶有傳奇色彩的健身中心，發言人喬丹·紐曼(Jordan Newman)也說，“我們不會接管金吉姆，”儘管如此，谷歌卻不願意談論其在威尼斯的長期規劃，也不願意談論它選擇金吉姆所在大樓的原因，由此激起了大量猜測和焦慮。
“他們肯定會把它買下來，會把我們趕走，我們肯定得另找地方，”名為傑里·馬丁(Jerry Martin)的健身者站在健身中心前說。
肌肉發達的納撒尼亞爾·穆恩(Nathanial Moon)說，這是“書獃子們的終極報復，這是報復那些在高中時代將谷歌員工們鎖進衣櫃，搶走他們舞伴的那些人的最佳途徑。而你又不能和谷歌作對，因為他們太有錢了。”
“但是，”他又說，“我很喜歡他們的搜索引擎。”
人們甚至開始稱威尼斯——那個可以看電影、衝浪，有肌肉海灘的威尼斯——為“硅灘”。對於有些人來說，這聽起來像是進步，但對那些木棧道沿線的人來說卻並非如此。在那裡，猶太教堂和展示雙頭龜的畸形秀處在同一條人行道上。
“我不想看到威尼斯變成聖塔莫妮卡那樣，”26歲的德阿爾弗里婭· 塔弗(DeAlphria Tarver)說，她在一條擠滿了小商販、流浪漢和滑板愛好者的木棧道上售賣手工帽子，旁邊的草坪上無家可歸的人正在睡覺。她說，谷歌會“希望這裡的環境 更光鮮，而不是充滿嬉皮的味道。”
施瓦辛格說，整個社區被“嚇壞了”，而且他知道原因何在。“谷歌已經買下了威尼斯市面上的一切東西，”這位前任州長說道。他在這裡從事樓盤交易將近30年。
但是他對谷歌成為近鄰表示歡迎，還說人們不需要擔心谷歌會把威尼斯變為太平洋岸邊一個清潔的硅谷，那樣的擔心過於誇張。“這裡是健美的聖地，”他說。“他們絕不會離開。”
施瓦辛格絕對是威尼斯的頭號粉絲，在一個持續兩小時的環遊行程中，他表現出了這一點。當初，他作為一個有抱負的健身愛好者來到了這兒，如今也在這裡 保留了自己的辦公室。帶着絲毫不加掩飾的懷舊情緒，他指了指一棟舊金吉姆大樓上褪色的招牌殘骸，以及魯道夫·瓦倫蒂諾(Rudolph Valentino)故居的外牆，那是瓦倫蒂諾還是磚匠時自己砌的。 他還指出了肌肉海灘的室外健身館， 高高高興地在那裡擺拍照片。（“不好意思，請問您是‘終結者’嗎？”一個男孩緊張地問道。）
即便是在當州長的時候，施瓦辛格還是比較喜歡在自己的私人辦公室里接待市外訪客。他認為威尼斯在塑造加利福尼亞州良好形象方面比薩克拉門托之類的地方做得更好。大多數周末，當不用拍攝影片時，他就會從位於布倫特伍德的家中來到這裡，沿着木棧道騎車。或是嘗試這麼做。
“有些時候我們根本走不過去，”他說。“這太瘋狂了，因為當你到那兒的時候，那些無家可歸的人都醒了過來。他們拿着自己的袋子，紛紛從洞穴以及其他地方走出來。你能聞到熏香的氣味。60年代的感覺全在這兒，所有的街邊小販都出來了。”
“這個地方很瘋狂，”他說。“在威尼斯，你根本用不着抽什麼大麻煙。你只需要在清晨騎着單車過來，呼吸呼吸空氣，別的人都在幫你吸 。”
他停下腳步，指出了他和傑克·拉蘭納 (Jack LaLanne)曾經健身的地方，有個小夥子正在海灘邊打沙袋，依稀有幾分這位州長年輕時的模樣。“你能看見它是怎樣發展起來的，”他說。“草坪、浴室。原來什麼也沒有。有些人認為這裡失去了個性。但我不這麼認為。”
如今的威尼斯和施瓦辛格初來此地時截然不同。他說，當初來到這裡是被“美輪美奐的大樓和賓館，法國里維埃拉式風情”的前景所吸引，“但是當我到這裡的時候，這裡完全像是個垃圾場。太可怕了。”
直到2006年早期，人們仍然認為這裡很危險。奧克伍德公園裡隨時都有毒販出沒。穿着亮紅色高跟鞋和豹紋迷你裙的妓女在附近各個街道遊盪。臉上有各種潰瘍的可卡因癮君子，在布滿垃圾的破爛街道上閑晃。
但是洛杉磯警察局的治理行動讓威尼斯有所改變，在直升飛機的協助下，警察清除了很多毒販和黑社會團體。曾經只是威尼斯一條偏僻街道的阿博特·金尼大 道(Abbot Kinney Boulevard)被《紳士季刊》(GQ)雜誌今年春季的《時尚手冊》(Style Bible)評為“美國最酷的街區”。還有計劃要在木棧道上建造一條720英尺長的滑行索道。
紐曼說，谷歌無意與健美人士作對。但是健美人士們卻並不買賬。比格·威爾·哈里斯(Big Will Harris )說：“如果你不要這棟樓，就走開。”
實際上，谷歌可能並不是危害這裡的唯一罪魁。曾為施瓦辛格所有的健身館，位於阿博特·金尼(Abbot Kinney)盡頭的“世界健身俱樂部”舊址已經被收購。“世界健身俱樂部”沒了，被改造成了高端產品商店和辦公室。誰是新的主人和未來的承租人呢？
阿諾德·施瓦辛格。
但是谷歌也許會讓威尼斯棋逢對手。在很多人眼中，它是最令威尼斯心神不定的威脅。
“我一走進去，他們就問：‘你聽說谷歌了嗎？你為什麼不讓手下管管這事兒呢？’”前任加州州長阿諾德·施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)從“金吉姆健身中心”(Gold’s Gym)裡面色憂鬱、肌肉發達的仰慕人群中走出來說道。44年前，他在此開始了自己專業健美生涯。“他們說的是這樣一種陰謀論：‘谷歌來了！他們將會買下 這裡，把我們健身中心趕出去。’”
11月，谷歌把一大批銷售和技術人員搬進了威尼斯社區兩棟大樓里共計10萬平方英尺（約合9290平方米）的新辦公區。按照一些房地產經紀人的說 法，谷歌正在就另一個面積10萬平方英尺區域的租約進行協商，其中包括金吉姆健身中心所佔的31000平方英尺。即使不是全世界健美運動的象徵，該健身中 心也稱得上威尼斯健美運動的象徵。施瓦辛格那天駐足停留的正是這裡。
谷歌的管理層表示他們並不打算趕走這個帶有傳奇色彩的健身中心，發言人喬丹·紐曼(Jordan Newman)也說，“我們不會接管金吉姆，”儘管如此，谷歌卻不願意談論其在威尼斯的長期規劃，也不願意談論它選擇金吉姆所在大樓的原因，由此激起了大量猜測和焦慮。
“他們肯定會把它買下來，會把我們趕走，我們肯定得另找地方，”名為傑里·馬丁(Jerry Martin)的健身者站在健身中心前說。
肌肉發達的納撒尼亞爾·穆恩(Nathanial Moon)說，這是“書獃子們的終極報復，這是報復那些在高中時代將谷歌員工們鎖進衣櫃，搶走他們舞伴的那些人的最佳途徑。而你又不能和谷歌作對，因為他們太有錢了。”
“但是，”他又說，“我很喜歡他們的搜索引擎。”
人們甚至開始稱威尼斯——那個可以看電影、衝浪，有肌肉海灘的威尼斯——為“硅灘”。對於有些人來說，這聽起來像是進步，但對那些木棧道沿線的人來說卻並非如此。在那裡，猶太教堂和展示雙頭龜的畸形秀處在同一條人行道上。
“我不想看到威尼斯變成聖塔莫妮卡那樣，”26歲的德阿爾弗里婭· 塔弗(DeAlphria Tarver)說，她在一條擠滿了小商販、流浪漢和滑板愛好者的木棧道上售賣手工帽子，旁邊的草坪上無家可歸的人正在睡覺。她說，谷歌會“希望這裡的環境 更光鮮，而不是充滿嬉皮的味道。”
施瓦辛格說，整個社區被“嚇壞了”，而且他知道原因何在。“谷歌已經買下了威尼斯市面上的一切東西，”這位前任州長說道。他在這裡從事樓盤交易將近30年。
但是他對谷歌成為近鄰表示歡迎，還說人們不需要擔心谷歌會把威尼斯變為太平洋岸邊一個清潔的硅谷，那樣的擔心過於誇張。“這裡是健美的聖地，”他說。“他們絕不會離開。”
施瓦辛格絕對是威尼斯的頭號粉絲，在一個持續兩小時的環遊行程中，他表現出了這一點。當初，他作為一個有抱負的健身愛好者來到了這兒，如今也在這裡 保留了自己的辦公室。帶着絲毫不加掩飾的懷舊情緒，他指了指一棟舊金吉姆大樓上褪色的招牌殘骸，以及魯道夫·瓦倫蒂諾(Rudolph Valentino)故居的外牆，那是瓦倫蒂諾還是磚匠時自己砌的。 他還指出了肌肉海灘的室外健身館， 高高高興地在那裡擺拍照片。（“不好意思，請問您是‘終結者’嗎？”一個男孩緊張地問道。）
即便是在當州長的時候，施瓦辛格還是比較喜歡在自己的私人辦公室里接待市外訪客。他認為威尼斯在塑造加利福尼亞州良好形象方面比薩克拉門托之類的地方做得更好。大多數周末，當不用拍攝影片時，他就會從位於布倫特伍德的家中來到這裡，沿着木棧道騎車。或是嘗試這麼做。
“有些時候我們根本走不過去，”他說。“這太瘋狂了，因為當你到那兒的時候，那些無家可歸的人都醒了過來。他們拿着自己的袋子，紛紛從洞穴以及其他地方走出來。你能聞到熏香的氣味。60年代的感覺全在這兒，所有的街邊小販都出來了。”
“這個地方很瘋狂，”他說。“在威尼斯，你根本用不着抽什麼大麻煙。你只需要在清晨騎着單車過來，呼吸呼吸空氣，別的人都在幫你吸 。”
他停下腳步，指出了他和傑克·拉蘭納 (Jack LaLanne)曾經健身的地方，有個小夥子正在海灘邊打沙袋，依稀有幾分這位州長年輕時的模樣。“你能看見它是怎樣發展起來的，”他說。“草坪、浴室。原來什麼也沒有。有些人認為這裡失去了個性。但我不這麼認為。”
如今的威尼斯和施瓦辛格初來此地時截然不同。他說，當初來到這裡是被“美輪美奐的大樓和賓館，法國里維埃拉式風情”的前景所吸引，“但是當我到這裡的時候，這裡完全像是個垃圾場。太可怕了。”
直到2006年早期，人們仍然認為這裡很危險。奧克伍德公園裡隨時都有毒販出沒。穿着亮紅色高跟鞋和豹紋迷你裙的妓女在附近各個街道遊盪。臉上有各種潰瘍的可卡因癮君子，在布滿垃圾的破爛街道上閑晃。
但是洛杉磯警察局的治理行動讓威尼斯有所改變，在直升飛機的協助下，警察清除了很多毒販和黑社會團體。曾經只是威尼斯一條偏僻街道的阿博特·金尼大 道(Abbot Kinney Boulevard)被《紳士季刊》(GQ)雜誌今年春季的《時尚手冊》(Style Bible)評為“美國最酷的街區”。還有計劃要在木棧道上建造一條720英尺長的滑行索道。
紐曼說，谷歌無意與健美人士作對。但是健美人士們卻並不買賬。比格·威爾·哈里斯(Big Will Harris )說：“如果你不要這棟樓，就走開。”
實際上，谷歌可能並不是危害這裡的唯一罪魁。曾為施瓦辛格所有的健身館，位於阿博特·金尼(Abbot Kinney)盡頭的“世界健身俱樂部”舊址已經被收購。“世界健身俱樂部”沒了，被改造成了高端產品商店和辦公室。誰是新的主人和未來的承租人呢？
阿諾德·施瓦辛格。
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