By Randy De La O
I ran across the first two photos of the Main Street Gym, in Downtown Los Angeles while searching trough the web. The first photo is the same photo used in an article from the Los Angeles Times that I posted on the message board a while back. It's a great shot of the front of the gym, in all it's humility. It was ratty and seedy and yet beautiful. The second photo shows the inside of the gym on what appears to be a slow day. The third and fourth photos are of the original Main Street Gym (Newsboy Gym) that burned down in 1951. It was located across from the "Newer" gym, where the old Johnnie's Shrimp Boat used to stand.
The gym was located on the second floor. You walked up a flight of stairs and past Howie Steindler's office to get to the gym. As you entered the stairwell you would here the sounds of the speed bags, the heavy bags being hit, the ropes hitting the floor and the sounds of the fighters sparring. I can still hear it. I bought a pair of Ortiz boxing gloves in the luggage store. It didn't advertise but it sold boxing gear. I also got my haircut at the barber shop on a regular basis. The entrance to the parking lot is to the left, They must have removed all the bums from the sidewalk before they took this shot.
I sparred in both of these rings and they were rarely, if ever, empty. The ring on the right is the ring that Monroe Brooks and I are sparring in, in "Rocky". I'll never understand why "the powers that be" in Los Angeles' boxing world did not rally to save the gym. It was and is an irreplaceable part of L.A's boxing history. It stands with both Gleason's and Stillman's as boxing's historic and iconic gyms.
The above photo of the original Main Street Gym / Newsboy Gym was posted by Frank Baltazar Sr.
The above photo shows fighter Tony Chavez at the original gym.
