Used in the Exhibit: Play by Play - A Century of L.A. Sports Photography, 1889-1989 When Abbye Eville wanted to shed some pounds, her then-boyfriend Les Stockton encouraged her to lift weights at Santa Monica's Muscle Beach. The "Queen of the Barbelles" soon was the poster-girl of fitness, and as one wag put it, her nickname, "Pudgy," became "a libel." In the 1940s, she organized the first all-female weight-lifting contest and opened the first all women's gym in the United States. She and Les, by then her husband, later popularized working out on the Sixth Street Stairs in Santa Monica. Photo dated: December 10, 1949.
Eville, Abbye Stockton, Les Barbells Weight lifting--California--Santa Monica Weight training for women Santa Monica (Calif.) Muscle Beach (Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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