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Google muscled its way into more Venice Beach real estate and will take over Gold's Gym, the local landmark and "mecca of bodybuilding," in July 2014.
Larry Field, the owner of the Gold's Gym building and other surrounding property, confirmed the rumors to L.A. Weekly yesterday. Google will take up Gold's as well as a few nearby buildings, about 200,000 square feet total, in the compact neighborhood only blocks from the Venice boardwalk.
Ed Conners, the former owner of Gold's, was loose-lipped about his disappointment that the new owners would let this happen. He told Muscle Week a few days ago that Google wants to gobble up more real estate in the area and wall it off to create a beachside campus similar to its headquarters in Mountain View.
"It's a shame if they [Gold's Gym International] are going to let a piece of history just disappear but sadly I think that's what is going to happen," Conners said in the interview.
Google made its first move into Venice last year when it took residence in the Binoculars Building (adjacent to Gold's), made famous by its giant binoculars sculpture designed by architect Frank Gehry. Venice and Santa Monica have become a hub in recent years for tech startups, earning the nickname Silicon Beach.
