Muscle Beach to Receive Landmark After 30 Years

The Santa Monica site of the original Muscle Beach--sometimes known as Pecs Vobiscum--will be hallowed on Sunday with the dedication of a permanent landmark by Santa Monica Mayor Dennis Zane and a cohort of musclemen and gymnasts of yore.

Erection of the landmark--actually a sign--will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the ad hoc beach area hailed by its adherents as “the birthplace of the physical-fitness boom of the 20th Century.”

Though the original beach equipment has long since been dismantled (some of it to resurface at the Venice beach bulge), a rumble of quondam weightlifters have remained fit friends and even have formed the Muscle Beach Alumni Assn.

Expected to attend the unveiling Sunday are Bert Goodrich, the original (1939) Mr. America; Steve Reeves, strongman and star of the “Hercules” movies; Jack LaLanne, perpetual fitness guru of television fame; George Eiferman, one of the prime cuts of Mae West’s Las Vegas show in the ‘50s, and Russ Sanders, celebrated movie stuntman and model for the late Salvador Dali.

Starting at 4 p.m. at the flexing site--about 100 yards south of what’s left of the Santa Monica Pier--the nostalgic celebration will include a performance of acrobats and old-fashioned “human pyramid” bottomed out by such alumni as have managed to remain robust.