After building Gold’s Gym into an international empire with more than 2 million members, Paul Grymkowski retired to a life of community service.
The 55-year-old native of New York can be found each week in Palisades Park, where he feeds more than 100 homeless people meals of pasta, shredded chicken, chili, muffins and other protein-rich foods.
To Grymkowski, who lives in Topanga Canyon, it’s not just about hunger. It’s about joining together what he calls his “friends and family” in a community setting, where the people around the table feel dignified as they break their bread.
He knows many of the people he serves suffer from mental illness or addiction, and can’t hold down a normal job. But he doesn’t care.
In an interview last week, Grymkowski steered the conversation away from individuals, but he did mention one who stuck out in his mind. It was a college professor. The professor watched his wife and daughter die as they collided with a bus, as they were turning the car around to pick him up. The professor has been homeless ever since.
Grymkowski moved to Santa Monica in 1980 to help his brother draft a business plan for the very first Gold’s Gym, on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Second Street. His brother bought the place from Joe Gold in 1979 but quickly found there was a lien against the property. He called upon Grymkowski’s business sense in the hope that he could keep him from being run out of business.
It worked. Grymkowski drafted a business plan and got to work franchising. Before retiring in 1999, he oversaw the expansion of the little gym that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to work out in to an international powerhouse with 535 gyms in 23 countries.
In retirement, Grymkowski focuses mostly on volunteer activities — for his church, his chamber of commerce, a local theatrical group. And every week he can be found in Santa Monica, where he feeds a group of thankful homeless people.
Grymkowski said he’d be glad to move his picnics inside — City Hall officials are trying to discourage public feedings at area parks by requiring health permits for larger gatherings — but said a suitable, dignified place needs to be set aside.
The Daily Press caught up with the entrepreneur-turned-humanitarian and asked him about his “picnics,” and about Helping Other People Eat, the nonprofit organization he directs.
How did you first get started with your picnics in Palisades Park?
“Actually, I was walking through the park and I saw some people feeding some of the homeless there, and you know, it was very kind of crude the way it was set up, and I thought to myself, ‘Maybe they could use a hand.’ I saw that they needed some pots and pans. It was just a couple of ladies with chili and paper bowls … and I thought, ‘These people need better meals than that’ — and that’s when I started to put together the meals, with pasta, chili and shredded chicken, and noodles and soups — things with proteins, so they have a good nutritious meal.”
Why do you do it? Why spend the time and money?
“I think it’s important … Personally, it’s important for me to be able to live my faith, to be able to share love, and to be able to share the blessings that I’ve had through my life — the blessing that I’ve had with my business, the blessing that I’ve had with my friendships and my relationships, and I’d like to celebrate that.
“Some people do it in different ways. Some people go on expensive vacations to Hawaii and spend thousands of dollars. I’d rather spend thousands of dollars with my family and friends, being with them, breaking bread with them … That’s the way I’d like to live my life. I can’t think of a better way to spend my life.”
Many of the people that you help feed have been homeless in Santa Monica for years. Are you ever discouraged?
“I’m never discouraged. I look at people as being individuals and not everyone is perfect. I’m not perfect. Everyone has their challenges in life, and I always give people the benefit of the doubt, no matter what challenges they have — and if I can help them with the challenges they have, then I’m blessed to do that.
“Because down deep everyone is a human being no matter what type of addictions they have, no matter what types of fears they have, no matter what kind of damages they’ve sustained throughout their life, they are still children of our maker. We all should still be brothers and sisters no matter how far apart we may seem to be.”
Speaking of that, have you ever encountered rudeness or received complaints from people in the park who may not approve of your picnics?
“No, not at all. I’ve not had anyone express any negativity about our picnics. I’ve had a lot of people stop and give us some positive compliments, and people who’ve wanted to volunteer and help, people who’ve wanted to donate money — which I don’t take — people who’ve wanted to bring food and clothing, things like that.
“Because I think most people are good and they feel compassionate towards people with a lot of pain and suffering. There are some other people who have political or business agendas who are not as kind, but we really don’t hear from them.”
City Hall recently passed an ordinance aimed at making large, regular feedings in the parks illegal. Have you ever considered moving the picnics inside?
“Bring them inside where? I’ve been asking the city a long time, where do they want to bring them inside? They don’t have a soup kitchen. If they had a soup kitchen, we’d bring them inside … We’d be glad to go inside if they would give these organizations a reasonable place to go.
“Now, I’ve heard of (Ocean Park Community Center) opening their place up to these organizations. But they don’t have any good space for people to sit and eat. There, the people sit in a parking lot, on the asphalt, under the sun …
“People sit underneath nice trees in the park, with a breeze, overlooking the ocean. It gives these people some dignity. I think this is the issue. Bring these food programs together and still give people some dignity. Let them sit down at a table to eat, so they don’t have to be digging through Dumpsters or begging or panhandling...
“I think the city’s done a great job of funding programs, but I don’t think they’ve come to the plate as far as offering a soup kitchen, as many other cities have … It wouldn’t cost the city a dime. We would get people to do the plumbing, do the renovations, everything to (run) the soup kitchen, and that would solve the feeding issues. I don’t know why they don’t do it.”
What about enforcement of the ordinance, how has it changed the feeding programs?
“We haven’t experienced any enforcement. They’ve been monitoring us, but I don’t think any more than other groups.”
In general, though — has it changed the atmosphere in the park?
“The ordinance is not being enforced at this point, so there hasn’t really been any big change. There are some groups — from what I hear, there are some groups that have changed their location. Some of them have gone to OPCC … some of them have gone to Venice. The park rangers and the police have been very courteous and very upfront with me, they’ve been great.
“We aren’t causing a disturbance … In about an hour and half, we serve these people a good, nutritious meal.”
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Paul Grymkowski
As one of five children, Grymkowski, who has a twin sister, started his career as an entrepreneur in the first grade. He was held back by his Catholic grammar school teachers after falling behind because he often ditched class, rode to the nearby bay, caught carp, got ice from a local bar and peddled the fish for 50 cents a piece.
Born: March 5, 1949, in Rochester, N.Y.
Family: Engaged to Joanna Gunst. Mother was a homemaker. Father owned a window-cleaning company.
Education: Grymkowski studied at a Catholic grammar school before going on to public high school in Rochester. He later attended the Rochester Business Institute, the Monroe Community College and the University of Rochester.
Background: Before building Gold’s Gym into an international powerhouse, Grymkowski put himself through college running maintenance and catering businesses, as well as his dad’s window-cleaning operation.
Hobbies: Cooking, weight lifting and community service.
Residence: Horseshoe Drive in the Fernwood area of Topanga Canyon.
Organizations: Grymkowski is head usher at Corpus Christi Parish; chancellor and council director of Santa Monica Bay Council No. 920, Knights of Columbus; member of the board of directors and vice president of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, a nonprofit theater and academy; advisory board member of the Topanga Chamber of Commerce; and co-director of HOPE.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.