4
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
‘It’s like someone
is passing away’
Sunset Park’s Richie’s Gym to close
END OF AN ERA: Manager David Vale is getting ready to close Richie’s Gym on Sept. 12, after 29 years
of serving the Sunset Park community. Photos by Derrick Watterson
BY ROSE ADAMS
Patrons of a gritty, no-frills
Sunset Park fi tness center
will have to pump iron
somewhere else beginning
Sept. 12, when the gym’s
landlord will give them the
boot after nearly 30 years in
the neighborhood.
The decision to close
Richie’s Gym — located on
Fourth Avenue between
51st and 52nd streets —
devastated fi tness fanatics,
who admit that some of the
equipment has rusted over,
but that’s exactly what they
like about it.
“It’s very sad for a lot of
people,” said Brian Montalvo,
a longtime patron
and current employee.
Richie’s Gym is stacked
with two fl oors of oldschool
cardio and weight
machines, many of which
date back to the gym’s 1990
debut.
Montalvo said he
weighed 300 pounds when
his brother turned him on
to Richie’s in 1997, but that
the camaraderie he found
there soon had him making
daily trips to the Sunset
Park fi tness center — from
his home in the Bronx!
“They call me insane,
but there’s not a lot of places
like this,” he said.
In January 2018, fans of
Richie’s were furious when
a Blink Fitness opened up
just three doors down on
Fourth Avenue, threatening
the more expensive
mom-and-pop gym with the
fancy pants fi tness franchise’s
$15 monthly membership
dues.
And, while Blink did
cause a drop in Richie’s
membership, it was the
business’ landlord who ultimately
decided to boot
the old-school gym in a bid
to court a well-heeled commercial
buyer, Richie’s
manager claimed.
“He wants to sell for big
money because the neighborhood
is changing,” said
David Vale, who added that
locals had banded together
to try to buy the building,
but the owner refused to
sell it to them.
The gym’s imminent
closure has been a blow to
old-school gym rats and employees,
who say Richie’s
acted as a community center.
“It’s a business, but it’s
also where people form
a bond and form connections,”
Vale said.
Montalvo claimed
that he made many close
friends while exercising,
and said that the workout
spot hosted weddings
for couples who met while
working out. The gym even
inspired an acclaimed 2015
novel , “Preparation for
the Next Life,” written by
Richie’s regular Atticus
Lish.
“This is all we have,”
Montalvo said about the
gym’s closing. “It’s like
someone is passing away.”
The Sunset Park location
may close, but Richie’s
will live on in three newer
locations in Bushwick,
Cypress Hills and distant
Queens that will remain
open.
CLOSING: Willie Acevedo (left)
and Christopher Kuepper
(right), mourn the imminent
closing of the Sunset Park
gym.
WHERE CULTURE
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1027 FLATBUSH AVENUE
BROOKLYN, NY 11226
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