Gym

A report of a man with a rifle near the Foothill Athletic Club on Sunday may have been the result of a prank call, police said. Someone called police about 12:25 a.m. to report seeing a man dressed in camouflage headed into a hillside with a gun near the gym on the 3900 block of Lowell Avenue, Glendale police said. Gym members denied reporting or seeing the man, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. A Los Angeles Police Department helicopter searched the hillside and made announcements over its public address system urging the man to come out, but the air crew was unable to find him. Police tried calling the reporting party, but were unable reach them, Lorenz said.

Karen S. Kim MONTROSE -- Montrose residents and business owners are going to have to find a new place to "feel the burn" next month, as 24 Hour Fitness on Honolulu Avenue is closing March 31. The gym's departure will mark the 11th or so vacancy seen in Montrose Shopping Park in recent months, association President Lori Flagg said. "I'm very disappointed that they decided to close the facility," Flagg said. "I think it was an important asset to the area."

Ryan Carter Inside Sarah and Steve Lowe's new business is a colorful world of monkey jumps, handstands, donkey kicks, forward rolls and birthday parties. It's not a zoo or a circus. It is The Little Gym. After taking some time to contemplate if it was the right move, and an initial investment of $90,000, the Lowes have bought into the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Little Gym franchise. Among the franchise territories they have bought is Glendale/La Canada Flintridge, where in October they opened their first Little Gym at 2196-A Foothill Blvd.

Alecia Foster LA CRESCENTA -- Everyone from former principals and coaches to current students and their parents filled the bleachers of Crescenta Valley High School's new gym Thursday night for its official dedication. Although the gym was not completely finished, the event gave the public their first peek inside the state-of-the-art facility. "It's fabulous," said Ed Goorjian, CV High's first boys' basketball coach. Many credit the school's boys' basketball team, under Goorjian's leadership, for putting the high school on the map in the 1960s and '70s.

Whenever friends see me at the gym, their questions are the same: “Did you just join?” My answer is consistent. I was probably a member long before they were, but my attendance is sporadic. There are many objective and subjective reasons for this. Sometimes the sights, sounds and the smells of the gym are not necessarily inviting. I do enjoy playing sports more than being at the gym. Even if the exercise does not involve a game, I’d much rather be running, for example, where there is natural scenery and plush grass.

Peter Samore GLENDALE -- The problems of children having nowhere to go after school and lack of role models in their lives have always existed. A gymnasium in drastic need of repair also presented a problem at the United Community Church. However, all these problems are being solved by the church's Sports Ministry Program, an outreach program that focuses on giving children a place to go after school and attention from role models through sports.

Robert Chacon Complaining that Paradise Canyon Elementary School already is overused by soccer teams and day care, neighbors of the La Canada Flintridge school spoke out against plans to build a gymnasium and multi-use facility on the campus. Neighbors said noise and traffic around the school is worsening. The comments were made Tuesday night during the city's Joint Use Committee public-input meeting. The project, which is in the preliminary stages, would be built on the campus of Paradise Canyon Elementary and used for school district functions during the day, and available to community groups like youth basketball leagues during evenings and weekends.

Charles Rich LA CRESCENTA -- The echoes from a choir's hymn or a volleyball bouncing off the shiny floor will now flow inside the new state-of-the-art Crescenta Valley High School gymnasium. The gym opened its doors Wednesday night when CV hosted Glendale High in a Pacific League boys' volleyball match. The facility, which took about 15 months to complete, replaced the school's 37-year-old cramped gymnasium and will host numerous sporting and community events.

Activity filled the Pacific Park gym Saturday morning as local youth and Glendale police officers joined together in friendly games of basketball. The games were the brainchild of Glendale Police Officer Jeff Davis, of the department’s special enforcement detail, who had met many of the teenagers who regularly hang out at the park during his routine patrols. “I think he was tired of arresting kids for marijuana and other minor violations,” said Sgt. Todd Anderson.

To become a successful champion boxer, a tireless work ethic and a good heart are necessary according to Edmond 'The Diamond' Tarverdyan, a 29-year-old coach who started boxing as a boy before going on to train Olympians. “You gotta love the sport and train hard,” he said. “Of course being the best fighter takes much more than that. You need everything - balance speed power - so everything comes in place at the high level competition.” On a recent Thursday evening, Tarverdyan's amateur boxing students spent an hour at his Glendale Fighting Club conditioning their bodies with push-ups, sit ups and boxing technique.

A report of a man with a rifle near the Foothill Athletic Club on Sunday may have been the result of a prank call, police said. Someone called police about 12:25 a.m. to report seeing a man dressed in camouflage headed into a hillside with a gun near the gym on the 3900 block of Lowell Avenue, Glendale police said. Gym members denied reporting or seeing the man, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. A Los Angeles Police Department helicopter searched the hillside and made announcements over its public address system urging the man to come out, but the air crew was unable to find him. Police tried calling the reporting party, but were unable reach them, Lorenz said.

The game of basketball looks like it comes easy to Marcus LoVett, Jr. It's getting out of the gym after a game that can be a problem for the Providence High point guard. The 15-year old freshman phenom carries a lot of hype with him and commands attention in any gym he's playing in for the Pioneers. "It takes you five minutes to get him out of the gym because people are asking him for an autograph, a picture or whatever it may be," first-year Providence Coach Ernest Baskerville said.

More than 100 people gathered Wednesday morning at South Pasadena Middle School to celebrate its new gym and library.  The two new buildings are the jewels in the crown of a campus expansion effort that began with a school construction bond in 2002. Former Los Angeles Lakers star A.C. Green, who holds the NBA record for most consecutive games played with 1,192, was on hand to make the ceremonial first basket in the expansive new gym. The facility has a 144-foot by 80-foot play space and eight retractable basketball hoops, accommodating full-court team play allowing four simultaneous smaller-scale games.

To become a successful champion boxer, a tireless work ethic and a good heart are necessary according to Edmond 'The Diamond' Tarverdyan, a 29-year-old coach who started boxing as a boy before going on to train Olympians. “You gotta love the sport and train hard,” he said. “Of course being the best fighter takes much more than that. You need everything - balance speed power - so everything comes in place at the high level competition.” On a recent Thursday evening, Tarverdyan's amateur boxing students spent an hour at his Glendale Fighting Club conditioning their bodies with push-ups, sit ups and boxing technique.

Before his CrossFit 818 class began, Zareh Amirian called on his students to run two laps around the block for a half-mile warm-up. Amirian's CrossFit 818 is one of two CrossFit gyms in Glendale and is part of a gym franchise company based in Santa Cruz. The people who work out with CrossFit are dubbed “crossfitters.” Their workouts are timed, intense, completed in a group, and done in one hour. In Amirian's gym, a sign on the wall highlights the “10 Components of Fitness” as cardiovascular endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy - in that order.

The roughly 500 students of Chamlian Armenian School this week got an important lesson in civic government: Never stop believing that your local officials should work for you, rather than against you. The City Council on Tuesday rightfully overturned a decision by the Planning Commission to deny the project, saying arguments from nearby residents that the building would overwhelm the neighborhood in size and would generate additional traffic were...

CITY HALL — Chamlian Armenian School can move forward with plans for a new gymnasium after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously overturned a commission-level decision to deny the project. The decision on Tuesday was a victory for the dozens of school administrators, parents and students — many donning athletic jerseys — who packed the City Hall chambers in support of the gym. “Our only purpose for this project is to enhance our daily physical education classes for our students,” said Principal Vazken Madenlian.

Not a big fan of a sign of the times Am I the only one in Glendale who is "offended" by the real estate agents' billboard on the hillside above the Glendale (2) and Ventura (134) freeways? William Slaughter Glendale Gym variance would be a parking nightmare Planning Commissioner Stephanie Landregan hit the nail on the head in summing up the commission's decision to deny a variance for the construction of a school gym — the school would benefit without considering the significant disadvantage to the neighborhood ("Planning Commission denies proposed gym at Chamlian Armenian School," Jan. 21)

The Planning Commission on Wednesday denied permits for a new 9,345-square-foot gym at Chamlian Armenian School after a dozen neighbors argued the addition would be intrusive. School officials want to construct the 35-foot-tall gymnasium — which would include a sports court, lobby, two locker rooms, bathrooms and laundry facilities — near the east perimeter of the lot at 4444 Lowell Ave. just south of Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta. No changes to existing driveways were proposed.

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. MARTIROSYAN NEW OWNER OF LOCAL GYM Undefeated junior middleweight boxer Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan is days away from leaving for the Philippines to join Manny Pacquiao 's training camp as a sparring partner for the current champ in preparation for his October fight with Antonio Margarito . Paquiao and the 28-0 Martirosyan both train at...