Center Street Club, 20 Centet St, El Segundo, CA 90245, US

Gate 14 began in the northern third of a three-car garage in an apartment by the sea. We had no dream of opening our own gym. The thought of "clients" was far from our mind. We were two former athletes who knew the shortest distance between us and our fittest self was simple: a (very) steep hill, a set of hand-me-down weights, and an insatiable urge to test the limits of the human body. We were kids that grew up on Fourth of July circle pits in the sand, summertime sprints up Sand Dune hill, and marathon circuits of after school skateboarding. We were raised on equal parts soccer pitch, SST Records, and Pacific Ocean. So we never felt the draw of cookie-cutter gyms or "boxes." We saw past the veneer of superfluous amenities. We weren't interested in WODs or personal trainers. We knew that behind all the bells and whistles was a better workout that we could build on our own. . .