The Heart of Berkeley: The Historic McGee-Spaulding District

Jack LaLanne was known as a moody French American teenager with a terrible temper. He lived at 2430 Spaulding Avenue and attended Berkeley High. There he underwent a transformation that made him into one of the country’s most famous fitness and nutrition gurus.

His mother was a devoted Seventh Day Adventist. According to LaLanne, “No lipstick, no radio, no nothin'. I was afraid to look at my penis because that was a sin." In 1929 when he was 15 she took him to hear health advocate Paul C. Bragg at the Oakland City Women’s Club. As a result, LaLanne totally changed his eating habits and began to work out, starting at the Berkeley YMCA on Allston Way. Within two years, he was playing quarterback on the varsity football team at Berkeley High. He graduated in 1934 and earned money by training out-of-shape youths and selling his mother’s fresh baked bread.