Lucille Roberts Was a Fitness Powerhouse. One Gym Remains

Lucille Roberts, once a powerhouse name in women's fitness with 50+ locations in New York, is now down to a single gym: a space in Queens' Forest Hills neighborhood. The women-only gym—a relic of 1980s aerobics and hot pink branding—has a loyal membership: many have attended classes here for decades. In a lengthy piece for the New York Times, Alex Vadukul explores the location (he spots "a group of three women in their 70s wearing fanny packs (who) chatted as they pedaled on ellipticals") and the powerhouse woman behind the brand.

Founder Lucille Roberts—born Laja Spindel in 1943—was a Polish-Jewish immigrant who fled Germany for Siberia and was handed the name Lucille (after Lucille Ball) when she arrived at Ellis Island. She started the gym in 1970, inspired by the idea of giving women a space free from unwanted attention. "The gym offered classes in self-defense, debt management, and on how to report an abusive husband to the authorities," Vadukul notes of its start.

At its peak, Lucille Roberts boasted $50 million in annual revenue and a membership base of 200,000. After Roberts' death in 2003, her family managed the business until selling it in 2017. The shift toward co-ed fitness and changing workout trends led to the closure of all but the Forest Hills location. An upcoming renovation will rebrand the gym as "Lucille by NYSC" and modernize its equipment, but it will retain its women-only policy and iconic hot prink branding. (Read the full story.) (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)