With thousands of members a day visiting our Bay Club locations across California, it was only a matter of time before some true love stories surfaced, whether on the fitness floor, in a class, or at an event. We are proud to play Cupid, and swoon when hearing stories of our members falling in love, with the Bay Club setting the stage. After all, we love love!
So, in celebration of Valentine’s Day, we asked a few members to recount the stories of how they met and fell for each other at the Bay Club—get ready to feel all the feels.
Betsy and Alan Zimmerman, Bay Club San Francisco
“Our ‘how we met’ story goes back to 1992, about 25 years! I was recently married to my first husband who was fluent in French and went to Paris four times a year for business. I wanted to brush up on my high school French so I could better enjoy traveling with him. There was a Bay Club member in San Francisco who happened to offer a conversational French class in the evenings at the Bay Club! Perfect, I thought, and signed up. In the class was an attractive single guy, Alan, who wasn’t very good with the language but was super nice and a great dresser! I befriended him and planned to fix him up with one of my single girlfriends but class ended before I got around to it.
Just as well, because a few months later I bumped into Alan in the gym (had never seen him there other than at that class). I told him that my husband was fighting cancer and it was pretty awful. Being the mensch that he was, Alan sent a letter to me at KCBS Radio, where I worked. This was an old-fashioned through the mail letter, on paper, with a stamp, and complete with his signature which listed five phone numbers (he was in the process of moving and starting a new business, plus his cell number). I thought it was very kind since he was asking if there was anything he could do to help, but I was distracted and stuffed the letter in my office drawer, forgetting about it. A few months later I noticed it and was about to throw it away but realized I had not acknowledged it, so I left him a voicemail, at one of his five numbers! At that time my husband had just passed away and I left a message to that effect. Alan called me right back and learned I had some legal issues as a result of my husband’s passing. Since he was a lawyer he offered to help me find an attorney who could help. He did, and a friendship blossomed. Even though I was not in great shape emotionally, Alan listened to my woes and was not scared off by the fact I was in mourning. VERY unexpectedly, we fell in love and even though he thought he was finished having kids and I thought I would never marry an “older man” again, we soon realized we were meant to be together.
The following year we got married and had a daughter who I call “our Bay Club baby” even though she graduated from college last year and is now a young woman living in New York. I will always be grateful for the Bay Club and to the woman who taught the French class. Vive la France and Merci Beaucoup!”
Rose Cohen and Jeffrey Margulies, Bay Club Santa Monica
“Meeting by chance in the weight room on Super Bowl Sunday in 2003 was pure luck and timing. It was just us two in the room. We had never before seen or met. When I opened the shades for daylight and the room was suddenly flooded with light, I asked this stranger in the room if all this brightness was too much. He said no, the darkness was depressing. Wow, that’s exactly how I felt! And, that would be our only exchange.
A few days later Jeff would come to the gym and wave to me. I wasn’t sure if this was the same guy I saw that fateful Super Bowl Sunday, but I waved back. Subsequently, I would see him more and more. How could this be that I never saw him before, and now he was there all the time. First, the weight room, then the treadmill next to me. I wasn’t quick on reading the signs, but my fellow gym friends were on to it. They clued me in to the fact that this guy was interested. For years we had been on different time schedules which is why I never saw him, but I later learned that by coming earlier in the evening, he found me. Our conversations got longer, our workouts became shared, and finally, as we grew to know more about each other, we had our first date the following March. It was a very long evening of talking, eating, talking, and coffee… until they closed and we were forced to say good night. Time flew so fast and I felt we had so much yet to share. We exchanged contact info, and kept that momentum going for a very happy 10 years.
At last, our lives were joined. We married in Tivoli, Italy in 2012 (10-11-12—numbers run, get it?). We are still just as happy as the early days. We have tons of friends at the club and have taken many friendships beyond the Bay Club. We feel like it’s our huge family of like-minded health enthusiasts! For all the reasons we have come to love the Bay Club, it is most special for finding each other there pumping iron!”
Danielle and Diego Sabaris, Bay Club San Francisco
In 2015 I met my husband, Diego Sabaris, at a Bay Club tennis playoff match. He walked up to me after my match and asked me if I would like to try a glass of Malbec he was drinking. I was immediately attracted to his warm smile, sparkling eyes and beautiful heart. One year later we got engaged on the tennis court in Half Moon Bay after he spent the whole night carefully placing the ring inside the tennis ball. We started playing tennis on the court and about 10 minutes later he hits me the ball with the ring in it and when I went to hit the ball I discovered it wasn’t bouncing properly so walked over to show him the defected ball. Moments later he was asking me to marry him and I have been loving every minute together since. We now have a 1 year old healthy baby boy named Francis who continues to teach us the meaning of life. Thank you Bay Club for connecting me with the love of my life and for being our 2nd home that is walking distance away.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Do you have a Bay Club love story? We know you’re out there and we’d love to hear it—just tell us in the comments!