Heather Hardy jumping rope at Gleason’s Gym. Photo by Ryan Songalia
The most famous boxing gym in the world just got a little more famous.
Gleason’s Gym, the Brooklyn-based gym where Jake LaMotta, Roberto Duran and many other champions prepared for their championship fights, will have the street in front of the building re-named in its honor. The corner of Water Street and Adams Street in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn will be co-named Gleason’s Gym Way after New York City Council passed a bill last month approving 100 streets and public places throughout the city to be fitted with commemorative street signs.
Bruce Silverglade, who bought a 50 percent stake in the gym in 1984 and became the sole owner in 1991, says the gym will hold a party at the gym for the street co-naming ceremony, which will take place at the gym on August 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Past boxing champions, public officials and people from the entertainment industry will be invited, as are the general public for the event, with food and beverages to be served.
“It’s just a big honor, I’m thrilled, I don’t know what else to say about it. It’s something that caught me by surprise and I’m just thrilled. It’s something that I’m really looking forward to seeing when I come into the gym every day,” said Silverglade, who opens the gym himself every morning at 5 a.m.
“It’s an honor for all the fighters who have been here. We’ve had 137 world champions, hundreds of amateur champions, a couple kids who won Olympic gold medals, we’ve done a lot of movies. It’s a collective effort from everybody who’s been up here.”
Bruce Silverglade at Gleason’s Gym
The gym, which was first opened in 1937 by boxer turned manager Bobby Gleason, has moved around three times in its 84 year history. Gleason’s opened in The Hub section of the Bronx until losing its lease, relocating to Eighth Avenue and West 30th in Manhattan in 1974. After losing their lease there, Gleason’s relocated in 1985 to 77 Front Street in the area now known as DUMBO. Gleason’s moved again in 2016 to its current location at 130 Water Street as a favor to the landlord, who felt he could do better business with that spot as the neighborhood blossomed.
Silverglade says the process of getting the street co-named took about a year and a half, and started after City Councilmember Lincoln Restler suggested to him that he get the building named a landmark. Silverglade declined, because doing so would put limitations on changes he might make to the business, so Restler instead offered to propose the street for a co-naming.
“I said now that would be great. What are we gonna call it, Silverglade’s Way? He said unfortunately you can’t name it after a person unless the person’s dead for three years, so I said OK I’ll pass on that one. So it’s gonna be Gleason’s Gym Way,” said Silverglade.
Sonya Lamonakis is among the many notable boxers who have called Gleason’s home throughout the years. Lamonakis says she began training at Gleason’s in 2005 and won her four New York Golden Gloves titles plus her IBO heavyweight championship while training at Gleason’s. She says having the gym honored by the city is an honor shared by all of the boxers.
“ I feel like people who have trained at Gleason’s will have a very warm feeling in their hearts to know that somewhere that they dropped their blood, sweat and tears in will be written down in history forever, because that’s how I feel,” said Lamonakis.
Among the current trainers at Gleason’s Gym are former WBO junior featherweight and junior lightweight champion Joan Guzman and former WBO featherweight champion Heather Hardy.
The gym also remains a popular venue for amateur boxing shows, and hosts the public media workouts for virtually every major boxing event that takes place in New York City.
Gleason’s Gym Way is the latest addition to a list of boxing figures and institutions that have been honored with street co-namings throughout the years. A street sign for Joe Louis Plaza stands at the corner of Seventh Ave. and West 33rd Street in Manhattan, outside of Madison Square Garden. A portion of Lexington Avenue between 114th Street and 115th Street was co-named Hector “Macho” Camacho Way in front of the East Harlem housing projects building he grew up in.
Cus D’Amato, the legendary boxing trainer and manager who guided the careers of Mike Tyson and Floyd Patterson, also has a street co-named for him on East 14th Street, where the famed Gramercy Gym once stood.
Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].
