{"id":28219,"date":"2025-05-21T14:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28219"},"modified":"2025-05-21T15:28:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T15:28:20","slug":"the-last-lucille-roberts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28219","title":{"rendered":"The Last Lucille Roberts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All that remains of the Lucille Roberts gym empire is a modest location in Queens.<\/span><\/p>\n

At its height, the brand had more than 50 locations in the New York area and its commercials aired non-stop on local television.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gym helped set off the fitness craze that would revolutionize women\u2019s health.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most loyal Lucille Roberts devotees have little interest in working out anywhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Last Lucille Roberts<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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On a busy thoroughfare in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens sits a women-only gym with faded hot pink signage. It is the last surviving location of Lucille Roberts, a chain of women\u2019s health clubs that once thrived in New York, leading a trend that fused fitness with feminism. Now that it has dwindled down to just one location, its most loyal members have ended up here.<\/p>\n

Women in their 50s and 60s who have worked out for decades at Lucille Roberts<\/a> now take classes including Zumba and \u201cBrazilian Butt and Gutt\u201d in a fluorescent-lit studio. They have little interest in going anywhere else. Signs on the walls remind members not to leave their purses and handbags unattended when they\u2019re using the machines. A magenta poster announces: \u201cStrong Women Work Out Here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent afternoon at this gym on Austin Street<\/a>, members explained why they have stuck with Lucille Roberts long after it was a leader in its field, with more than 50 locations in the New York area.<\/p>\n

Marguerite Toussaint pumped some iron after finishing her morning shift as a hotel pastry cook at the Park Hyatt in Manhattan. She has been a Lucille Roberts member since the mid-1990s, when she signed up at a location in Brooklyn, not long after she moved from Haiti to New York. She wakes up each workday before dawn and trains here on her way home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAll of us hope this gym never closes,\u201d Ms. Toussaint said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like other gyms. It\u2019s a community for women. We care about each other here. If you don\u2019t see somebody, you call and find out. \u2018Hey, why didn\u2019t I see you today?\u2019 I don\u2019t see that at Planet Fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marguerite Toussaint has been a Lucille Roberts member since the mid-1990s.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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A member stretches at the chain\u2019s last location.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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All that remains of the Lucille Roberts gym empire is a modest location in Queens.At its height, the brand had more than 50 locations in the New York area and its commercials aired non-stop on local television.The gym helped set off the fitness craze that would revolutionize women\u2019s health.The most loyal Lucille Roberts devotees have little interest in working out anywhere else.The Last Lucille RobertsOn a busy thoroughfare in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens sits a women-only gym with faded hot pink signage. It is the last surviving location of Lucille Roberts, a chain of women\u2019s health clubs that once thrived in New York, leading a trend that fused fitness with feminism. Now that it has dwindled down to just one location, its most loyal members have ended up here.Women in their 50s and 60s who have worked out for decades at Lucille Roberts now take classes including Zumba and \u201cBrazilian Butt and Gutt\u201d in a fluorescent-lit studio. They have little interest in going anywhere else. Signs on the walls remind members not to leave their purses and handbags unattended when they\u2019re using the machines. A magenta poster announces: \u201cStrong Women Work Out Here.\u201dOn a recent afternoon at this gym on Austin Street, members explained why they have stuck with Lucille Roberts long after it was a leader in its field, with more than 50 locations in the New York area.Marguerite Toussaint pumped some iron after finishing her morning shift as a hotel pastry cook at the Park Hyatt in Manhattan. She has been a Lucille Roberts member since the mid-1990s, when she signed up at a location in Brooklyn, not long after she moved from Haiti to New York. She wakes up each workday before dawn and trains here on her way home.\u201cAll of us hope this gym never closes,\u201d Ms. Toussaint said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like other gyms. It\u2019s a community for women. We care about each other here. If you don\u2019t see somebody, you call and find out. \u2018Hey, why didn\u2019t I see you today?\u2019 I don\u2019t see that at Planet Fitness.\u201dMarguerite Toussaint has been a Lucille Roberts member since the mid-1990s.A member stretches at the chain\u2019s last location.<\/p>\n

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