Nick Brokaw: A One Time Fixture at Malibu Fitness

Malibu Fitness is a local gym in the West side of Malibu. I've been going there for about 10 years. When I first joined I met a guy who worked at the front desk. He stood out because he was nothing like anyone who works at a gym--any gym, anywhere.

Imagining Nick Brokaw in close proximity to gym equipment, Yoga mats, and exercise bikes is quite paradoxical. And, as eccentric as a Malibu resident can be, Nick still seems far outside those rather elastic boundaries. It's certainly not the only Malibu metric but I can't picture Nick on a surfboard or skateboard, or acting "cool". He has the same kind of tan that a person who lives in Portland would have, or Cody, Wyoming. He never thought to try and look like the rest of us. I think he actually wore boots on occasion. He certainly wore leather soled shoes when working at the gym. He wasn't interested in heart rate monitoring or muscle tone or low impact cardio. I never saw Nick lift a weight of any kind except, as it's caddie, to put it back in it's designated place--one of the daily tasks of anyone working the front desk at the gym. Nick wore jeans....I never saw him in shorts in the same way that you've never seen people in old Sepia toned photos wearing shorts. Nick often wore long sleeved shirts at the gym, and waist length jackets. Oh, and his sleeves would always be rolled up. He wore baseball caps. Nick kept his hair mostly long...he sometimes had facial hair but in both cases they were very unmanicured. I think some would describe Nick as Bohemian. He was a film student and he was very passionate and refined about film, and many other things including music, and most definitely sports. He didn't look the part of a sports fan, but Nick was, and I'm sure still is, a very devout one. Nick has no affection for basketball or football (so he told me) but he is hooked on baseball and hockey, most notably Dodger baseball. Nick, like me, is a statistics savvy Dodger fan. He can tell you details about a player's batting average or earned run average. He told me once or twice that he only follows the National League. He just ignores that the other league is even playing at the same time. Nick gets very superstitious about the Dodgers and the Los Angeles Kings. He doesn't like to "jinx" a potentially favorable outcome by making predictions or overplaying the chances of his favorite LA teams.

Nick can change lanes at any time and start talking about film, music, or whatever. The dude is eclectic. He was in his mid 20's when I met him and he said his favorite movie was the Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life". What 20ish male says his favorite movie is one made in black and white in 1946 with a theme so tame and dated (and some would say "corny")? I guess if someone was photographing Nick he might be most appropriately captured in black and white (or Sepia) for those, and other, reasons. He is a "throwback". I could easily picture Nick living in an earlier century. Modernity doesn't seem like one of his priorities.

Over the years Nick and I had many conversations about the Dodgers, cinema, life, and more. Like me, Nick has lots of Danish blood. Nick had lived a fair amount of his time in Denmark when I knew him and I asked him once if he preferred Denmark or America. He told me that Denmark didn't provide the opportunities in cinema that America could but otherwise he felt that the general quality of life, it's people, and attitudes in Denmark were more to his liking. He said that people just seemed more content in Denmark, or so that is how I remember it.

Nick was a very good conversationalist, sincere, and able to delve deeply into topics of all kinds. He had a formality about his personality and speech. He moved slowly and with observable calculation. He was not gregarious nor did he have a high energy personality. I have forgotten most of the details of our conversations, ones carried out as I would take a break from my fitness routines of the day, but I just remember that they were enjoyable. I was always impressed at how, no matter how compelling the conversation, Nick would never take his eye off his job. He never gave less than 100% when working at Malibu Fitness, even when no one was watching; but, I was watching. I don't know Nick well but I would vouch for his personal ethics. I know how Nick might land on many of the social and political issues of the day. And, like the characters in a Frank Capra film Nick has a keen sense of what is "right" and what is "wrong". That is no longer a characteristic I take for granted in anyone I come across.

Nick might lean against the counter with his arms folded, stroking his beard or taking off his Dodger baseball cap to reposition it over his head while he spoke to his many acquaintances at the gym. It was hard not to like Nick Brokaw. He was as much a part of the daily life of Malibu Fitness as anyone I have seen since. His schedule as a filmmaker started to become more demanding of his time so his employment at the gym would start to wane in later years. He was into making Western based films at the time we last spoke. He was traveling to the midwest with his close friend Jerry Wolf, an actor and collaborator, to work on a project that was set in the 1800's. I think it had Native American themes if I remember. Jerry was the antithesis of Nick in all the outward ways. Jerry was a part time fitness trainer, he was fit, lean, and, I'm sure, careful about the foods he ate. A few extra pounds around the midline wasn't cause for Nick to lose any sleep.

At the time I last saw Nick he looked like George Armstrong Custer in the days just prior to his demise at the top of Little Bighorn. Yes, Nick looks like someone who, on the weekends, is a Civil War re-enacter. He looked very unlike any of his peers from his graduating class at Malibu High School from the early 2,000's. I think Nick had no interest in looking or being like anyone else. Nick is unique. When I think of my own 23 year old son I think he reminds me of Nick for that quality of uniqueness. My kid doesn't aspire to be like me, or anyone else. He is, like Nick, carving out his own personal narrative and that is a breath of fresh air.

I don't know where Nick is these days but I hope he is well and I feel quite certain that he is telling provocative and engaging stories from behind the camera. He has moved on from many of the rhythms of his youth and replaced them with his "life's" work but I still would say that Nick's rather ubiquitous presence at Malibu Fitness, checking in members and re-stacking weights was, in it's own special way a significant part of Nick's "work".

There is only one Nick Brokaw