I haven't been to a rock climbing gym since March and the last time I climbed outside was when I pulled myself up the Third Flatiron outside Boulder last year. I would have taken a hike today but, since thunderstorms were still predicted, I decided to brave the drive and go to a climbing gym in the South Bay instead. In the past I've gone to the L.A. Rock Gym in Hawthorne. Over a year ago they changed ownership and they're now called Beach City Rocks. Shortly before they changed hands I bought a punchcard for $100 that entitled me to eight visits.

The last time I went to Beach City Rocks was in March. For some reason one of the new owners didn't seem to like me all that much. As they say in the Beach Cities, I kept picking up some very bad vibes from her. I don't think there's anything I said or did that could have caused that. In any case I was feeling quite unwelcome. So, after finishing my time with the self-belay device I asked for the money back for the remaining three visits I had on the card. She said that was the prior owner's responsibility and that she wouldn't give me money back. She did say I could use up the card.

However, when I went back there earlier today I was told they no longer accepted those cards. She claimed that in our earlier conversation she had told me that they would no longer accept the cards, which is not what she had told me before. She said the card was from L.A. Rock Gym, and they were a different company. She did offer to give me a rebate on one of their new cards, but I declined the offer. I just wanted to use up the three remaining visits that I'd already paid for. Based on those bad vibes I wasn't interested in doing any business with the new owners.

Despite telling me the opposite of what she had told me before, she might indeed have a point. Or, she might not. When they bought the company I'd tend to think they would have had to deal with the prior company's assets and liabilities, one of the latter being cards such as mine. What of the non-card-based memberships? Were they terminated and the money refunded when the company changed hands?

In the past I've seen reports of health clubs changing owners and I was under the impression that clubs had to honor prior memberships. However, glancing at the law doesn't show anything about that. Perhaps it's in some other section.

In any case, I won't be going back to Beach City Rocks unless they change owners again.

However, after that unfortunate incident I drove to Rockreation in West L.A. I was able to meet someone else who needed a belayer and I spent a couple hours climbing a few 5.6's and a couple 5.7's and some other easy things. I'm sure you're impressed just as long as you don't know what those numbers mean. Hey, it has been 9 months, OK? If you're in the market for a rock climbing gym, I'd suggest you go to Rockreation instead, even if it means a longer drive for you.