Sum, sum, summertime! Well, the relentless heat lately has let us all know that summer is definitely now here.
For those of you who want to strip down to your Speedos and thongs, we chose 12th Street Gym fitness trainer extraodinaire Dom Sciancalepore as our portrait this week. A buff body-builder with a barrel chest, Sciancalepore swears he was once a skinny kid weighing a measly 135 pounds.
PGN: Where are you originally from? DS: I grew up in North Jersey, Old Bridge, right near New Brunswick.
PGN: Tell me a little about the family. DS: Both my parents are from Italy. I have one sister who’s older than me.
PGN: An old Italian family and just one sibling? DS: [Laughs.] I have lots of cousins!
PGN: So were you spoiled being the baby boy? DS: I still am.
PGN: What was the girliest thing your sister did to you? DS: We played house. Do you remember those Quint dolls? There were five little tiny babies? We played with those a lot and Barbies too.
PGN: What’s a favorite family memory? DS: Going to visit the family in Italy. Every day, everyone would wake up around 8 a.m. and go out to these little markets they have there and go food shopping. Then they’d come home and go to sleep from about 3-5 p.m. I was a really hyper kid so I’d be skateboarding up and down the block and all the old Italian ladies would throw stuff out the window and yell at me because I was making too much noise!
PGN: What were you like as a kid, other than hyper? DS: I grew up doing a lot of extreme sports — skating, biking, snowboarding, a lot of that stuff. [Laughs.] Probably because I was so hyper.
PGN: What did the parents do? DS: When she was younger, my mom was a dressmaker and then when they moved to the States she worked as a preschool teacher’s aide. My dad was old-school, so like a lot of immigrants, he did factory work. He worked at Wonder Bread for years and years. Then when they closed down, he went to an Italian bakery company called Balconi, they make pannetones and stuff. They were very blue-collar people.
PGN: Does the whole attack on immigrants that the right seems to be waging right now upset you? DS: Definitely. If my parents hadn’t been able to come to this country, I wouldn’t be here right now. They’re good, productive people like so many others trying to achieve the American dream.
PGN: What’s your mother’s best dish? DS: All of them [Dom’s partner Mike nods in agreement.]
PGN: What’s your favorite restaurant in town? DS: Well, we usually go for Asian food. I grew up eating Italian every day so I’m done with anything that has marinara on it. I do Indian, Japanese, Korean to real Chinese and weird Vietnamese. I guess I’m a [gestures with his fingers] “foodie.” I’d say my newest recommendation would be Cheu Noodle Bar on 10th Street.
PGN: So you were into extreme sports; what was your worst injury? DS: I got it snowboarding! We were at Hunter Mountain in New York and I didn’t simply snowboard down the mountain, I would do all sorts of jumps and things. I lost control in the air on one of the jumps and landed on my head. I was terrified that my head was cracked open and I kept asking my friend who was at the bottom, “Am I OK?” We stayed there the rest of the day in spite of the fact that the whole right side of my face was swollen. My eye was so blown up it was closed shut. It felt like I’d been in a car accident. That was about it.
PGN: Wasn’t your mom afraid of what might happen to her baby boy? DS: Yes, she was, but she was very supportive anyway.
PGN: Did you compete? DS: No, there was a big difference between competing and street skating. Street was more rogue, you’d find a cool spot and get creative doing your own thing. We’d get chased by cops and some of my friends got caught and beat up by police. They’d get cited for vandalizing or trespassing, but it was great to be young and have all sorts of crazy adventures.
PGN: What was the closest scrape you got into? DS: I got chased by the police and had to hide in a Dumpster for two hours.
PGN: Yikes! Scary … and stinky. DS: [Laughs.] Yeah, but exhilarating. It was fun being in that scene. I was in the closet, but I’m glad I got to have those experiences. Not too many gay boys get to do that kind of thing.
PGN: When did you first realize you had feelings for boys? DS: Oh, when I was 8 or 9. I had a crush on Bud Bundy from “Married With Children.” I always knew, but it was my deep, dark secret. I thought that even if I told one person and they were fine with it, they would want to tell one other person and they’d tell one other person and they might not be so fine with it. Plus other boys might be afraid they’d be guilty by association and get called fag or whatever just because they were friends with me, so I wanted to avoid all that. But now they all know, so it’s cool!
PGN: Were you a good student? DS: No, I was a horrible student. I was too rebellious. I didn’t know who I was yet or what I was doing or where I was going. I think I was always trying to find myself. I got straight Fs, except for science class where I got all As because I actually liked it. I wasn’t dumb, just disinterested.
PGN: Did you play any organized sports? DS: I played a little basketball.
PGN: Um, that’s definitely not the sport I would have guessed. DS: [Laughs.] I know, I’m only 5-foot-4, but I’m pretty fast and I can actually shoot. But I wasn’t really into organized sports. Having foreign parents, they weren’t really in the loop on how to do things like where to sign up for sports things or going to PTA meetings, so I was kind of left on my own to be raised by wolves or the neighbors.
PGN: How did you end up in Philly? DS: I did snowboarding and skateboarding but I was mostly into inline skating. I had friends in New York who had friends in Philly. I heard that Philly was cheaper and there was a lot going on here in the skating community. And there were a lot of people in Philly doing photography and video.
PGN: What did that have to do with skating? DS: There were a lot of guys doing video of the skaters — I did mostly aggressive inline skating — which they then sold in specialty stores here and internationally. There’s a company, Video Action Sports, that did most of the distributing to different skate shops. I was in a number of videos and in an Austrian magazine called Be Mag that was available in places like Barnes & Noble. They did a spot-check feature about me and six other Philly skaters.
PGN: Cool! When did you get into fitness? DS: About seven years ago, I just started getting into lifting. It moved my endorphins around and made me happy. So I kept learning and doing more.
PGN: Were you always muscley? DS: No, I was a skinny kid. I weighed about 135 and now I’m 185. But I’m still fast, I don’t want to get so big that I can’t do things.
PGN: Have you encountered any problems with gay men and body issues? DS: Oh yes, for many people the gym is the new religion. Being body-conscious is part of the territory. I’ve encountered problems with body dysmorphia where people think they’re a lot smaller and unfit than they really are. It’s hard when as a gay man you get forced into this world where people judge you on your body.
PGN: How did you come out? DS: Well, it was pretty easy for me. I used a lot of social media, and did things like friending a lot of gay people on MySpace. I didn’t officially come out to my friends, but as they started looking at my page it became pretty obvious.
PGN: And how did you meet Mike? DS: I used to work at Uncles. I was a bouncer and one day I was standing at the window, bouncing, and he walked by. We made eye contact and shortly after that he walked back past the window again and we cruised each other and then we started talking and here we are, two years later!
PGN: What do you think people mistake about you? Mike: Can I answer that? I think sometimes being a big guy with tattoos, they expect him to be a real hard-ass, but he’s actually very caring and kind. He’s a sweetheart.
PGN: I like your tattoos, I don’t think you see Al Hirschfeld on someone’s bicep everyday. I understand you’re into art? DS: Yes, I did a lot of graffiti when I was younger. Now I do two different styles, one is more urbanish/pop and the other is more abstract. Mixing a lot of colors, kind of like you’re tripping. I put a lot of hidden stuff in there.
PGN: Now for some random questions. My religion is ___ because ___ . DS: My religion is nothing structured because I don’t believe in worshipping something that’s unknown to me. I believe in a higher power, but I don’t know exactly what it might be. I guess I’m spiritual.
PGN: Three pet peeves? DS: People not saying hi on the streets when you know they know you. It’s just so rude. Motorists not respecting bicyclists and people at the gym not returning stuff to its proper place.
PGN: Favorite movie? DS: “Pippi Longstocking.” It’s always fun.
PGN: She had a horse as a house pet. Any animals growing up? DS: My dad was afraid of dogs so I had a goldfish.
PGN: Your go-to karaoke song? DS: “Lover I Don’t Have to Love” by Bright Eyes.
PGN: I get the most compliments on … DS: My arms.
PGN: The first president you remember? DS: The first Bush.
PGN: Other than Mike, who would you call if you were arrested? DS: My cousin Mario, he’s a bail bondsman.
PGN: Which one of the Seven Dwarves would you be? DS: Bashful.
PGN: Something you got in trouble for at summer camp? DS: Smoking at 14.
PGN: I’m assuming as a health and fitness person you don’t do that anymore. DS: No, no.
PGN: What’s the hardest kind of client to train? DS: Someone who’s very, very fragile and can’t do a lot of the normal things I teach. I have to get really creative and work around it.
PGN: As a fitness instructor, give me your top-three secret tips for easy fitness. DS: Ha! The truth is there is no secret easy fix. The top-three tips are don’t be lazy, don’t overeat and don’t be lazy. Even I find myself getting a little chunky for beachwear so I have to start riding my bike every day and watching what I eat. I love to eat so I really have to stay on top of it.
PGN: So what is your beachwear? Board shorts, tankini, Speedo? DS: Definitely not Speedos! Uh, I guess box-cut shorts, right above the knee. I like to keep it classic.
PGN: Any new trends in fitness? DS: There’s always something new — from Zumba to boot camp — but I always tell people to find what’s right for them. Cardio is very important but if being on a treadmill makes you feel like a hamster, go play basketball or racquetball, something where you forget that you’re getting exercise.
PGN: What do you like to do? DS: I bike a lot. I used to be a bike messenger.
PGN: Really? Bike messenger, bouncer … What other jobs have you had? DS: I was a bail bondsman. I worked for the fashion magazine Elle in New York.
PGN: What did you do with Elle? DS: I organized all their accessories on premise. I was responsible for all the shoes and jewelry that came in, bringing them to photo shoots and stuff. It was truly like the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” It wasn’t an exaggeration, if someone walked by you weren’t supposed to make eye contact, that sort of thing.
PGN: Too funny. Do you travel much? DS: Not as much as I’d like to. I lived in Hawaii for six months. I’m not the best swimmer so I don’t like going in the water that much but I love the beach. I was in between jobs and decided to live there for a while.
PGN: [Laughs.] Most people don’t go, “Hmmm, I’m unemployed. I should go live in Hawaii!” DS: I know, I know. It just happened. I was very lucky.
PGN: Name three people you’d like to cook a big Italian dinner for. DS: Alfred Hitchcock, Edie Sedgwick and Lucille Ball.
PGN: What are your vices? DS: Do I have to tell? Jamison every once in a while, espresso and snack foods.
PGN: Someone you think has been good for the LGBT community? DS: Chris Bartlett from the William Way Center and so much more. He’s top-rate. Dusty Latimore, he works as a physician’s assistant at Mazzoni, he truly cares for our community and it’s great to see that. He’s very passionate about his job. Oh, and one more, attorney Angela Giampolo, she’s great. PGN: I know two out of those three. Guess I should get to know Dusty too!