LaNuova Vita (meaning “new life”) was a Sicilian cooperative grocery store that dealt in fruits, candy, and tobacco products and was founded at 1516 Howard Ave. around 1920. The business moved to its new location (pictured) at 2013 N Howard Ave around 1928. Cooperative grocery stores gave their members greater buying power.  At its peak, La Nuova had over 2,900 cooperative members.

In 1947, the original owners sold the business, but it continued operating as LaNuova Vita Supermarket. The business changed hands several times and remained a grocery store until the late 1980s. 

Then, like so many buildings with long histories, it fell silent.

Nearly two decades later, the space found a new life. Around 2008, Francisco Arreola opened Legends Boxing Gym here—not just to train fighters, but to give young people direction. Inside these walls, discipline, responsibility, and character were taught alongside jabs and footwork. Legends closed in 2018, but its impact endured.

The building then hosted Kaizen, a kickboxing, MMA, and yoga studio until early 2023.

In 2023, professional heavyweight boxer Kevin Franklin opened Franklin Boxing in the same space, continuing the building’s unlikely second act. Today, with more than 300 members, the gym hums with energy once again—echoing a different kind of community, yet one rooted in the same idea that started it all more than a century ago. The building at N. Howard and Walnut still honors the original owners by keeping the LaNuova Vita, Inc. name on its crown.

© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved