Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, a Los Angeles resident, was taking a fitness class in West Hollywood when President Joe Biden announced he was stepping down as the Democractic presidential candidate. (photo courtesy of Doug Emhoff)

West Hollywood’s SoulCycle location made a splash in the national news cycle after it was revealed that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff was attending a class at the Sunset Boulevard fitness site when President Joe Biden announced on July 21 his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

After a flight to Washington, D.C., was canceled, Emhoff decided to take the class.

“I had another free morning in L.A. that Sunday, and I thought I’d just go to an exercise cycling class with some friends of mine,” he said, addressing a group of Harris campaign volunteers. “I left my phone in the car with the [security] detail.”

West Hollywood resident Michael Douglas was leaving his 9:30 a.m. class when he spotted Emhoff. He overheard one of Emhoff’s friends saying, “So what’s going on … when are we going to know,” which he took to be about Biden stepping out of the presidential race.

“They left … and went in for their class,” Douglas said. “Little did they all know history was about to be made.”

“So, I was there for 20 minutes or so, and all of a sudden one of the friends shows me his phone and said, ‘I think you need to look at this,’” Emhoff recalled.

Emhoff said that he initially scrolled to the bottom of Biden’s letter to the nation and read, “And I will address the nation later this week.”

He shrugged, thinking the announcement was of little consequence. Then the friend said, “go up one line.”

“And then I said to the guys, ‘We got to go,’” Emhoff remembered.

Douglas said he had seen the second gentleman, and sometimes even First Lady Jill Biden, participate in classes before, although he wasn’t sure if his friends ever believe him. He even texted his friends about seeing Emhoff that day discussing Biden’s pending announcement.

“But then [when the news] came out, they knew I was telling the truth,” he chuckled.

SoulCycle West Hollywood declined to comment.