Summer is here, pools are open!
On opening day, Alexis Adler rode her bike from her East Village apartment, Mablen Jones walked the width of Manhattan from Hudson Square and Jane Schreibman took the F train and walked from First Ave. They were among the water enthusiasts finding the ultimate delight, immersing themselves in the Hamilton Fishpool on opening day.
The City’s public pools opened on Saturday, June 26, where cooling waters offer untold relief from the sweltering heat, particularly this very first week of the pool season.
Mablen is a regular indoor and outdoor swimmer at Park’s Dapolito Center and with the Covid closing of the City’s recreation centers, these past 15 months, suffered the entire year by not being able to swim.
“I have to swim to live,” she said on that first day, in between laps. “Hamilton Fish pool at Pitt Street is so gorgeous and spacious (it’s an Olympic size) and there is no crowding! In the middle of a park, all the trees around make such a difference, too.” Mablen also commented on how the large kiddie pool also separates young children from the youth and lap swimmers.
After a couple of days under the blistering sun, however, this avid lap swimmer, realizes that she must wear a long-sleeved shirt over her suit so as not to burn.
The opening of the pool was the best day of the year for Alexis. “It definitely changed up our reality, nothing like a swim, nothing!” she opined. Swimming laps at this pool for decades, she arrives daily before noon to put her laps in. Hamilton Fish is where Alexis’s now grown children learned to swim.
The pool’s hours are 11 am to 2:45 pm and closes for cleaning. It reopens at 4 pm until 6:45 pm. During the week at noon, a gratis very healthy bag lunch is served.
Villagers used to swimming in the much smaller Dapolito pool (7th Ave. S.) graced by a wonderful Keith Haring mural, must adapt. That pool is closed for repairs this season.
Tompkins Square has a mini pool at Ave. A and 7th Street. There is a children-only (accompanied by adults) pool on Thompson Street in Vesuvio Park.
Other outdoor Manhattan pools—wading, mini, intermediate or Olympic size, are: Asser Levy, Dry Dock, Frederick Douglass, Highbridge, Jackie Robinson, John Jay, Marcus Garvey, Sheltering Arms, Thomas Jefferson, and Wagner Pool
For more info: www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/outdoor-pools
