By Gus Saltonstall
More than 50 outdoor public pools are opening throughout New York City on Thursday, June 27, but just one of those is on the Upper West Side.
And it is a mini-pool.
The Frederick Douglass Pool, on Amsterdam Avenue between West 100th and 101st streets, is the only city-run outdoor place to swim this summer in the neighborhood. The mini-pool’s dimensions are 40′ x 20′ x 3′.
Unfortunately, the pool at the forthcoming Center at the Harlem Meer (formerly known as the Lasker Rink and Pool) at the northern end of Central Park, which featured a full-sized outdoor Olympic and a wading pool, remains closed for renovations — the largest project ever undertaken by the Central Park Conservancy in its history. When it reopens, the pool will be even larger than Olympic-sized, and the eighth largest in the city.
It has proven difficult to find a recently projected completion date for the Harlem Meer project. In October, 2022, ABC7NY ran a story with the headline “A Look at the Construction of Central Park’s New Harlem Meer Center on Track for 2024 Opening.”
The Conservancy told the Rag on Thursday that the new Harlem Meer Center was expected to open this winter or early 2025.
The opening date for the city’s outdoor pools, June 27, corresponds with the last day of public school before summer break.
There is also a free indoor pool for children within the Gertrude Ederle Center at 232 West 60th Street. It is an intermediate-size pool that you can find out more about — HERE.
Additionally, a little out of our boundaries, there is the Sheltering Arms Pool at West 129th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The location has both an outdoor wading pool and an outdoor intermediate pool.
Along with the free outdoor pools, the city offers free swimming lessons, which you can find out more about on its website.
The West Side YMCA also offers swim lessons for various ages and skill levels. You can check out those options — HERE.
Read More From THE CITY: Where to Swim, and Learn to Swim, in New York City
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Don’t worry kids. No need for a pool. There is a $90 million boat house coming.
Sad, isn’t it.
and $65 plus million for the Soldiers and Sailors monument renovation.
Note of Sheltering Arms pool: Due to the lifeguard shortage, the wading pool (a mere 1 foot deep), has not been able to be opened in the 3 years I’ve been going there. Also, although the main intermediate pool at Sheltering Arms is not that large, ( 75′ x 60′ x 3.5′) it is usually only three quarters to half open due to lifeguard shortages. It’s ridiculous but the city has very strict rules about how many lifeguards need to be on duty per square feet. So even with 2 lifeguards on the stands, a third is needed to patrol around the pool, which they don’t have when you factor in breaks. Makes it difficult on hot, crowded days.
I did not know there was a pool on 100th Street. Also. Though not in our neighborhood, Riverbank State Park has an indoor and outdoor pool. M11 takes you there
Is there a chance that one of the institutional buildings in Morningside Heights have a pool which might be temporarily available? Young kids need the water.
I went on a tour of all public and paid pools a few years back and so many were just dirty–you could feel the hair and detritus in the water, not to mention the changing rooms. Especially bad were the Riverbank pools and the YMCA at 60th.
But we’ve got lots of free shelters with no lifeguards to bother the residents and hangers-on. At taxpayer cost.
What a bummer. I used to live in the East Village and loved walking to Hamilton Fish pool. I hope the Meer will open next year! Until then I guess I’ll be venturing to Harlem.
The closed Lasker pool was always clean, the lifeguards attentive. All the employees were nice. The years I attended 2010 to 2015, the crowds were well behaved. The big issues were the very old restrooms, showers
& changing rooms.
I hope it reopens by next summer. Many kids from camps would stop by for a swim. Children in the city need this pool. Parents need a place to unwind.
End of June to open? What happened to pools open on Memorial Day
What about equity? How can UWS residents not have at least as much access as other neighborhoods? Why are we so resource deprived? Are we less than? Another Tale of Two Cities!
A Tale of Two Cities? There are places to swim, you just have to pay for them. There’s the 92nd St Y and Asphalt Green on the UES but as far as free places there’s only John Jay and you couldn’t pay me to swim there.
From Yelp:
The Best 10 Swimming Pools near Upper West Side, Manhattan, NY
Trinity Swim Club
West New York Swim Club
Take Me To The Water – Upper West Side
Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
Mercedes Club
Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center
Lasker Pool (closed)
Columbia University Dodge Fitness Center
*If you’re of a certain age your Medicare supplement plan should also include a gym membership.
We really like Sheltering Arms pool. While we have to chuckle at the grumpy-pants carping here about recreational boating facilities and our monuments to the memory of those who gave their lives in the service of our nation it is astounding that the west side with so many thousands of residents has just one outdoor pool between Carmine Street Pool and W.126 St. It is astounding.
The JCC should open their family swim time for members. Right now, family swim – where adults and kids can go together – is restricted to just one hour a day. From 5-6pm. Even on Sunday. This is the worst time for kids. It’s dinner time. Not to mention…. They only give you one lane. Rest of the pool schedule is 90% for adults lap swim. Really wrong.
About the pool at 100th St. I once went there on a hot day. One of the staffers asked me to leave because I was a) a man and b) alone. Apparently, that’s a rule.