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EVERYBODY INTO McCARREN PARK POOL Grab your speedos and bikinis and pack that sun tan lotion. We're going to do a few laps around Brooklyn's largest swimming pool, with a capacity of between 6000 and 7000 swimmers. And it's absolutely FREE...all you need are some wire cutters and a few thousand gallons of water!
The diving board is ready and waiting. O Greg Louganis, where art thou? |
Opened in the teeth of the Depression as a Works Progress Administration Project in 1936, the McCarren Park Pool in Greenpoint, Brooklyn was the last of eleven pools built in New York City during the Depression years. Mayor LaGuardia, at its opening day dedication (seen above) noted that "no pool anywhere has been as much appreciated as this one." |
Admittedly, the pool today is a little worse for wear, but it's still got some potential with a little spiffing up. Actually, you have to have a sneaking admiration for how resolutely both the City of New York and resident Brooklynites have combined to utterly trash this proud outdoor natatorium.
Just add water. Now, you're going to have to watch out for broken bottles, rusted cans, insects and rats but other than that, this is a fantastic place for a swim. Now stroke!
McCarren Pool rises like a dream from across McCarren Park itself, which was developed between 1903 and 1905 and named for Patrick McCarren, ward heeler, state legislator & Williamsburg Bridge promoter in the late 19th Century.
A tree grows in Brooklyn, the ailanthus, which will grow anywhere. In 2006 McCarren Park Pool was reborn as a prime concert venue. How long it will remain thus, however, is in question. |
Mayor Bloomberg is trying to cut and paste together a plan to bring the 2012 Games to New York City. Look no further than Greenpoint. This is not just your run of the mill Olympic pool. This is three times the size of an Olympic pool.
Let the politicians and residents of Greenpoint bicker over whose money to use to restore McCarren Pool...let the graffiti guys do their worst...let the constant oxidation of exposed iron do its thing. This pool has Olympics written all over it. Mark Spitz. Janet Evans. Didn't Burt Lancaster turn up here when he filmed The Swimmer?
The other main attraction at McCarren Park is the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration, on North 12th Street, built by architect Louis Allmendinger between 1916 and 1921, a few years before the pool. And after a few laps around the pool in its current condition, you're gonna need to do some praying. All pool photos by Doug Douglass SOURCES An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, Francis Morrone, Gibbs-Smith
2001 Brooklyn, Then and Now, Marcia Reiss, Thunder Bay 2002 HOME| LAMPS | SUBWAYS & TRAINS | ADS | TROLLEYS | SIGNS | COBBLESTONES | STREET SCENES | YOU'D NEVER BELIEVE YOU'RE IN NYC | LINKS | ALLEYS | NECROLOGY | CEMETERIES| E me at erpietri@earthlink.net or kevin@forgotten-ny.com ©2002 Midnight Fish |
