Matthew Migliori heading to the Riverbank locker-room, June 25 2019 photo c Jerry Bruck/nyc
Places to Swim in New York --
1st of many corrected & expanded revisions (1.3)
latest update 3:30pm September 25 2024
(Apologies for the distracting formatting problems, especially spacing; we’re working on it)
This guide is mainly concerned with lap swimming in New York for adults at pools open to the public under their various terms. It tends to cover the early mornings first. There are some exceptions: pool temporarily closed, really nice pools currently closed longer-term but which we hope might some day open or at least open a little. Also now added: Jersey City and perhaps more close-by out-of-State places, thanks in this instance to Riverlapper Allison Goldstein who writes: "If people are interested …. I suspect folks swimming all the way up at Riverbank won't be interested in trekking to Jersey, but just in case, thought I'd offer, since it's my home stomping grounds :)" And we’ll try to get everything here keyed to flags on a map, as a quick index.
This effort has been prompted by the recent 4-months to who-knows-how-long? closing of the Riverbank State Park 50-meter indoor pool in West Harlem, a great City-wide magnet for serious swimmers especially, which has left literally hundreds of early morning-ers high and dry. Gerardo Rodriguez suggested the guide. Dan Friedman has offered to pitch in. I'll be hosting and updating an additional page on my website with news -- when there is any -- of progress on the capital renovation at the Riverbank pool, titled Riverbank Down: https://www.jerrybruck.com/riverbank-down
As much relevant accurate detail as possible has been entered on this quick start, in hopes of helping avoid unexpected disappointment after an impulsive trip to some acts change: it would be prudent to call ahead and check. We need help from you to make this better.
For corrections, and for new info including overlooked pools, please follow this template in an email to us:
--Name of Pool (in bold)
-- pool length/number of lanes total
-- deep end? (yes or no; depth if known)
-- target water temperature range
-- schedule for lap swimming: (as link to pool website if it exists; otherwise whatever you can find, with warning if subject to frequent change;
-- cost: if no pool webpage for this, get what you can, including procedures; charge by visit? by month? by annual membership only?
For info that eludes you, just write "don't know yet" As to why deep ends are listed, see the bit on this at the bottom of the guide. Use the web, then check & supplement by phone or email addresses found there. Please do this before you forget! Email: imagery@jerrybruck.com
-- overview: (by those who’ve used the pool) -- the general experience, behavior of other swimmers, any unexpected peculiarities. You will see the first examples of this in the current version. Say anything you want that’s to the point, including challenging other comments. These personal comments add life and allow different kinds of readers to see the facility though the eyes of swimmers who share their attitudes and concerns. If we edit for clarity and length, we’ll seek your approval of the result. Remember to check your email
Entries are not sorted for cost. At the low end are the City of New York pools ("NYC") and higher on the low end, the YMCAs with their various individual discounts and generous month-to-month option. (Call them, they vary often from one another: we have not listed all their date-limited promotions.) At the high end Asphalt Green's 50m pool and the Equinox chain, as examples. The rest are in between. For an overview, see my bit at the end, "Disappearing Places to Swim in New York". We've not yet worked out the best order in which to present this material, which, finally, begins here:
Other Sources:
US Master Swimming (USMS) https://www.usms.org/clubs
Through this link you can find the very best places for lap swimming anywhere in the country, and with other MS links, elsewhere in the world. Outside NYC and maybe some other urban centers, you may be welcome to join team workouts or swim your own workout in an available lane, at no cost. at all. In NYC you will need to pay. In every case you must have a paid & registered USMS membership (about $70+ per calendar year -- https://www.usms.org/join-usms/join-or-renew) to swim which mainly pays for an insurance policy protecting everyone and everything from liability and even a death benefit to assist your loved ones, if any, with the bills for your send-off.
An everywhere/everything grab bag that people tell me has been useful to them; includes hotels. We’ll check for leads among all this.
NYC's own history of its pools:
https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/pools
City of New York Indoor Pools which are still "temporarily closed" as of Sept 14 2024
St Mary's Pool, Bronx
Brownsville Pool, Brooklyn
Tony Dapolito Pool
Costs common to All City of New York (NYC) indoor pools
"NYC Recreation Center" membership is required, which gives yearly access to all NYC indoor facilities.
Seniors 62 and over: $25; younger adults: $75 for six months, $150 for full year; 10% discount to the prepaid $150 with NYC ID card. Payment by major card, money order or check, no cash accepted.
More: https://www.nycgovparks.org/programs/recreation-centers/membership
Gertrude Ederle Pool (NYC)
Address: 232 West 60th St betw Amsterdam(10th) Ave & 11th Ave
website: Search Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center; phone: (212) 397-3160
Length/lanes: 20 yards/5 lanes (for the moment only 4: one lane line's been removed and awaits "shortening")
Deep end: Yes/8? feet
Target water temperature range: 80-81 (on a recent visit 75; broiler trouble evidently now fixed)
Schedule for lap swimming: https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/M063/schedule#Pool
(Note: Oct 15 schedule revision coming, Sat morning lap swimming may disappear. morn lap which starts at 7a will end around 9:45)
Cost: see NYC indoor pools, above; Ederle currently offering pool membership extension for free
Overview: "The Ederle, dating back to 1906 is an odd duck. In 2009 it was the recipient of a massive 4-year(!) restoration to its original condition, as if it was the Taj Mahal. This misconceived preservationism managed to keep the things that make it harder for lap swimmers there than it should be.
-- there are no lane lines tiled or painted lengthwise on the bottom of the pool, just one across; backstroke flags are in place now.
-- the shallow end preserves an underwater marble ledge that projects outward; flip-turners are likely to slam heels or arches onto this.
-- there's accordingly no warning for freestylers of the approach of the deep end wall, which is high; a high brass rail is attached for open turns.
-- There are no gutters lining the walls to catch and lessen waves, as exist in more recent pools.
-- Ladders project out into the water -- remember them! -- and stairs into the water in the eastern-most lane shorten that lane.
"The management here in years past has been super-passive, allowing some problems to linger that have made the pool unswimmable. For long periods during 2022 and 2023 -- perhaps someone can tell us exactly when and for how long -- the four lane lines required for lap swimming in all five lanes declined to 3, 2 and then none as their attachments to wall grips failed. Those in command refused to make or allow temporary fixes with, say, a few feet of rope to anchor each line, going by the book instead and causing whole new anti-turbulent lines to be ordered. These never seemed to arrive, month after month after month. On a recent September visit one of these was out of service because of "extra length" and awaits trimming, expected return unknown.
"Mens' locker room very cramped, for those who care about this.
"The very small size of this pool can render it suddenly overcrowded for lap swimming, depending not just on numbers but on who shows up.” /Jerry
"The Gertrude Elderly pool was quite cold when I used to go (pre-COVID). It was a real pain to get out [for people who can't climb ladders], however: at all City-run pools, the lifeguards won't operate the lift, so you have to wait for them to call a City Parks department employee to come do it, and that takes time. I had to plan ahead, asking the lifeguard to get the Parks Dept. person when I still had several laps to go." /Sue
Constance Baker Motley Pool (NYC)
address: East 54th St (south side) betw 1at & 2nd Aves
website: search "Constance Baker Motley Pool"; phone (lifeguards): 212 397 3157
length/lanes: 18 yards (two outside lanes) and 16 yards (2 inside lanes), 8 narrow lanes configured as four lanes
target water temp range: 79-82
Deep end? Yes (12 feet)
Schedule: opens: 7am; https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/M130/schedule#Pool
cost: see overall NYC entry for cost
crowds: vary unpredictably
Overview; "Another odd duck: If 18 yards isn't short enough for you, the two inside lanes (of four) are 16 yards long, the result of a protruding platform that 100 years ago would hold a man pushing on a plunger in order to force air down a rubber tube to an underwater figure dressed in what resembles a loose spacesuit, an iron globe (with small window) about the head locked to a metal ring round the shoulders -- such was the look and training for divers in those days. This pool too was the recipient of what must have been millions for a restoration make-over, leaving this platform in place. Unlike Ederle, Motley has clear lane lines on the bottom and the pool at least seems better managed. The lockers are bigger but feature a long and sometimes chilly descent down a circular stairway to the almost-windowless basement pool." /Jerry
Asser Levy Pool (NYC) Re-opening Sept 16
Address: Asser Levy Place and E. 23rd Street
Pool Length/lanes: 23 yds/ ? lanes
Deep end? 8 feet?
Target water temperature range:
Contact: phone: (212) 447-2020
Cost: see above
Overview:
Hansborough Pool (NYC) closed until March 2026
Address: 134th St. between Fifth & Lenox Aves.
Pool Length/lanes: 25 yds/ /? lanes
Deep end? 9 feet?
Contact: Phone: (212) 234-9603
Cost: See entry for all nyc pools
Schedule:
Overview:
Chelsea Pool (NYC)
Address: West 25th St. between 9th & 10th Aves
pool length/lanes: 25 yds/6 lanes
Deep End? Yes, 10 feet
Schedule: https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/M260/schedule#Pool Adult lap currently 7a-9:45 M-F, 8-11:45 Sun
Contact: Phone: (212) 255-3705
Cost: see entry for all NYC pools, above
Overview: "The pool I can recommend is the NYC Parks & Rec pool in Chelsea on West 25th Street. It's got more lanes than the West Side Y pool. Even though it has more serious lap swimmers I've never had to wait to get in. But, the lap swimming schedule is limited, though not as much as the Y. Annual membership at the City Parks & Rec isn't outrageously priced.[!] There's a reduced senior price as well." /Sean Pollock
“Really nice pool. You can also play ping-pong or pool before or after swimming.“ /Jerry
Flushing Meadows Corona Park Pool (NYC) reopening October 1 2024
address: Avery Avenue and 131 Street, Flushing Queens
pool length/lanes: 50 meters x 10 lanes BUT: it is "never" strung for 50m (aka long course) but divided into three sections and swum the
width: section 1: diving well, only open with special supervision; (2)lap section: 25 meters x 10 lanes, 7 1/2 ft deep; (3) "family" section in shallow 1/3
Deep end? Yes middle section 7 1/2 feet deep
Target water temperature range: 79-82
Pool schedule: https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/Q099/schedule#Pool
Contact: web page? Phone (718) 271-7572
Overview:
Roy Wilkins Pool (NYC)
Address: 177th Street and Baisley Boulevard
Pool length/lanes: 25 yds/? lanes
Deep end; Yes (9 feet)
Target water temp range:
Contact: Phone: (718) 276-8686
Schedules: https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/Q448/schedule#Pool
Cost: see entry for all nyc pools
Overview:
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92nd Street Y (not a YMCA)
address:1395 Lexington Ave. (between 91st & 92nd street)
website: https://www.92ny.org
pool length/lanes: 25 yds/4? lanes
Deep end?
Target water temperature range:
Schedule: (adult lap swim from 6am M-F, from 8am SatSun)
https://www.92ny.org/92StreetY/media/DOCUMENTS/MayCenter/Pool-Schedule.pdf
Cost: Membership office: 212.415.5729
Contact: "For more information, email or call us at 212 415 5700"
YMHA history and overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Street_Y
Pool Overview:
Marlene Meyerson JCC
Address 344 Amsterdam Avenue (cross streets 75-76th)
Pool length/Lanes: 25 yds/5 lanes
Deep end? (conflicting reports: either none or 7 feet)
Water temperature range:
Website: https://mmjccm.org/
Contact: https://mmjccm.org/join/jcc-pool-membership email joinjcc@mmjccm.org "or give us a call at 646.505 4414"
Schedule: https://mmjccm.org/hours-schedules/hours-schedules M-F 5:30am - 10pm; Sat -Sun 6a-8p
Cost: $120/month plus $150 signing on, but many offers see also: contact
Overview: "A former classmate of mine took me to swim once as a guest at the JCC at 76th and Amsterdam. The locker room was the most luxurious I have ever seen and had separate areas for boys and for teenagers .... The shower stalls were made of frosted glass that was 1" thick and stocked with all sorts of soaps, lathers and shaving materials, but the pool itself was a disappointment. It was 25 yards long, which was nice, but had no deep end and was probably about 84 degrees ... The JCC is more of a spa than a swimming place." /Alan
"I bit the bullet and joined JCC for 5 months. I think there was a deal somewhere in there. (about $100/month for seniors). It’s been OK but this morning at 6 the slow lane was full of people I had to stare carefully to see if they were coming toward me or swimming away. The lane called medium slow which is a good name, was passing me super aggressively. However, by 7:15 the slow lanes were fine. Medium slow looked good too. I’ve been 4 times before and really didn’t have a problem." /Irene
Asphalt Green
address: UES: 555 East 90th St (at York Ave); Battery Park City: 212 North End Ave
website: https://www.asphaltgreen.org/ues/programs/aquatics/
Pool lengths/lanes: 50m/25m/25 yds x 10? lanes Deep end? (think so, at least @ ues)
Schedule: M-F 5:30am - 10pm; Sat -Sun 6a-8p https://www.asphaltgreen.org/ues/schedules/pool-schedule
Cost: Membership Office: 212.369.8890 x2081
Overview: "New York's first indoor 50-meter pool, is an unusual kind of partnership between a non-profit recreational organization and the City, which donated an abandoned asphalt plant and surrounding land as well as, later on, millions to build the impressive aquatic center, all this in return for the use of 30% of its time for public school programs. From the start the main pool been the object of completing claims. One comes from the membership of high-paying individuals, including a United States Masters Swimming team that trains in the morning, then the large and intense age-group competitive swim team, the Aguas, which routinely sends early teens to Olympic trials; and the many high schools teams that predominate in afternoons. The management, deserving or not, often is, or at least used to be, under heavy fire. My memories of the place from twenty years ago feature cold water and brusque swimmers, sometimes an atmosphere of unfriendliness and even sharp elbows. Everyone in a hurry. Swimming ability level higher than at most places.
"The best learn-to-swim place for toddlers and small children, from what I observed and the people I knew, though again this was some time ago. AG has a dedicated teaching pool, very warm and shallow, parents are encouraged to join their kids in the water. Many children hate encountering water but this is often overcome early here by their trust in, and desire to please the patient, experienced and charismatic teaching staff.
"The location is far from central and hard to get to early in the morning, especially by public transportation, unless you live nearby, like to bike miles in the dark or have a car. Everything is expensive. /Jerry
Sacred Heart
address: 406 East 91st Street btw 1st and York
Pool length/lanes:25 yds/6 lanes -- Deep end?
Target water temperature range: c.80
Contact: 212-722-4745, ext. 719
schedule: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/mainclass?fl=true&tabID=104
Cost: rates vary from single drop-in hour at $30 to 3-pack $80 to 6-pack $140 to monthly $200
Overview: "very clean and well-maintained facility, always plenty of room at least when I swam there a few years ago. NYC's most accomplished Olympian, Lia Neal, was on the school team here. Feel free to also link to my blog, 40 Pools - https://40pools.wordpress.com/. The info is old but in many cases still relevant."/ Hannah Borgeson
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Links to 21 NYC YMCAs
With website, phone and location to start with:
https://ymcanyc.org/locations?type&amenities=1291&programs
La Central YMCA
Address: 434 Westchester Ave betw Bergen and Brook Aves, Bronx (2 or 5 train to 149th St/3rd Ave)
Pool length/Lanes: 25 yds, 4 lanes with backstroke flags and pace clock
Deep end? Yes, 8' 8"
Target water temperature range: 82 (Janet measured 81 at her first visit)
Website: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/la-central-ymca
Contact: Tony Liciaga, Aquatics Director, tliciaga@ymcanyc.org
Schedule: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/la-central-ymca/la-central-schedules#swim
Cost: Adult: $56/month; senior: 46/month; full details: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/la-central-ymca/la-central-membership
Overview: "Today I joined the Y and swam in the pool at La Central. The facility is new and seems well maintained. I thought it was great. I split a lane with a pretty good swimmer. The other lanes had only one swimmer. Another guy in the next lane was swimming holding aquatic dumbells and loaded down with fins and ankle weights -- not judging, just observing. The pool is supposedly quite empty most of the time. It looks like you should be able to join online, but you cannot. They are still very much chained to hard copy. The staff is friendly and helpful, the showers are hot. Many health insurance plans cover Y memberships for seniors." /Janet Piez
“I visited La Central last week, used the pool on a guest pass and am now a member for the next four months. The pool is gorgeous and locker rooms are great. The Y has been open just a year so everything is new and the design is beautiful. It's easy to get to from downtown Manhattan: The 2 or 5 train is a short walk away at the Hub - Third Ave and 149th Street. The area is grungy, but so what... I've swum there three times already. Always had a lane to myself - I'm told midday attendance is light, so it's perfect for the retiree I am! There's also a steam room, which I visit after a swim. I believe the four-months-for-three promotion ends on Monday [Oct 7 2024]. Not sure, but the senior rate is just $46, so with the promotion I'm paying $38/month. Also, the fitness room is top notch. I haven't used it yet but I took a look. Awesome.” /Myra
Harlem YMCA
Address: 180 W 135th St. (between Adam Clayton Powell and Malcolm X Blvds). Phone. 212-912-2100.
pool length/lanes: 20 yds, 4 lanes
Deep end?
Target water temperature range:
Contact: Miguel Rodriguez, Aquatics Director, mirodriguez@ymcanyc.org 212-912-2116
schedule: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/harlem-ymca/schedules
Cost: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/harlem-ymca/membership available by the month, eg senior $65/mo
Overview: "The Harlem Y has two pools. I find them too small. Again, it's the Y which favors youth programs in its schedule. I'd prefer an uptown pool. Finding a minimum 25 yd pool with lane dividers and dedicated lap swimming for a reasonable price is difficult." /Sean Pollock
"I have a membership at the Harlem Y, which allows me to try other locations several times a year. I am planning to check out La Central this or next weekend. The pool at the Harlem Y is only 20-yard long with four narrow lanes, one of which is reserved for aquacise type of activities but the deep end (8-9 foot deep?) of this lane is usually unused so there is always an option of vertical kicking.
"The lane width is such that it would be very uncomfortable for two people to swim side-by-side at the same speed even in freestyle, which is to say that, even when two people agree to split the lane to do their own things, some skills and quickness are required in at least one of the swimmers to avoid contact. So far, I have experienced being in a lane with only two other people, which made it impossible to swim normally (sculling exercise anyone?), but I heard the pool can get very crowded depending on the time of day. However, generally, people come and go and do not stay in the water very long, so there are moments when you can swim quite freely. I don't know the target water temperature but they seem to maintain it at a level that feels comfortable to me." /Jun Maruta
West Side YMCA
address: 5 West 63rd/Central Park West
Length/lanes: main pool is 25 yds/four lanes
Deep end? Yes, 8 feet
Contact: westsideymca.org pool director phone: 212 912 2617
Schedule: Opening: 6am; "least crowded" time: 12-2pm; morning and late afternoon: most crowded
Target water temperature range: 80-81
Overview: "I was the Aquatics Director at the West Side YMCA on West 63rd Street more than 2 decades ago. However, the Y isn't known for fast progress so what I can write about it is most likely still true.
"There are two pools. The large pool is kept around 80º F. It's mainly used for lap swimming. But there are also youth swim team practice and swim lessons during various times. Those times can change throughout the year according to school hours. The small pool is used primarily for water exercise classes and swim lessons. It is kept at a much higher temperature, around 90º F.
"For lap swimming, there can be time limits depending on if there are people waiting on deck. Up to 5 swimmers are permitted per lane at a time. Mixed strokes are only possible when 1 or 2 swimmers are in the lane. The pattern is always circle swimming, not splitting. Because it's the Y, youth activities take precedence over adult use of the pool. Lessons and swim team practice tend to take up a lot of time.
"My personal feelings on the pool: I prefer pool temperature under 80ºF. I like to swim for an hour. So waiting on deck for a spot in the lane could eat into the time I can spend at the pool.
"The pool I can recommend is the NYC Parks & Rec pool in Chelsea on West 25th Street. It's got more lanes than the West Side Y pool. Even though it has more serious lap swimmers I've never had to wait to get in. But, the lap swimming schedule is limited, though not as much as the Y. Annual membership at the City Parks & Rec isn't outrageously priced. There's a reduced senior price as well.
"The Harlem Y has two pools. I find them too small. Again, it's the Y which favors youth programs in its schedule. I'd prefer an uptown pool. Finding a minimum 25 yd pool with lane dividers and dedicated lap swimming for a reasonable price is difficult.
"Asphalt Green and Chelsea Piers are out of my price range. Hope people can come up with more ideas." /Sean Pollock
"One thing that you might consider adding to your descriptions of pools is how accessible they are. While I swim 40+ (25-yard) laps at a time, I had real trouble at the 63rd Street Y because I can't climb a lot of stairs, and didn't relish going around in my wet swimsuit to get an elevator up to the women's locker room. /Sue
McBurney YMCA
Manhattan
Address: 125 West 14th Street (nr 6th Avenue)
Pool length/lanes:
Deep end?
Schedule: lap swim M-F from 6:15am; from 8:16 SatSun; https://ymcanyc.org/locations/mcburney-ymca/schedules#swim
Contact: 212-912-2300
Cost:
Overview:
Vanderbilt YMCA
Address: 224 East 47th St/
Website & phone: https://ymcanyc.org 212-912-2500 (very helpful)
Two pools, West (families and instruction) and East (adult lap); seems open for laps M-F from 6:15 am until evening; 8:15am SatSun; check schedule
East pool: 25 yes/6 lanes
Deep end in lap pool? No, 4 feet throughout
Target water temp range: 79-82
Cost: free for Medicare-Plus at this Y -- not the case at all Ys; adult: $119/mo; student and senior: $96/mo; family rates; membership month-to-month, 2 weeks cancellation notice required, I seem to remember; until October: 3 months gets 4th month free; membership here gives access to all NYC Ys
Overview: A fine though windowless pool in basement; large steam-room and sauna in locker-rooms /Jerry
Flushing YMCA
Address: 138-46 Northern Blvd, Flushing, NY 11354
Pool length/no of lanes: 25 meters/6 lanes
Deep end? Yes (12 feet)
Projected Temperature range: 82-84
Schedule: https://ymcanyc.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/Large%20Pool%20Schedule%202024.pdf
Contact: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/flushinE clubs g-ymca/ Kaitlin Toussaint Aquatics Director ktoussaint@ymcanyc.org 718-551-9359
Cost: "Our day pass is $25, week pass is $35, monthly membership is $77, and a 1 month special is $100 without having to renew."
Overview:
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Equinox --commercial chain
Including six among NYC locations with indoor pools: https://www.equinox.com/clubs/new-york
Locations with pools:
Columbus Circle
East 61st
East 63rd/Lex
Sports Club NY/160 Columbus
32 Hudson Yards
Greenwich Ave
Overview: Pricey; varies from $405 to $315/mo depending on how many other E clubs you wish access to; no pool details on website -- they look short and narrow. Saline. Many references to special personal attention, nice smells.
/Jerry
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Columbia College/University Pool
Address: Uris pool in Dodge Center (NW corner of main campus), 3030 Broadway at West 120th St
Contact: 212-854-7149 email: dfcmembership@columbia.edu phone: 212-854-2546 Office: M-F: 9:00am-7:30pm
Pool length/lanes: 25 yds/8 lanes (described as "Olympic sized" on Columbia website)
Deep end? Yes (12 feet; diving boards)
Pool Schedule: Jasmine writes: "For general lap swim, 12-1p is usually pretty crowded 2-3 per each of the 8 lanes. 1-2p starts to have less people."
Cost and availability: Membership office: Phone: 212-854-2546 email: dfcmembership@columbia.edu
Jasmine Chou reports: "You can only use this pool, if you are affiliated with the University. Otherwise there is a paid master swim program Tues/Thurs/Fri starting at 6am." What this team "Columbia Tri" (popular with motivated Riverlappers) says about itself: "Best swim workout you will find in New York City!" Tues, Th, F 6-7am October through March; 6-7:30am April through Sept. Call James Bolster 212-427-8950 jbb2@columbia.edu (Bolster is the exceptional coach of the Columbia College men's team. He runs the Tri workouts but does not coach individuals on the team for form.) $500 for Oct-March season; $600 for April - Sept season.
Overview: A reputation for being very heavily used. Two smaller pools on campus have in recent years been demolished for office space.
"One thing that you might consider adding to your descriptions of pools is how accessible they are. While I swim 40+ (25-yard) laps at a time, I had real trouble at the 63rd Street Y because I can't climb a lot of stairs, and didn't relish going around in my wet swimsuit to get an elevator up to the women's locker room. The Columbia pool, like Riverbank, has a lift to get swimmers out of the pool if they need it, and there's a (tiny) locker room on the same floor as the pool. There's a large locker room on the 4th floor, with stairs or an elevator. My own experience at Columbia and conversations with other women there suggest that lanes that happen to end up all-women follow cooperative swimming conventions more than in lanes with men. At Riverbank, there was no difference.
"The Gertrude Elderly pool was quite cold when I used to go (pre-COVID). It was a real pain to get out, however: at all City-run pools, the lifeguards won't operate the lift, so you have to wait for them to call a City Parks department employee to come do it, and that takes time. I had to plan ahead, asking the lifeguard to get the Parks Dept. person when I still had several laps to go." /Sue
Lehman College, Apex Center
Address: Apex Center, Lehman College Bronx; nearest bus & subway?
website/phone: aquatics director/swim coach: peter.kiernan@lehman.cuny.edu phone ext 7123
Length/lanes: 50m/8? lanes Note: strung for 2 x 25m pools Sept thru March; Apr-Aug: long course (50m)
Pool schedule: https://lehmanathletics.com/sports/2023/1/27/spring-2023-operating-hours.aspx Mon-Friday: 12 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Sat: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Sun 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Cost: https://lehmanathletics.com/sports/2023/6/29/apex-membership.aspx
Overview: The best or 2nd-best of the 4 indoor 50m pools in NYC, when it's 50m, that is; a long trip for many people from the other boroughs./Jerry
Sportspark Aquatics Center (Roosevelt Island)
Address: 524 Main Street, Roosevelt Island; directions on website, including cable car
pool length/lanes: 25 yards/6 lanes
Deep end? Yes 8 1/2 feet
contact: website and phone: https://www.rioc.ny.gov/607/Sportspark-Aquatics-Center (212) 832-4540 (general phone for facility)
Schedule: Open Swim" 7am-4pm M-F; check website for more
Cost: "Drop in" fee for "open swim", non-members: $15 day; membership? Call about diff between lap and open swim
Overview:
Caps and locks mandatory; Same thunder & lightening evacuation rule as RB
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These Pools not Currently open to the public:
St.Bart's Community House Pool
Address: 109 East 50th St
A saline pool
length/lanes: 20 yards/5 lanes
Deep end? Yes (9 feet)
Target temperature range: 82-84
Contact: Barry Warner 212 378 0219
NOTE: This pool is Not open to individuals in the general public; available only for whole pool rental by contract in advance. A description of this, as illustration of what can be requited to bring a pool back to wider use, to come soon.
London Terrace Pool
Address: 65 West 23rd Street
>> Contact: https://londonterracetowers.com/residents/amenities-faq/#healthclub
Length: 25 yards/6? lanes
Deep end: yes
Hours: 6a-8p M-F; 7a-7p weekends
Access: (2) guests are permitted when accompanied by the resident who has obtained a guest pass from the Health Club. The current fee is $15.00 per guest to be paid by credit card, debit card, or check only. No cash will be accepted.
Overview: A really nice pool, from memory; from the inter-war days when swimming mattered more to more and pools were built bigger and better. /Jerry
DF Riverbank State Park Indoor Pool -- closed until early month(s) of 2025
Pool length/lanes : 50m before 8:15am/ 7 or sometime 8 lanes in early morning; 2 x 25 yd lanes at most other times, 7 - 8 lanes in each
Deep end? No, 4 feet throughout
Target water temperature range: 79-81? (recently as wide as 75-92)
Schedule: see Contact web page. Early morning swim 6:30am-8:15am 364 days/year, long course
Contact: https://parks.ny.gov/documents/parks/RiverbankAQUATICSSwimmingPoolSchedule.pdf (includes some its very many rules; Note: this has not been updated since at least July 4 2024); phone: 212 496 -3664, -3665, -3666 (Admin rarely answers phones and hardly ever updates outgoing message tapes); "For more detailed information, e-mail us at DFRBSPAquatics@parks.ny.gov or CONTACT (212)694-3660 [life-guards]
Cost: $3 per swim for adults, $1 for over-62s; 10%+ discount for 20+ individual swims per purchase, or unlimited per month
Overview: "A State Park, micromanaged from Albany and the Office of Parks' NYC regional office; one of only four 50 meter indoor pools in NYC and the only one strung for 50m early mornings 364 days per year. A friendly and generally cooperative crowd serious about swimming and generally observant of swimming etiquette. Major overhaul of lockers and showers recently completed.
"A fuller description of Riverbank Aquatics and its rules will later appear on this website on the "Riverbank Down" page." /Jerry
City College of New York reportedly re-opening? January 2025
address: 160 Convent Avenue (ie, up the hill East of Riverbank)
Pool length/no of lanes; 25 yds/6?
Deep end?
Target temperature range:
Contact: Tomeka Austin, Aquatics Director TAustin1@ccny.cuny.edu
Additional contacts:
Karina Jorge Interim Director of Athletics kjorge@ccny.cuny.edu 212.650.7524
Sebastian Bush Asist Dir of Athletics for Comm unications 212.650.6925 sbush@ccny.cuny.edu
Athletics Department, Marshak Science Building, Room MR-20, 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031 phone: 212.650.8228
Overview: "This fine 25 yard pool, just up the hill from Riverbank State Park, has been closed for what seems like a decade, encased in an opaque and never-ending renovation. Despairing swimmers among students and faculty have over the years tried and failed to learn what if anything is happening.
"Karina Jorge told us that a January 2025 opening was scheduled, but since that call neither she nor the staffers she referred us to, have responded to multiple phone and email queries, hence the lack of details here. Any availability of this pool might be of interest to many local swimmers.” /Jerry
"Most of the internet info says the CCNY pool will reopen January 2024 (yes, 2024), so I go by the CCNY athletics office once in a while to inquire about the pool. Earlier this week I found a person staffing the office. They gave me the DASNY info below. So, here's what is known:
“The pool, which has a deep end and is located in the basement of 160 Convent Avenue, Marshak Science Building, was closed suddenly and without explanation or campus-wide communication in September 2013. (yes, 2013) The pool now looks renovated and full of water.
“The pool is currently under the control of DASNY [Dormitory Authority of the State of NY]. They are responsible for buildings on the CCNY campus. The people in the office said CCNY is waiting for DASNY to "release", i.e. sign-off on, the 11-year-pool-repair administered by DASNY. Presumably CCNY will start hiring lifeguards and heating the pool after they take possession.
“Prior to the closing, the pool was only open to the public through a Sunday morning Masters Class. Experience predicts that the Riverbank pool will re-open before DASNY and CCNY reopen the CCNY pool, and after that, swimmers not affiliated with CCNY might have to enroll in classes to gain access to the pool. Meanwhile, chlorinated water everywhere, but not a drop to swim in.” /reported by Anonymous CCNY employee
More background:
https://harlemview.com/city-college/2023/11/new-promise-for-ccny-swimming-pool-opening/
Jersey City Pools
research and commentary by Allison Goldstein
St. Peter's University Aquatics Center
Address: 870 Montgomery Street
Pool length/lanes :25yd, 8 lanes
Deep end? Yes
Unsure on open lap swimming, but there is a JC Masters swim team that just started that practices T/R (5:30-6:30am) and Sat (6:30-8am). Cost is $299 for remainder of 2024.
Contact: Jose Cruz https://saintpeterspeacocks.com/sports/swimming-and-diving/roster/coaches/jose-cruz/2378
Pershing Field Pool
Address: 201 Central Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07307
Pool length/lanes 25m/5 lanes (depending on time of day)
Pool temp is on the warm side
Website: https://jcrec.recdesk.com/Community/Facility/Detail?facilityId=2
Deep end? Yes
Monday-Friday: 7am-10am Adult Swim (more lanes open); 10am-12pm, 1pm-3pm, 3:30pm-6:30pm Family Swim (fewer lanes)
Saturday & Sunday: 12pm-2pm, 3pm-5pm Family Swim (limited lanes)
JC Resident fee: $3 weekdays, $4 weekends
Non-JC-resident fee: $6 weekdays, $8 weekends
This facility is about on par with the public NYC Park and Rec center pool facilities.
Bruce D. Walter Recreational Center
Address: 507 West Street, Union City, NJ, 07087
phone: 201-392-3696
Pool length/lanes: 25yd, 6 lanes
Pool is average lap swim temp
Website: https://www.ucnj.com/Departments/recreation
Deep end? Yes
M-F 6:30am-2:30pm
Sat 6:30am-8:30am
Free for JC residents
This is a public high school facility, on par with public NYC Park and Rec center pool facilities.
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Why The Deep End Matters
Many pools covered in this guide will prove very crowed during the times you need there, and some are unusually short -- in one case down to 16 yards. Yet some of these have a feature that Riverbank lacks: they have deep ends, more than 6 1/2 feet, say: over just about everyone's head. Why does this matter?
The main reason is that it allows vertical kicking. This requires maintaining a vertical position, hands and wrists out of the water, leaning neither forward nor back, and trying to keep your mouth above water, so that you can go on breathing.
The correct kick originates at the hips, which should swing as if, say, you were race-walking; this motion will ripple down each leg to the ankle, which then snaps like the tip of a whip (this is especially true of the butterfly kick, more accurately aka the body dolphin, though here the stating motion starts even higher, at the chest).
Toes: pointed! — legs: supple -- let the water bend your knees; legs close together, the kick rapid and narrow -- within the shadow of your torso. "Fast feet, fast feet!" Michael Phelps' coach used to urge him during kicking drills.
You can practice all three of the competitive kicks in this way. Novice swimmers, who can't get the knack of kicking, tend to swiftly discover it in the face of respiratory necessity. More advanced swimmers will not likely find a better conditioning drill. Try for repeated continuous periods of say :30 seconds, then a minute, then 5, then 10. At that point try raising your arms half-way to the elbow; then to the elbow; than straight up.
Find the most out-of-the-way spot and to keep a close eye on approaching swimmers; lifeguards will consider the right of way to be theirs. Anyone actually achieving the whole-arms-out for longer than a minute gets a free glue-backed gold star affixed by us to any desired location on your face. (No more than one gold star per person. Gold stars have no monetary value. Olympic and World Championship finalists not eligible. Dispute resolution by Santa Claus, North Pole)
(PS: From a recent personal experiment in walking the walk: o my this is Much harder then it used to be! “Ten minutes“ indeed! Those learning or recovering their kick may legally to sink beneath the surface -- hands and wrists still above it though -- and hang there on a full breath in drown-proofing mode, though still remaining vertical. Pick up the intensity when required to grab a breath.)" /Jerry
Disappearing Places to Swim in New York City
Dan Friedman writes: "I used to swim in both those pools [Barnard and Teacher's College -- Columbia University] — they were both destroyed and replaced by offices. Then I went to the Paris Health Club which was bought and closed. Then I went to the JCC which survived me. Then I came to Riverbank which has just (temporarily) closed. Maybe I'm just bad luck."
I can add to this melancholy sequence. New to New York 45 years ago, I found the 20-yard basement Parc Swim and Heath Club, 56th @ 9th, at back of the monumental 1931-built Parc Vendome. It was open 24 hours and served as community glue and collegial hub for both hoi polloi and very high shots. A dancer in the corps might share a lane with a name choreographer, musicians with the occasional impresario. Celebrities in hiding from the public, not least in swimming gear, and touring artists would came round after midnight to work out as an alternative to getting plastered after bowing off the concert or theater stage.
This pool was shut down without warning in the mid-80s, evidently a dispute over back rent, and then left to sit empty for 40 years, one could sometimes peer down into the empty spaces through gaps in the paint covering the windows. Would it ever come back? No: the site was "sold" according to a Vendome source and has just now reopened as one of hundreds of franchises named The Learning Experience (Academy of Early Education), a part- to full-time daycare operation that takes in kids from 6 weeks (!) through preschool, and from learning their own names to toilet & yoga training until, just a little later, a class for parents on "Ways to nurture philanthropy lessons with your child at home". Sample: "Explain that not everyone has the ability to enjoy all the benefits and opportunities your family may take for granted."
Onward next to the then-West 59th St NYC pool, way to the west. As winter drew near this was taken over from late afternoon for NYC ocean beach lifeguard training which led to finding myself that summer on a beach in Far Rockaway with LIFEGUARD printed on my uniform, surrounded by a crowd including many small children in the charge of slightly older ones and where no one knew how to swim, not a one. Hospital waste from New Jersey washed up on the sand, used needles in the midst of the aids epidemic and the crowds went away but people continued to drown there, then as now, at least one a year on average, many on that very spot, after life guards had left for the day or the season.
See more about what's now called the Gertrude Ederle pool under the entry for that place. The real calamity for that location occurred at the adjacent outdoor pool. This was very wide and 33-yards long, another of the odd-lengths Robert Moses specified to prevent its takeover by competitions and team training. Until recently it had been deep but after junkies started scaling the fence and, forgetting that they couldn't swim, occasionally sinking unconscious to the bottom, the City began concrete pours that left them all shallow, here about 3 1/2 feet. Even so that pool was more than welcoming on hot summer days. (Below:)
Photo c Jerry Bruck/nyc
There was more than enough land around it for a full-scale 50 meter competition pool, with zero acquisition cost to the City. Without anyone who might have fought this knowing about it -- as far as I know, I could be wrong about this -- the pool was destroyed in favor of a toddler playground serving families moving into the expensive high-rise next door and others nearby, despite a small grassy park around the corner and, a few blocks further, the vastness of Riverside Park. (Below: Lifeguards at the West 59th Outdoor Pool on the last day of the summer season, September 1 1985.)
Photo c Jerry Bruck/nyc
On to the Lexington Avenue YWCA in the late 80s while looking for something longer than 60 feet, (This is a completely separate organization from the YM.) Six lanes squeezed into a five-lane 25 yard pool, a magnet for executives from nearby Citibank headquarters. These were men under pressure, with zero job security and for whom really long interval sets (including IMs) at 6:30a were a rare safety valve. There were other types too and of course (supposedly young and Christian) women, all following different drummers. Then around 2002 this otherwise politically-radical outfit fired the staff of its whole building without notice to a soul after finalizing a sale to a developer.
Instead of the advertised high-end hotel, over the next almost-15 years, the building stood empty (you could see the drained pool from the street now and again), then high weeds growing from a rubble-strewn lot, then an empty paved lot and finally -- the 62 story condominium tower Selene, s\with fewer than 62 units. Cheapskates might sneak in here for low seven figures but not if you want to "Live Artfully," while if you have a family in tow it's up and up and up. If you wish to know how much up, chances are you can't afford any of it. A 2-lane 60 foot 4-foot-deep pool has been shoe-horned onto a lower floor. Sunlit. "Wood and granite accents."
I could go on. I draw from this, first, that the City public and private is abandoning swimming as a standard amenity, even in the form of splash pools in summer for children unable to escape to somewhere cooler. (Over the past few summers it has even left many outdoor NYC community pools closed because of its failure to recruit lifeguards. "We do terribly need more pools in this city," Victoria de Grazia writes in. "Aside from all of us, all of those thousands and thousands of kids! You should have seen the crowds on those very hot days late last Spring.") [Stop the press! Sept 23 Adams administration claims otherwise: “Investing $1 Billion in Pools Over Five Years, Highest Level of Pool Investment Since 1970s” and more.] City land has become so expensive that building a substantial new pool is beyond the means, not to speak of the desire, not only of commercial and non-profit developers but with very few exceptions, the City itself. On top of this, new and pervasive forms of corruption have made accurate budgeting of major public works impossible. Other considerations on top of all this make City construction far more expensive than it would be elsewhere.
And so it's to the billionaires we turn; just who or what else is there at this point? Want to preserve a lasting positive memory, preferably where the action is or will be? This just might be it. Formerly big philanthropy prized journalism, then schools of "communication" or "media" -- these now are sidelined by tech, by the revolutions in distribution, by widening public preference for entertainment and for ignorance, the deeper the better. Ditto the former help for classical music concert halls, endowed programs of musical high culture, annual prizes -- commercial-sized audiences for these and even for grand opera are well along on the way to extinction, helped that "contemporary classical" is now almost entirely academic and inaccessible to non-musicians not specially trained to understand that it's better than it sounds.
Maybe then the task of saving swimming in New York becomes recruiting today's super-rich to the heavy lift of building pools, lots of small-but-swimmable year-rounders but notably including a distribution of real pools -- 50 meter competition-speced monsters protected by adjacent smaller warmer pools for wading, physical therapy and child instruction, built and run as private/public partnerships with federal-state-and-local matches of various kinds supplementing the private philanthropy.
The cultivation of private money requires patient diplomats who can dress well and listen good, reverently, always on call. The campaign should use the same two-word battering ram that more than anything put a lid on cigarette smoking: the primacy of public heath. Then these names -- names of the billionaires who made this possible, who got the ball rolling -- can be engraved in granite and cast in steel, stainless and harvesting the gratitude of generations to come. /Jerry
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Below: One-Train tracks @ 137 St (Riverbank stop) looking South toward where still-open pools are most likely to be (Photo cJerryBruck/nyc)
