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September 9, 2003: Haunted Pool

abandoned pool on 60th street

abandoned pool on 60th street

abandoned pool on 60th street

As I was skating down 60th Street on Saturday, I noticed this spooky old abandoned pool behind a rusty fence. I found it strangely beautiful. Who used to swim there?

manhattan

Comments

That's the old outdoor pool at the West 59th St. Rec Center. The Rec Center is still open, although it now has an indoor pool. (Check out the red brick building near the rear right of the photo.) The outdoor pool was built when they first built the center in 1906. It was shut down in 1990. There's a plan to rebuild the Rec Center - including a new swanky outdoor pool - but it will apparently cost upwards of $25M. Local pols have raised something like $2M so far.

I used to swim there with my cousin and other neighborhood kids. It was a great pool in the late forties and early fifties. There was a kiddie pool there too.

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