Coda to summer, Dormont Pool

This photo is from 2017, the Dormont Pool, Pittsburgh, PA

Didn't make it to the pool on Labor Day 2018, even though it's one of my favorite places in the world. Have been swimming there since the early 1980s when we bought our first house, in Dormont. Interesting to see how it has changed over the years. For example, now it seems lifeguards are hired outside; I don't know, but they are very professional, not high school kids sitting on tall chairs. They stand, with rescue equipment.

Dormont Pool, Sept. 2017

The diving boards are long gone, but there's a fun slide and a kind of giant mushroom thing in the kids' end that has a water spray coming out of it. There are two old, heavy turnstyles when you go in, with a check-in counter in the middle of them. $7 if you are not a resident (as I am these days). Behind that is the lifeguard’s room. Usually you can hear them chatting.

For a long time, there was a woman who swam there, older than me, who had the oddest crawl stroke. Her right arm was always fully extended, but her left never made it above water. In the winter, I would see her doing laps about the time that I did, early morning, at the South Hills JCC. Haven’t seen her in years; she seemed so dedicated. I found out at the JCC that her name was Sue, but never met her personally.

Despite the updates over the years, the women’s locker room still has that cavernous, chlorine-y, concrete-y kind of feeling. The ceiling is low. There are a few changing booths, a couple of bathroom stalls, a couple of shower stalls, a bunch of 25 cent lockers and two benches. Two sinks with raggedy mirrors. Fluorescent lighting that is not great. Almost always when I'm there are moms with kids, trying to figure out getting dressed or un. And then you walk out to the pool, through of this kind of cool, short tunnel to the main patio, with the gorgeous blue expanse of the water waiting for you.

The beach, green grass and clover, is long but not deep. There is also a second beach, which is the sloped descent into the pool, all parallel to Banksville Road (fortunately there are hedges). Lots of pool goers just park themselves on the second beach and enjoy being cool with toes and legs in the bright water. I like it for doing leg kicks after my laps are done.

One other change over the years, lots of people with tattoos. Lots.

I’m glad Dormont has been able to keep this going. Given how wet the summer of 2018 was, I’m sure the borough lost money on it.

The mural in the women's locker room at Dormont Pool was added within the past 10 years. http://friendsofdormontpool.org/

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