A long history Griffith Park Swimming Poolbuilt in 1927, was once the largest aquatic facility in Los Angeles and has been dry since 2020. Now, as the summer heats up, residents are learning that it won’t fill anymore.
Instead, the city is developing plans for a $28 million project to remove it and build two smaller new pools and a splash pad at its location while rebuilding the two-story pool house next door. City officials said they hope to start the project in summer 2026 and complete it in January 2028.
But for now, the city’s recreation and parks department website simply lists the pool as “closed until further notice.” The engineering spokesman bureau said the city has not yet selected builders.
The Griffith Park swimming pool was closed in 2020 and is still dry on July 1.
(Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times)
The new plan marks a sharp turn in a website that once planned to reopen in June 2022. On this date, EastSider News Website is first Reporturban workers found that the foundation of the swimming pool was broken, one too serious to repair.
Department assistant general manager Cathie Santo Domingo and the maintenance team discovered cracks in the pool, said Rose Watson, spokesman for the entertainment and parks department. “Every time they fill it up, it doesn't retain water,” Watson said.
During the closure, neighbors complained, Signed a petitionLamenting the working-class families of Los Feliz, Atwater, Silver Lake and East Hollywood have long been dependent on public pools for summer relief.
“I've always wondered what's going on. I've never seen water.” Last week I literally thought it would have been great if there was a splash pad here. ”
“The kids need a place to go and a place to learn how to swim,” said Marian Dodge, the board secretary and former chairman of the Friends of Griffith Park. She said the group was “actually glad they finally went on and did the necessary repairs. … We’ve been convinced that it was fully funded.”
Urban Engineering Bureau Report Said the new project will include “demolition and reconstruction”, replacing the old pool with a 25 yard by 50 meters (up to 12.5 feet) new competition pool, and a 25 yard by 25 meters (up to 5 feet deep) “training pool” splash pad, as well as a two-story Spanish-language table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top and improved table top
The new pool is designed to handle year-round use and combines battery heaters, salt water and ultraviolet shallow water treatment.
Long known as Municipal Racing, the Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard’s pools measure about 225 feet by 48 feet. It was the largest water plant in the city until the Hanson Dam Recreation Area, built in 1940 in the San Fernando Valley terrace area.
“Did you know the Los Angeles River run behind the pool?” Dodge said. “The water level behind the pool was so high that they couldn’t get the river specific.” As a result, when the pool was built, it was “described as a concrete boat floating on sand and mud. At first it was a risk, but they did.”
Once, the capacity of the swimming pool was considered to be 562 people.
“They would be marching on canoeing classes and on the water,” Dodge said.
Today, the pool is neighbors by tennis courts, playgrounds, soccer fields and Los Feliz Nursery School until late March 2020, when the city closed several recreational facilities early in the pandemic. It is located in the 4th district of the city council and is represented by Nithya Raman.
On May 21, the City Public Works Commission authorized the hiring of Perkins Eastman for $2.4 million in architectural design and engineering efforts for the swimming pool and bathroom.
Dodge said that given the park’s pony ride and carousels’ idle state, Dodge said, the idea of progressing on the pool is gratifying, both of which have been closed since 2022 for a variety of reasons. La Zoo, also in Griffith Park, is still open, but has a legal battle over money between the city and the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.
Overall, the city operates 57 swimming pools ((28 seasonal, 26 year-round and 3 camp pools) and 8 splash pads. As of July 2, eight pools were closed.
The closest city-run swimming pools to Griffith Park are Echo Park, Hollywood and Glassell Park. Griffith Park also includes a swimming pool at Camp Hollywood and a boys’ camp in Griffith Park.
