A 1936 Public Works Project That Still Runs
In the summer of 1936, in the middle of the Great Depression, New York City opened eleven enormous outdoor swimming pools in a single season. They were financed by the Federal Works Progress Administration, designed by the Parks Department under Robert Moses, and built in working-class neighborhoods that did not, at the time, have many other options for cooling off in summer.
The pools were ambitious. The largest of them — Astoria Park Pool — measures 330 feet by 165 feet. Designed by John M. Hatton to accommodate 5,570 bathers at one time, the pool opened on July 2, 1936 with a ceremony at which WPA administrator Harry Hopkins called it "the finest in the world." That summer, Astoria hosted the Olympic trials for the U.S. swim team.
Nine of the original eleven WPA pools are still in operation. Astoria is the largest. Hamilton Fish on the Lower East Side, Crotona in the Bronx, Sunset in Sunset Park, Highbridge in Washington Heights, Red Hook in Brooklyn — all opened in that summer of 1936, all still open, all still free.
The Calendar Most Locals Wait For
New York's outdoor pool season runs from late June through Labor Day. The exact opening day in any given year is the Saturday closest to June 26, announced by Parks each spring. In 2026, the season is scheduled to open on Saturday, June 27, and close on Sunday, September 7.
Hours are typically 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with a one-hour cleaning break in the afternoon. The pools are free. The lockers cost a quarter (you need a quarter; the machines do not take other coins). Bathing suits and swim caps are required at most pools — the cap rule is enforced unevenly, but it is the rule.
The pool that opens first each summer, by tradition, is Astoria. Opening Day at Astoria is a small event — typically about a thousand swimmers, the local Council member, a brass band, and one or two ribbon-cutting officials. The pool fills within an hour of opening.
Why Astoria, In Particular
The Astoria Park Pool's claim is structural. The pool itself is the size of a small lake. The bathhouse is a designated New York City Landmark, with a long arched colonnade in the Moderne style and original cast-iron lampposts. The pool is framed by the Triborough Bridge to the south and the Hell Gate Bridge to the north — two of the most distinctive pieces of New York infrastructure, both built in the same era as the pool itself.
The pool has a high diving platform — three levels, the highest at thirty-three feet — that has not been open for diving since the 1980s but still stands. It is one of the most photographed pieces of pool architecture in the city.
The pool is divided into a deep main pool and a shallow wading pool. The main pool has six lap lanes marked off during the morning hours, then opens to general swimming after 1:00 p.m. The wading pool is full of families with small children.
The crowd is Astoria — Greek, Brazilian, Bangladeshi, Italian, Mexican, the whole long demographic span of the neighborhood — plus a Brooklyn and Manhattan contingent that takes the N or Q train to get there. The locker rooms are loud. The decking is wide. The whole operation has the feel of a small functional city park, except the centerpiece is a 330-foot pool.
The Other Pools Worth Knowing
If Astoria is full or if you live elsewhere, the other major pools are worth a tour over a summer.
Hamilton Fish on the Lower East Side is the easiest Manhattan choice. Two pools — a main pool and a wading pool — at Houston and Pitt. The crowd is LES neighborhood. The lap lanes are good.
Crotona Park Pool in the Bronx is one of the more underused. Same 1936 vintage. A T-shaped pool, eight lanes wide, with a tiered diving platform also long since closed. The crowd is local. The lines are short.
Lasker Pool in Central Park reopened in 2025 after a long renovation. It is the only Manhattan outdoor pool above 90th Street, and the renovation rebuilt the pool deeper into the park's landscape than the original. The crowd is Upper East and Upper West.
Red Hook Pool in Brooklyn is the social favorite — the pool deck stretches into an adjacent ball field, the bathhouse opens onto a long lawn, and the crowd is Red Hook neighborhood plus a Park Slope contingent. The pool itself is one of the largest after Astoria.
Sunset Pool in Sunset Park is the family choice. Big shaded grass areas. A wading pool that takes up half the deck. The view from the deck down to the harbor is one of the better incidental views in Brooklyn.
What to Bring
A bathing suit. A towel. A quarter for the locker. A swim cap if you want to lap-swim — required at most pools. Flip-flops for the deck. Goggles if you have them.
What is officially banned: outside food, glass containers, any electronic device, jewelry, fitness trackers, anything not directly used for swimming. The rules are enforced more strictly than at most beaches. The locker policy means you check everything except your suit, towel, and cap.
This is part of the experience. The pools are deliberately stripped-down. The Parks Department is running a public pool, not a private club, and the rules are designed for a deck that handles a thousand swimmers at peak hours.
Opening Day Strategy
Opening Day — Saturday, June 27, 2026 — is a small but real event. Astoria opens to a line that starts forming by 9:00 a.m. for the 11:00 a.m. opening. The line moves quickly once the gates open and the pool fills to about half its capacity within ninety minutes.
The smart play is to arrive at 10:45 for the 11:00 opening. The line is twenty minutes maximum. By 11:30 you are in the water. By 1:00 the deck is full and the line outside is two hours long.
The alternative is the late-afternoon shift. The pool reopens at 4:00 p.m. after the cleaning break and is typically half-full from 4:00 to 5:00. Show up at 4:00 sharp and you can have ninety minutes in a lightly populated pool before the after-work crowd arrives at 5:30.
The pool closes at 7:00 p.m. The last swimmers are out by 7:15. The deck is cleared. The lights stay on for another hour.
Beyond the Pool
The block around Astoria Pool is Astoria. Walk three blocks east on Hoyt Avenue to 23rd Avenue and you are in the heart of Greek Astoria — Taverna Kyclades on Ditmars, the pastry shops on 30th Avenue, the bakeries on Broadway. After a swim, the standard move is a souvlaki dinner at one of the older Greek places and a walk back through the park as the light goes.
For the broader Astoria experience, the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden on 24th Avenue — open since 1910, one of the city's oldest beer gardens — is a five-minute walk from the pool. Outdoor seating, large pours of Czech and Slovak beer, a grill running until 11:00 p.m.
For the cheap version, the corner pizzerias on 31st Street and Astoria Boulevard are open late and good. A slice of plain and a coke for $5, eaten on the sidewalk, is the post-pool standard.
Why It Matters
A free, lifeguarded, fully maintained Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool, open to anyone, every summer, in the middle of New York City, is not a thing most American cities have. Most American cities, in fact, do not have any public pools, much less one this large. The eleven WPA pools of 1936 were a one-time investment in public infrastructure that the city has, by inertia and by political effort, kept running for almost ninety years.
It is the kind of public good that is easy to take for granted. It also takes about twenty minutes on the N train from midtown and costs nothing.
The 2026 season opens on Saturday, June 27. Set the date. Bring the quarter.
Practical notes
- Address: Astoria Park Pool, 19th Street and 23rd Drive, Astoria, NY 11105. Full list of NYC outdoor pools at nycgovparks.org.
- Getting there: N/Q to Astoria-Ditmars, 10-minute walk. Or N/Q to Astoria Boulevard.
- Season: Last Saturday in June through Labor Day weekend. 2026: June 27 to September 7.
- Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Closed for cleaning 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Cost: Free. Locker costs a quarter.
- Don't miss: The 1936 bathhouse, the high-dive platform (closed for diving but standing), opening day on June 27.
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Sources consulted: NYC Parks · Open House New York · Living New Deal · Astoria Post · The Bowery Boys
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