As I approached Claremont Park, I was tempted to buy a mango – so cheap at the B train 170th Street stop! But then I’d have to lug it around to three pools, so I skipped it. I passed teachers in ties heading back to high school inservice days, and climbed the hill into the park. This land was once part of the Morris estate, but the “Black Swamp” (which swallowed up livestock in the 19th century) and the original mansion and apple orchards are gone. Today, it was so quiet: the handball court was empty!

The pool was not empty. The ladies who work there were definitely surprised to see me, and a bit hurt that I didn’t stay a long time. “You leavin’?” one asked, in a worried tone of voice. Was everything OK? Why didn’t I want to stay all day?

But there was only so much father-son dunking I could watch, so it was time to go. As I passed through, the female locker room attendants were discussing how when they were in gangs, it was only fist-fighting… and how much more serious a gang fight is now. Meanwhile, a police car continuously circled the pool’s enclosure…

From there I walked about 10 minutes East to Crotona Park. This land was originally the “Bathgate Woods,” but that family got into a dispute with the Parks Department, and the park was instead named for “Croton,” a Greek colony known for its Olympic athletes. The park is quite large, and when I was there a few baseball games were getting out, so uniformed men and women were streaming down the stone steps.

Approaching the pool, I saw a nice aquatic-themed mural; here’s a detail:

The women’s locker room is clearly a basketball court in the winter – I like that these rooms are used all year round!

I stayed at this pool for a while. It’s a lovely spot – huge and flanked by bleachers on one side and a shaded overhang on the other. Plus, there was plenty of entertainment. A herd of about a dozen boys, ranging in age from 8 to 15, waited until the lifeguard wasn’t looking and dove en masse into the pool. Heaven help you if you were below them when this opportunity arose – even I had one close call, despite my close attention! They also demonstrated what is now my favorite water entrance – I just had to laugh as they ran towards the pool and kept running through the air until gravity dragged them into the pool. It was so Buster Keaton-like!

You can see part of the group, plotting on the deck, to the left of the orange lifeguard umbrella here:

The lifeguards blew their whistles, and it was time to take a break. Pools are closed from 2:45 to 4:00pm every day. That means pool cleaning and a break for the lifeguards; but for me, it meant a long-awaited trip to the Bronx’s Little Italy, Arthur Avenue!

Filled up, I considered just having a swim here:

…but I’d come all this way, and Hurricane Earl was on his way. Time for Mapes, the very last pool!

I waited in line for about 10 minutes before they let people in. There was mayhem in the locker room! I recommend arriving partway through the session, not right at the beginning, for some peace and quiet in there.

I remember this pool from 2004; it was the one at which I began to truly understand that teenagers do not see you if you are older than 18! It is still true – in order to stay alive and unscathed in this pool, you need to be super alert! Even a few teenage girls clung at the side of the pool in order not to “get dunked … by a boy.”

One woman’s bright red hair dye bled into the pool, leaving a pink trail behind her, and I got whistled at by someone outside the rather open fence. This wasn’t the best pool to have as my last for the season…. but oh well. At least it felt great to be swimming on a hot day! An eternal bright side gal am I… and just look at the energy the camera caught here! Water in mid-air!

Happy and … gasp … DONE with the POOL PROJECT, I headed back home via bus and 5 train.

STATUS: 35 down (plus a dumpster and a state park), 0 to go! I did it!

Shelley Valfer (tour accountant for the Allman Brothers, Jay-Z, and more…. as well as a great performer in his own right!) and I headed up on the A train to 145th Street, and found the pool immediately – it’s only a block away from the station. How had I missed this before?!

It was just 4pm, so the second shift of swimmers for the day were lined up outside the castle-like entrance to the pool.

Inside, buttresses flew above us, and there was an old-style ticket booth just inside the door. It wasn’t in use, but it sent me back to another era of glamorous movie theaters as I ascended the stairs to the women’s locker room. The hallways were decorated with hand-painted depictions of Jackie Robinson, and a gym and dance studio lay just beyond the walls. It seems that this stately building has gracefully transitioned to modern life.

The pool itself was chaotic, but since it is pretty large, we managed to get some laps in… albeit curving around a moving human obstacle course! The sun disappeared to the west as we swam, so I’d recommend this pool in the morning if you want a sparkling, bright experience. But it was a really nice one even in the shade.

STATUS: 32 down, 3 to go

Jamaica’s main drag, Jamaica Avenue, bustles with shoppers and dawdlers alike. English settlers arrived here in 1655, kicking out the Dutch, who had kicked out the Native Americans. Among the many interesting points along this area’s history is the 1930 opening of the world’s first supermarket, King Kullen.

The pool and park are just down the road from York College. I don’t think they have many visitors… but they do have the nicest changing rooms – real bathroom stalls (without the toilet) that close and lock! The temperature of the water was also perfect!

Part of the pool was roped off; when I asked if I could swim there, I was told that the foundation was cracked and no one was allowed in that part of the pool. I’m not sure how much damage I could have done to myself swimming over there…. but so it was. I stayed on the other side and tried not to get hit by splashing youngsters.

STATUS: 31 down, 4 to go

Central Park needs no introduction. But did you know it has a huge swimming pool in its northeastern corner? Lasker Rink (an ice skating destination in the winter) is crazy and chaotic by day, and a lovely place to swim laps by night.

My friend Jesse Neuman, trumpeter, educator, and the person responsible for bringing me to Ecuador this winter to teach music with his company MUSICWORKS, fabricated this interview for you, dear reader:

I had the distinct pleasure of joining Elizabeth! and her “pool project” (she’s attempting to swim in all of NYC’s public pools in one month). The weather was warm and the sunset pleasantly fuzzy as we slipped into Central Park’s Lasker Rink waters.

Jesse: Wow, it’s warmer than I expected.

Elizabeth: Yeah…I’ve stepped into a few kiddie pools that were even warmer.

J: Yikes…sorry I mentioned it. Is, um, “that” a big issue?

E: My old summer camp had a sign posted in front of the swimming area that read, “Welcom to our ool—notice there is no P in it. Let’s keep it that way.” I wish they would send that handout home with NYC kids on the last day of school.

J: Well, I guess that’s what chlorine is for.

E: You said it! If my hair isn’t bleached green by the end of a swim, I know I need an extra shower.

J: How does this pool compare to the others you’ve visited?

E: Well, it’s hard to compare because time of day, crowdedness, etc. all vary…I’d say 7 for atmosphere, 8 for swimming space, but only a 3 for quality of water.

J: Yeah, it is a little murky down there. When we bumped before I didn’t even see you until it was too late.

E: That wasn’t me.

J: …but you gave me that big smile afterwards…

E: ?

J: Anyways, how are holding up now that you’re almost finished?

E: My arms are tired…and their have been some hallucinations. My boyfriend is about to break up with me, and my trombone embouchure is totally shot. Plus there are the sores… but other than that, I’m good.

J: How many fingers am I holding up right now?

E: None.

J: Wrong, 4. Maybe you should shower off and have some juice.

E: Some of the pools actually do give out free lunch. It was delicious, and full of high fructose corn syrup.

J: Maybe that’s why the water is so murky…

E: Anything is possible.

J: I couldn’t help but notice the eclectic variety of fashionable swimwear the NYC swimming public puts on display…

E: There are body parts I wish I hadn’t seen. Now I cry a little before I got to bed at night.

J: Do you have any suggestions for the NYC Parks Dept.?

E: Yes. Firstly, get your rules straight. Every freakin’ lifeguard has their own set of do’s and don’ts, and they are all drunk with whistle blowing power. Secondly, we need a body mass to swimsuit fabric requirement (at LEAST 3:1). Also, there should be a “no yelling at your kids” zone.

J: What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen during this month at the pools?

E: I swam in a dumpster. That was pretty out. There were some fantastic sunburns too.

J: Do you have any advice for swimmers out there?

E: Yes–there’s no shame in wearing a 1 piece.

STATUS: 30 down, 5 to go

The Highbridge section of the Bronx is a bit more well-known for a little sports venue called Yankee Stadium. The McDonald’s just under the 4 train station has an outdoor seating area filled with concrete tables and blue-and-white-striped umbrellas. No one looks askance if your finger is a bit long and made of foam.

But Mullaly Park is named for one of the gentlemen who made it possible, in 1881, for the city to envision and plan for green space as the population of the South Bronx grew. It’s a pretty park, and on the hot afternoon I visited, filled with people riding BMX bikes in the skate park (not a helmet in sight!), playing basketball, or just enjoying time on benches in Yankee Stadium’s shadow.

The pool itself is small, and I had to wait to get in. It was jam-packed with people – probably the 180 it has capacity for – and every single one of them appeared to be screaming. It was like a middle school lunch room. In water.

STATUS: 29 down, 6 to go

This is a state park and not on the Parks Department list. After visiting twice (2004 and 2010) I have finally realized that the $2.00 fee and different hours indicate that Riverbank State Park is not a Parks & Rec pool! It is very nice, though.

What I should have gone to was Jackie Robinson Park, and so I shall….

But in the meantime, should you find yourself in the possession of $2 and free time in Hamilton Heights, I recommend you swim in this beautiful outdoor pool and perfect-temperature indoor pool right on the Hudson River. This is the only park I know of built on top of a wastewater treatment plant, but don’t let that discourage you. They have gorgeous facilities like a roller rink, football field and track….

….basketball courts, baseball diamond, and of course, the pools.

STATUS: 28 down (plus dumpster and state park), 7 to go

The pool was filled with happy children in the late afternoon. One boy, in black and white patterned swim trunks and long curly wet hair, spent the entire time I was there jumping several feet off the edge of the pool to land in a sort of “sitting in a recliner chair” position – legs and arms out. It was hilarious – and a bit dangerous to get too close!

Swimming was an absolute delight, as the sun’s rays refracted to form a three-dimensional fishnet of light under the water. The only concern I had was for the three little ones in the wading pool who seemed to be without a lifeguard (it turned out that there was one I couldn’t see from my angle). Water + no lifeguard + no parents = concerned passerby.

STATUS: 28 down, 7 to go

Sunset Park pool was built in the rush of WPA projects, and opened in 1936. The diamond-motif brickwork on the building is really attractive, and the whole area is well-kept. This pool is Olympic-sized, and features an area for lap swimming and an area for free play.

My pal from way back in high school days, Ian Stearns (check out us singing “Juanita” together here), came with me, as well as trooper Sarah Landreth (this is her 6th pool with me this summer!).

Here are some views from right in front of the pool building:

STATUS: 27 down, 8 to go

The Red Hook pool is one of my favorites! I have gone there many times over the years, and it is great. There is a whole ecosystem there – one side for adult lap swim (complete with people tanning and reading The New Yorker), and one side for total Marco Polo-cannonball-handstand insanity. Plus, as I discovered on this trip, the wading pool & fountain area, though clearly intended for small children, is really fun.

A little history: Red Hook points into the East River and was originally named for that and for its reddish soil. The area has a long record as a shipping center, but when the shipping container was invented in the 1950s, much of the shipping in New York Harbor moved to the New Jersey shore. (By the way, did you know that you could fit enough shoes for a new pair every day for 34 years in one container?)

The trolley also left in the 1950s, and Robert Moses’s Gowanus Expressway (part of the BQE) cut the area off from the rest of Brooklyn, leaving it with poor transportation and poor people. In the 1970s, artists started moving in thanks to a housing incentive program, and since then it has slowly changed. IKEA opened a store here in 2008, and there are quite a few “hipster” businesses. But much of the neighborhood is still full of warehouses and abandoned streets.

The pool itself is immediately surrounded by athletic fields, and on weekends these fill with primarily Latinos playing uniformed games of soccer. Where the soccer is, the Guatemalan food trucks follow, and any trip to the pool should be followed by a plate of chiles rellenos or pupusas!

We (Paul Sanwald, Henry Do, Colter McCorkindale, Sarah Landreth, Micaela Zahner, Assaf Kedem, and myself) had a great time swimming and eating…. here are a few remembrances from the group:

Micaela Zahner:

We had a quintessential summer day complete with swimming, sprinklers, laughing, Red Hook food trucks, and even some incidental tanning. Such things are so special as we prepare to say goodbye to summer in the upcoming weeks. I also enjoyed the childhood trick of flipping our wet hair back like colonial wigs. Yes!

Assaf Kedem:

“So near, and yet so far!” That’s my most concise way to describe having to walk around the entire pool just to get into the lane that’s right beside me, so as not to cross through a sliver of the pool that’s cordoned off. But despite the umpteen rules and regulations of pool operators, there’s no better treat than cool-water relief in the sweltering heat — especially with good friends!

STATUS: 26 down, 9 to go

I quietly rode the 1 train all the way to its end, at 242nd Street in the Bronx. The platform, made of wood (!), felt like a boardwalk as I headed for the most urban of “beaches.”

As soon as I began to descend, I was hit with the smoke of dozens of BBQ grills and the melodies and bass lines of several Merengue songs. Woah. Everybody was out having a family party on the lawn of patchy tall grass and wood chips!

I arrived at the entrance to the Van Cortlandt Park pool, and had to wait in line for about ten minutes. I presumed that this was because the capacity was maxed out and we had to wait for others to exit. But it turned out that something had happened and they had been “upping the pH level” of the pool. Not a great sign. But still…. I went in.

Perhaps I was extra wary from that bit of information. But the water looked positively green and murky, and was overflowing from all sides into shallow tidal gatherings by the edge of the deck. I jumped in. The water felt slimy, and there were mosquitoes flying everywhere (perhaps because there are actual trees in the enormous parkland just beyond the fence – this is NYC’s fourth largest park). The water temperature matched the air temperature, and it felt like I was not standing in water at all, even chest-deep. Strange… and gross. I was excited to get home for a proper shower.

The highlight of my trip (aside from seeing several MTA train yards) was overhearing a well-dressed man as he left himself a voice reminder on his phone: “Mister Rogers’ theme song.”

P.S. It was hard to get photos, but here’s the pool at a tranquil moment, courtesy of the Parks Department website. Kids doing cannonballs not included….

STATUS: 25 down, 10 to go