How great is this?!?! Hats off to the guide’s creator, Lily Alexander.
One note: J. Finnegan did not, in the end, open this summer, due to mechanical issues.
About this guide:
Fresh out of graduate school and under-employed, I knew I wasn’t going to be doing much traveling this summer. But who needs travel when you have 60+ public pools all over Philadelphia to choose from?!
In an effort to try new pools (I’d previously mostly been to ones in West and South Philly), I designed a guide for myself to help motivate me.
Using Kali’s amazing pool guide and the City’s pool finder, I cobbled together the list of 62 pools that Parks & Rec opened (or plans to open) this summer. I also added some fun icons to highlight the different qualities of each of the pools.
And when word got out that I made a pool guide, others asked for it and wanted a copy! So here it is.
In this last month of pool season, I hope this little guide can be a resource as you go forth and explore Philly’s incredible public pool scene.
– Lily
P.S. One of my dreams is for one of the public pools in Philly to have an outdoor ping pong table. The community pool of my youth (outside of D.C.) had a couple of tables and we would spend hours playing. If anyone knows of a pool + ping pong situation, drop it in the comments!
And here’s the guide in a printer-friendly brochure format:
This is the twelfth summer since I decided to swim in every Philadelphia public pool, and the eleventh since I started this blog (and later this Instagram) to chronicle them. My love for our pools has both deepened and gotten more complicated in that time. I sometimes joke that I may be the world’s leading expert on Philadelphia public pools (though in truth I know I will always be chasing Larry Brown). But in the past few years, I have put muchmoreenergy into trying to get our year-round indoor public pools reopened than sharing information about the ones that are.
And accurate, accessible info about our pools is such a need. Over much of the last decade, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation’s communication improved. But since last summer, and the intervening mayoral-administration transition, Parks and Rec has had three different leaders, a complete decimation of their comms team, and plenty of other turnover and transition. The valiant staff who stayed did their best. They opened 53 outdoor pools this summer, as well as the one working indoor pool we’ve got left. They hired and trained hundreds of lifeguards and pool attendants. They offered free swim lessons, fitness classes, and sensory swim hours. They found swimsuits for kids who needed them. It wasn’t tidy, easy, or always well communicated, but man did it matter anyway! Our public pools make life in Philly so much better.
No one was more in touch with that this season than Kali Morgan. Recently sprung from running their own small business, Kali decided to cap nearly five decades of Philly-public-pool enthusiasm with a summer swimming in all of them. They took pictures and voice-to-text recorded their impressions as they went. They were considering starting their own blog when they came across this one, and reached out to collaborate.
So – coming soon! – you will find a new page here with a complete compendium of all the public pools in Philly; first-hand accounts of recent visits (and attempted visits) to each pool open this summer; and a round-up of pool accessibility, features, and services available. I often think of our pools as a gift from our city; Kali describes their idea for a 2024 Philly Public Pool Guide as a love letter to our city.
Here’s Kali in their own words:
Out of work for the summer, I am excited to contribute to this blog on one of my favorite topics: Philadelphia public pools.
When the pool finally opened at the end of June, I went with a friend who is relatively new to Philadelphia to splash with me during which time I told her how much I loved the free public pools here, and how the pools’ existence is a primary reason I have never moved to another place. I decided then that I would make an effort to swim in every single Philadelphia public pool this summer.
I posted to my Facebook feed (my only personal social media) and invited friends to join me. An old friend who resides in Kensington/Northern Liberties was the first person to respond, so we kicked off my tour in that neighborhood.
I have lived in Philly most of my life (I moved to Northeast Philly from the suburbs in 1976, when I was in the 2nd grade) and have lived in many different neighborhoods. Each time I moved, I found pools in my neighborhood to jump in each summer by calling the old (pre-internet) City number MU6-1776. (That number now forwards to a voicemail at 311.)
It was not until 2015ish that I visited pools outside of the neighborhoods where I lived. I discovered my love for Aqua Zumba, which rotated through different neighborhoods and with different instructors. I followed AZ almost religiously – when I could find information about classes, and when those classes weren’t cancelled due to weather concerns, heat emergencies, or instructor illness/issues. And because I worked downtown, I would jump into the pools around Center City/South Philly, especially Ridgeway, Sacks, O’Connor and Marian Anderson (once Aqua Zumba classes got scheduled there and I discovered that magical place). When the pandemic happened, I missed going out and most especially missed the pools.
This summer, because I am not working, I have focused on rediscovering my neighborhood and reconnecting with some of my favorite recreational activities. As I ponder what my next chapter will be, and where my future might take me, I want to put out into the universe a love letter to one of my absolute favorite things about Philadelphia: Free public pools.
This journey began on Facebook in July. Once I discovered this blog and the work that Mica had done, I knew I wanted to contribute to this effort in a place where people can find the info even if they are not on social media.
Thank you so much for joining me and lending meaning to this summer adventure.
Love to Philly, love to you all, and love to the FREE pools and the fine folks who jump in!
If you’ve spent much time at Philly pools, or any public pools really, you’re probably familiar with the buzz of manic anticipation in the moments when everyone’s standing along the edge of the water, just waiting for the lifeguards to blow their whistles.
Thousands of people around the city are experiencing that right now, and they’re scouring the internet for news of when their pool will open. I know this because a lot of them end up here, and my blog analytics show me their desperate search terms.
Parks and Rec has not yet announced the opening schedule. (I know this because I stalk their social media.) But below is the word on the street. It’s probably about 90% correct. Any errors in it, any pools you show up at to have your hopes dashed, should incite annoyance at me, not at the City, and certainly not at any innocent human beings on site. PPR will probably release the final schedule soon, and I will update this accordingly.
UPDATE: There was one change to the original schedule posted here (Pleasant and Belfield switched opening days); the schedule below should now be correct.
A few other notes: A pool’s opening day sometimes includes it getting filled with water, so it’s wise not to show up too early. A pool’s first week or two is a learning and adjustment period for all involved; please be patient, flexible and extend staff the benefit of the doubt. On that: The pools still need more lifeguards. If you know anyone (conscientious, 16+, able to swim, interested in $12.33 an hour), send them here. If you’re looking for a beginner’s guide to the pools (map, schedules, what to wear, etc.), check this out.
And now, the most wonderful list in the world, when Philadelphia’s public pools are scheduled to open this year:
Tomorrow — Friday, June 19th:
Kelly (next to the Please Touch Museum in Fairmount Park)
Mander (33rd and Diamond, East Park/Strawberry Mansion) – opening-day event
Max Myers (Hellerman and Horrocks, Northeast Philly)
It is really very hot. What would you NOT have given, these past few days, to have glided through some clear cool pool waves?
So many people have asked me when the pools are opening that at this point I feel like I should mention that I am no longer a lifeguard, nor any sort of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation employee. I have no official knowledge or relationship to these most wonderful elements of our city infrastructure. That said, as this site may attest, I do spend a good portion of my free time sniffing around for information about them. And so [drumroll please]:
The pools will start opening Friday, June 19th.
We’ve got six more days to sweat it out. And – more importantly – to plan.
Pool season is brief. All told this year, it will probably be about eight weeks, and some pools might be open as little as four. If we want to make the best use of them, we might as well start thinking about how.
Some questions to consider:
What’s your closest pool, from where you can pad home in just a bathing suit and towel? How many days a week can you get there? Will you introduce yourself to the pool staff, maybe even thank them for their work?
What other pools do you want to visit this summer? Who will you invite to join you?
What reading do you want to get done with your feet in the water? How many laps do you want to swim? How many neighbors would you like to meet?
Are your kids ready to be signed up for swimming lessons? Do YOU want to learn how to swim, or how to float, or feel comfortable putting your face in the water?
What can you do to help everyone remember that the pools belong to all Philadelphians (including/especially boisterous dark-skinned and/or working-class children and teenagers) – and that taking care of them is all of our responsibility?
Some potentially useful tools and tidbits:
Parks and Rec’s list of pools (by section of the city).
The best map I know of (though some pools are missing, some are in the wrong location, and others are no longer open). Anyone know any GIS gurus who’d want to work on a new one of these?
Some destination pools to consider:
Kelly (next to the Please Touch Museum in Fairmount Park) Our biggest pool, and seven feet deep in the middle. There’s grass to lie on within the pool gates.
Francisville (18th and Francis, just north of Fairmount Ave): The poor man’s infinity pool, with a view of the skyline. This year home to a very cool event.
O’Connor (26th and South): “The Country Club,” people from other pools would scoff when I told them I worked there. That, or “the Taj Mahal.”
Athletic (26th and Master): It’s got SLIDES!!!! Plus a sprayground next door.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report last week on “Recreational Water-Associated Disease Outbreaks.” You can read it here, or check out this analysis from RealClearScience Journal, which concludes:
The number of disease outbreaks from recreational water is likely far underreported, but even if every instance were documented, public swimming pools would still come out looking squeaky clean. Judging on available evidence, the stereotype that public pools are slosh pits of disease doesn’t hold water. 301 million people over the age of six swim in public pools each year, and a mere .0004% come home with an infection, and a minor one at that.
Swimming Philadelphia 
