My swimming tourism thing is nothing new. I tried a lot of different pools when I first moved to Southern California, before I got settled into a routine. And when the old West Hollywood Pool was closed and then demolished during the Covid pandemic, I was forced to find somewhere else to swim my laps (mostly because it was the only thing I wanted to do outdoors, and it wasn't safe to be indoors).
Once the brand-new West Hollywood aquatic facility opened nearly four years ago, I got lazy and just stuck to my neighborhood. It was so easy. And nice.
But the WeHo pool was closed last week and this week for Pride celebrations—so I've been back on the road, looking for other places to take a dip.
And today brought me to a pool that's long been on my list: the Hey Rookie Pool at Fort MacArthur.
circa 2023The historic military pool reopened as a public pool in 2017 following a $7.1 million renovation, which repaired safety concerns that had closed and decommissioned it in 1997.
circa 2023But even after it rebounded from its 20-year closure, I always seemed to be on the wrong side of the fence. I could never coordinate my timing with when the pool was open—until today.
I made a special trip down to San Pedro to experience it for myself—an hour-long drive from Beverly Hills, but worth it, I thought, just to experience where soldiers on the Fort MacArthur Army base used to swim, starting in 1943.
Its initial construction was funded by money raised from the morale-boosting "Hey Rookie" stage show performed by members of Fort MacArthur—particularly, by notable Hollywood performers of the time who'd been drafted into World War II service.
You can get to it from Angels Gate Park at the top of the hill (a.k.a. the Upper Reservation), or from Gaffey Street down below—but a set of old wooden stairs has been replaced by concrete ones and a new accessible ramp.
The view has changed somewhat over the last 80-some-odd years...
...but the pool tiles were reproduced in the same aqua color that they used to be, and the original stadium seating was retained.
Formerly known as the Gaffey Street Pool, the Army base opened it up to the public in 1952—and 30 years later, it turned ownership of the pool over to the City of Los Angeles.
But it was the director of the Fort MacArthur Museum, Stephen Nelson, who managed to get the funds to open it back up again—and reverse decades' worth of disrepair and vandalism (as a drained pool is always a magnet for graffiti).
Today, it's one of the only tiled pools in the LA City Parks system. Usually they're white concrete, but these non-slip tiles were installed with special permission.
Ranging in depth from just over 3 feet to just over 8 feet, it's an absolute joy to swim in—though its Olympic size meant I had to do about 20 extra backstrokes than I'm used to just to get to the other end to turn around! It's also got one of the best views—if not the best of any of the City of LA-run public pools.
The stadium seating was originally intended for spectators, who could watch competitions or even water spectacles like the Aquacades starring the Aquabelles. But these days, you're more likely to find seniors bopping around in an aquacise class or schoolkids cooking off during rec swim hours.
I swam more today than I have in a long time, maybe ever—although that wasn't exactly how I'd planned it. Instead of getting my usual 35-40 minutes in, I only swam 15 minutes before the pool abruptly closed because of a medical emergency with one of the other swimmers.
Since I'd driven all that way, I got lunch nearby and killed some time—just enough time, in fact, for the pool to reopen and for me to return and swim another 45 minutes, the sun and ocean breeze on my face, the aqua tiles under my toes, and a big smile on my lips.
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