The swimmobiles that cooled off a hot city

Bathhouses, beaches, community pools, floating pools docked off the East River—you can’t say New York hasn’t made an effort over the years to keep residents cool on hot summer days.

And for those who couldn’t get to a pool, the city brought a pool to them. These were the “swimmobiles,” pools attached to a truck which could be parked on a street all day and conveniently towed away at night.

“‘Swimmobiles’ began during the Heckscher administration [1960s-1970s] that literally took pools to the streets to underserved areas,” says the Parks Department website.

A 1976 New York Times article stated that the city owned five mobile pools, which were towed from Randalls Island to different corners of the city. Looks like fun, no?

1936: the year of the city swimming pool

Mayor La Guardia was a busy man during the Depression summer of 1936, the hottest on record in the United States.

Through June, July, and August, he attended dedication ceremonies at the 11 brand-new municipal pools the city opened that year.

The pools were a monumental achievement. Built with WPA labor, they were safe alternatives for city kids who used to cool off by swimming in the East and Hudson Rivers.

Judging by the enormous crowds seen in these vintage photos from that opening summer, they were a huge hit. The McCarren Park pool (top left), was so enormous, it could hold almost 7,000 swimmers at a time. Closed in 1984, it’s finally reopening this summer.

Astoria Park in Queens offered incredible views of the Hell Gate Bridge and was so state-of-the-art, Olympic trials for the U.S. swim and dive teams were held there.

The Sunset Pool, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, featured underwater lights, which were flipped on by Mayor La Guardia during the opening ceremony on July 21.