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Early Addition
McCarren Park Pool is getting a $50 Million makeover. Do you have a before and after image in your head? Well the NYC Parks Department wants your opinion as they ponder the design and future programming of the pool. Take their survey here.
The OSA (Open Space Alliance) has been working with the Parks Dept and between two community planning sessions, surveying at a concert and at McCarren's track & field they have surveyed 500 people. They also have their own outlet for your opines available online here. Those looking for more concerts will be disappointed to learn that this summer will likely be the last of the pool parties - the NY Press reports:
The mayor’s money has pool advocates confident that these large, loud concerts will soon be a thing of the past. “It’s not going to be the concert venue that it is now,” notes Joseph Vance of the Open Space Alliance, an organization expected to partner with the Parks Department for the renovation and subsequent administration of McCarren Pool. “There will be a pool with water in it,” he adds.The pool was landmarked last month and certain things will thankfully need to stay preserved, such as the bathhouse and entry arch. There must also be a pool and a year-round recreation center. Other than those rules, anything that money can buy - can be done. So how do you want to use the pool?The Parks Department has indicated their commitment to this as well. “We always had concerts as an interim activity until we could reconstruct the pool,” said Parks spokesman Philip Abramson. The Parks Department also declined Clear Channel’s interest in a multi-year lease at McCarren. At the moment, both the Clear Channel and Jelly NYC contracts are only through this summer.
Photos via Soupflower's Flickr.
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At least if it's used for concerts there won't be any pee in water. or will there? hmmm.
I think the pool should be used for the homeless and a drug rehabilitation center.
Anything but a venue for hipster scum and their so call music/noise. I am sure the area residents would appreciate more playgrounds and pools for their families.
i've enjoyed the concerts these last 2 summers, but my preference is for it to function as a pool. 1 large pool, the way it used to be. the space is so impressive.
I think the pool should be used for the homeless and a drug rehabilitation center.
bwahahahahaha! yeah... great idea... nothing like promoting crime. perhaps a homeless drug rehab should be in east new york or brownsville.
It was a pool and should stay a pool.
I'm glad the city is snubbing the hipster set. A pool ain't hip enough for a hipster.
I've had fun times in city pools during my youth, same with the city skating rinks.
#3: having some issues, big baby?
Wrong Guest #6.
All those people love pools, especially because they get to take their clothes off and show off their skinny chests. As a pool or a "Pool Party," it'll be the EXACT same crowd.
i understand the concerns of the neighbors, but i'll be sad to see it go as a concert venue. it filled a void in outdoor spaces in brooklyn to hear live music. minus the issues with brooklyn brewery's service, it's a pretty cool place to hear music.
I prefer the concerts. Interesting and free music in a unique outdoor venue, plus REALLY entertaining people watching = good Sunday afternoon in my book.
Swimming in dirty water with hundreds of other people, some of who should not be in public with their shirts off, not so much.
I went to a 'pool party' this Sunday and thought it was cool as shit. Imagine: a pool, which is not really a pool with water, but a busted one being used as a concert venue. Like something out of a Mad Max movie!
If they turn it back into a pool, it will be just a fucking pool. Like millions of other pools in the world.
Yet another way of killing New York, and making it into 'Anytown, USA'.
Zombies are taking over.
Real people need to strike back.
then I'm happy for the hipsters. I'm glad they're going to use the pool. I hope they're not scared of darker skinned people and local kids because they'll be using the pool, too.
anytown USA has public pools as grand as the one's in NYC? Do they have one's built before WWII?
The water would not be dirty, it would be chlorinated.
BOOOOOOOO!!!!!
How is restoring a NYC landmark turning it into "anytown USA"?
Too bad... I really liked going to shows there. It was good while it lasted.
I still think that he $50 million should be spent on the subway or infrastructure improvement rather than rebuilding a gigantic swimming pool though.
Furthermore, the annual energy and upkeep costs of that place as pool is going to be out of control (pumping and treating those millions of gallons of water)! Not to mention hair grease and mustache wax is a real pain in the ass to clean off of the deck chairs.
That said, it will be hilarious though when you all are pissed because the city's tax dollars are being used to supply "those fucking hipsters" with aquatic entertainment rather than being used for more useful things, like the subway, power transmission lines, sewage treatment, steam, and affordable housing.
Here's to all of you haters!
[12] what a silly thing to say. anyway, the pool is in Greenpoint, which is not exactly one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in nyc.
#11 To be fair this pool was once heavily used as an actual pool, long before the hipsters and concerts. Don't get me wrong, Pool Parties is awesome and I've enjoyed every minute of it, but you can't accuse that turning what was once an iconic neighborhood establishment back into an actual swimming pool as making NY/Brooklyn more like "Anytown,USA".
With that said, it would really be nice to keep a section of the property as an open air concert/movie/events venue.
million dollar condos next door want quiet
It should be restored as a pool, and have plenty of hours for adult lap swims.
Off the topic a bit, but there is a great outdoor pool up at RIverbank State Park at 137th and Riverside that's right by the Hudson. Adult lap swim from 6:30 am to 8:15 am and same time slot in the evening too.
Don't know why but the Riverbank pool is never ever included in news stories when they write about pools in NYC. But there are so few people there it's like having your own backyard pool.
how much you wanna bet kids from the surrounding neighborhoods would go to the pool? I lived in the LES when I was a kid, I went to pools in Staten Island, Pitt street pool, John Jay pool and the carmine street pool.
It's a Pool for all NY'ers that includes non-hipsters and the poor.
I lived in NYC for a few years 10 years ago and I came back recently for work. What is up with all this fucking elitism over who "belongs," etc? I grew up about an hour and a half away and spent so much time here as a kid, one thing I've always loved about NYC was the diversity, and the acceptance of being in a place that felt like "home" no matter who or what was around you. This place welcomed my ancestors 80 years ago and it welcomed me back 10 years ago. There was always this amazing camaraderie here that I've never experienced anywhere else.
Until now.
All this "oh no the poor hipsters won't have anywhere to hang out" "good riddance to hipsters" etc is retarded, NYC has always been a mecca for creative types who are oddballs in suburbia - I live in Greenpoint and I thought it was cool as hell to have this place a few blocks from me to see shows by bands I loved as a teenager like Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys. I'm glad the city wants to refurbish the park but because we need more pretty space in the 'hood, not because I "hate hipsters." What a dumb, dumb reason. I'll miss the shows and I think they should come up with an alternative perhaps, at least for the bigger shows. And anyway, no one admits to being a hipster, so who are the hipsters??
#11 - You mean dirty hipsters need to strike back!? Believe me no one cares that New York is dying because it's not "hip" The nabe used to be an ethnic enclave with special cultural characters until the trust fund hipster wannabes moved in and drove out the original residents. Please turn this back to a pool, and the hipsters can hold their concerts in Newark.
Brooklyn needs to stop catering to upper/middle class white yupsters/bupsters/hipsters/fucksters and start reinvesting its energy into the heart of the community--the families that were there before these neighborhoods were deemed cool. i mean, i love the concerts and film screenings too, but don't these kids already have enough places to stand around and look vacant?
I'm glad it's going to be a pool again AND a year round gym/recreation center.
That sounds cool and what this city needs, especially in Brooklyn. I point to the Carmine Street recreation center as an example.
Sonic Youth Sucks, it's noise, please turn it down.
and you're not hot, ms gordon. and, your aging hipster husband.
As a 15 year resident of the neighborhood and occasional Pool Party goer I have to say that I'm glad the city is doing the right thing and restoring this pool.
I wonder how many people know that the pool was closed over 20 years ago because of racial intolerance? Well, it was --and when it reopens, I hope the neighbors are more tolerant of the folks who will come from all over north Brooklyn to enjoy the pool.
The concerts were part of an effort by the Mayor's Office (Dan Doctoroff and his developer pals)to make the neighborhood more appealing the the demographic they prize. They've succeeded in driving out lots of working people. The pool is a small public consolation for the hardship they brought to so many families with out of control rent and the reverbrating noise from the concerts.
I'll enjoy the comparative quiet of people swimming.
27, have you ever lived near a swimming pool? Squeals of ecstatic children can travel hundreds of yards!
It should stay a pool. Glad to see the concerts go.
It would be a travesty if they stopped having music there. It's definitely the coolest place around to see a show, let alone a FREE show, every sunday. Damn shame if that's gone next summer.
they should make it into a roller skating rink during the day for the kids and a concert venue at night for adults. and an ice skating rink in the winter. making it back into a pool means it's empty 9 months of the year.
homeless people and recoverring drug addicts like to swim too!!!
NYC pools close at 9pm when the weather gets hot or during a heatwave, they close earlier on regular days. I didn't know it was closed only 20 years ago? Was this during the giuliani administration?
I too hope this pool would be used by Real Brooklynites from all over Brooklyn. Many people live near the John Jay pool that overlooks the FDR and near some prime real estate and I don't see the city closing it because of noise. Or people moving out.
I'm glad it's turning back to it's original glory, a NYC pool for all New Yorkers, everyone.
the hipsters will never go swimming in a public pool. i'm sure maybe a few do but they are spoiled white-bread snobs pretending to be street-cool. one should never ever worry about the shitsters taking over the pool once it's an actual pool again.
It would be a shame to end the free concerts, films, and performances here. Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park is wonderful, but is pretty difficult to access without a car or bike from Williamsburg/Greenpoint/Bushwick. The Pool Parties and all of the other entertainment programs the past two years have filled a huge void in free public cultural activities in these neighborhoods. If people are worried that they're only catering to a certain population, the City should just make them more diverse, but don't dispense with them. A pool would be wonderful, considering how unique the space is, but there's already the much smaller pool on Metropolitan and Bedford; I can't speak if that's used to capacity however.
Oh, before I forget, it turns out that I'm a real person AND an area resident, which probably applies to most of the other people at the free events at the pool.
I agree jammer, I vote this place be restored to being a pool! Fuck the hipsters!
A pool and a recreation center to be used everyday sounds like a good plan. The space was unique before, please return the pool back to it's original glory.
A new renovated pool is ten times better than what it is now.
At least it's not going to be a scarano condo.
hey #22, get the fuck out of new york as fast as possible and take your friends with you. you COMPLETELY miss the point.
just finished daniel fuchs's brooklyn novels (written in the 30s) in which he mentioned mccarren park & pool quite a bit. 3 novels bound together, 1,000 freakin pgs - you KNOW i was getting a comment outta that shit.
Amen #22. I am born and raised on the UWS and I couldn't care less who lives here and who is hip or what else. We all know most of them are leaving in a few years anyhow. No one thinks kids grow up here...surprise!!! And I live in Williamsburg, mainly cuz I can't afford Manhattan. Saying so and so isn't a "real" NYer is like agreeing with Bush's immigration laws.
I agree with 22. Nobody admits to being a hipster. Besides, I don't know what's "hip" about wearing thrift store clothing and listening to Sonic Youth. Both of those things have been popular with certain types for the last 20 years!
"Hipster" is just a word you use to project your self-loathing onto others.
That said, make it a pool! This vintage tee-wearing Sonic Youth lover thinks it would be great for the kids, and I'm sure a lot of my fellow socially-conscious "hipsters" agree!
I agree with 22. Nobody admits to being a hipster. Besides, I don't know what's "hip" about wearing thrift store clothing and listening to Sonic Youth. Both of those things have been popular with certain types for the last 20 years!
"Hipster" is just a word you use to project your self-loathing onto others.
That said, make it a pool! This vintage tee-wearing Sonic Youth lover thinks it would be great for the kids, and I'm sure a lot of my fellow socially-conscious "hipsters" agree!
Make it a wave pool!
Tokyo Summerland wave pool
"It would be a travesty if they stopped having music there. It's definitely the coolest place around to see a show, let alone a FREE show, every sunday. Damn shame if that's gone next summer"
Ummm it's a damn shame that there's been no water in there.
It's a SWIMMING POOL and will be again.
The bad hipster crap music can go elsewhere.
Man, there's so many authentic, lifelong Brooklynites on this board putting us hipsters to shame! Who knew Gothamist was so popular with Polish grandmas!
I can tell you who aren't hipsters, the mr. wall street type, the b & t crowd, the serious mr. wall street yuppie and old money type, our mayor is not a hipster, however there are aging hipsters.
those are the one's who try to keep a rat tail to show their hipster side and yearn for the days of punk rock to return. only they are now millionaires with a kid and fellow hipster wife.
for example, the gordon's from sonic youth are hipsters. hipsters can be frat boyish when in groups. they too, think they are tough guys.
if you question if you're a hipster, you're a hipster. if you don't know what hipsters are, you're a hipster. Jerry seinfeld is not a hipster.
I agree w/ #22. The pool is for everyone, not just the newest batch of folks to populate the neighborhood. How selfish of you, I mean really, who are you people? What about the kids sweating to death in summer with no recreation nearby? That is what the thing was built for in the first place. You can have a concert anywhere. Think of the neighborhood - ALL of it, not just the people who act like you and dress like you and like the same bands. The reason people brand you hipsters is because you hold yourself apart from the neighborhood.
Way to wear out your welcome