L.A.'s historic Griffith Park Pool won't reopen. Here's the $28-million plan to replace it

The historical Griffith Park Pool, built successful 1927 and erstwhile the largest aquatic installation successful Los Angeles, has been adust since 2020. Now, arsenic summertime heats up, residents are learning that it won’t beryllium filled again.

Instead, the metropolis is laying plans for a $28-million task to demolish it and physique 2 smaller caller pools and a splash pad successful its spot portion reconstructing the two-story excavation location adjacent door. City officials accidental they anticipation to statesman the task successful summertime 2026 and implicit it successful January 2028.

But for now, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department website simply lists the excavation arsenic “closed until further notice.” A Bureau of Engineering spokesperson said the metropolis has not picked a builder yet.

The Griffith Park Pool, closed successful 2020, was inactive adust connected July 1.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The caller program marks a crisp crook for a tract that was erstwhile scheduled for reopening successful June 2022. In the run-up to that date, the Eastsider quality tract archetypal reported, metropolis workers recovered that the excavation had a cracked foundation, 1 excessively terrible to repair.

Recreation and Parks Department spokeswoman Rose Watson said section Assistant General Manager Cathie Santo Domingo and a attraction squad discovered the cracks successful the pool. “Every clip they would capable it up, it wouldn’t clasp the water,” Watson said.

During the closure, neighbors person complained and signed a petition, lamenting that working-class families successful Los Feliz, Atwater, Silver Lake and East Hollywood person agelong depended connected that nationalist excavation for summertime relief.

“I ever wondered what was happening with that. I’ve ne'er seen h2o successful it,” said Christine Perez of Los Feliz, who was astatine a playground adjacent the excavation Monday with her 22-month-old son, Miles. “I was virtually reasoning past week that it would beryllium large if determination was a splash pad down here.”

“Kids request a spot to spell and a spot to larn however to swim,” said Marian Dodge, committee caput and past president of the Friends of Griffith Park. She said the radical is “actually thrilled that they’re yet going to spell up and marque the indispensable repairs. ... We person been assured that it is afloat funded.”

A metropolis Bureau of Engineering study says the caller task volition see “demolition and reconstruction,” replacing the aged excavation with a caller contention excavation measuring 25 yards by 50 meters (up to 12.5 feet deep) and a “training pool” splash pad that is 25 yards by 25 meters (up to 5 feet deep), on with reconstruction and rehabilitation of the site’s two-story Spanish-style excavation location and improvements to changing and ablution areas and ADA accessibility.

The caller pools are intended to grip year-round use, incorporating electrical excavation heaters, brackish h2o and UV airy h2o treatment.

Long known arsenic the Municipal Plunge, the excavation astatine Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard measures astir 225 feet by 48 feet. It was the city’s largest aquatic installation until the accomplishment of Hansen Dam Recreation Area, built successful 1940 successful the Lake View Terrace country of the San Fernando Valley.

“You cognize the L.A. River runs close down the pool?” said Dodge. “The h2o level down the excavation is truthful high, they were incapable to factual the stream there.” As a result, erstwhile the excavation was built, it “was described arsenic a factual vessel floating connected apical of this soil and mud. It was benignant of risky astatine the beginning, but they did it.”

At 1 point, the pool’s capableness was enactment astatine 562 people.

“They would person canoeing lessons and h2o parades,” Dodge said.

Now neighbored by tennis courts, a playground, a shot tract and Los Feliz Nursery School, the excavation was unfastened until precocious March of 2020, erstwhile the metropolis unopen aggregate recreation facilities successful the aboriginal days of the pandemic. It lies wrong City Council District 4, represented by Nithya Raman.

On May 21, the metropolis Board of Public Works authorized hiring Perkins Eastman to bash $2.4 cardinal successful architectural plan and engineering enactment connected the pools and bathhouse.

The thought of advancement connected the excavation is comforting, Dodge said, fixed the idle authorities of the park’s pony rides and merry-go-round, some closed since 2022 for assorted reasons. The L.A. Zoo, besides successful Griffith Park, remains unfastened but mired successful a ineligible conflict implicit wealth betwixt the metropolis and the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.

In all, the metropolis operates 57 pools (28 seasonal, 26 year-round and 3 campy pools) and 8 splash pads. As of July 2, 8 of the pools were closed.

The nearest city-run pools to Griffith Park are Echo Park, Hollywood and Glassell Park. Griffith Park besides includes pools astatine Camp Hollywoodland and Griffith Park Boys Camp.