Description
McCarren Park is the big green backyard of north Brooklyn, 15 hectares of lawns and ball fields on the border between Williamsburg and Greenpoint. On warm weekends the grass fills with picnics, sunbathers, dogs and pickup games of softball, soccer and volleyball.
The star is the McCarren Pool, a huge public pool from 1936 with a brick bathhouse entered through a grand arched courtyard between two towers. It was one of the pools Robert Moses built across the city during the Great Depression. On summer days it is packed.
In 1936 it held 6,800 swimmers. Neighbors later wanted it shut: it closed after the 1983 season, stood empty and covered in graffiti for decades, and in the 2000s hosted dance shows and concerts in its dry basin. Restored, it reopened to swimmers in 2012.
The star is the McCarren Pool, a huge public pool from 1936 with a brick bathhouse entered through a grand arched courtyard between two towers. It was one of the pools Robert Moses built across the city during the Great Depression. On summer days it is packed.
In 1936 it held 6,800 swimmers. Neighbors later wanted it shut: it closed after the 1983 season, stood empty and covered in graffiti for decades, and in the 2000s hosted dance shows and concerts in its dry basin. Restored, it reopened to swimmers in 2012.