Water Sports, Part II: City Pools Open on Saturday

Just as the temps get into that muggy, incredibly hot territory in the 80s and 90s, New York City pool season approaches. Funny how that works. In any case, New York City pools open on Saturday. The "Double D" Pool in Thomas Greene Park is located between Nevins Street, Third Avenue and Douglass & DeGraw Streets. The Friends for Douglass/Greene Park are celebrating the opening of the pool with free lemonade on Saturday from noon to 2:00PM and looking for ideas about renovating the park and pool with things like a skatepark, a "water feature" and other amenities.

In any case, we'll probably do this more than once this summer, but we figured this was a good day to present a list of city pools in Brooklyn and of city beaches. The entire guide (which also includes wading pools and "mini-pools," of course, is available at the Parks Department site:

Outdoor Pools

• Betsy Head--Boyland, Livonia and Dumont Avenues. (718) 965-6581. 330' x 165' x 4.25 (Olympic)
• Bushwick Houses--Flushing Avenue and Humboldt Street. (718) 452-2116. 75' x 60' x 3'
• Commodore Barry--Flushing and Park Avenues, Navy and North Elliot Streets. (718)243-2593. 75' x 60' x 3'
• Douglas and DeGraw--Third Avenue and Nevins Street.(718) 625-3268. 75' x 60' x 3'
• Howard--Glenmore and Mother Gaston Blvd., East New York Avenue. (718) 385-1023. 75' x 60' x 3'
• Kosciusko--Kosciusko between Marcy and Dekalb Avenues. (718) 622-5271. 230' x 100' x 4' (Olympic)
• Red Hook--Bay and Henry Streets. (718) 722-3211. 330' x 130' x 4' (Olympic)
• Sunset Park--Seventh Avenue between 41st and 44th Streets. (718) 965-6578. 259' x 162' x 3.5' (Olympic)

Indoor Pools

• Brownsville--Linden and Mother Gaston Blvds. and Christopher Avenue. (718) 485-4633. 75' x 30' x 8'
• Metropolitan--Bedford and Metropolitan Avenues. (718) 599-5707. 75' x 30' x 8'
• St. John's--Prospect Place, between Troy and Schenectady Avenues. (718) 771-2787. 75' x 42' x 9'

City Beaches

In addition, of course, there are our public beaches. The major Brooklyn beaches, which stretch for miles, are in Coney Island and Brighton Beach, from W. 37th Street to Corbin Place. If you go a tiny bit off the beaten path from the most crowded stretchs in Coney Island, you can actually find somewhat less packed stretches of sand and water. The information number for Coney and Brighton is listed as (718) 946-1350. Manhattan Beach is located along Oriental Boulevard, from Ocean Avenue to Mackenzie Street. The phone is (718) 946-1373.

We would be remiss in leaving out our favorite non-Brooklyn beach: Rockaway Beach in Queens, which runs for miles, from Beach 1st Street, Far Rockaway, to Beach 149th Street. The number is (718)318-4000. If you're so inclined, you can also hit Jacob Riis Park or even the beaches in Belle Harbor (a hike via bus).