And from the Why Can’t We Have Nice Buildings Like This Anymore file comes the La Cienega Municipal Swimming Pool. It stood at 300 S. La Cienega Blvd, in Beverly Hills. The photo was taken in 1930, when the trees were still being planted and you could nab a decent parking spot. I really love those three peaked arches and wish I could find a photo taken much closer; I bet the tiles around each arch was gorgeous in real life.
** UPDATE ** – Thanks to Gregory K’s sleuthing, we now have a close up of that tiling:
Here’s an interior shot:
A busy day at the La Cienega Municipal Swimming Pool:
The facilities seem to have closed around 1976.
The building is no longer with us. This is what’s there now: the main building for the La Cienega Park and Community Center. This image is from August 2022.
In this satellite image was can see the large triangular piece of land the park sits on. In the bottom right corner we can see the building with the roof and the tower. In the 1930s, it housed the Beverly Hills Water Treatment Plant; these days it houses the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This image is from December 2023.
Great pictures, thank you!
I did some digging for more pictures as you lured me into the tiling around the arches. Alas, like you, there is no luck. I did look for the architects, Edward Cray Taylor Sr., Ellis Wing Taylor. Both brothers operated in LA between 1919-29. They also did the Wolfer Printing Company, Office and Printing Building 416 Wall Street (still there), and Fire Department (LAFD), Station #60 5320 Tujunga Avenue (still there). The station looks more the style of the swimming pool but the printing building looks medieval castle-like. What a strange and wonderful building! I’m hunting for more of their buildings and where they may have ended up. Thanks!
Thanks for digging, Gregory!
Found a photo of the arches. Fabulous!
https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/88887/
Adding another building, however it’s in Yuma, AZ. Masonic Temple 153 S. 2nd Ave., Yuma, Arizona.
Cheers.
Hello Martin.
Me again……..Joan Lewis……..
I was born at home at 216 Stanley Drive in 1928…. Actually lived there 1936, when moved to North Rexford Drive.
I remember swimming in that pool. Happy memory!
Hey Joan, I’m not the least bit surprised you swam there!
Thanks for remembering me! At 96……still have lots of BH memories!
Joan
You are so nice to remember me………Now 96 and a lot of BH memories!
Joan, You have a great memory and you were so lucky to have lived in that city when you did. I just have to imagine what it was like. LA must have seemed like paradise compared to many large cities back then. All the beautiful architecture and the streets all looked so manicured. Thank you for sharing these memories with all of us my dear.
Some of these public parks and recreation things can drive you nutz on searching. There’s a building in Griffith Park somewhere up by Crystal Springs that was a fountain/refreshment operation in a nice building. You can see it in an old episode of Highway Patrol (exterior & interior) but it doesn’t seem to surface anywhere in online images. Odd how nobody seems to know about some of these buildings having ever existed.
Once again we see another crime in the destruction of such a beautiful building. How can anyone justify tearing the old building down and putting up a shoe box in it’s place!!!! Defies my understanding that’s for sure.
How long was that pool?