To my way of thinking, this photo is a quintessentially LA photo. There wasn’t much separating these Angelenos swimming at the Echo Park Community Pool from the Hollywood Freeway—just a triangle of grass and a wall. But for inner-city dwellers like these people probably were (Echo Park is adjacent to downtown Los Angeles) it was easier than catching three buses to the beach in the middle of summer. The Hollywood Freeway (aka “the 101”) opened in the early 1950s and this photo was taken in 1958, by which time the freeway saw lots of traffic each day.
Frances J said: “I went there as a kid but soon afterwards I started going to the boys and girls club up in Hollywood with its real pool. This one was more of a wading pool for little tiny kids who couldn’t swim.”
Linda L said: “I swam at that pool every summer growing up in Echo Park. I have great memories being there. Downstairs was a place called ‘Toy Loan’. You could go there and get roller skates, balls, dolls and every kind of toy you could think of. You had to return the toy in 2 weeks. It was great for us poor kids who couldn’t afford toys.”
Henrik H said: “It is now the Echo Park Skate Park.”
This is how that pool looked in 2024. As far as I can tell, it’s now abandoned. On Google Maps’ satellite photo, it’s simply labeled “Old Swimming Pool.”
Looks like it would be very noisy inside and outside pool. I am guessing the pool was there before the freeway. My Dad lived on Bella Vista in the Hollywood area and the 101 took out the house he was living in. Nice that the pool remained it was a great way to spend the afternoon close to home on a La summer day.
Where the pool was is now a city skateboard park…