Pools Parties :: New York City Style

You would not normally think of New York City as a place for pools and swimming but indeed, there is a pool subculture leaking down from the rooftops of some of the city's best hotels and out onto the streets. These are not your normal everyday run of the mill hotel pools, rather these are social scenes and they are a little on the pricey side. But this is the big apple, where there is a price to be paid for just about everything. The most well known of these pool parties is at the Hotel Gansevoort, located in the area of New York known as the Meatpacking District at 18 Ninth Avenue.

The pool of the Gansevoort is a 45-foot heated outdoor, glass-surrounded, swimming pool with underwater music and a stylish scene that makes some compare it to South Beach in Miami. It is located on the rooftop and is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Of all the pools in the city, Gansevoort has the best view: it is a 360-degree panorama of the city. the shore of New Jersey is so close, you feel you could leap from the roof and touch down gently on its shore. The Gansevoort could be considered the center of the Meatpacking District (yes, Virginia, this really was a district of the city in which purveyors of meat were located). Its building towers over everything around it enabling all viewpoints to be unobstructed. It is a beautiful spot any time of the year, any time of the day.

Be forewarned, displays of affluence are everywhere. So if you are going to swim at the Gansevoort for the mystical experience of being on top of the roof of a stylish hotel, feeling the water all around you with music pulsing through the pool's underwater speakers, be ready for those who have no intention of letting the pool water touch them. For many of the guests at the hotel, the rooftop is a pool party place: a place to be seen.

Another way to be at your very own pool party in New York is to pay a visit to the public pool in Astoria, Queens.

The Astoria Pool was opened by the city in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration program enacted by the government to put the country back to work in the years after the Great Depression. The Astoria Pool is the largest in the city and his much beloved by the community. It is 330 feet long. That means, folks, that it is as large as a football field, included both end zones! A first time visitor is amazed to see the size and the breathtaking setting of this enormous pool.

It is located inside Astoria Park, one of the many parks that are part of the New York City's Parks & Recreation Department. Astoria Park includes tennis, a lighted track, picnic tables and a riverside walkway. The Park is located along the East River and includes magnificent views of the Tri borough Bridge as well as Hell Gate Bridge (for railroad cars only).

The Astoria Pool was home to the 1936 and 1964 trials for the U.S. swimming and diving teams. In 2006, Astoria Pool will celebrate its 60th year. Watch for the schedule of pool parties and find out more about Astoria, Queens.