[Noozhawk’s note: This is the latest in a series of articles on the myriad of recreational activities along the Santa Barbara waterfront. Click here for the complete series index.]
For 82 years, Santa Barbara’s Los Baños del Mar Pool has been a scenic go-to for fitness and fun.
Built with a Depression-era Works Progress Administration grant and opened in 1939, the Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation Department pool at 401 Shoreline Drive on the waterfront works in a lot of aquatic opportunity.
That includes public lap swims (hours and costs listed below) and Parks & Recreation Department programs, as well Santa Barbara City College swim classes; competitive training for youth and adult age groups from the Santa Barbara Swim Club; and Santa Barbara Masters Swimming workouts.
Recreation swim times normally scheduled have been canceled for the summer, however.
Aside from fitness for everyone, from beginners to Olympic gold medalists, the pool is a handy resource for those whose jobs demand it.
“In my job description, a component of it is physical fitness,” Santa Barbara firefighter Rob Jensen said just before a recent Masters Swimming workout. “So I utilize that training, which transfers over to my career.”
Jensen, 49, uses occasional Masters Swimming workouts to help train for triathlons and other fitness challenges. He also does the Reef & Run ocean swimming event at East Beach.
“I’ve noticed now that I’m getting a little bit older, (the job) really requires me to stay physically fit, because not only with the structure fires but now all the different wildland fires that we respond to in the state (for mutual aid), it’s very challenging if my fitness slips,” he said.
“So it’s probably the No. 1 priority for me is to remain physically fit so I can perform the job.”
Santa Barbara Masters Swimming offers coached workouts for anyone 18 years and up, from beginners to elite competitors — even Olympic training. The program rents the pool from the city, with Monday-Friday early morning and evening times, and Saturday mornings.
Head coach John Abrami, also known simply as A.B., has coached the Masters Swimming workouts for 11 years, and has more than 40 years of coaching experience here and elsewhere.
“We have a full range of people here, from beginner swimmers to elite swimmers, former gold medalists, current masters world record holders,” he said. “We have the full gamut. We try to fit everybody in, something for everybody.”
In 2014, Susan Dickinson, co-president of Friends of Los Baños del Mar Pool, organized a 75th anniversary party for the pool, featuring bands and a barbecue.
“That was an awesome event,” she said. “We had a fashion show with swim suits through the ages. We went to the City College drama department and were able to pull it together, found bathing suits all the way back to the ’20s. We had various people in the community modeling them.”
Friends of Los Baños del Mar Pool is a support organization and, among other things, it sponsors free swim lessons every summer and adult swim lessons.
“Everybody should learn to swim by third grade,” Dickinson said.
The nonprofit organization’s website also offers a history of the pool, going further back to the first Santa Barbara bathhouse nearby, in 1873, and the first Los Baños del Mar Pool at the site in 1901.
The current pool opened in 1939, and the building fronting Shoreline Drive houses lockers and showers is “a combination of Art Moderne and Hispanic architectural elements, making for a perfect blend with the city’s famed red tile roofs,” according to the website.
Dickinson has been using the pool since she was a UC Santa Barbara student in the late 1970s.
“This is definitely one of the things that’s kept me here” after college, she said. “Lot of good friends here.”
“We have a great facility here,” Jensen said. “There’s not too many 50-meter pools that sit right on the waterfront. So for us in Santa Barbara, we’re very fortunate to have that — coupled with coach A.B., who’s a fantastic master swimmers coach.
“We’re very fortunate to have this facility and then just have great workouts. It really lends itself to a good experience.”
Masters Swimming is a national program, with more than 1,500 teams, A.B. said, and the Santa Barbara team qualified 30 swimmers for the nationals in Mission Viejo in 2019, finishing in ninth place.
The Santa Barbara Swim Club “is a year-round, comprehensive and competitive swim program serving Southern California athletes of all ages and levels of experience,” according to the club’s website.
“SBSC promotes excellence both in and out of the pool, with a focus on sportsmanship and teamwork,” the site says. “SBSC guides athletes to reach their highest potential by inspiring athletes to develop a sense of goal ownership, to have a high level of integrity, and to be positive contributors to society.
“SBSC has produced Olympians, world champions, NCAA champions, national records, Southern California record, CIF champions, and Channel League champions. SBSC alumni often continue their competitive swimming careers at D1, D2, and D3 universities across the country.”
The Parks & Recreation Department has a summer water polo camp for kids, summer parent-child swim lesson sessions, and the pool hosts swim meets during the annual Semana Nautica Summer Sports Festival, city aquatics director Tony Sholl said.
From September-November and February-April, there are semi-private lessons on Saturdays and Sundays, in blocks of four times a week for 30 minutes each.
The city’s lap swims are currently on a drop-in basis. The lanes are designated by speed, with no limit on number of swimmers per lane. Locker rooms and showers are open.
Summer Hours
Monday through Friday: 7 to 8 a.m. and noon to 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday only: 7:15 to 8:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: Noon to 2:30 p.m.
Cost
Per visit: $10 for resident and nonresident
10-visit adult swim: $44 for resident and $48 for nonresident
10-visit senior swim: $35 for resident and $38 for nonresident
Unlimited adult monthly: $64 for resident and $70 for nonresident
Unlimited senior (60+): $46 for resident and $50 for nonresident
Click here for more information.
— Noozhawk correspondent Dennis Moran can be reached at sports@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.