Coffman Pool — Attraction in San Francisco

Updating my review to 5 stars because they finally relented on the policy which banned parents from watching their children during paid classes. Finally! Thank you. Pool is great. 1/2017 Reducing my rating to 3 because they are still continuing the inane policy that parents cannot watch during class because of only a handful of helicopter parents these staff members don't know how to manage. I'd really like to watch what my kids are learning so that when we go swimming during open hours or at a hotel, I can help them model the techniques they learned in their classes. 10/2016 I'd give 5 stars because this is one of the nicest pools in the City. But SF Rec tends to ruin things with their apathy and silly policies. 1) parents cannot watch their kids from the pool deck because a couple parents were helicopter parents and the employees were unwilling to be firm with them, so they banned everyone (soooo San Francisco btw to make a law for everyone because of only a handful of isolated incidents) and 2) if anyone signs up for a class but never ever shows up....they still will not drop that person to give the spot to someone on the waitlist. What's the point of a waitlist then? So the result is my son's class which should have 6 kids, only has two kids every week. Being on the waitlist means you are NOT getting...

On Wednesday July 23, our family went to the Coffman pool for their 5:45pm family swim. We called ahead at 5:35pm to confirm if they’d be open and they said yes. We arrive, and the pool is closed due to a “chemical imbalance” which is not the first time. We saw people leaving the pool so it was in use earlier in the day. We saw other families arrive at the pool expecting to be open and leave disappointed as we were.

It is unacceptable that we were told the pool was going to be open and that this is not the first time the pool has been closed due to this chemical imbalance reason.

I don’t think public pools in other parts of the city experience this issue, so I hope this doesn’t keep happening. Please rectify the issue and communicate clearly to people in this community as these are services that we are paying for.

Update 8/13/25 The pool supervisor got back to me on this inquiry and while I was not able to get the experience I wanted, I’m appreciative of the staff and team that help make the pool happen for folks in the community....

A hidden gem. Coffman Pool is located next to McLaren Park on the Viz Valley side. You can park on the road next to the pool. There is a great playground next to it for the kiddos btw. The pool is busy with many scheduled activities throughout the week. Check the schedule. I personally like to lap swim on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It is an active place with a lot of folks coming and going. The facilities are very clean and the...