Sunset Pool — Restaurant in New York

I recently had the privilege to get out of New York and take a small trip, upon traveling to the gate at Newark international you go through a TSA checkpoint where you take of shoes, belts, necklaces, go through a full body scan, Xray all personal items, take out laptops, large cellphones, get pat down get through it all and then have to frantically redress and sprint to the gate. Flash forward to a few days ago when it was 90+ degrees days before Labor Day in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It being too hot inside and too hot outside only leaves the next best option, public pools. Walking up to the Sunset Park pool one is faced with a NYPD squad car, police barricades, crime scene tape and two exhausted Parks department workers who then asks: Do you have a lock? Does your bathing suit have mesh? (For mens suits, and yes they check). Is your magazine bound? If you do not have a lock, you cannot enter, if you have a shirt with any pigment it must stay in the locker, if you have boots on you cannot enter, you cannot bring “unbound periodicals” on the pool deck, you will be ask to shake out your towel to prove you do not have anything illicit in it. The sunset park pool recently got new locker rooms that are made of cedar and polycarbonate storm panels, a contemporary update to the pools new deal era, vaguely art deco style brick that is synomous with the parks department and New York state infrastructure as a whole. The locker rooms smell like a cedar sauna, are clean of graffiti, and are full of light but still provide shade on a 90 degree day in August.

After changing in to your suit you are most likely greeted with parks department worker who is is amazed you still don’t fully understand all the rules, you will have to leave all teeshirts with pigment in your locker, shower off in front of them (yes they watch and yes they will chase you if you don’t), you will have to shake your towel out again. Once showered and proven innocent there is ample seating, and lounge space. Unique to the Sunset park pool is a small astro turf green space with two seven foot tall lumps righting the middle. This green space becomes a sunbathing, stretching and tag playing area shared by all ages and cultures. The younger mandarin, English and Spanish speaking children run back and forth and play tag together while the 20 something year old white people lay and read the New Yorker or the new Zadie Smith novel. I got to watch a swim team that seem to not be related to a public school, parks department or a community association. I got to see a family of Bengali children and there mother all jump in off the pool deck, I got to see a Parks department worker get into a full on yelling match with a what seemed to be a 10 year old about not showering. The pools all closed this past Sunday marking the beginning of the countdown till...

Thankful for being Banned on the first day for doing nothing wrong being too slow and then scared so badly by a police officer by having what was effectively a gun pulled on me and threatened to physically cast me out when I was already leaving as fast as I could.

Diaz, who runs the place, oddly supports the officer’s opinion that I am some terrible person. Said “no” to that he doesn’t want to be involved. I will be asking every restaurant in this city, mark my words to never serve him food again.

Not sure why officer #72 in Brooklyn was ever allowed to be posted here. This facility is emotionally unsafe and not a good place for children. Police are on their way today to take a statement. Officer #72 did me a favor by recording the entire thing. I think she was embarrassed by me attempting to escalate, I will make sure this entire town is aware of what they did to me. And I don’t have to because revenge belongs to God. He will repay, that’s what God said. Meanwhile I am taking every action necessary to mind my own business and maybe be a little faster so that random cops like offices like #72 don’t need to notice my slowness and feel the need to provoke me to fear and screaming and getting me banned from this place. It really doesn’t make any sense. Everyone had to leave because there was thunder, I am slow so I went as fast as I could and was one of the first people out of the pool. Don’t go to this pool if you happen to be a little too slow and would rather on-edge cops like officer #72 just let you leave instead of holding a gun to your head while you’re packing your bags, that’s what that felt like. Now I’m banned. Doesn’t make any sense. I feel so embarrassed because she made me scream in front of children. There is a recording of this event made by the officer #72 herself she’d better cover her bases because if she doesn’t she won’t ever be able to work in law enforcement again, or her ten generations following of her descendants.

Please be kind to slow people. It’s not worth fighting over. I love you officer #72. Please be kind to stupid slow failure people like me who grew up physically abused in states where physical abuse by parents is illegal in Colorado. Not sure how they got away with it but here I am. CPS never...

So this pool is pretty great, especially on a hot day! I met some lovely people and generally had a great time. They've updated their lockers to wooden, open air type structures that feel a lot cleaner than they have before. There are also the old indoor showers and bathrooms, which are still pretty...uhh...dingy. So I probably wouldn't rely on those. The people describing the guards and workers as draconian aren't entirely wrong, they're strict. The first five minutes of you arriving will feel a bit like, I dunno, going to the DMV for lack of a better comparison, going to this pool definitely one of those situations where you'll be happier if you know before you go, so I'll try my best to summarize what you should expect:

When you arrive, there may be a small line, they'll want to see that you brought a lock before they let you in. They'll also check that you're actually wearing a bathing suit (including bottoms, apparently people in the past have tried to swim in actual clothes/underwear) Speaking of which, don't plan on swimming in actual clothes like a t-shirt, especially anything that is dyed.

You'll then be directed to the lockers, which are split by men and women, so anticipate hitting those first. You won't be able to bring your bags out onto the pool deck, so leave those. You can however carry any water, sunscreen, towels as you like. Just not in a bag. They will probably also give you a hard time if you walk out of the locker-room in any clothes that are not a white t-shirt.

As you come out there are some shower stands (like what you'd find on a beach) and they'll require you to rinse down. There will be momentary awkwardness as you try and figure out where to put whatever you are carrying. But all in all, I was kind of glad that they require everyone to rinse down, cleanliness and all that.

You made it! You can do the pool things! They seem to frown on excessive splashing or horseplay. There are some really spartan concrete bleachers/steps that run along the length of the pool on the back wall, you can lounge out there. Also there is a cute little astroturf enclosed area for kids to run around that has some tables...