Vancouver Icons: Kitsilano Pool
byLike moths to a flame, bathing-suit clad bodies flock to the Kitsilano Pool as soon as the summer sun starts to shine. It’s a bright blue beacon of warm weather recreation at one of the city’s most popular beaches.
Photo credit: ecstaticist on Flickr
Photo credit: Carolyn Coles on Flickr
1931 – Construction laying out Kitsilano Pool. Archives item# Be N51.1.
In 1931, Percy Norman looked out from the rocks of Lighthouse Park across to Kitsilano and decided he had to swim across. No one knows if he had attempted the route before, but that year he led 40 intrepid swimmers across the chilly waters to commemorate the opening of the original Kitsilano Pool. All made it. [Vancouver Open Water Swim Association]
1944. Vancouver Archives #CVA 586-2798.
Photo credit: keepitsurreal & zemistor on Flickr
Photo credit: zemistor on Flickr
Photo credit: Ariane Colenbrander & Ariane Colenbrander on Flickr
Over the years the pool has hosted stunts, fire drill displays, Olympic trials, and the long-running Kitsilano Showboat. Set up along the south side of the pool, the showboat – now in its 75th year – hosts free entertainment (weather permitting) with performances running until August 17th this year.
The Kitsilano Pool swim schedule usually runs from Victoria Day until the second week of September.
Other Vancouver Icons posts include: White Rock Pier, Main Post Office, Planetarium Building, Lord Stanley Statue, Vancouver Library Central Branch, Victory Square, Digital Orca, The Crab Sculpture, Girl in Wetsuit, The Sun Tower, The Hotel Vancouver, The Gassy Jack Statue, The Marine Building, and The Angel of Victory. Should you have a suggestion for the Vancouver Icons series please feel free to leave a note in the comments. It should be a thing, statue, or place that is very visible and recognizable to the public.
