El Monte Aquatic Center

I ve had my child in this place for swimming lessons for years. It’s convenience because it’s very close to our house but it will be the last year. He’s been in the same level of swim for two summers and this will be the third. There are just a few instructors that actually teach and care about what they do and it’s mostly the males that are better at teaching. The rest don’t even pay attention or give any advice for the kids on how to improve or what to work on. On this particular day, the female instructor justice the kids swim laps and barely had any engagement with the kids.
It’s too bad because it’s a great faculty for the city but needs to be better. My kid is not even motivated to go anymore.

i take my kid to parent and me swimming… so far so good. i wish there were benches closer to the ramp to put our stuff. the front desk people and instructors have been nice and answered all my questions wout problems.

A long overdue review of this place. This is the closets swimming pool to me. They offer swim classes for all ages, «Free» swim (lap swimming) & during the summer, they have events for all to enjoy. Prices for classes & admissions varies so check their website for updated schedules & fees.
There’s indoor & outdoor pools. Diving platforms, lap swimming, wading pool for the little ones with water shooting up for them to play in, & a water slide. The Instructors are young college kids who are also lifeguards at other places. They’re pretty good with teaching.
The pools are usually clean but I guess with so many people, it gets dirty (sand, noodles… yes noodles!, hair etc) have been found. Some people do not rinse off before entering the pool (no etiquette). There’s bleachers located inside the indoor pool area for spectators.
The locker rooms is ok. Make sure you have shoes. I wouldn’t want to walk around bare footed. Showers are available & a family room for people who have little ones to help them get changed. Parking can be difficult during high season since the lot is shared with other facilities nearby. There’s street parking as well.

My and my girlfriends came here because it is in the center of all our out locations and we wanted to be swim. The gentleman that works at the front was very nice. He seems a little shy but that is not a bad thing. Because the lap swimming started at 7:00 we were not able to go in until 10 minutes prior.
Other Unilocalers had mentioned that the pool was not clean and I agree especially in the more shallow pool. There is a lot of brown crud at the bottom. The deeper level pool was more clean. This place gets very crowded for lap swimming so we were excited to capture our own lane. We were enjoying it for about 30 minutes until I hear this lady tell us that we need to get out and move because they inadvertently forgot to reserve that lane. However, all the other lanes already had four people in them so we did not have any other option. The lady still told us we needed to move. So we decided to go into the shallow pool and do laps. Everyone in there was either standing around or messing around. It was not until 8:15 when the water polo team finished practicing so they opened more lanes.
I hope this issues does not happen again.

Worst management! !!
Don’t waste your money at this place. Signed up my boys for swimming classes and on their last day of class, I forgot there registration cards at home. Manager wanted to charge $ 5 for each my boys so they can go to class. Ridiculous! !!. Cant believe that management including the supervisor doesn’t have a heart to make an exception and punish my boys from going to their LAST day of class over $ 10. Is the city this broke??? Or does the city need to teach there employees about customer service. I paid $ 100 for a 30 minute swimming class and would have paid another $ 100 for another session but over $ 10 they lost out on making another $ 100. Management didn’t have the for site to see this and unfortunately they lost a customer and hope that others take my advice and go somewhere else.

Looked good so I thought I’d give this place a try since its nearby. Bad decision. Zero stars if I could.
Too much chlorine in the indoor pool and I could see the dirt floating by as I swim. outside pool, the water is awful. I know pools aren’t 100% clean all the time but as soon as I hit the water, I stepped out.
Despite the number of lifeguards, they always seem to be in a daze. Just waiting out til their shift is over for their hourly pay.
Front desk people are rude; especially this one old lady. My mom’s been taking my little brother there every saturday for the lap swim. The first time I went I took him woth me. She wouldn’t let him in because he wasn’t 14. I didn’t know this. He’s been going since summer started and he went in no problem. So fine he can’t go in, I’ll respect that rule, but she didn’t have to throw her attitude around. I simply asked when the recreation swim would start so my brother could come later. She rolled her eyes at me pointing and saying «It’s up there! Jesus christ. mumble mumble.»
Overall, gone once, never going back.

This’s my daughter’s 3^rd week of swim lessons at El Monte Aquatic and she has had 4 different instructors for the beginning level. When I approached the supervisor about the inconsistency and quick turn over, I was told some instructors are not able to make it because of finals and some instructors have to be on life guard duty because they are short handed. Really…3 weeks of finals???
I don’t know if I will return for more lessons. My daughter has to start from scratch every time she comes for lessons. There’s no monitoring of progress with the different instructors she has had.
Think twice before you enroll your child in El Monte Aquatic… instructors here are not committed to their job…

Now that I no longer go here because my membership expired, I can review this place. I don’t hate the place, but there are just too many options in the SGV area.
Good:
Extremely friendly staff.
Bad:
The indoor pools have too much chlorine in them. Given how warm the pools are, you will be breathing in a lot of this stuff.
The indoor pools don’t look too clean. You can see some dirt at the bottom of the pools.
I lost my Speedo Vanquisher swimming goggle here. I was showering and left my goggle on the bench, next to my bag. My goggle was gone when I came back.
The coin lockers do not work.
Parking is horrible during the summer months.
Some of the staff were sneaking their friends in. Normally I don’t care, but given how some people wait for lanes to open, I didn’t think it was fair for paying patrons.
Lifeguards need refresher in first aid. I witnessed a five-​year-​old girl smash her face into the water during an errant dive from the 10-​meter platform. The three lifeguards there didn’t jump in the pool to help her. Instead, they waited for her to climb out of the pool. Then, after a minute of asking, «are you ok?,» they finally performed a manual in-​line C-​spine immobilization on the little girl. They should have helped the girl out of the pool and immobilize her C-​spine ASAP. With that said, they did call for EMS promptly.
Pool is located in El Monte and so the neighborhood is a little sketchy.

Young lifeguards were fired over a harmless video parody.
The management of this facility needs to lighten up!

This facility is really amazing. We had a birthday party here and many other friends loved it and had their parties there too. During the parties, the staff was so great and helpful.
Going during a regular recreation swim time is another story. FIrst of all, the public session are only 2 hours long. So make sure to arrive at least ½ hour early because they let only 300 people in (including all adults and kids). Then there are the rules. There are tons and tons of rules. I am fine with rules if they are there for a reason or if it protects someone. Mostly these rules and just rules to have RULES!
1. When you line up in front of the facility you have to listen to the long list of rules, then you are moved to the front of building and then you are guided to go in and pay in small groups. It’s cheap ($ 1.50 for kids and $ 2.50 for adults — so I guess you get what you pay for.) You get a small ticket and a number. Now, you go BACK outside to line up again in order of your number. Then, you go back across the street to line up to go in — yes, that’s a lot of lining up. If you happen to get out of numerical order — they freak out and won’t let you in. Stay in order — OMG — why does that matter? Just count off the first 300 people, let them in to pay and that’s it! So crazy!
BREATHE!
2. Now you are finally in the facility. You must shower before entering the pool. Fine. Then if you are under 6 years old, you must have a parent or guardian in the water with you at all times. If you are 6 and over — go free and swim — there’s lots of lifeguards watching. The nice thing about this pool is that it has a gradual shallow end so all will enjoy it — even non-​swimmers. The deep end isn’t really that deep either — maybe 4 feet? But all good.
3. NOW — here’s the craziest rule. If you want to bring your towel or flip flops to the pool deck you better have someone watching them for you at all times. If you leave anything on the pool deck for even a second unattended, the staff scoops in and takes your things to the lost and found. They do have a locker room and changing facilities and a free valet that will take all your belongings and store them for you. But now you have no towel and no shoes on a slimy wet dirty floor. Yuk. I ended up watching our stuff on the pool deck and if we had to go in to use the restroom or something, I’d ask a neighboring parent to watch our stuff for us. The lamest part of the whole thing is that now you have tons of kids walking around wet and cold and in danger of slipping because they have no shoes and no towels. I told the supervisor that this was a prescription for disaster and he agreed and said they are working on getting mats for the hallways — here’s an idea — give people their towels and shoes back! Why can’t you leave your towel on the pool deck? I’ve never heard of such a thing. So odd!
4. No outside food or drink allowed but they do have a snack bar with cheap things for sale like drinks, popsicles, chips etc — mostly junk — but I guess you can survive for 2 hours.
5. The Slide — this is the best part of the whole deal. This was the redeeming thing for us. Of course there are rules with the slide too: You must be at least 4 feet tall (and they measure you) and you can’t go down with a friend. You have to wait in groups of 5 at the top or at the landing — why? I don’t know. You can’t go down until they give you the signal but it is a very fun slide. Oh and you can’t have your goggles on — not even on your head.
Basically, if you can, have a private party and rent it for your friiends and family. IF not, it’s worth it to go on open swim day, just be prepared for the rules and know that at least the pool is clean and nice. Most of the staff is nice and know the rules are super lame. One lifeguard was even apologetic — he said «I wish I could just say — go have fun!» But alas he can’t — it’s a RULE!

The pool is quite new and the facilities are kept exceptionally clean. There is an indoor and an outdoor pool with public access scheduled.
Schedule for public
Mon-​Thur 11−1pm
Tue-​Thru 7−9pm
Sat 12−2pm
Admission fee is $ 3.50
It can get a little crowded during swimming lessons, but the instructors are very helpful and attentive.

At first glance this place is really nice. The building is relatively new; I would say less than 10 years old. They have an indoor and outdoor pool which I think is really cool. They also have a big slide outdoors. The pools look well maintained except there is always dirt on the bottom. Seems like the maintenance guy is really lazy. I go there frequently in the mornings and all he does is sit around and talk to other workers. What is funny about that is all I hear in this place is how tight the budget is and how close they are to being shut down… more on that later.
The first issue I have with this place is their swim schedule. There is very limited time for lap swimming. M-​Th from 11:30am — 1pm & T/​Th evenings from 7pm-​9pm. It would be nice to have more availability for lap swimming especially in the mornings. 90 minute swim window is definitely not good enough especially for the $ 3.50 cost per visit. They do have a senior swim program which is M-​Th from 10 – 11:30 and its only a dollar which I think is pretty cheap, too bad I’m only 53.
The second issue I have is their contact with customers. Their website is never up-​to-​date and the pool closes frequently. They are kind enough to tell us why they are closing, but I always seem to find out after the pool is re-​opened. It would be nice to have a notification system on their website that lets you know if the pool is open and had to be closed for the day.
My biggest issue is the management staff at the Aquatic Center. I didn’t want to say the employees in general because I find the lifeguards and front desk staff to be very helpful. Some of the lifeguards were even willing to help me with my stroke and were very kind and generous with their time. I usually feel welcomed when I enter the facility. My issue is with the pool manager. I don’t want to name anyone here, but she is a very large lady who always looks like she is about the fall over. She is very rude and is always found sitting at her desk in the dark chatting it up with whoever is around. My first encounter with her was when I left my towel and goggles at the pool. I asked her if anyone turned them in and she immediately said no. I was upset cause I thought I made a dumb mistake. I decided to ask one of the guards. He asked me to wait while he went to look. Two minutes later he came back with my towel and goggles. This immediately struck me as odd. This woman couldn’t take 2 minutes to help a paying customer, but could spend her time chatting with an employee. The second encounter I had with her was worse. I had knocked on her office door to ask about questions for swim lessons. There was no response. The stupid thing is there are many windows to look inside the office so you could obviously see her sitting there. I knocked a few more times and finally she opened the door. I asked if I could talk to her about swim lessons. She told me lessons had already started and registration was closed. I asked when the next classes would start and she said she didn’t know. She wasn’t rude or anything, just not very helpful. I then asked if I could talk to her about adding times for lap swim and she rudely cut me off and said we are not budgeted for that. She then apologized and said she needed to answer the phone and closed the door on me.
I understand this is a long complaint, but I had the same issued with her boss the recreation supervisor. They show no interest in their patrons and are unwilling to hear any criticism about themselves or the facility they run. The rec. supervisor was very rude when I complained about the pool manager and offered me no reconciliation. She even called me a liar when I was complaining about my bad experience. I really don’t know what to do anymore.
In all honesty, the pool is a great place, but with the management it has now there is no way it will remain open. There is so much more negative things to say about the way this place is ran, but it would take too long to write.
If you decide to visit here just don’t expect anyone to really help you and just try to enjoy the facility for what it is

Schedule for public
Mon-​Thur 11−1pm
Tue-​Thru 7−9pm
Sat 12−2pm
Admission fee is $ 3.50
Hope you have amazing time there.

Really nice facility. I like the large heated indoor pool. Have been bringing my 1 yr old son for swimming lessons.

This is a really nice facility. It’s less then ten years old, you they made it so you can park where the old pool used to be and it’s next to a bunch of El Monte public stuff, like a park, a library, and a community center.
I learned how to swim here! I also used to come with my cousins in the summer, and for about a buck, I got to play to my hearts content.
I recently went a few times and not much has changed. I went to the lanes this time though. I have to say, they’re really nice. The lanes are super wide, so it’s not too bad to share (and it gets a little busy, so you’re going to have to). There are at least six lanes. The pool for lap swimming is about 7 feet deep. And its indoors. Nice.
What kept it from five stars would be the fact that its kinda expensive to swim here. $ 3.50 to come each time for lap swimming, and monthly membership runs to $ 55/​mo for 20 swims… huh? Not to mention the locker showers don’t have soap. :(Bring your own! And remember flip flops!