John C Argue Swim Stadium

This pool is insane. It’s not only beautiful and well-​maintained but it’s huuuuggeeeee! Pool isn’t too cold or crazy chlorinated which is nice. Weekday evenings are super chill and you meet lots of awesome people, trade notes etc. Being in the rec pool while the sun is setting on another beautiful LA evening is a surreal experience.
Lastly, it’s $ 3.50, c’mon now!

beautiful outdoor pool! it has 2 humongous tanks. one for swimming and the other a little more kid friendly. swim stadium today is hosting the LA84 Foundation annual swim competitors. and it’s amazing!

I signed up for swim lessons and enjoyed the classes. The locker rooms could use a little updating (stall curtains). It was a little crazy when I was there, it was summer time and of course kids were running rampant but otherwise it was cool.

I swam here once and will definitely return. Good temperature, clean, good hours, easy parking, ok locker room (not great but I’ve definitely seen worse at public pools). The only negative is that they don’t seem to ever have long course hours (50 m) — however the 25 m is pretty good. Oh and also it is a LONG walk from the women’s locker room and a very short one for the men, which I think is kind of lame.
I would give this 4.5 if I could.

I have a hard time rating this facility because the experience depends entirely on which pool you swim in. If you go at a time when lap swim in in the lap pool, I would give this facility 5 stars. If you have to swim in the family pool, I would give it 1 – 2 stars.
The locker rooms are very decent and they have a separate locker room for adults, which cuts down on the small children you have to work around. The place is absolutely packed with families in the late afternoon for swimming lessons, but the second locker room makes it manageable. The free parking in Lot 1 and $ 2/​$ 2.50 entry fee are also very reasonable.
The large lap pool is just about perfect, no complaints there. However, the family pool is VERY warm, and there is only a small part partitioned off for lap swimming. It is very shallow– maybe 3.5−4 feet, and murky. Also, with the other half of the pool being full of small children getting swimming lessons, swimming in the family pool involves plenty of evasive maneuvers to avoid the many floating wads of hair that are all around the pool.
So, I would heartily recommend this as a place to swim laps if you can swim in the main pool, but avoid it if you will be relegated to the family pool.

The John C. Argue Swim Stadium is a very nice facility for swimming. It is located in Exposition Park just south of the Coliseum. As others have mentioned, the facility was used for the 1932 Olympics. There are 2 swimming pools at this facility, the main competition pool, and the family pool. The competition pool is 50 meters by 25 yards. The water temperature in the competition pool was around 78 degrees. The family pool is a half oval shape. The pool length in the family pool is 44 yards.
The competition pool is open for lap swimming Monday through Friday from 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM, and then again from 11AM to 4:30 PM. The family pool is open for lap swimming from 5PM to 7:30 PM. On weekends, the competition pool is open for lap swimming from 1PM to 4:30 PM. Recreational swimming in the family pool is open from all week, including weekends from 1PM to 4PM.
The fee to swim here is very reasonable. If you like to read and have a LA City Library Card, it costs $ 2. If you are like me, and you cannot read, and do not have a LA City Library Card, they discriminate, and charge you $ 2.50. Parking is free in Lot 1.
Kick Boards and Pull Buoys are available for you to borrow if you need additional punishment for your swim workout.
Although the facility may have been used in the 1932 Olympics, there is nothing old here. The facility is nice and modern as it was renovated several years ago. Everything about this place is new, and clean.
I don’t know about the women’s locker room, but, there are 2 male locker rooms. I was a little worried after I finished my laps because the school aged children had finished their splashing at the same time as I did. I was worried that they would overtake the men’s locker room. It was a relief to see that they had both a children’s locker room, and an adult locker room. The lockers are nice and new and are available for you to use if you bring a lock. If you do not have a lock, you can check in your valuables with the locker room attendant.
A bulkhead separates the main competition pool into 2 pools. The north pool, closer to the Coliseum, is used for high school meets and is proper sized for competitions at 25 yards. The southern half of the pool, which is used for lap swimming, is a nonstandard size. I found out that it was nonstandard sized when my 100 yard swim was slower than usual. Also, because I normally swim in a 25 yard pool, I know when it is time to do a flip turn. But, every time I was ready to flip turn, I was still 2 strokes away from the wall. When I asked the lifeguard about the pool length, he laughed and told me that the lap pool was 27 yards. 27 yards not 25 yards! It is longer than a normal short course yard pool, and it is a little short for a short course meter pool. 24.68 meters is not equal to 25 meters. It took me a while to get used to it. I couldn’t do my usual sprint workouts because of the extra yards. But, then again, some swimmers like the additional length and consider it good for training.
I like this pool for lap swimming. It is rich in history. You can see the Coliseum from the pool. It has everything that I want and need. It is nice, new and clean. The lifeguards watching the competition pool seemed friendly. This facility is a winner… once you get used to the nonstandard length of the pool.

In general, I love this pool. The lap pool is huge, has lots of lanes and the water is very clean. Having said that… the things that annoy the heck out of me about this pool. This is a very busy pool. So if you do swim laps, generally when the pool opens and near the end of the lap times are the best times to swim. The summer… take up yoga because this pool is overrun while screaming, yelling, running, poorly behaved kids. The lifeguards and other staff really can’t control all the kids. It’s batshit crazy. Lastly, lap swimmers… if you go to the night lap swim in the «family» pool… swim at your own risk… unlike the regular pool the family pool water is super cloudy (gross) and warm (gross) and there are always lots of birds (and bird poop) around the pool (gross). Did I mention I love this pool? I really do.

Jesus H. Christ. How often do you get to swim in a pool that was used during the olympics and in addition it is only $ 2.50 (or $ 2 with your library card). This is the BEST value for a pool in Los Angeles. Hands down.
The entrance is grand. LOS ANGELES SWIM STADIUM in a Greek coliseum façade style. It’s almost intimidating.
Lap swim is half of the long course. It is split by a movable divider. The other half is deep water diving. The 3^rd pool is entirely rec swim.
This is a BEAUTIFUL facility. The lap pool was pristine and blue. It was like swimming in HD.
They have tons of pictures from the 1932 Olympic games.
Sadly, they do not offer long-​course lap swimming here for regular folks. They only have long course for special events.
Regardless — amazing pool.

UPDATE with a Monday lap swim experience: Lap swim is 10AM-​3PM during the week. Got there at 11 and parked in two-​hours free street parking on Bill Robertson Lane. There is also a free lot catty-​corner to the façade of the building – just to the southwest of the entrance. On Sunday I went in through the south gates, but on Monday the gates are closed and you go in the main front doors on the west façade.
Paying my $ 2.50 entry fee took over 5 minutes today. There are two windows, both of which were occupied by moms and kids learning about swimming lesson options. None of the other people hanging out behind the windows were willing to look down the line and let pass those of us who just needed to hand over cash. Thus the kinda long wait to get in.
Once in, almost all the lap lanes were free. Oh, and there are 8 lap lanes, not the 12 I very incorrectly guessed in my earlier review (below).
INITIAL REVIEW: This review is for a Sunday afternoon lap swim experience. The pool is open on Sundays for both lap swim and recreation swim from 1 – 4:30 PM. I got there at 12:55 and there was already a line of about 15 people waiting to get in. On Sundays, you can park in the angled spaces on the south side of the building, even though the signs say «Permit Required.» You CANNOT park here during the week, and I don’t know about Saturdays.
The south side of the building is also where they were letting people in today. I paid ($ 2.50, no ID required) to get a ticket at the eastern gate, then went in through the western gate. Keep your ticket when you go into the locker room to change; you will give it to a guard once you enter the pool deck. There are lockers, and I don’t think they require coins, but I didn’t really investigate because you can leave your stuff with an attendant who gives you a numbered safety pin in return.
Lap swim is half of one of the two pools, the other half is deep water diving. The other pool is entirely rec swim. The lap pool is Olympic size, not sure about the rec pool. I didn’t count, but I think there were about 12 lap lanes. In the 60 minutes I swam, the lanes never filled up and I had never had to share.
This is a BEAUTIFUL facility. The lap pool was pristine, not a single piece of debris on the bottom. There were a ton of lifeguards on site, all of whom were so friendly, which is impressive because they have their work cut out for them at this VERY busy pool. The rec pool was bustling and noisy, but you’d never know while you were under water in the lap pool. With the sunlight dancing through the sparkling water, this was a really pleasant experience. Oh, and make sure you’ve got tinted goggles, because it is full sun out there, and the pool would probably be blinding without them.
Minus one star for the locker rooms. Posted signs ask you to limit shower use to one minute, which is fine for rinsing off before going on the pool deck (please do this!) but makes it impossible to wash your hair after a swim. Also, no hooks in the entire locker room. Where do you put your swim bag while you get changed? There is one small bench, but that’s it. Or there are the lockers, but if you’re changing in a curtained stall, that means leaving your bag out of arm’s reach. If a lot of people have just come through, the entire floor is wet, so you basically have to put your bag down into water to keep it nearby while you dress. And where do you hang your suit and cap while you change? I have no idea. I felt like I was juggling all my belongings while trying to pull on my underwear – no fun.

My daughters train in this pool

The pool from the 1932 Olympics has been beautifully renovated into a spacious lap /​diving pool. There’s another more shallow pool for recreation.
The only downside is that in the summer the rec pool gets overtaken by screaming kids and teenagers – but the lap pool really does not get crowded.
These are two outdoor pools in the EXPO center (rose garden, science center, natural history museum), so I’m not sure why some of these reviews look like they belong to the USC pool.
For $ 50 you can have access to their fitness facility and the pools for three months, this is a great deal.

Not sure why the link was changed. My original review was for the McDonald Pool at USC. The one star rating goes to Unilocal for letting this happen.

This is a great pool to swim in — although it can get busy on weekends, on the weekdays, it’s not very crowded at all. I’ve had to split lanes, but have never once had to circle swim. It’s bare bones, but very clean and the staff are nice.
They have lockers and hot showers and since it’s an LA City pool, it’s $ 2.00 to swim if you’ve got your library card.
There are two pools — one splasher pool for the kids and the lap pool, which is divided into a 25 meter lap course and a diving pool.
As of this writing, they do not offer long-​course lap swimming here.
Which is fine with me. 50m and crowded or more turns and a lane to myself? I’m picking the second option.

I have been to a lot of university pools as a spectator, and this is one of the worst pools for watching a swim meet. First of all the place is a fortress, you could conceivably spend hours looking for a way to get in. (You have to go through the activities building, and nowhere is there signage saying «POOL THIS WAY».
Second, the seating in the stands is about as uncomfortable as it gets. It’s just a cement over sized staircase.
Third and most importantly, there is no shade. It is like being in a convection oven up in those stands, you could probably even get a sunburn on your backside just from sitting down. In fact, the entire pool area is completely devoid of shade whatsoever. I suppose that’s good for keeping the pool waters warm without too much of an energy expenditure, but man, if you’re somewhat prone to sunburning like I am, this is not a good place to hang out.
I missed the entire meet yesterday, due to the fact that the only shady comfortable place I could find was not in view of the pool. Oh there is the view from the parking garage that lies just beyond the pool site, but then you have to stand for the entire meet, you cant see the scoreboard, and you need binoculars to see any of the races.