{"id":9605,"date":"2018-10-02T13:59:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T20:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000003653"},"modified":"2019-10-28T14:01:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T21:01:32","slug":"addison-long-beach-lost-belmont-plaza-olympic-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/addison-long-beach-lost-belmont-plaza-olympic-pool","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Lost: The Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our ongoing series,\u00a0<\/em>Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolished\u2014or were never even in existence. This is\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural and spatial history. To keep up with previous postings,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

\"The
The interior scoreboard of the former Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Photo by Brian Addison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For nearly four years, a space that was once home to Long Beach’s most tangible embrace of aquatic sports\u2014the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool\u2014is now home to a temporary pool and while it still hosts tons of visitors, it also filled to the deep end with a sea of controversy.<\/p>\n

That’s putting it lightly.<\/p>\n

The concern? Well, here’s how we\u00a0summed up the problems plaguing the replacement pool<\/a>: The project has the possibility of “negatively impact[ing] local wildlife, [while the Environmental Impact Report]\u00a0did not take into account the impacts of sea level rise and that the project served to only benefit one of the city\u2019s most affluent neighborhoods.”<\/p>\n

\"The
The south-facing side of the now demolished Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Photo by Brian Addison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But long before it became the site of controversy, the pool was dedicated in August of 1968 after its $3.7 million construction cost led to a building stretching for nearly 250 feet along the eastern shore of Long Beach. The pool itself was a marvel:\u00a0a\u00a0million gallons of water filled\u00a0an all-tile, eight-lane pool that stretched for 50 meters, reaching\u00a023 meters wide, and hitting a depth of over five meters deep. (It also hosted 2,700 spectators, had underwater television and sound equipment, and its concourse became the dream skate park of legend<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"Now
Now demolished, this was the welcome sign for the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Photo by Brian Addison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aesthetically, the building was a mid-century modern masterpiece acting as ode to the Modern-Greco design, with white pillars typical of Greek architecture mixed with the clean, straight-line style of mid-century modern design. One of its most admirable aspects was how it catered to spectators: If you were to sit on the northern set of bleachers, you were not just provided a spectacular view of the athletes but a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean thanks to the massive glass walls that anchor both the southern and northern sides of the building.<\/p>\n

\"The
The interior of the former Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Photo by Brian Addison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But perhaps more importantly, it’s the home of what was once dubbed the “Taj Mahal” of swimming.<\/p>\n

It’s the place that brought Michael Phelps and Jessica Hardy to the same swimming hole. It’s the place that sent gold medalist Greg Louganis to the Olympics in Montreal following his trials at the pool in 1976 at the age of 16. It\u2019s the place where three-time Gold medalist Aaron Peirsol won his senior-year CIF championship. It\u2019s the place where gold medalist Jason Lezak set records at the Big West Championships.<\/p>\n

\"The
The north-facing side of the now demolished Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Photo by Brian Addison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s a place that is deeply missed amongst swimming athletes across the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before being demolished, the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool was once dubbed the “Taj Mahal” of swimming for both pros and amateurs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":70612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[95],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[2691],"class_list":["post-9605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-long-beach-lost","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9605"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=9605"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}