[Flyingwedge]

We've seen the City Hall on Broadway many times, shown below c. 1890:

USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/2696

But I don't believe we've ever noticed the Los Angeles Natatorium next door:

Closeup of above

A similar but slightly wider photo, c. 1895:

LAPL -- http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018257.jpg

Here's another shot from a few years earlier, showing the same two natatorium signs:

Huntington Digital Library -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../id/3468/rec/2

The Los Angeles Natatorium opened September 29, 1888. Capitain and Burton were the architects. Obviously,
there were buildings in town with baths prior to this, but with bathtubs, not anything like what we would call a
swimming pool:

September 30, 1888 Los Angeles Times @ LAPL

According to the rest of the article, the pool was made of brick and lined with cement. The water was meant to be
heated to 79 degrees by means of "steam pipes running under it" (under the brick?), but the water was reported
not to have been even lukewarm. The shallow end was just two feet deep, and the deep end 12 feet. There was a
railing all around the pool, just above the water.

In addition to the rings over the pool (pictured in the ad below), there were two diving boards plus a chute/slide.
This ad has the tank slightly larger than the article on the pool's opening day:

October 10, 1888 Los Angeles Herald @ LOC -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lc...arRange&page=1

By early the next year the problem with the water temperature seems to have been fixed:

February 24, 1889 Los Angeles Times @ LAPL

The 1894 LA City Directory shows that the Natatorium was operated by the Cook Brothers, so this ad is probably c. 1894:



GPF.2730 at Seaver Center

Here's the photo a little bigger:




October 7, 1895 Los Angeles Herald:

CDNC/UCR -- http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d...torium-------1

Eventually, as seen in this c. 1897 photo, a building was built on the lot in front of the Natatorium, but the
Natatorium was still accessed from right next to City Hall. The sign on the left side of the building next to
the City Hall says "Hot Baths" (plus other stuff):

2000-0012 @ CA State Library

This c. 1894 photo is the best I could find of the Natatorium building; it's the one with the peaked black roof,
in front of the Woodbury Business College building:

USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/1751

The 1894 Sanborn Map shows the Natatorium, the building in front of it, and the building behind it on
Spring Street with a saloon and restaurant on the ground floor:

LAPL

Near the end of the Natatorium's run, it was operated by Charles Bauer and Julius A. Kelly, who also operated
a bar on Spring Street that was accessed through the Natatorium:

March 13, 1897 The Capital @ HathiTrust -- http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...ew=1up;seq=250


April 29, 1897 Los Angeles Herald @ LOC -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lc...arRange&page=2

Unfortunately, Bauer and Kelly had financial problems, and they dissolved their partnership:

May 8, 1897 Los Angeles Herald @ LOC -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lc...08/ed-1/seq-1/

I hope Julius Kelly's mother did not read the Herald:

May 11, 1897 Los Angeles Herald @ LOC -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lc...11/ed-1/seq-3/

There was another tragedy to come. The first public pool also saw the first accidental drowning in a public pool:

July 2, 1898 Los Angeles Times @ LAPL

This ad from October 7, 1898, is the last I could find. The Natatorium seems to have closed not long after
that (an April 13, 1899, Times article stated that the Natatorium had been open "until recently"):

LOC -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lc...arRange&page=2

Lawyers got involved (in addition, Kelly's widow sued Bauer and his wife for $1,000):

January 22, 1899 Los Angeles Times @ LAPL

The 1906 Sanborn Map shows the old Natatorium Building as the Imperial Restaurant. The 1910 Baist Map
shows a new building covering the entire lot.