5 Comment

• Al September 10, 2012 at 3:56 pm

  Although your headline question is probably rhetorical, here’s your answer: The pool was 50 meters long (Olympic pool size), but 43 meters across (not quite double the Olympic pool width). The pool was wedge shaped, somewhat wider at the shallow end than by the diving boards.

  It was touted at the time as the world’s largest pool, which might even be correct.
• 'stina September 10, 2012 at 4:59 pm

  My greatest athletic accomplishment in my life was in the summer of 1986 in that pool. It was after Top Gun came out, but before the drinking age changed. I was 13, but the lifeguards were all 19 and the upcoming change in the law (with no grandfather) was causing quite a bit of consternation with the older crowd. Also, sometime in the middle of the summer, the lifeguards started sporting Ray Ban aviator glasses and crew cuts. The Hotel was closed but the pool and tennis courts were still open for membership.

  I went swimming there with my siblings and some friends every single day until the pool closed at the end of the summer. And towards the end of the summer, we started playing “Shark” with the lifeguards. The game is where you swim from one side of the deep end of the pool to the other, which was about 30 yards. The “shark” can catch you, and if you’re caught, you’re recruited to the “shark’s” side which means there are more people chasing at the end than at the beginning. By the end of the summer, I was able to swim from one side of the deep end to the other–about 30 yards without breathing. While being chased. No one could catch me. It was awesome.

  My sister could do double flips off the low board. And my best friend mastered the inward dive. My brother snuck up on the 10 meter once. But under the water, that deep end was MINE.
• 'stina September 10, 2012 at 5:02 pm

  Oh, these are the stats:

  The pool is 165 feet long and 62 feet wide at one end and 142 feet wide at the shallow end. The depth varies from 3 feet, 3 inches to 14 1/2 feet at the diving end. There are 36,000 watts of underwater lighting. The top platform of the diving tower is 10 meters high and the center platform is 5 meters high. There are 3 meter and also 1 meter spring-boards on each side of the diving spiral. The entire pool and diving spiral is built to Olympic specifications and is suitable for all water events and spectacles. The pool is landscaped with palm trees and various shrubs and flowers.

  From: http://www.cardcow.com/14448/shamrock-hotel-swimming-pool-houston-texas/ (with a picture)

  See also: http://www.cardcow.com/102297/famous-shamrock-hotel-swimming-pool-houston-texas/

  and

  http://www.cardcow.com/160614/greetings-from-biggest-best-houston-texas/

  Those flagstones could get HOT. And it seemed like every other minute, someone was yelled at for running.
• no history remains September 10, 2012 at 8:55 pm

  Our family had a pool membership when I was in elementary school. To me, the pool seemed like an ocean, never ending, enormous. I also remember a Tiki bar – did I dream that later or did one exist?

  Now I live less than a mile away and every summer I wish that the pool still existed. What I’d give to have my own children swim there and be as amazed as I was.

  What a waste!

  As an aside, I learned to swim in the Tides II motel pool. We took lessons there every week – there was a tunnel in the pool. Does anyone remember that?
• 'stina September 11, 2012 at 5:21 pm

  There was a thatched hut bar on the shallow end of the pool. My parents would get G&Ts, and we could get cokes and ice cream sandwiches. I think you could also get burgers there.

  There was also a Trader Vic’s inside the hotel. I only went in once, but I remember it being quite impressive.