I wish they had longer opening hours for lap swims. This place is a gem for people who want to get in the pool, do some laps in a low key, low cost setting. All the people I've met are generally courteous and considerate (barring one crazy episode with a really pissed off geriatric who may have forgotten to take her meds -she refused to follow the lane etiquette creating head on collisions at every turn). The pool even has a little green lawn space to chill and sunbathe if you want to take a break between sets (I do). The locker room definitely is a funky, cold and very utiltarian environment, wear flip flops, or risk who knows what fungal growth...this downside is minimal and easy to get over given the upsides of having a neighborhood pool of this size in North Oakland. read more

I have lived a block away from this pool for 12 years and it wasn't until 2 years ago that we finally made it to the pool, and I keep kicking myself for not having made it there sooner...nor since. You know, what with life and such. You can probably tell from the above that I'm not a regular swimmer by any means. We made it to the pool one hot summer day, during "public swim" (as opposed to "lap swim") hours. The pool was divided into 2 sections: the shallower end for adults with little ones, the deeper section--about 3/4 of the pool--for experienced swimmers. I was surprised when we were asked to first pass a swim test before we could enter the deep end. After the performance anxiety passed and I demonstrated the required skills, I earned my wrist band which allowed me to finally just splash around in the pool. Of course, by then, I was so tired from the swim test, that I ended up mostly hanging on to the side. Then, we got out of the pool and laid down on the grassy area under the late afternoon sun. As for the swim test during "public swim", as I understand it, if you're a "regular" (meaning the lifeguards know you to be a regular and competent swimmer in this or other Oakland public pools), you could be exempted from the test. The swim test is a reasonable rule, really, if you think about it. There are only a handful of lifeguards in a busy pool with swimmers of all abilities. It makes sense for lifeguards to know who's in the pool and prioritize watchfulness over those who may need it more. It's the responsible thing to do. It's a real gem for the neighborhood and worth the price of entry. What's my alternative? If I want a swim, I could either walk 3 minutes to this outdoor, heated pool and pay a small fee to enter and support this local public program, or i could Join a gym with a pool, pay a monthly fee, and drive 10-15 minutes to get there? read more

Temescal Masters is an amazing team that's incredibly welcoming to newcomers and very social. Whether you are a novice wanting to improve or a former collegiate swimmer, you'll probably find a "lane" that works for you! The coaches are great, though be forewarned that this isn't a highly competitive team. You won't feel pressure to compete in master's events and practice can be a little "loosey goosey" at times. Bring your flip flops - the pool is beautiful but the floor in the locker room is not! read more

I highly recommend Temescal Masters. The pool is super nice for a public pool, the team is incredibly friendly, and the coaches are awesome. The monthly fee is $45, which is cheaper than most other teams in the area. The only downside is that the morning workouts are at 5:45 am - who can wake up at that time??!!! However, they compensate by providing evening workouts at 7 pm...much better. read more

I went here once to try it out and then got athletes foot. The lockers are disgusting! Nothing works, the drinking fountain, 1 out of 2 toilets is just missing, and it looks like no one has ever cleaned the locker room. DO NOT GO! Well, unless you want athletes foot. read more

Best Pool Ever!!! im on a swim team here and its the best pool to practice in. its a little bigger than a regular pool so when i race, its no problem. its always at a good temp, according to the weather and its nice and clean. read more

The locker room is filthy. Also although I am one of the faster swimmers, other swimmers are aggressive. Bad vibe there.

Wow! What a shame. I used to come here every day for lap swim. Today I was unable to swim at work. The facilities were deplorable. Chunks of hair on the floor, muddy dirty floors, the plastic wrapper from a feminine napkin next to the pool, a combination lock on the bottom of the pool, a hole in the shower wall in the shower stalls. If this is how dirty the facilities are, I can ONLY imagine the care that is given the chemicals or sanitation of the swimming pool itself. So said to see this place being poorly managed. The manager of this swim facility (and every lifeguard and employee of this location) should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. I almost wish could give this location zero stars. read more

I swim here 4-5 days a week.... First the goods: I love it ... its a totally amazing escape into the briny deep with the huge plus of getting to chill out poolside after your done with getting yoru mermaid and work out on... There is a great staff - Asam and his team are ridiculously good at managing the insanity that constitutes the group of folks who swim here on the regular. And it does get crowded when the weather is nice. Its utterly sublime to swim during the winter - especially on cold and rainy days.... More on the good: saline pool, outdoors, open at lunch, open year round, great group of regular swimmers (especially the women), the staff... and I love that there is room to hang out after I knock out my workout, to rehydrate, dose up on Vitamin D, and to chill... the women who swim regularly are all awesome about sharing the showers when it gets packed - very chill scene with a flavor of bonhomie.... Now for the less than optimal - the locker rooms are often duuurteee- as in really dirty and filthy.... but the "bench stand" is a great save. My only other complaint is not in anyway the fault of the facility - its the lack of pool etiquette that occasionally crops up with swimmers ... when you are swimming six and seven to a lane - pacing, keeping the box clear, changing lanes if you are too slow, granting egress if you are tapped on the foot by a faster swimmer -- are all pretty critical to any reasonable pool work out. I find that in the summer, especially after work, there are swimmers who either don't know or don't care about holding up six other swimmers or any pool etiquette. It can turn a lovely swim into a game of aqua-frogger. On the upside- the guards will pull people out of lane and are terrifically responsive to complaints. I have been swimming here several days a week for years- huge huge fan. read more

Heads up...I have gone here twice in the last week and the lap lanes are jammed !!! There are 5-7 people trying to negotiate circle swimming in each lane...not exactly serene or easy...not to mention the screaming match that hlappened between two swimmers in the lane next to me on Thursday..... read more

Beautiful big pool and decent facilities (shower, bathrooms, etc.). I definitely love swimming here in the mornings and also in the evenings. On a small side note, I have also discovered that some of the swimmers here are really crotchety. Not sure why, but I try not to let it ruin my day. read more

I come here to swim laps during lunch hours. - The pool get generally crowded with about 5 people swimming in one lane. It can be frustrated especially if people change their tempo changing styles or using tools. Other frustration is that you have one half of the lane and have to be careful to not hit the chain separating the lanes or other people (it helps a lot when people swim crawl only and stay compact). - There are no marking lines above the pool which would help you to stay in straight line when you swim backstroke. - water could be more salty and less chlorine. Sometimes I smell the chlorine from my skin after shower. - Big drawback for the facility. They require you to only say your 4 digit pass number to enter. Somebody ended up using my number which made me quite angry. The girl said she will credit me the uses back (nice) but this should not happen in the first place. I told them they should ask for the ID or at least the name. The girl said we are asking for the name. But the way they ask is like, 'Are you Jana?' not 'What is you name?'. The girl was also writing down the pass numbers in front of me and I could see the whole list. If I was evil I could just use the numbers I saw next time. This is sad. read more

Pool is as clean as everyone else says. Initially when I jumped in I thought, "No, the reviewers were wrong, the temperature is a bit chilly." But then I swam a few laps (got the body heat going) and realized they were right- it's the perfect temperature. Plus, I was a newbie with my newbie questions (i.e. "do people leave their stuff in the locker room or bring it out by the pool") and everyone was very friendly and not at all "who's the new girl with all the questions". Plus there's something so fabulous about swimming outdoors when the air temp is below 50 degrees. read more

Went for an early morning Masters practice and was pleasantly surprised. The neighborhood was quiet, the locker room warm, the lanes extra wide, and the pool nice and ready. The extra length on the pool is a pleasure, not too far like the 50M. $5 a swim and $45 a month for masters is a bargain. Check out other pools in the area, they are far more. read more

i never thought i'd say this, but its amazing how i've taken a clean, safe swimming pool for granted all these years. temescal can hold a big fat shiny light t to the best of them and then some: - nicely chlorinated to satisfy my OCD needs - crisp clear water (the horrors i've seen...) - lap swim at the most convenient hours - handicap accessible - outdoor pools rock! - water thats always suited to the outside temperature - $3 entry fee that hasn't been raised since the beginning of time read more

It's been awhile since I've gone swimming here but I have nothing but fond memories. This is a great pool, always clean and kept at the most perfect temperature. I was laid off in '97 and I spent almost every day at Temescal pool swimming my cares away. Swimming laps for me is like meditation, there's nothing in the world but me and the water and the lanes are big enough that you can still have a sense of solitude even when others are in your lane. I love, love, love to swim outside in the rain and since this pool is open year round, you too could experience this delight. So get your swimming gear in gear and get some laps in at the Temescal Swimming Pool. read more

I swam through my first pregnancy. It was great. Nice lifeguards, nice people. Slow lane can get a bit crowded and sometimes yucky (I say this to you, guy who stands and blows snot in the lane). I did get chased through the locker room (wear your flip-flops) by a woman lecturing me about delivering at Alta Bates, but generally, people are pretty chill. read more

I cannot say enough good things here. Temescal Pool is a community pool that charges 5 bucks per swim. It is a great quality pool, in the neighborhood for a GREAT price. The lockers are not what you'd expect from a fancy gym, but that's not what to expect for a local pool. On top of that there is a very accessible master's swimming group. I had never swum with a team before joining TEME masters, but I was able to come in and really keep up a healthy swimming routine with an AWESOME group of people from the neighborhood. This group is much easier to hop into than other more competitive groups. No better way to get involved in the community and stay fit. read more

I called this pool 3 times to make sure the public swim times were 2-330... i get there and at 245 theyre CLOSED... i ask what time they closed the lifeguard said they hit capacity... what a waste of time driving there!!! I wont be back for public swim any time soon!!! read more

Love getting my weekly swim on here. Locker rooms are a bit old & outdated, but the pool is great! There are some characters that I've encountered there on a regular, so some extra entertainment each time lol. read more

My friend used to give me lessons here and it's not a bad pool. They have master's swimming at this location so they have to keep the pool clean. The locker rooms are a different story though. The energy is pretty low-key but it definitely gets crowded sometimes. read more

This was a welcome relief after spending the whole day sweating our faces off under the sun at A T & T Park. the staff were very nice, the pool was clean and the water felt so good. Doing some easy laps made the day perfect for me... oh and the rewards of Fenton's for doing said laps made it extra perfect ;) read more

Best Master's swim team in the area. Instead of ranking you in terms of speed (like, "the 1:30 lane"), they use names like Otters, Sharks and Orcas, which makes for a much friendlier team. Excellent coaching, fun social activities, nice facilities. read more

Wow! This pool is great. Not only is it a short bike ride from my house, but it is also clean and organized! I have been to the El Cerrito pool, which is nice, but people don't know which lane they fit into, so you will have a slow person in the fast lane. I mean, duh, how hard is that to figure out? They also swim circular, which I prefer as well. If you are a serious swimmer in the east bay, this is the place to go! Oh and the pool is 33yards, which I think is 25m. My favorite part is that the pool is an infinity one. read more

This pool is the best! afterwards, go get crispy shrimp (or chicken) tacos at Cactus Taqueria on College Ave. and this pool IS BARTable, if you don't mind a 10-minute walk from MacArthur BART. read more

I love the temescal pool but I think they should have more public hours. They are so focused on the masters and swim teams that there are only a few slots of beginners or open time per week. Also the locker rooms are sooo disgusting. Considering how much it costs to swim there they could renovate those locker rooms. I would skip it but they force you to shower before entering the pool. ICK! Foot fungus! read more

This pool is quite nice for a public pool. The pros: -- Salinated water, so it's less full of chlorine. Nice for folks like me who are a bit sensitive to chlorine. It's pleasantly salty and I feel less gross and sniffly when I get out of the water than at other pool. -- very clean pool, generally, and heated just enough but not too much for a good workout. -- good location with easy street parking, on 45th behind Oakland Tech High School. -- friendly staff -- good, hot showers -- plenty of kickboards and pull-buoys available to use -- 35 meter length, which is nice for getting your rhythm going -- Fairly large # of lap swim hours (usually every weekday, for a couple hours each during the morning, midday, and evening plus a few hours Sat/Sun). -- Good price. $5 per swim, or $40 for 10 swims if you buy a card. -- no kids under 14 allowed during lap swim, and other than 1 time, I've never seen a kid there at all. I love kids, but I don't want them in the way when I'm trying to work out! The cons: -- Gets VERY crowded, especially as the weather gets nicer. You should expect to share a lane with at least a couple other people and as many as 6 or 7, depending on the weather and when you're here. I've never NOT shared a lane with at least a couple folks, in 2 years of swimming here. This can make it challenging to do a really specific workout -- you're likely to get hung up behind someone going slower than you, have to wait at the wall longer than you want to before you can start a new lap or set, etc). -- Slow lanes can be particularly clogged up. One lane is often full of folks who aren't really swimming, like the two women who are often there right now who aqua-jog or paddle along side-by-side, while gossiping, clogging the whole lane. (I know they have just as much right to the pool as I do, but aqua-joggers drive me batty, and I don't think they really belong in the pool during lap swim time.) -- Bathrooms and locker rooms are NASTY. Wear your flip-flops at all times and try not to touch anything. Ick. -- Sometimes people have either no manners or no knowledge of standard pool etiquette. I've been crashed into several times by people trying to pass a slower swimmer mid-lane (I know it's annoying, but wait till you get to the wall!!!) I've also been stuck in the medium lanes with people who could barely swim and should really be swimming in the slow lane (and the lifeguards really don't manage this at all). -- Wish there was weekend lap swim in the mornings. It's really annoying to have to wait until 11am to get my workout in! (At least the City of Oakland could make ONE of the pools available for lap swim from 8-11 or something!) read more

I have resolved to NEVER come here again, no matter how desperate I am to swim. I hate coming here. The pool itself is nice but not worth it b/c it's always hella crowded. I don't understand all the great reviews.... most people don't mind feeling like a sardine in a crammed fish farm? i don't get it. There are other public pools in Oakland that are perfectly fine that aren't nearly this busy. read more

Temescal Masters swim team is the best group to get into shape with! Masters swimming just means 18 and over, you don't have to be the best swimmer, but you do need to know how to swim a lap or two. Most groups I have swam with are very competitive and not very friendly, this team is definitely the opposite. They meet 4 nights a week and 3 mornings and on the weekend, as much or little as you like. The team has all ranges of body types, ages, and ability. If you use to be a swimmer, tri-athlete, want to get in shape, or want to meet a whole bunch of new friends you should try it out. Go to the website ,it explains everything and has great pics. Plus every other Thurs after practice is Beer Night! read more

Temescal Masters is a really wonderful, friendly team that's great for those new to masters swimming as well as very experienced, competitive swimmers. I love Temescal Pool--- long and outside and not over-chlorinated. It's a really supportive environment with good coaches. it's not a super-competitive team, but as a relative newbie to swimming, I have been encouraged to try some new things. read more

I'm specifically writing about public swim. Which I've been to twice, and the shallow end gets really crowded and out of control. I think if you can swim and be in the deeper end (both times less than 5 people had this huge area to themselves) you'd be a lot happier. However as a mom with a non-swimmer, it is very challenging avoiding getting "nailed" by a lot of the activity in the super crowded shallow area. The life guards are not concerned with pool etiquette beyond running outside of the pool. Kids doing cannon balls, etc off the edge of the pool into people. Was nice to cool off but over all not enjoyable. Would be nice to add a "family swim" separate from public swim to weed out some of the crazy, rowdy tweens. read more

came here for a swim meet for the oak tech high. clean pool and nice staffs. woots!

Love this place: the site, the length, the tenacity of the other swimmers and the mellowness of the guards. They'll get one more star when they get a handle on cleaning their locker rooms. read more

For a public pool in this area, it's close to a five stars. The pool is near perfect with clear water. 100 feet long (old style), which is great if you think the longer the better. The lockers are pretty sucky, concrete floors, cold in winter, and fixed shower water temperatures that are all over the place. No stairs into the pool, so not great for small kids. The price is now $5 per swim or $4 if you buy a 10 pass. read more

I whole-heartedly agree to all the positive comments posted here. I used to swim with the aquatic masters there, with no previous experience of team swimming, and that is what got me into swimming. The team manages to accommodate both competitive and recreational swimmers, and it's just divine to swim in that pool on a winter's night: the stars in the sky, the smell from the neighbors' smoking fireplaces... read more

First I want to specify that the one star rating is for my most recent and ugly experience at Temescal Pool during the noon lap swim on December 27. I parked in the handicapped space in front and walked up the few steps to the glass front with my cane. I have advanced osteoarthritis in my hips and knees, so I'm slow. But my orthopaedist and physical therapist have told me to keep swimming. And my physical therapist gave me specific strokes to use and which never to use in my 45 - 60 minutes workout each day. As I got to the top step to enter and pay, I saw a middle-aged man glaring at me from the cashier's window. He had the the most severe expression of repugnance on his face. Then as I paid, he told me the water was cold in a forbidding tone. I just thought he was a bit strange. I changed, showered, and went to the slow lane, joining one other person. We circled counterclockwise for a while because I followed her lead. We swam at about the same speed. When we finally met at the end of the pool she suggested we split the lane. I agreed because I'd been to Temescal many times in the past and been told that if there are only two swimmers you split the lane, and if there are more than two you swim counter clockwise. Then as I was swimming I heard someone yelling. I looked up and there was the same scowling man yelling at me from the life guard's seat. I pulled my insulated cap away from ear to hear him. He gestured in a counter-clockwise way. I told him that we were only two, and the other swimmer had asked me to split the lane. He just screwed his mouth up in the nastiest way, and repeated his counter-clockwise gesture, violently. So I continued my swim counter-clockwise. I didn't see or hear what he said to the other swimmer. Before the time was up, I got out and went to the showers. It does take me a long time to dress because of the osteoarthritis. A male voice called in that there were only four minutes left. The other women hurried to leave, but it took me a few minutes longer. When I opened the door to leave the dressing room that same man was sort of crouched outside of it, again glaring at me. The other staff were leaving with me, and we exchanged Happy New Year wishes. They all seemed normal and friendly. But now I want to know if Temescal Swimming Pool has a new policy to discourage handicapped people, or was it just this one man's aberrant behavior. I think the Oakland Aquatics Department should have training for their staff on client contact, especially since the taxes of their clients are paying the staff salaries. read more