King Pool

Went there a few times with my son. Two of the lifeguards were rude and not at all welcoming. They try to charge you twice for open swim, simply because they give them different names. I guess it depends who is there. They also don’t let you use floatations devices, which makes no sense to me! The shower room needs updating and the showers have timed flow so they waste a lot of water. For the price they charge, this pool needs a lot of work. Strawberry canyon is a much better better place to take children.

This is not a kid friendly pool anymore. They are trying to stop kids doing lap swim at this pool. Also you have to have exact change. Barracudas kids are no longer allowed to hang out or play at the dive tank or at the shallow end of the pool after practice, even 5 – 10 mins. Recent manager is not knowing what she is doing. They are always making new rules over and over again if they don’t like City of Berkeley losing their mind.
Staff and life guards are still great.

My experiences at King Pool began when I first started swimming competitively. It was convenient that my middle school was located directly next door but I can’t say I was exactly impressed with the facilities here.
The pool is slightly worn down and there were several instances where lane lines and diving blocks were broken or chipped.
In general, I am not a fan of locker rooms, and the locker rooms here fueled this dislike even more. I found them to be too small, cluttered with items left behind by pool guests and wet towels draped across its splintered benches. It was a far from ideal setup.
As for the pool itself, the lap pool was pretty standard but the shallower areas of the pool were not very spacious. This made it rather difficult to conduct swimming lessons to groups of younger children.
My less than positive experience of King Pool is primarily due to the fact that as a result of the unfortunate misplacement of a lane line separating the shallow pool from the lap pool, I gauged my shoulder into a sharp wall corner (complete with the combination of worn concrete and chipped tile) and was left with a deeply bloody gash. A lovely scar I still have to this day.
Thankfully, my wound healed healthily and my coaches relocated our daily practices.

I moved into the east Bay from SF several months ago, and began searching for a swimming pool to replace Koret’s university pool, where I’ve been going forever. I could not find affordable public pools near Castro Valley, so decided to try Berkeley. My search ended when I found King Pool on Hopkins in n. Berkeley. I love outdoor pools! Swimming in sunlight through beams of light in the water makes me happy. When I swim backstroke, I feel the sun’s warmth on my face and see the sun’s shining orb hanging above the trees. It’s great.
King Pool serves families as a neighborhood pool, primarily. You sense this vibe immediately by the murals outside, by the signs and announcements, by the office’s lived in appearance. You feel like you’ve walked into a family’s garage or game room, complete with quiet, doe eyed teenagers at the register, life guarding, hanging around. All of these observations add a comfortable, welcoming vibe to the place that made me like it. I knew I’d found my e. bay pool from the first few moments walking in.
The water is clean and clear. The pool measures 25 yards in length, with 5 lanes cordoned off for lap swimming. Children can enjoy their own shallow area adjacent to the lap lanes. A separate square diving pool exists for those who want to practice their cannonballs.. Kick boards and pull buoys are provided. I’ve swum twice now at 11am, and have not had to share lanes with more than 1 swimmer. $ 6/​swim is their price. King Pool also offers swimming classes, water aerobics, and Masters training sessions. Check their website for more information:

I love this pool! It’s clean, heated, not over-​crowded, and open until late (until 8:30pm on weekdays in the spring!). Also, all of the lifeguards/​staff are super friendly, as well as the other swimmers. Everyone is willing to share a lane or even circle swim during the peak hours. The best part of the pool is you don’t have to be a member to swim here — you just pay per visit! I believe it’s 6 dollars per swim, but cheaper if you get a 10 pass. Also, if you pay an extra dollar on the weekdays you can participate in master swim from 7 – 8:30; essentially a coach will give you instruction.
The locker room is definitely no frills, but at least there are shower heads to rinse off!

The best pool in the east bay! Outdoors, super friendly (swimmers who greet each other, lifeguards who help make sure swimmers are in the right lane), clean. Lap area, with attached 3′ kids area, plus a separate diving tank. My 5 year old learned to swim here with awesome teachers. Excellent senior exercise class coached by the esteemed swim coach and Moroccan musician Yassir Chadly. Beautifully situated in King Park behind the tennis courts on Hopkins. And, after you’ve gotten your endorphin high swimming (could throw a run in there, too: King Middle School’s dirt track is across the playground from the pool), you can walk down the street & get your caffeine high at Espresso Roma, Hopkins Street Bakery (check out their pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips), and/​or the cheese shop where they also roast coffee beans & have my personal favorite cuppa. Later get responsible & do the week’s shopping for your household @ the über local Monterey Market.
It all starts with a great swim for you, your kids and your grandma at King Pool!

Hello Unilocalers,
This comment is directed at Gia R’s review. I want to address her concerns and what actually did happen concerning the lifeguard with the iPod. The lifeguard who was listening to the iPod on deck was in fact NOT on duty and was listening to his/​her iPod while on their break. You failed to mention what the other two lifeguards were doing as well.
I apologize if this was confusing to you, but there is always one guard inside the office and one guard outside.
Thank you for your review Gia R. We will continue to take measures to ensure that we are providing a safe swimming environment.

Super frustrating experience. The City Of Berkeley program that came out listed Family Swim hours for King Pool (as well as all the other community pools). The hours are almost always during a normal baby/toddler’s afternoon naptime or overlapping dinner & bedtime.
But… I took the day off, got a babysitter for the baby, and took my preschooler one Friday recently. We rushed over to make it by 12 so we could have the WHOLE hour. When we arrived, a handwritten little sign on the locked door said «program printed wrong. NO Family Swim on Fridays.»
WHAT!!!
Another family standing nearby was really put out and frustrated. My child started crying thinking she wouldn’t be able to swim and have special time with mom. I got her calmed down, went home, looked up Berkeley Aquatics and found that West Campus was open for a little while longer… so we went over.
Once there, we saw 3 lifeguards on duty for the lapswim & family swim. one was listening to his iPod, the other was getting a great tan. My daughter and I had a great time, but met a couple other families there who had also gone to King. One had even called that morning to ensure the pool would be open, and was specifically told yes.
Either the people who work there aren’t all on the same page when it comes to their schedule, or they just don’t care about the community. My money is on the latter because whoever makes the schedule sure doesn’t seem to have a CLUE about being family friendly.

I was pretty disappointed going here for the first time on a Sunday morning. There were a lot of leaves and detritus in the pool. The facilities are really run down. I had to share a lane with 2 – 3 other people. But the worst thing was watching these two women scream at another woman who didn’t know normal lane etiquette. She got in without asking and the two had split the lane (even though there are signs saying circle swim only). They both ganged up on her and yelled at her for being such an idiot, etc, etc. I usually think swimmers are pretty laid back and chill people… but not them. I’m not sure if self-​righteous swimmer snobs are the norm there, but I don’t think I’ll be back to find out.

I love this pool. Nice people work there and go there. It is generally easy to get into a lane for lap swim. The guards do a good job of keeping the swimmers of equal speeds in the same lanes. Lots of nice regular swimmers, young and old. There are no ameneties and no frills, just a great outdoors pool for swimming.

Three phone calls and one trip to this pool inspired me to write a good review. The staff were really helpful and they were making sure people were enjoying their experience. That is the key to a well run place as far as I“m concerned.
The pool is outside, the area is nice and the people are friendly. What else do you need?

On a warm & sunny day in the winter or summer, it’s fantastic swimming! There’s a track next door if it’s too windy to swim. The weather is the unknown here. Both the track/​field and pool take up about 2 acres.

The reviewer below says most of what’s important, but there are a couple of details for families.
Summer hours:
Open Swim Sat-​Sun 1:30−3:30
No parent needed in pool.
Family Swim Sat-​Sun 3:30 — 5:30 MonWedFri 5:30−7:30
Parents must be in the pool too.
Kids allowed in shallow area, must pass a simple swim test to go in diving pool or deeper areas at both Open Swim and Family Swim.
Check
and click on the Aquatics Program link (pdf) near the bottom of the page for the latest info.
Adult admission is now $ 5 (10 for $ 43, monthly $ 64)
Kids admission is $ 2.
A bit chilly in winter but fun nonetheless. A great place to go on warm weekend afternoons in summer or fall.
Lap swim
Ongoing M-​F 6:00 — 8:30 AM (6:00−7:30 AM one lane only)
Ongoing M-​F 5:30 — 8:30 PM (7:00−8:30 PM one lane only)
½−4/30 M/​W/​F 8:30 AM-2:00 PM
½−4/30 Tu/​Th 11:00 AM-2:00 PM
Ongoing Sat 7:00 AM-5:30 PM
Ongoing Sun 9:15 AM-5:30 PM

After many months of swimming indoors at the Y, I discovered this little pool just up the street from Monterey Market in Berkeley.
The best thing about is it’s outdoors.
This is the kind of pool I was brought up on– the hanging mesh bags, the lap and recreational areas, the big concrete deck. I love it– it’s outdoors and heated to 80 °F. There are definitely regulars there, who take themselves much less seriously than those at the Embarcadero Y during lap or masters hours.
And, it’s outdoors!
The other thing that’s interesting is that the lifeguards, who seem like students at Cal, take an active role in making sure that people are generally happy in their lanes.
$ 4.50/entry. You can get a 10 visit card for $ 42.50– just handier than searching for exact change, which they ask of you. Don’t think they take plastic or checks. Bring your own towel, soap and shampoo if you’ll be showering there.
Finally, the tan is returning. (Did I mention that it’s outdoors?!)
Specs:
– 25 y lanes
– 5 (6?) lanes
– a second, diving pool nearby
– easy parking
– lap swim on weekends and week evenings
– closes around 5 on w/​e
– 80F
– hot showers; usu. they have shower gel
– no towels
– no swim suit wringer
– no lockers– bring your stuff to the deck