Gerrish Swim & Tennis Club

Great place. We’ve been members for 20 years and continue to enjoy it even though our kids are grown. If you don’t have a pool or jacuzzi or don’t want to mess around with your own BBQ it is a good alternative. Kids are safe and lots of activities. Management has gotten better over the years and the addition of the Grill provides a nice alternative to bringing your own food. It is also nice to be able to bring your own alcohol. It is rarely too crowded. Gerrish is not and was never intended to be a type of club like Altadena TC or La Canada CC or the like. That is the point. It is more relaxed and casual and if you want monthly dues, and dress codes, and mandatory food choices, then Gerrish is not for you. But if you want a Family atmosphere, flexibility in food and alcohol and a place to relax, then it is a good buy. It is also a bit more diverse than some of the other clubs.

We’ve spent 5 years here and it feels like the service and management have been slowly deteriorating. Generally management seems to have the attitude that members are lucky to be there. They are not very friendly, there is never a show of gratitude for membership, and they are not very accommodating. This year they went to reduced hours the week before Labor Day, so that weekend everyone was booted early.
Here’s one. If you mistakenly leave your cooler there overnight, when you get it back the employees will have consumed whatever you left in there, especially the alcohol. House rules.
The place is nice, the kids loved it, but it’s really the members who make it a fun place to be. Not that management understands that, or is remotely interesest in what members think. They mostly seem like they’re not very happy to be working there. So the place is great if you have younger kids, but just don’t expect any kind of «club» treatment in the least. It’s up to you to make the experience fun, in spite of management.
Oh, and the Wi-​Fi NEVER works…

5 stars for the management, lifeguard supervisors, and lifeguards. Never felt more safe with my kids than when I was a member at Gerrish. The guards train rigorously, and are constantly maintaining their skills through monthly in-​service trainings and regular vigilance awareness trainings. They allow for a fun atmosphere, but are dedicated to keeping Gerrish as safe and accident-​free as possible. The quality of the lifeguard staff allows members to really kick back and know that their kids are always being safe and supervised.

This place rocks! We have cousins who are members and they invited us over this weekend for a fun filled day in the sun and some water play for the kiddos. My daughter is 8 and she had a ball here. Small intimate place with great amenities. The pool areas for the kids are clean, safe, and fun. Tennis courts, and basketball courts also avail for use if u wanted. They even light the fire pit around sunset and the kids made smores, great way to end the day. I can’t say enough about the life guards, they’re like hawks so I felt good about that. We all know it only takes seconds for disaster to strike when in a pool. They offer a small selection of food, drinks, and other goodies/​snacks for purchase from their café area but they also allow u to bring in food and drinks, including alcohol! Overall its a great place if you can afford it, I can’t but im glad my cousin can… haha!
Honorable Mention: Great Lifeguards!!!

We joined 3 years ago and love this place. The other reviews accurately set out many of the details, so I’ll focus my comments on the atmosphere.
Gerrish is a sort of community pool — just for a self-​selecting community of members. There is nothing at all «clubby» or exclusionary about the people here, from the staff on down, though you do need a couple members to vouch for you in order to join. It’s a summer long pool party where you know many of the guests (or soon will). No hassles. No stress.
Best of all are the lifeguards. Virtually all members join because they have kids, and the pools are surrounded by eagle-​eyed lifeguards (really, they’re everywhere you turn). They’re mostly high-​school kids but they take the job very seriously and are obviously well managed. They rotate their positions every 15 minutes or thereabouts so they don’t get complacent. They are very conscientious (yet polite) about putting a stop to unsafe pool play. I have ZERO fear about anything bad happening to my child here due to negligence. As a parent, being able to go to Gerrish and relax with friends without worrying about the kids is worth every penny of the membership (which is quite reasonable).
Of course I have small quibbles, but whatever — there’s a waiting list for good reason.

This is very close to the house and their pricing for children’s swim lessons isn’t bad. A few general observations:
1) This place is seasonal — closed during the winter. I believe there is a fairly long wait list for membership (membership is pricey). Given the size of the facility, my concern would be how packed it would get on a weekend (usually lots of cars along the street).
2) The child swim lessons are 25 minutes. They definitely don’t go a minute over. They do have different pools with different water depths, which is good if your toddler is afraid of the water. Overall I thought the quality of the instruction was just OK, not stellar (most are high school or college kids).

YLove love love this place. This is a great option if you don’t have a pool in the back yard. Our kids can feel independent here — go to the bathroom, grab a snack, swim, get in the hot tub, grab an ice cream, etc., without a parent going along. Everyone is a member, so you see the same people all the time and there is a sense of comfort that allows the kids to have a great time. We really don’t worry about them while we are there — at all. Of course, there are signs warning of rattle snakes, so an encounter with one of those would probably not be a good thing — but — in general — all good stuff.
The food is mediocre, but it is pool food, not Zagat-​rated fare.
You can, however, bring your own food and drink. We have brought friends in the past and the management is okay with members bringing in wine, beer, mixed drinks, whatever, as long as people don’t get out of hand and are careful with glass containers. There are refrigerators for food and drink, as well as a number of grills for preparing food.
Birthday parties are a huge hit with the younger crowd and the picinic tables are shaded from the hot sun and located next to the shallow pool with a slide and lots of water-​feature fun.
There is an adult-​only hot-​tub for those who would rather not be around the noise of the kids.
The summer camp is reasonably priced and our kids loved it last year. It is not an academic, or a challenging camp, by any stretch; but it is relaxing and lazy — as summer should be for little ones. They do crafts, swim, have snacks, sing songs, and hang out. Our kids loved it last year and we will give it a go again this year.
There are tether-​ball setups on the tennis courts — lots of fun. And the club offers tennis lessons as well, although I have not taken lessons so I can’t say anything about the quality of lessons.
Our kids have taken swimming lessons there and enjoyed them while learning a lot. The quality is not quite the same as the Rose Bowl lessons, but Gerrish is still a good place to be and your kid will get more attention than at a group lesson at the Rose Bowl.
Swim Team looks like a good option but our kids are not interested yet. The only problem is that if you want to bring your kids to swim after school in the earlier months you are always limited in where and when you swim because the swim team activities absorb most of the good options. This is why I give 4 stars rather than 5.
The fees are not terrible and you don’t have to spend a bazillion dollars to join on top of an annual fee. You just pay the annual fee and you are done. Be careful about the snack bar though — it is convenient but it will bite you at the end of the month when you get your bill!
Bottom line– a great investment particularly if you have kids

I am so impressed with this Club. I am not a member, but my son and his family are, so I get in free as a grandparent. What an easy and enjoyable way to spend the day. There are three pools each with a specific purpose — one large shallow pool with lots of water play, one deep water pool for laps and more serious swimming, and one covered pool perfect for swim classes and swimming for young children. There are two hot tubs — one available for anyone and one for adults only. There are tons of lifeguards, so it’s fairly stress-​free for adults who are looking after kids.
Other features —
— pingpong tables
— barbeque grills and refrigerators
— covered picnic area with TV’s
— a grill for those who don’t want to cook their own food
— tennis courts
— plenty of lounge chairs, wrought iron tables and chairs
— a large firepit for roasting marshmellows and making smores
— lots of bathrooms, showers, and changing areas
Do what we did. Take the kids later in the day, stay for dinner, have the kids take showers and wash their hair, take them home in their pajamas. What an enjoyable way to spend a hot summer day.
I’m sure it’s expensive and I doubt whether we could afford it. That’s why we all hope for our kids to do well enabling us to spoil our grandkids!

First of all, I should say that I’m not a member of Gerrish. I’ve been here a couple of times as a guest of a member. From what I understand, it’s pretty pricey to become a member (probably a better deal if you have a larger family).
We went during the dog days of summer to use the pool facilities. They’ve got several pools and water play areas; definitely something for everyone, even little kids. There are plenty of chairs and lounges, places to grill if you want, and fridges to store your food and drinks. Pretty cool.
If we could afford it, and if I didn’t already have free membership at a university pool, I’d probably consider joining.