SCOUTING
FIELD NOTES

Searching for the Lost Pool at the Hotel St. George

03/10/2014

A few months ago, I was researching Brooklyn’s Hotel St. George for my article on The Godfather’s shooting locations…

…and found myself fascinated by its former indoor pool, now long gone:

Once the largest hotel in the United States and occupying an entire city block of interconnected buildings in Brooklyn Heights, the 30-story Hotel St. George played host to everyone who was anyone, from Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant to Truman and Roosevelt (you can read a very detailed history here).

In particular, the hotel was famous for its 168,000 gallon salt-water Olympic-sized pool, with an enormous mirrored ceiling, a waterfall, mosaics, and art deco accents. As the decades passed, the pool was eventually opened up to outsiders for a fee and became a favorite among locals.

Sadly, by the end of the 1960s, the St. George’s prestige had begun to wane, and the hotel soon fell into disrepair. The pool was drained in 1974 and later removed. Today, a gym occupies the site.

But do remnants of the Hotel St. George’s grand pool still exist? Over the years, several Scouting NY reader have written to say that small details do in fact remain from the legendary pool, and I was finally able to take a look for myself the other day.

Here’s the pool in its heyday…

…and today.

At first, it seems as though everything is gone. However, look closely and you’ll see that not only is the original mezzanine balcony still in place…

…so too are the original green-tiled columns!

Here’s a color picture of the original pool for comparison:

Though the lower columns have been covered in beige tiling, the original upper portions wrap around the entire level…

…at one point, even disappearing through the wall.

But there’s more to find than just columns. Around the room are a number of the pool’s original mosaics, depicting a variety of scenes.

For example, this waterside vista can be found in the Pilates room…

…stretching behind an added wall into the adjacent workout room:

Behind some running machines, a beach setting:

And on a nearby wall, this cute little red-roofed house:

But as it turns out, there’s one final piece left from the original structure. A partitioning wall divides the room in half, but head through to the other side…

…and you’ll find find that the pool wasn’t completely removed. A small portion still exists, complete with tiling along the edge. The pool is now oriented in the opposite direction, creating a small lap pool:

I happened to go into the room above the gym area, a large space with towering ceilings housing various squash and racquetball courts.

In addition to the large, curved ceiling…

…there’s an unusual motif running along the walls that suggests a pre-gym origin:

You’re going to have to use your imagination to bring this one to life, but it seems this was once the hotel’s Grand “Colorama” Ballroom:

Described as the “room of a million moods,” the ballroom could accommodate up to 3,000 dancing or 2,000 dining. It’s a little hard to figure out exactly where the ballroom would have been oriented…

…but on the opposite wall behind a boxing ring…

…you can find additional details, including a line of zig-zagging boxes:

It continues down the entire length of the wall:

I know a lot of you have fond memories of the Hotel St. George and I’d love to hear them. New York City may never see a pool this grand again, but as always, the ghosts remain.

-SCOUT

Many more posts in the archives!

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George in Silicon Valley

03/10/2015

My grandmother, during the years c. 1950 when she was a famous D.A.’s mistress, would take my brother and me to the St. George Hotel, which formed my idea of the glamorous life I wanted to live when I grew up. What’s missing from this great article so far, and your letters, is the smell from that salt water, unlike any chlorine pool’s smell. Do you remember? It was the clean, fresh salt smell you get when you walk up onto the boardwalk at Jones Beach and the sea breeze hits you. It smelled like heaven. To this day, in Silicon Valley, when I luxuriate in the jacuzzi of the Bay Club next to Oracle, and look at the floral display facing us, and I remember Gram and the St. George Hotel. And I think, “I made it.” All I knew before this fine article was that the place had been destroyed in an enormous fire during the invasion and destruction of Brooklyn. (On the Clinton Hill block where I lived, next to Adelphi Academy near Pratt Institute, Biggie Smalls later sold dope.) It is so heartening to see the St George resurrected, like Brooklyn itself.

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1. Robert Turoff
  
  02/14/2016
  
  I enjoyed reading your article because we had some things in common. My grandmother during the late 1940’s was having an affair with a vice president of RCA. I was adopted by my grandmother and she would meet with “Mr RCA” often at the hotel – I was offered to enjoy the pool during their meetings. Understandably, I loved the pool. I have a few remembrances that I hadn’t seen that I’d like to share.
  
  I remember that there was some sort of projection movie within the pool area. (I have no idea how that was done). I also remember that the ceiling was filled with mirrors and you could look up and find yourself swimming. I also remember that on an hourly basis, a waterfall of sort would come down from the ceiling for a short duration.
  
  I also remember the very ornate bar. I recall that it had fancy etched glass between the chairs.
  
  I also remember the ornate entry with marble with brass fittings. Of my many times to the hotel I never remember seeing the entry WITHOUT someone polishing the brass. I’m 75 now but I wish I could turn back the years and jump back into the pool.
  
  Reply
  1. Robert Naranda
    
    02/22/2016
    
    Those are wonderful memories; Oh! if there was a way of downloading our memories and 400 years from now Einstein theory of relativity makes possible a time machine. We can only wish!
    
    Reply
  2. George in Silicon Valley
    
    02/24/2016
    
    Dear Robert,
    Thanks so much for your post. I can now picture the St. George Hotel more clearly, a place where Mr. RCA and the Brooklyn D.A. could squire a lady friend in style. What if one day you and I were there together, with our lovely grandmothers. Those two fellows understood ladies– the way to her heart was to let her show her grandson a good time. That generation of Jews, just speaking for my own family, had grown up so poor that they could savor the good things in life, like that pool. You’re 75, I’m 70, so I didn’t have your memories of the great pool’s aesthetics. As a little kid, I only noticed the wonderful smell of the salt water, and the tiny arcade room where, with Gram’s unlimited supply of tokens, I played games I didn’t see again till I took my own son to the Main Street Arcade in Disneyland. Only memory I have that I haven’t recorded here, is of a powerful old man lying almost naked face down on a table off the pool, getting a massage, his butt covered by a towel, and him reaching up to grin and give somebody a fiver. Was that Gram’s guy? He seemed so happy he liked to make others happy. I hope I’ve grown up to be him.
    
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Wylie Jones Jordan, MD

04/09/2015

In 1988 I was just back from a job in Spain when I moved into one of the tower rooms and started lifeguarding at the basement pool. One day a little boy dived into the shallow end of the pool and cut his head on the mosaic tiles in the bottom. He was terrified and crying and rushed up to hug me, burying his bloody head in my red lifeguard shirt. I wanted to do more than comfort him, and decided to go to medical school. It took a year to compete premed requirements, and four more to graduate in 1964. I’m retired now and living in Acapulco, but I’ll always remember the St. George.

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Wylie Jones Jordan, MD

04/09/2015

That should obviously be 1958.

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1. George in Silicon Valley
  
  04/10/2015
  
  Nice story. At the St. George pool you decided to be an M.D. and you did it. I would go there with Gram and one of her elegant gentlemen friends, who wore white shoes and slipped employees– and grandchildren– “fivers” when he shook hands with them. And I formed the dream of a life like that.
  
  Reply
Brenda Kaulback

04/27/2015

I live in the St George and swim in the current pool nearly every day. I knew some of the story, but this article is great. Thank you!

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CM

05/30/2015

Over the years, I’ve heard so many family stories about my parent’s very fancy wedding reception at The St George Hotel in Brooklyn. Being a Manhattanite, the significance of a Brooklyn hotel escaped me. I was recently looking at my parent’s wedding photos, and was intrigued to know more about this venue. I even thought of visiting it. I was saddened to learn that it’s no longer open to the public. It looks like it was quite a glamorous place in it’s day.

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Zelda Josephs

08/25/2015

The pool exists intact under the floor that houses all the machines.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone were to restore it?
I would look forward to that day.

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1. San Francisco Professor
  
  08/25/2015
  
  Really? How wonderful. It feels like the Renaissance, to watch the great architecture of Brooklyn and Queens be uncovered, like Rome, as the dark ages end. In the last weeks we’ve been reading how two of the greatest movie theaters survived, one now a church and the other a university.
  
  Reply
joelg69

10/18/2015

..I attended Pratt Institute Art School in the mid ’50’s and at least once a week went swimming at St. George’s. 85 cents including towel & bathing suit. Once an hour the waterfall poured down on us. The men’s locker room had showers, steam room, sauna & massage room.
..Those who’ve never experienced a salt water pool (especially indoors in mid-winter)- well, what can I say..

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Robert Naranda

10/20/2015

I found this description of the pool and area in a letter from a WW2 soldier:

Sgt Andrew Ference, 33231659; 80th Adrm Sqdrn; Somewhere in New Guinea
March 31, 1944
He writes his girlfriend/future wife Margaret Cullen, a student at Georgia State College for Women located in Milledgeville, GA:
Sometimes when were both in New York City, I’d love to take you to the pool at Hotel St. George in Brooklyn. It’s the loveliest pool I’ve ever seen. It has salt water, clear and cool, with an artificial waterfall at one end and different colors of light changing behind it that makes it look wonderful. The whole interior, walls and ceiling, are solid mirrors. There is a balcony for onlookers and visitors. Sun tan lamps, Turkish bath and a gym are all accessible. They also have a motion picture program showing cartoons and shorts right in the pool while you’re swimming. They project the film from one side to the other side of the pool. It’s beautiful dear. You’ll have to see and visit it to appreciate it. Sometime maybe I’d love to take you there.

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E E

01/09/2016

When I was 8 years old in Jul 1955, I stayed at the St. George as a stop over on our family’s way to West Germany where my dad was going to be stationed. I have the letter I wrote to my grandmother from the St. George on their letterhead and in it I mention two things that really impressed me: the salt water swimming pool in the basement and the three faucets on our basin in our room (Room 37 at the time). They were for hot, cold, and ice water! Could not believe it. Staying there was a real treat. Glad I came across this website. Thank you for your efforts.

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Michael Jacobs

02/08/2016

I grew up in Brooklyn and periodically my school would take us swimming a the St. George, which loved. It is a shame that this beautiful pool is now gone. But thanks for bringing back some of the most wonderful memories from my childhood.

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Sid Chase

04/27/2016

I was about ten years old when my dad took me to the pool two or three times. One thing that stuck in my mind was the scratchy black swimsuits. Another, the joy of the salt water pool. Funny what you remember after 67 years.

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Gloria

08/20/2016

Around 1945, I used to go to the pool with my mother. We would come down from the Bronx. I remember the subway would let us out right in the hotel. She would go to the spa to get some kind of treatment done, and she would drop me off at the pool. We would rent a swimsuit and I would go swim on my own.

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Sunshine

09/09/2016

How would u talk to a girl that lived at st george hotel during the filming of The Godfather i also helped on bar scene keeping people from walking through shoot. I was a 15 year old runaway . btw the real “family” lunched across the street among other things. Love to share my story.

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Myrna Spagnolo-Culvet

10/04/2016

Oh how I loved the St George pool. Living at 25 Clinton St was a short walk to go for that wonderful escape. This article has brought back many wonderful memories for me. I left Brooklyn a long time ago but my memories of the St. George or still like new with this article and I am 75. My visits were between 1949 and 1952.

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