On most summer days of my youth, I could be found staring at the telephone at around 10 a.m. Running through my head: the numbers of my friends who belonged to Lakeside Swim Club in Louisville. I’d start to call Jenny, but I’d already bugged her about the pool yesterday. Maybe Stephanie. Nah, she was out of town. I’d lay out my bathing suit on the bed and pack up a bag with a bath towel and an apple in case someone invited me for a swim. The club was a mile and a half away, but I could feel the energy of the place from my bedroom–all the coconut-scented families arriving to spend the day in the water, and all the shrink-wrapped pizza slices about to be microwaved at the concession stand.
Even as an adult, I return to Lakeside regularly in my imagination. A former limestone quarry, the cavernous space was converted into a magnificent series of contiguous pools in the 1920s. The club’s entrance kiosk and the houses that line the street are constructed of stones extracted from the quarry. Buying local at its best.
Membership to Lakeside was, and continues to be, limited to the residents of the club’s street, and the families they sponsor. In the 1970’s, residents were allowed to sponsor only one non-resident family per year. The waiting list was five to seven years long. We didn’t know anyone who lived on Trevilian Way. And a pool membership wasn’t in the cards for us at that time anyway. So a guest ticket was my only option. The holy grail.
When I was in high school or college (oddly, I can’t remember which), my family was able to join Lakeside at last. But by then, my interests–and those of my siblings–had changed. I went a few times, more out of a feeling that I should, now that I finally was able to enter on my own steam. But I didn’t know anyone there anymore. My peers had part-time jobs or were out cruising with their new drivers’ licenses. My parents didn’t renew our membership the following year. It just wasn’t worth the money, given how infrequently we went.
During our trip to Louisville last week, I took my family on a bootleg tour of Lakeside. I strode past the entry kiosk where as a child, my knees would knock as I approached the Brunhilda-like gatekeeper. She was a woman in her sixties, tanned for so many years that she had deep crevaces in her skin. A couple of times I confronted her, claiming to be one of my member friends. But she knew everyone by face; it was no use.
Now the Lakeside clubhouse is under renovation. As an architect I quickly surveyed the scene and walked confidently onto the site as if it were my own project. In reality, I was like a high school dropout taking my family on a tour of Harvard. The workers took note of us, but I knew they wouldn’t question our presence. Once we made our way around the construction area, we saw the two-and-a-half acre pool before us, surrounded by forty foot cliffs. It was just as impressive as I remembered it, even in the empty off-season. My young children were ambivalent; it was too difficult for them to imagine the cool, glimmering paradise I’d described. But my husband got it. “It’s amazing,” he said, rocking back on his heels, his arms folded across his chest. He’s heard my Lakeside longings many times over the years. I showed him the club’s lackluster website once. But some things you have to experience from the inside.
So funny. I remember the days of deeply longing to go to Lakeside, too. Our frequently-employed alternative of running through the sprinkler just didn’t hold quite the same appeal!
Holy Trevillian Way! A lot of people learned to swim at Lakeside. I learned to walk there, too! Not two minutes ago, having not yet read this post, I sent you an e-mail thanking you for noticing my Derby essay in Madison, Wisconsin’s ISTHMUS. What I didn’t mention was how I wound up in Madison in the first place: a swimming scholarship to the UW-Madison, compliments of thousands of hours in the quarry, being tortured by the wonderful morning smells wafting down from Hickory House! It’s a place that has to be seen to fully appreciate, for sure.
Thanks, Andy and Ashley. Check out Andy’s great essay about teaching swim lessons at Lakeside back in the day…
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=1983
Thank you for sharing your memories about the historic Highlands swim club.
Lakeside has been a part of my family for 80 years. My grandfather was one of the first Presidents of the club. My father grew up there, learned to swim, and became an All-American swimmer in the 1950’s for the great Jack Thompson.
I also learned to swim there, and was a member of the swimming team from age 8 to 18. I even cracked my head open at the age of 12 (6 stitches) from swimming under the concrete piers. After spending so much time there, the natural progression for me was to become a lifeguard from age 16 to 22. I loved being a lifeguard, as I had so admired the lifeguards growing up, and thought that was one of the greatest jobs in the world. My grandparents lived around the corner on Lakeside Drive, so running over there to their house for a quick drink and sandwich was great between working and swim practice. Looking back, in the summers of my youth, I bet I spend 10 hours a day almost every day at the greatest pool in the world.
Living in Atlanta now, what I would give to have my two girls experience Lakeside on a daily basis. The life lessons learned there gave me a foundation to be a better husband and father, due to the true family atmosphere at Lakeside. I had some great coaches, Denny Pursley, the late& great Bill Peak, were two of my favorites, and even Mr. Thompson would coach me at times…heck, I was there as much as he was!
I try to go and visit, when I get back to Louisville, but have not been able to do so for so long.
Thank you for your blog entry. It was such a pleasant surprise to find it.
Brian
PS – the woman that worked the gate gave me the same feelings every time even though she knew me well. That was just her. She was truly a wonderful woman, and lived next door to the pool.
Such great stories, Brian, thank you for writing!
I lived on Ravinia Ave (two blocks from Lakeside) from 1945 till 1964. I was a swim team member and lifeguard. My family was very active at Lakeside and my father was a swim team member in the 1930’s. I also worked two summers in the concession stand. My two sisters were swim team members too.
Hi, Ken, thanks for writing. You and your family are so lucky to have the Lakeside legacy as part of your history. It’s a place that lives on in the imagination–magic here on Earth.
Yes, Lakeside was/is wonderful. I knew Kenny Daniels, and his children Gloria and Donnie. I surmise Brian is an offspring of Donnie or Gloria. Brian; please send me an e mail.
Please contact people before using their images without linking back to where you found the originals. A few of the images on this page are copyright to me with no credit.
Thanks!
Brian: The lady at the gate was Mrs Neal. She had two sons, Danny and Gary. I went to Highland Junior Highschool with Gary. He once sang a song at the assembly “Don’t take your guns to town”.
Hi, Wade, my apologies. I will add your link to the photos.
My best friend and nurse room mate at St Mary & Eliz Hospital and her husband lived on Seneca Valley Rd. and were big Lakeside members. I visited Lakeside on my visits to KY after moving to Ca. They were Donna and Gene Deeley. Donna passed away a year ago but Gene still lives there.
Ken & Carmel, thank you for sharing your memories of Lakeside. It tickles me that my childhood dreams of Lakeside have connected those who belonged there years ago.
Gee, glad you’ve been able to sneak in all these years. “Brunhilda” was actually pretty nice, if you were a member and not one of the hundreds of non member kids and adults trying to sneak in for free every day. (or psuedo friends of members trying to use someones name to get in to no avail) I think she probably looked pretty good for all the crap she had to deal with. Did you happen to go to Atherton?
-Cheers,
Non Resident life long Lakeside member by proxy of my parents.
Hi, Lakeside Member! Thanks for writing in. I never was able to sneak into Lakeside as a kid;I just dreamed of swimming in its cool waters during the savage Louisville summers. I had friends who brought me once in a while. Didn’t go to Atherton, though 2 of my siblings did.