Dimond Lion’s Pool

I’m grateful to have a swimming pool that is relatively clean and affordable that isn’t too far from my house, however, the patrons and lifeguards don’t respect the FAST lane sign and do breast stroke or kicking which makes it challenging to have a good swim. Also, there is no clear mark on the wall at the end so doing flip turns is a lot of guess work. Last, a feature that is odd but one I actually like, is that the lanes are much longer than standard lanes.

33 yards long, clean, warm, good staff, low price (especially for seniors), parking, rehab lane with chair lift. If you have a swimming habit to feed year ’round, this is the place.

Staff is awesome. Facility is rough around the edges, but what do you expect for the money? It’s a wonderful resource for our community and I love going there every time. I wish it had longer/​more hours!

Love this pool. Set in lovely nature, it’s so great to watch the trees when you’re working on your backstroke.
The locker rooms are not the fanciest in the world, but I’ve noticed the floors are heated in the winter, so that’s fancier than I thought.
Staff is very nice. Hours are pretty limited, but I get there when I can. Nice long pool for lap swimming — 33 yards.

This pool is great. It was heated at just the right temperature. It is an outdoor pool right next to a very lovely park. There’s a slow, medium and fast lane that people are pretty good at sticking to, and room in the middle lane to pass people up. They have equipment you can use but I didn’t check any of it out. The bathrooms are a tad gross but nothing you can’t bear if you have flip flops. No lockers. The lady on the phone said they took card but when I got there he told me they only take card for over $ 10 and it costs $ 6 to swim. They took the cash I had so that was nice. The people who work there are really nice. I wish they had another bigger clock to help you time your laps. Someone told me the pool length was 35 yards which is weird so I’m not sure he was right. Cool place.

Lately I have had emotional confrontations with the staff/​lifeguards!
Are you kidding!
1) I had 62 paid visits in my account. I was not well enough to come to the pool for two months. When I returned there were 32 paid visits on my card. A supervisor came to talk with me while I was in the pool. I suggested that we talk another time when he was not on the concrete and I was in the pool. It was not respectful. No one contacted me or made any changes to my account.
This is not the first time that my account was diminished not by me. I was told that there are computer problems with other swimmers accounts yet the city has no interest in fixing the problem!
2) Some staff start off speaking to me in a confrontational aggressive manner. My Doctor told me today that people jump to judgment about me before any communication. It is shocking to me.
One life guard told me that I had to tie up my dog or get out of the pool. It was horrid! He was shouting at me. People in the pool just did not stand up for me. I did nothing wrong. He abused his position as a life guard. I was He came back and apologized that same day but the shock to my nervous system was not changed by the «I am sorry». It is important for the life guards not to be judgmental.
I did not feel safe. Several of the swimmers hearing the loud lifeguard thought I had actually done something wrong!
I want this relationship to staff to change. Perhaps this message will help the process. My hope is that the training will include social skills.
This is a public pool for all the citizens in the area. Many of the staff are nice, kind, and friendly with normal social skills.

I love this swimming pool! They have an elevator that lowers me (and others I assume) into the water, and then hoists me out! SWEET! I love that elevator so much that I sometimes just ride it up and down in and out of the water! I went there to swim a lap or two but this pool is long! I thought Temescal’s pool was long, but this one is even longer! Wow! I couldn’t even complete one length, and I guess I shouldn’t have attempted it in the middle (fast lane). It’s just that the lane was appealing since the lane had support ropes on both sides of the lane (within easy reach). I spent a lot of time just hanging onto lane lines while I tried to complete my one length. This seemed to aggravate a couple of the Olympic wannabes who took the time to stop and yell something at me, which I couldn’t hear through all the water in my ears and with my gasping.
Well, I finished that length (in less than 15 minutes), and moved over to the wall so I could pull myself back to the shallow end. I completed that length in 10 minutes! I’d say that’s improvement! Anyway, I’m not sure if it was a case of severe oxygen debt, but I’d swear I saw some form of sea creature doing somersaults in the deep end… that was different. Aside from the people in the fast lane yelling at me, their constant splashing, and that rough tile on the wall (it chapped my hands), the pool was wonderful. Lifeguards were nice… even when they inquired if I had ever swum before. The answer is YES! I grew up swimming in an inflatable pool and I carry those skills with me to this very day!
All in all a great pool and one of the best lifts in Oakland. That lift alone is worth the price of admission! Check it out!

Beautiful pool. Great setting. Nice staff. Not enough hours to accommodate volume of lap swimmers. Have to agree w Veronica here about rude factor. Most swimmers very cool, but saw truly mean display from a regular in the locker room over what should have been minor misunderstanding. Place desperately needs more floor matts, grab bars and safety strips. Surprised someone hasn’t taken a dreadful fall in that slippery locker room.

Clean pool, warm water, great location. Locker rooms didn’t seem too bad. Something they should post on the website, YOU NEED EXACT CHANGE TO GET IN ($ 6 for adult lap swim), or else pay with a card.
My only real complaint about this place is the staff. Most of the lifeguards that were on duty when I was there did not seem very knowledgable, and one was texting & talking on the phone WHILE ON DUTY. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen during public swim. Never would’ve flown in my guarding days.
Overall this place is a good option, and they have lots of lap swim hours. But be prepared to climb up/​down 30+ steep stairs to get to and from the parking lot.

The pool itself is clean. The price of admission is 5 bucks, which seems a bit steep for a swim. However, when you see the decaying, gross state of the locker rooms, you’ll understand. Hopefully the funds are being put away for restorations! My experience was okay. As a pretty good swimmer, I joined the medium lane (there’s fast, slow and medium). People totally either under or over estimate themselves and have NO FUCKING MANNERS. It’s incredibly rude to cut people off while they’re swimming. The lifeguards don’t manage this, so the flow of the lanes is pretty jacked. The other swimmers here are RUDE. The lifeguard needs to do her damn job and call people out for doing unsafe and just plain rude things. Cut me off and not only will I pass you, I will kick you in the face while doing so. Jerks.

Wanted to update the reviews on Lion’s pool – especially for moms and dads out there. They have public swim on Saturdays at 2:45 — 4:45 pm.
I have a 7 year old – 2 hours is just enough for us.
The pool is huge, warm and in a beautiful setting.
There was at the peak – about a dozen people in the pool.
Cost was $ 3 for adults $ 1 for children.
The locker rooms – well, had to take off a star.
No lockers – they use these woven bags to hang on railings–
Overall it was a good way to get my energetic 7 year old to waste her energy.
She was able to swim in the deep end after passing the «swim test” – four laps of free style+tread water for one minute.

Not the BEST pool but it’s not BAD either. There’s only 3 lanes– slow, medium, and fast and the majority of the swimmers are seniors. It can get pretty crowded and that is why I never stay long. Pool temperature is on the warmer end and the chlorine isn’t as strong. The pool is located at a nice park tho so it’s a nice area. The women’s locker room is okay. somewhat clean and not too dirty. it gets super hot inside though with the hot steamy showers and the lack of ventilation.
Overall for $ 5.00 a swim or $ 40.00 for 10 swims, it’s pretty cheap.

I’ve been swimming here off and on for six months now. It’s not your greatest pool (the facilities are aging) but it’s kept clean by some really friendly staff. You can tell they have some great friendships with the regulars here.
I usually come and do an hour of light to moderate swimming to take some load off my body in the running off season. Folks are friendly and ready to swap stories with you. Yes, there are plenty of seniors occupying the slow/​medium lanes and I think they could stand to add a couple more lanes because the variance in speeds in my lane is always pretty great.
That said, I’ve found this place preferable to swimming at the Alameda 24 (that pool is way too short and it’s facilities are questionable) and you’re supporting Oakland parks! Do it.
In case you were wondering, this is a 35 yd pool.

Its a nice pool. The older swimmers can be quite pushy and sometimes rude but other than that the pool is a peaceful «playground» as some would call it. Its a three lane lap pool, and is heated to a comfy 83 degrees, year round. $ 5 a swim is a bargain these days, so its a go for me!

I could go on and on but I will cut to the chase. Oakland is broke. Miserably, miserably broke. And this pool really shows that situation. Disgusting bathroom/​locker area/​furlough hours here and there, poor pool maintenance and a facility that’s in desperate need of renovations, it’s all apparent here at Lions’ Pool.
However, even in these tough times, we must swim! We must stretch our backs, our shoulders, float in the chlorinated waters, soothe ourselves with the peaceful controlled breathing of lap swimming. Talk to our neighbors and community members, and make space for others in our lanes. Do flip-​turns and get by using the sad collection of fins, pull buoys, and ample kick-​board selection.
Sunsets around you as you do backstroke and look up and see the Oak trees on the hillside. Children play in the park outside the pools’ chain-​link fence. Leaves from the trees, having fallen in the pool, playfully obstruct your pull and scurry away from the draft as you pass.
As an adult, I do the morning and evening lap swim here. Yes, sometimes the lifeguards are unprofessional and there seems to be a lack of official policy about certain things, but that’s okay. They are well meaning people that work here.
Yes, the people who swim here are slow and clueless. Did I say clueless? And slow? That’s okay, because you can rise (or float, or just quickly pass) above it! It’s my liquid therapy and it’s as cheap as $ 4 a swim if you buy a $ 40 pass and get 10 swims.
The parking lot can be sketchy, it’s very dark and I’m sure there are all kinds of clandestine activities that take place long after I’ve pulled away from the lot, but what parking lot doesn’t have some of that? Around here. Hopefully cops will patrol occasionally (if there are any in this precinct after all of the layoffs!) Look if you’re lucky, you can swim somewhere else. But some of us just have to get by and you’ll find us at Lions’ Pool. Not a bad way to stay fit and relaxed, really.

$ 5/​swim, or $ 4 if you get a multipass. It is heated to a tolerable temperature, though I’d like it a bit warmer during these fall nights. Of course they can’t help the fact that it’s freezing getting to and from the lockers.
I’m not much for swimming laps, so I do the water aerobics. It’s actually a really good workout. We don’t have an official teacher, but there are regulars who have been going for 11 years who lead the thing, and are very friendly. Not a group of crotchety old ladies like I feared. You use water weights/​dumbells made of foam to do a series of different exercises. We do laps for the first half hour, but I usually cheat and jog the shallow end. Highly recommended.
I just wish that there were time/​space reserved for people who just want to be in the water without doing laps, besides during family swim when you have to deal with all the kids.

Although this is in my neighborhood I jump past it to go to Mills. I’m a slow swimmer and the slow lane here is clogged with people who like to just stand in the water and talk which makes swimming around them a chore. Also if you’re a water chicken each lane goes from about 4 feet to over 10 feet — not like Mills where you be in 4 foot water the whole time you’re swimming.
The setting is nice, the rate is reasonable, the locker rooms are more spacious than Mills. They also have a contraption that can lower someone into the water if you can’t do the stairs or ladder.

I was a Sleepy Hollow Sea Lion from the age of six until 14. I spent each Saturday during the swimming season begging my parents to buy me donuts and liquid cheese from the concession stand before my «big race.»
I was forced to get up before the frost was off the windows so I could ride my bike to swim practice where I routinely pulled myself along the lane lines to fake like I was actually one of the fast kids.
Truth is, I was slow. Not like Downs slow but haven’t yet developed the muscles of Manute Bull slow.
My friend Megan and I used to compete against each other for everything. Who can make up the best character in make-​believe boarding school. Who can get their mom to stray away from all-​natural peanut butter for a week. Who can jump off the bottom of the pool and pretend they’re actually swimming butterfly. Even though we were both slow, Megan was better than I was. While she got to lose to the cool kids I was always being put in the slow heats at the swim meets.
So imagine my surprise when I was told off by the crypt keepers who dominate the Diamond Lion’s Pool because I was swimming too fast for the slow lane.
The ladies were looking at me like I was swimming topless so I decided to engage in a little harmless chit chat to let them know this was my first time at the pool and I didn’t know the rules yet.
«Um yeah, this is the slow lane. That’s the fast lane. And that, over there is the medium lane. I’d say you’re medium to fast,» said one moth ball with her eyebrows raised.
Now that I know my place I just need to make sure I stay away from that one creepy older dude doing the back stroke dead fish style who kept peaking at me under water. I know my bottoms keep ballooning out, and you can most likely see my bush, but since you’re wearing goggles I’d really appreciate if you could keep your eyes to yourself. Thanks so much. Fish faces kisses!
–1 star because they need more lane lines. Three lanes isn’t cutting it, especially when one is dominated by the water aerobics gestapo.

I’ll be honest and just say that Lions is not my favorite of Oakland’s public pools. True, it has great scenery, but you don’t actually see it when you are swimming.
What I do not like about Lions Pool is the following:
1) The pool has WAY crazy striping that is totally wasteful of space (there is a total of 3 lanes in the whole pool)
2) The water is too warm for lap swimming (which I admit is nice during winter, or foggy Bay Area mornings)
3) The restroom showers are really claustrophobic.

Lions is my second favorite pool in East Oakland. The setting is beyond compare. It feels like swimming in the woods. Outside the pool is a California Buckeye tree that’s gotta be two hundred years old. You kinda can’t help but relax in that environment. Unless the pool is super crowded, and then you can forget that meditative swimming you were hoping to do.
There is a wheelchair lift, as well as stairs/​railing on the shallow end and ladders on the deep end.
The parking lot is up the hill, and there are a bunch of stairs. If you’re in a wheelchair, check a map and park at the end of Canon St.