Creston Park

I love this pool! The hours are posted online– just Google it. Public funding doesn’t allow the longer hours I’d like– but it’s never closed by a reserving group– these people pony-​up to keep it open longer.
What I like most is what I’ll call «an Olympic-​sized kiddie pool”– half the pool is about 3.5 feet deep– perfect for early swimmers. It’s ringed by lovely trees, the staff is a great group of high school and college-​aged young adults. I’m so grateful to have this pool in my community– thank you, Portland!
My hope is that it will become ADA-​accessible– such a great pool with no simple lift or system for those with special needs. Someday…

I go down to this pool around 3pm on a hot Saturday. Firstly I didn’t expect to have to pay nearly $ 5 to get into such a small pool (I’m from Austin, TX, where most pools are free). The website did not mention that. So I walked back home, got the cash, and came back. By this point it was almost 4pm.
Less than 10 minutes later they announce the pool is closing. I was like, WTF? «The sign says you’re still open for awhile, yet! It’s only 4!» They said, «This man here reserved the pool.» I said, «I’m a taxpayer, this is a public pool, you didn’t tell me it was reserved nor post that information anywhere I could have seen it. And I paid admission!» They said, «You have to leave or we’ll call the cops.» I said, «Fine! Call the cops!» And jumped in the water.
Then the guy who had reserved it said, «It’s fine if he stays here.» So they didn’t call the cops. Then everyone else left, other than the people who had it reserved. Now I looked around, after swimming a lap, and I could see that it was a pool party for pre-​teen little girls. I felt pretty dirty at this point so I just left. And I never went back.
Worst $ 5 I ever spent.
They don’t post the hours online, nor the price, nor if anyone has it reserved. If you call, the recorded message doesn’t say either. What a poorly-​run operation.

Cool little park hidden away off Powell Blvd. There are BBQ pits and Benches. The school near by has lots of kid friendly play things. In the summer there is a Public Pool for Big and Little kids.

Love this park. There’s always plenty of space, the dog park area is really big and people have always been good about cleaning up. The different rec areas are well-​spaced and the playground has good equipment.
Only glitch, it advertises tennis courts but, I’ve lived nearby for over a year, they’ve always been covered in tree-​debris and the nets are gone. Not a great court.

I hate to give an entire park 1 star based on the poor management at the pool, but that’s what I’m going to do.
We called the management at Creston Pool to make a reservation. Whomever answered the phone told us they couldn’t discuss availability — only a manager could. They took our name and number and said they’d have a manager call back.
In the meantime, we called 3 other Portland Parks with pools and were given availability over the phone immediately.
Days passed, and we had no call back from Creston Pool. Finally, we called back Creston Pool and whomever answered the phone DID give us availability. We asked to book that time slot, but she said only a manager can do that. I asked how long it would take to hear from a manager, and she said up to 2 days (this was a Thursday). I asked if there was any way I wouldn’t get the time slot I was requesting, and she said only if someone else had already requested it and was also waiting for a manager to confirm it. Ok then.
Two days passed and it was nearing the end of the business day Saturday — we still hadn’t heard from Creston Pool. We called them and were told the managers don’t work weekends. We asked if there was anyone else we could talk to and were told «yes, but they only work on weekends.»
Monday roles around, and we call them because we’re not waiting around for them again. What do we learn? They booked out half of the time we had requested to reserve 4 days earlier.
Complete incompetence. You know what we did? We called another Portland pool and booked over the phone immediately within 5 minutes. It’s obviously not difficult for other similar locations to run things properly!
We will not be going to Creston Pool. Ever.

Review is for the summer outdoor pool. Gorgeous outdoor location and nicely heated pool that feels great even on cool summer days. A fun slide and a basketball hoop on the deeper side. Nice snack bar. Some play tubes and a baby slide on the shallow end. Negatives are that it is a big rectangular white concrete tub, sort of ugly and institutional looking. And, as you would expect, the summer open swim times can be quite over crowded.

This is my go to for my neighborhood park. They have an off leash area for my dog that I love. I like to go everyday so my Jake can run around with out having to worry about aggressive dogs. Never an issue with other dogs. The people are friendly and are always open to letting Jake join in on chasing the ball with their dogs.
There is a pool below, but that is more for the kids.
Next to the open field there is a school with a play yard for the kids. Down below there is a BBQ and picnic area. Perfect for hosting parties for the family and friends.

This park is big and beautiful! Dog park up on the hill which is a large grassy knoll. Theres a large wooden play structure for kida up on the hill by the dog park. Down at the bottom of the hill by the parking lot are several picnic tables BUT NO GRILLS TO BBQ IN! MAJOR FLAW! PLEASE PUT IN A COUPLE GRILLS PARK DEPT. There’s a horseshoe pit down there too. The swimming pool looks awesome though i haven’t used it yet. I plan to remedy that when it gets warmer. My only other complaint about this park besides the lack of grills is that they let the tennis courts go to shit. You cant even play on them they’re so crappy. Oh, there’s a hand ball wall and stairs that lead to the top of the hill by the dogpark from the pool. To me those stairs are an exact replica of the ones from Rocky. Run up them and throw your fists up in triumph and spin around in slow motion when you get to the top.

Summer, to me, has always been about the local pool for the most part. Sure, the family spent time at the beach & as a teenager (despite parental warnings), I skipped school plenty of times to go swimming in the river. But, we were not a family of means — there was no ‘summer house’, or cabin by a lake, or extended trips to ‘The Shore’…none of that. Summer=my friends & me at the pool. Thus is it so now.
The boys need exercise. I need an hour or two outside for peace of mind. Presto! The Summer Swim League at Creston Pool! What a deal! For $ 105.00 each, the boys get to swim all summer long. Now, this sounds expensive, but when you consider camps run about $ 300.00 a WEEK per kid (what a racket!), this is pretty cheap. The coaches are great, the pool is big, clean, & well maintained, and the surrounding park is beautiful. It really does not get much better. In addition, the locker rooms are nice, there’s hot water for the showers (a luxury in a public pool), and all in all, a swell time is had by all! Throw in all the moms hanging out with coffee & chatting in the mornings and you’ve got yourself a solid beginning to each day. Nothing says ‘sanity’ more to moms in the summer than a clean pool for the kids & time outside. Plus, the benefits are amazing: tired kids who are too worn out to fight and go to sleep early! Can’t beat that with a stick! Highly recommended. If my mom had had this option for me, she would’a been all over this. Instead, I squandered my hard-​earned 50 cents each day, basking in Johnson’s Baby Oil with lemon squeezed all over my hair (you know, for blond highlights!), while wiling away many an afternoon. Things are a bit healthier now, thankfully, and the 3 Musk-​A-​Teers and I are all benefiting from this arrangement with Parks & Rec. Highly recommended!
PS When I looked at this review, it came up located in ‘Old Town’. WRONG! It is deep in SE at 41^st off of Powell.