water was the perfect temp not too cold not too warm and the whole place was super clean plenty of…read moreloungers too lifeguards were chillin but kept an eye out best swim ever ‍

first time trying out a philly public pool! we did have to wait outside for about ten minutes to be…read morelet in and then an additional five for the life guards to get to their stations, which was a bit disappointing because we only have 50 minutes to swim before they kicked us out again! there's small bathrooms, and no changing rooms but they do have a place to rinse off your feet? (very odd as there is no sand but y'know...) i wish there was a place to change out of my wet bathing suit and into dry clothes, but other than that it was worth trying out on a really hot day! really clean pool and life guards are posted at every side :) unfortunately did not get any pics!

its open after the trash strike, for summer 2025. water is perfect, everything is clean, neighbors…read moreare out. life can be good, and its free!

I love it here! The head lifeguard Derrick really makes everyone feel welcome and emphasizes that…read moresafety is key. A little bit long/repetitive with stopping swim to tell you the rules but it's worth it and the kids respond to it! Friendly environment and the pool is super clean! I'll be a regular all summer. Ridgeway is the ONLY WAY!!!

Don't eat there! I unfortunately contracted food poisoning from the club (attached is one example…read moreof undercooked chicken that was served to me). Recently, on 7/16 a health inspection was done due to the gross misconduct of the kitchen...they failed for storing food at dangerously high temperatures and having an unsanitary kitchen/food preparation area. Unfortunately, I never was given any apologies or amendments.

Great center city swim club but be warned that there is a long waiting list. Membership is limited…read moreto reduce crowding.

Has a lot of shade concrete walls it has a lot of privacy life guards are kind and it's cleanread more

Public pools are all the rage in the city. Who would've thought? They've really been booming in the…read morelast several years, and some of them are really rather nice! This one is up there with our faves so far! Not sure how I missed this one as I've taken my daughters to the playground just on the other side of the fence many times since they were young. The pool however, is actually located ON Fairmount. (2 hr free street parking all around) There are cement bleachers and cushions for lounging, as well as neat little cubbies to place your belongings. The pool is immaculate and separated by rope from the 3 footer end and the 4 ft plus end. Two lifeguards were on duty at all times, one on each side of the pool. They were playing some popular tunes my girls and I had a great time jamming to in the star. Nothing too loud, but made the experience that much more fun. I have never heard music at any other public pools. There are restrooms right there and they weren't awful. Decent in fact. Lol The rules are fairly simple-you must take a quick shower before entering the water and to refrain from taking photos. (I snapped just a few before they officially opened for you guys) They have a little garden, which is a nice touch! Everyone was super friendly taking time to get to know one another and chatting about the neighborhood. It was mostly filled with residents from NoLibs, but I'm going to say it was worth the trek from across town. Nothing like enjoying free access to a large pool without having to leave the city. You can easily make a nice day of it and hit up one of the casual restaurants nearby afterwards...Abbaye, Wahlburgers, Apricotstone etc My kiddos begged to return the following day and we basically have our own private pool just outside the city.

What is wonderful about this pool in the summertime is that it's the largest lap public pool in the…read morecity! If people are complaining about how it's not open long enough, it's because they have a very limited budget every year. I think that they do a wonderful job with what they have. For me, it's also one of the cleanest pools in the city. Two thumbs up to the Shawn and the staff for running such a great place for adults and kids to cool off in the summer months. I haven't tried any of their other programming, but it is a real stronghold in the community.

I'll admit: I wasn't expecting the pool to be so clean! There were some leaves on the bottom, but…read morethe water itself was crystal clear. In fact, this being my first time at a public pool, I was pleasantly surprised all-around: Lifeguards were attentive, crowd was friendly, and this pool is just MASSIVE! But there are a few differences between this public pool and a typical swim club that are helpful to know beforehand: This is not a lush environment. Anyone not swimming needs to sit on concrete, bleacher-like steps behind a chain-link fence that separates the pool from the spectator area. The steps are mere feet from the edge of the pool, but I'd imagine the separation might be a little disconcerting for parents of younger kids (or just a buzzkill for anyone hoping to interact with people in the water). Bags, towels, and personal items have to stay on the steps, too, so I advise against bringing any valuables if you plan to swim, as you'll have to leave them unattended (in sight, but behind the chain-link fence). Finally, anyone entering the swim area needs to walk through a sprinkler/shower that rinses people off before they get in the water. So if you're bringing your kids and plan to walk them to the edge of the pool, prepare to get doused on your way in and out! All that said, it's a city pool. No frills, but a great place to play in the water on a hot summer day, at zero cost!

I quite enjoyed my time at he Bellevue for a while that it's done a complete 180 in the last…read moreseveral months. The good: Very big and nice facilities with amazing great variety of equipment. A TON of group fitness classes if you're into that including free reformer Pilates classes (if you can get in.) Issues (that are unacceptable in general or just completely insane to have at the membership price point...these are things you deal with a budget gym or someplace you go for free): Constant elevator issues which cause lines and long wait times during peak hours. And for the last 6+ months they've only had two of three functioning if that. You know it's an issue, fix it for goodness sakes. Good luck if you rely on parking here. The entrance are closed half the time causing you to have to detour for a good ten plus minutes to get in and then exiting you're stuck behind trucks delivering in the alley they've left "open" for you to get out. And yes the validate but they randomly increased the price from $11 to $12 one day. Not a huge deal but why not tell members in advance? It's just sloppy. The sound systems are suboptimal for group classes especially in the HIIT studio. It is a vibe killer for sure. The spa that we were promising was coming soon when we joined in November of 2023 is still nowhere to be found. The locker rooms are adequately maintained but there are so many privacy issues. Often there are signs that there will be men working in the women's locker room. And the phone use is NUTS. People are on video conference calls! How is this allowed?? The cafe hours stink for early birds. If I'm done with my workout before 7am and I want coffee, I'm SOL. It's also insanely expensive. I cannot speak for the food there because I won't eat it after I saw a mouse in the cafe area while I was working from there one day. Treadmills are constantly broken. They added a bunch and now there's somehow less available because they cannot seem to maintain them. Out of service for a day or two is one thing but it goes way longer than that. Good luck and Godspeed accessing an assault bike or a ski erg between 10:15 and 2pm on weekdays. They're fully monopolized by the turf class and the HIIT studio is used for classes including mat Pilates (??) Generally speaking maintenance seems to be an issue. A pedal was hanging off one of the two assault bikes on the main floor this week when I was using it. A tread was sticking a few weeks ago when I started to run on it. I couldn't strap my foot into a rower the other day. It doesn't seem like it would be too much to ask that they keep their eye on this. I do feel like it used to be under control but had fallen off a cliff recently. Too many people here are shooting footage for social media. I cannot complete a workout without being concerned I'm in the background of someone's selfie-video or photo shoot. Hotel guests have full access to the gym. It adds to the insane crowds on the weekend and needs to get in check. Many of the trainers and instructors are great but a handful of trainers that either do personal training or turf classes are flat out RUDE. I was treated disrespectfully and even bullied by one of them while minding my own business just trying to complete my workout. This is embarrassing for the gym and needs to be addressed. Ultimately, I could no longer justify being a paying member with so little care shown by management about the member experience. Perhaps spending less time posting less on social media and more time listening to an addressing member feedback would be helpful.

There's a lot about this gym that's phenomenal, but the phone use in the locker room and sauna…read moredrags this place way down. This is a serious privacy violation, whether someone is intentionally taking pics not. (Sometimes they are taking pics.) Most people have camera permissions enabled on their phones for lots of apps. A sauna or locker room is a place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, but the phone use means you do not have privacy here. It gets worse: the same people using their phones in the sauna are usually the ones who wear their dirty socks and gym clothes in there (sometimes even their sneakers), and you can even tell when it's empty, because the wooden benches are dirty from it. Gross. This isn't an occasional problem with only a few offenders. If you walk past the sauna (it has a glass door) you'll often see 4+ people in there scrolling their phones. The gym does have a couple of signs telling people not to do either of these things, but the signs are ignored. At $200 per month, this is considered a high end gym. The other high end gyms (Fitler, Equinox) in this area don't have the same problems, so I don't know what's going on here. I guess someone started doing it, no one stopped them, and now others see this and think it's ok? This is a shame because the equipment here is good, there are tons of great classes, and the space overall is very nice.

Excellent programs for the community! The gym, pool and state of the art gym equipment is awesome.read more

The pool is AMAZING for my family. Huge indoor slide, splash area for my little one, and hot tub…read morefor adults.

Attentive staff that actually does their job! Very clean pool and no trouble is tolerated. Will…read moremiss it is as the season ends.

Nicest public pool in the city I have been to. It's clean and has comfortable sun bathing spots…read more There are a lot of kids that come with no parents so it does get loud and a little crazy but there are 3 lifeguards on duty keeping everyone under control!

The Bok building is a wonderful repurposed facility filled with bakeries, workshops, play areas for…read morekids, and more. In general, it is an incredible space for the community to get together and/or enjoy works for local artists across the floors of the building. They host events like the Spring Market to attract more visitors, so it can get quite busy during those times, with lines for places like Machine Shop wrapping around the building.

I visited the BOK Building this past Saturday when we were visiting Philly, and it was everything I…read morewas expecting! So what is it? The BOK Building is a former vocational high school. It closed in 2013, and the city put the building up for auction. Most of the time, developers will tear a building like this down, to build something that has no history, no character, and looks like every other new multi-use build. But every once in a while a developer does something special. And the developer who bought the BOK Building did just that. The design firm that won the contract to renovate the BOK had incredible vision - to maintain the integrity and history of the structure while updating it for new and modern uses. So the outside still looks like a historic high school (it was built in 1936). And the inside does, too! They kept so many touches that make it clear that it was a high school. (It's hard to explain; you'll understand when you see it for yourself!) So the space is amazing. But it's also home to some amazing shops and businesses (plant, ceramic, bike stores and more), cafes (a coffeeshop, a bakery), a restaurant (Irwin's), and a rooftop bar! Like many other places/neighborhoods in Philly, parking in the area around the BOK Building can be tough. And not every entrance to the building is a public entrance (their website has information about the entrances and signs outside were helpful, but it is a little bit confusing). The building is really cool; I really respect their approach to the space, its architecture and its history. Visit, explore, eat, drink, and shop!