P.V. Estates Takes a Plunge : Group Seeks to Restore 1930s Pool

A group of Palos Verdes Estates residents is attempting to breathe new life into the historic but run-down Malaga Cove swimming pool.

According to a seven-member committee formed by the city, the estimated cost of restoring the 1930s glory to the Roessler Pool and adjacent clubhouse is between $800,000 and $1.4-million. The most likely way to raise the money, committee members say, would be creating a swimming and athletic club that would be operated by a concessionaire through a lease with the city, which owns the pool and clubhouse.

For now, the committee, which is headed by former Mayor Jack Duston, is seeking private donations to pay for a $15,000 study by an architect and a swimming pool company. So far, $10,000 has been raised. The study is intended to determine what must be done to make the complex a first-class facility and how much it will cost.

“The plan is not to change it but to restore it,” said Deanne Myers, an attorney who is secretary of the pool committee.

In addition to repairing the deteriorating pool and clubhouse--which shows decades of neglect--the work may include installing exercise equipment, restoring a room for meetings and parties and putting in picnic tables. Windows could be cut through some of the clubhouse walls facing Malaga Cove to take advantage of the spectacular sea view, she said. The city-sponsored summer swimming program would be retained and a program for senior citizens may be added, she said.

“There is support for this, based on input we’ve gotten,” Councilwoman Ruth Gralow said. “The residents say we have to do something.”

Gralow, who appointed the committee, said the restoration could be paid for with initiation fees to a membership club and bank loans that could be obtained based on the amount of money collected. Continuing maintenance could be covered by monthly dues.

Myers said the committee has not determined how many members the club would need or how much members would be charged. She said a survey will be done “to assess the market, to see if people would be interested in this, and what they would be willing to pay to join.”

The city has had good experience in such ventures, she said, citing the golf and tennis clubs, which are self-sufficient operations run by concessionaires through leases with the city.

Myers said the committee hopes to have a specific proposal for the pool complex before the city’s 50th anniversary next year.

The pool was built as part of the original Palos Verdes Estates home development and was opened in 1930 as the Palos Verdes Bathhouse and Beach Club. Community organizations used the club for meetings.

Ownership passed to the city when Palos Verdes Estates was incorporated in 1939. The pool was later renamed in memory of H. F. B. Roessler, the city’s first mayor, who was in his 26th year in office when he died in February, 1965.

Damaged by Fire

Much of the upper level of the clubhouse--a large room done in Italian style with a wood-enclosed balcony--was heavily damaged by fire more than 30 years ago and was never repaired. Little repair or renovation has been done since then, although the city says the building is sound.

The 45-by-105-foot pool is open from June to September with people participating in the summer swim program, which includes lessons, recreational swimming, diving and water polo. The committee hopes the complex will operate year-round.

The citizens committee was established after the council decided to make the pool financially self-sustaining. Mayor James Kinney said the swimming program pays for itself through fees, but facility maintenance is subsidized by the city. For 1988, the cost is $8,600.

The needed repairs and restoration, however, would be “so expensive that it would be impracticable” for the city to undertake them, he said.

Homeowners’ Support

The pool restoration is supported by the Malaga Cove Homeowners Assn., which has opposed projects that it feared would worsen traffic.

“We want to encourage refurbishing of the pool because it is a landmark to us,” said Rene Scribe, association president. He said benefits of the pool would offset the “certain amount of impact” the complex would have on the neighborhood.

Two Malaga Cove residents are members of the pool committee, which has said the number of people using the swim club would be governed by the 125 available parking spaces.

“We don’t see this as a Disneyland,” Myers said.