$3.7-Million Eastside Service Center Dedicated

Today, for the first time, East Los Angeles will hear the splashing of swimmers, the grunting of karate students and the squeals of day-care classes all under one roof.

The YMCA and the Weingart Center dedicated their $3.7-million service center Wednesday and gave city politicians and residents on the city’s Eastside a peek at what lies ahead.

The center has structured sports programs for children graduating from street pickup games. It also has after-school tutoring sessions for those whose homework has not been coming out right. Adults choose from aerobics, dance, weight-training sessions, English-as-a-second-language classes, a secretarial skills course and a literacy program.

And, not the least of its attractions is East L.A.’s only indoor swimming pool.

“To some of us, that might not seem like a major accomplishment,” said Stephen Tobia Jr., chairman of the center’s board of managers. “But to the people in this community, this is a first.”

The pool may give people a sense of having “more control of their environment,” said Genevieve Ganay, 57, a reading tutor who went to the dedication ceremony to join the center’s literacy program. “It’s indoors. It’s away from the smog. It’s safer for the kids; they can swim at night, too, without worrying.”

The pool, gym and activity rooms are open daily from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. An annual family membership at the YMCA costs $315; senior citizens and college students pay $140; teen-agers up to 17, $60; children 6 to 12, $24.

Maria Hernandez, 42, walked away from the ceremony saying the opening of the long-awaited Y did not meet her expectations. She said that the cost of the membership, while not astronomical, may be prohibitive for some.

“The children are so enthusiastic that it is here, but we should wait and see if it really turns out to be something for everyone,” Hernandez said in Spanish as she and her 4-year-old son Alvaro walked to their home two blocks away.

“From the looks of it today, I’m not certain who will be using the center,” she added, referring to the valet parking for the opening.

Adrian Escamilla, one of the 42 full- and part-time employees at the center, said she thought that most of the community would take advantage of the Y because of the scarcity of other recreational facilities.

After working at the Hollywood, Huntington Park and MacArthur Park YMCAs as an aerobics teacher, Escamilla, 23, said she is happy about working in the neighborhood where she grew up.

“I wanted to come back here,” she said. “This is my area.”