When the Tonga Room was a swimming pool

Article in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

WHEN PLUNGE WAS A SPLASH

• Dwight Chapin, Chronicle Senior Writer
  Tuesday, July 26, 2005

The Fairmont Hotel Plunge was one of the most unusual diving and swimming pools anywhere until it became, of all things, the Tonga Room.

Some, particularly those who don't have a penchant for Polynesian drinks, would say it was not an equal tradeoff.

In its time, a span of a little more than 15 years before and during World War II, the Fairmont Plunge was something special, a flourishing athletic training facility in the heart of urban San Francisco.

It opened in 1929, when mining engineer George Smith bought and renovated the famed Nob Hill hotel, and, before it closed in 1945, it had become a mecca that attracted some of the biggest names in U.S. aquatic history, like national diving champion Helen Crlenkovich and several Olympic multiple medalists and Hall of Famers in the making, including swimmer Ann Curtis Cuneo and divers Vicki Manalo Draves and Patty Elsener Homan.

"It was such a nice place," Homan said, "with all-glass doors that looked outside, very nice, very clean. And because of the glass, you didn't feel like you were caught inside something."

Frequently, the young athletes would have an audience while they trained, curious hotel guests.

"They always welcomed us, never complained about us working out," Draves said. "There's was a sun deck on the outside of the pool, so the guests did a lot of sunbathing."

And, once in awhile, the onlookers did a bit more than merely catch rays or gawk at the divers and swimmers in practice.

"One time, Ronald Reagan was there with his then wife, Jane Wyman," Homan said, "and they asked me if I'd mind sitting for awhile with their daughter (Maureen). Maybe they wanted to go out and have lunch. I just played with her in the water for a couple of hours."

Full story:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/07/26/FAIRMONT.TMP&nl=top

I always thought it was funny to have the lane markers (the stripes down the length of the pool, on the bottom of the pool) in a 'tropical rain forest'

Hey, I just read that article on my coffee break at work. You beat me to the punch on posting it. Very cool article.