Swimming Lessons at Flanders Hotel, Ocean City

Swimming Lessons at Flanders Hotel, Ocean City

Postcard of Flanders Hotel probably from the 50’s, the good old days!

My parents were insistent that their kids knew how to swim. In the mid 50’s, they sprung for my sister, brother and me to have swimming lessons at Flanders Hotel, on 11th Street in Ocean City. At that time, Flanders had the most marvelous pools ever. They were filled with salt water…I still remember the smell of the water and the pools - It was different from the chlorinated pools we have now. There was a giant pool, not sure of the size, but it was probably a 50 meter pool. That was where the swimming lessons took place. The kiddy pool was a good size. Then there was a diving pool with low dives and high dives. If we were lucky enough to have some extra money, we were allowed to have ice cream cones from the little snack bar located behind the pools under the hotel.

Check out the pictures below of my brother, sister and me at Flanders.

I don’t have pictures, but I also took a weekly swimming lesson when I was about 12 years old. My friend Cindy and I would be dropped off for the day, took our swimming lessons, then hung out and for sure had an ice cream cone. I remember the locker rooms were located below the boardwalk level. They were dark and could have had sand as the floor. I remember it being a little scary going down there to change before being picked up after a fun day.

The Flander’s pools are no longer there. They were bull dozed years ago to make way for shops and an amusement park. Seems like my favorite pools ever have been bull dozed! They destroyed my much-loved Woodlands Athletic Club a year ago to make way for Condos…Ummm…Did not happen, the property is now up for sale! They destroyed a world class athletic club-so very sad…But that’s another story…

My brother and I are in the kiddy pool at Flanders.Here I am "swimming" in the kiddy pool. My brother, sister and I are sitting at the edge of the diving pool. Looks like they were the ones who got the ice cream cones...or I just gobbled mine up pretty fast. A couple years later...This is me in a swimming lesson. Oh the required bathing caps of the '50's!