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For those who didn\u2019t grow up going there, the Victoria Pool can be somewhat of a mystery. For one, the historic public swimming pool is run by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, whose website gives little to no information on how or when it operates. (My sister read somewhere online that it was open earlier this summer, only to arrive to find it still closed.) Then there\u2019s the fact that the Victoria isn\u2019t the only pool in the park\u2014there\u2019s also the Peerless, which is located in the area you have to pay to access but is free to get in to, while Victoria is free to drive to but $8 to get in. Plus, if you didn\u2019t know where in the park Victoria was, you couldn\u2019t drive around to find it, since it\u2019s tucked out of sight in a courtyard. Add in a sorta-secret unwritten code to which regular pool-goers adhere, and those of us who grew up cooling off in lakes are completely lost.
Two years ago, some of my questions were answered when Saratoga Living ran a story on all the famous people who have visited the Victoria over the years, from Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews and Steven Tyler to the dancers from New York City Ballet. It was then that I met Louise Goldstein, co-founder of the Save the Victoria Pool Society, which revitalized the aging National Historic Landmark in the early 2000s. Louise is known around the pool as the Queen of the Victoria Pool, and has been going there regularly since the 1940s\u2014since the pool was lined with blue tiles and had several diving boards. \u201CThere\u2019s something magic about that pool,\u201D she told me recently. \u201CPeople just love it. They make friends for life there from all over the country and the world, and they look forward to seeing each other next summer. I don\u2019t know what it is. It\u2019s beautiful and unique, but it\u2019s even more than that. It\u2019s like magic.\u201D
Thanks to some help from Louise and a couple trips to the acclaimed Victoria, which officially opened for the season last Saturday, I\u2019ve been able to get a much better grip on the unwritten rules of the pool. Here\u2019s a guide, for those of you who haven\u2019t spent the last eight decades lounging in the sunlight of Saratoga\u2019s hidden gem.
I haven\u2019t actually seen this fact written anywhere, but it has been true of most recent years. Exceptions: 2020, when COVID delayed the opening until July 3, and 2013, when then-Governor Andrew Cuomo announced it would open three weeks early. If you forget this fact next summer, your best bet is to follow Saratoga Spa State Park (they posted that both the Victoria and Peerless were open on the 25th, though not before then) or Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce on Facebook. Alternatively, you could do what Louise\u2019s group of Victoria regulars does: Actually go there to check. \u201CFrom January on we call each other about when the pool\u2019s going to open,\u201D one woman tells me. \u201CLouise drives over there a lot.\u201D Another regular named Kelly, who enjoys the arcade surrounding the pool even in the off season, jumps in: \u201CI\u2019m here all year. I come in December and I take a chair and I sit in the archways.\u201D
\u201CThere\u2019s something called the early-morning line that\u2019s not organized,\u201D Louise tells me, not mentioning the fact that she herself is a frequenter of said early-morning line. \u201CPeople get there at ridiculous hours. It opens at 10 and there are people that go at 6 in the morning and wait on the steps.\u201D I, obviously, needed to investigate, so dropped by to see the state of the line just after 9:30am on Friday, a day predicted to be in the 90s. There were 50 or so people already there, some standing next to their bags and others sitting on benches or mingling while their bag held their place in line. I approached a group gathered on a bench that happened to be members of Louise\u2019s pool crew who had been told by the Queen herself that I was writing a story. Doug, who lives in Downtown Albany, had arrived at 8:30, and Kelly was there at 7:45.
Why do they get there so early? \u201CThere are approximately 100 lounge chairs and there are 21 umbrellas,\u201D Kelly tells me. \u201CSo you run in and fight. I bring my own umbrella so I don\u2019t have to fight.\u201D People who aren\u2019t willing to wait in the morning line know to bring their own chair, as it\u2019s not a given there will be one available.
By arriving at 7:45 on Friday, Kelly, whose great-grandmother was around when the Victoria opened in 1935 and whose father worked as a lifeguard there, secured the number six spot in line. She placed her pool bag behind the other pool bags, and went to have breakfast at 58 Roosevelt Bar & Grill, the onsite restaurant that took over Catherine\u2019s this season. This is where the rules of the line start to get muddled. \u201CThe official rule is that when you get in line you need to stay in line,\u201D someone from outside Louise\u2019s group clarified. \u201CBut the people who get here earliest are the people that have been coming here for 100 years, so it\u2019s OK that they leave and come back. If suddenly a family of 10 that\u2019s never been here before is like \u2018let\u2019s get there at 6 in the morning and then leave\u2019\u2014that would cause a fight.\u201D
This one\u2019s technically a written rule, but you wouldn\u2019t know it until you saw the maximum capacity sign posted by the check-in counter. No more than 344 people are allowed in the pool\u2014more than three times the number of chairs there are, mind you\u2014and park rangers will cut people off after that number. \u201CIf we\u2019re at capacity, as two come out, two come in,\u201D Kelly explains. \u201CIt\u2019s worse during August.\u201D
When I went to the Victoria on Tuesday, there was a temporary lapse in the restaurant\u2019s liquor license, so the poolside bar was only serving up soft drinks, much to the dismay of many pool-goers.
The one flaw in that plan? You\u2019re not allowed to bring in outside alcohol, not that that stopped one boozy Saratogian, who snuck in a homemade cocktail in a Corksicle last weekend. That\u2019s not necessary now, though, as 58 Roosevelt\u2019s liquor license got approved Wednesday, and beer, wine and cocktails are now for sale.
Regardless, kids do come to the Victoria, even though the Peerless boasts a water slide, kiddie pool with a fountain, and Ben & Jerry\u2019s ice cream stand. On Tuesday there were a pair of grade school girls making TikTok videos, and a baby that only cried once that I can remember. \u201CMom, I have to go to the bathroom,\u201D one of the older girls whined. \u201CWell I literally just asked you eight seconds ago,\u201D responded her mom, not even lifting her head from the lounge chair.
Just like the Plastics rule the school in Mean Girls, which is playing now at Proctors, Louise\u2019s group rules the pool. \u201CIt\u2019s very clique-ish,\u201D she tells me. \u201CSo certain groups don\u2019t approach or speak unless they\u2019re spoken to. And we\u2019re the worst.\u201D That, though, I find incredibly hard to believe, as both she and her friends couldn\u2019t have been more welcoming when I asked them to fill me in on the secrets of the Victoria Pool.
\u201CThe girls sitting next to us just alerted us that they don\u2019t have their liquor license. You should\u2019ve seen our faces. My heart is broken. We look like we both got punched in the stomach. They don\u2019t even tell you when you come in. Anyway, we\u2019ll move on.\u201D
Just in time for summer, Saratoga Springs High School English teacher Josh Johnson, who\u2019s known for breaking it down in the classroom, heated things up on Shakira\u2019s new show, Dancing With Myself. Each episode, 12 home-grown dancers from around the world compete in different dance challenges for the ultimate $25,000 prize. \u201CI love to dance, so I\u2019m just glad I got to dance at this party,\u201D Josh said, before being saved by the judges in round one. He went on to compete in rounds two, three and four before being knocked out in the partner round. Watch the entire episode here.
On Wednesday, Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness owner Denise Dubois officially unveiled her long-awaited Dubois Beauty line at a launch party with brand ambassador Heather Thomson of The Real Housewives of New York. Guests sipped Champagne while testing out products including Dubois\u2019 cleansing milk, antioxidant serum, buffing cream and restorative night cream.
Voting is now open for our 5th annual Best of Everything A2Z Survey! Vote here for your favorites in categories including Happy Hour, Stewart\u2019s Shop, New Business and Northway Exit! Vote once a day through the month of July here.
On Monday, we asked readers how well they know their Saratoga ice cream with a super-sweet edition of Game Time. Take a stab at it in honor of Ice Cream Month, which kicked off yesterday, then go grab a scoop or two at whichever shop\u2019s photo has you drooling the most.
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