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Circa 1959. "Swimming pool." Not just any swimming pool, but an Esther Williams prefab above-ground swimming pool. I wonder if any of these survive. Color transparency by Frank Scherschel, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.
I found one of those lawn chairs in a thrift store last year for $2. It's got yellow webbing. My cat sat on it once and the webbing, which was at least 45 years old, broke. But I saved the chair for nostalgia's sake.
[That webbing (nylon? fiberglas?) had a distinctive smell. And those chairs, especially the chaises, could pinch your little-kid fingers really easy. - Dave]
We had an Esther Williams Carousel Pool from the early 70's that we just took down -- November 2008. The decking was still good, we just didn't have a use for it as our children are grown. It was a fabulous pool and served our family well.
I'm a pool builder. We don't do much with above ground stuff, but the Esther Williams line of pools is the BEST of all of the above ground jobs and it's what we recommend to customers. (If they can afford them, the Williams stuff costs a lot more than some of the other brands)
Esther Williams is 87 and lives in Beverly Hills. Her Web site has a swimwear store. In the 1950s I saw all of her swimming movies and had a heavy adolescent crush on her. Thanks for bringing those memories back.
It appears that the company still exists, with several styles to choose from.
http://www.estherwilliamspools.com/estherw-index.htm
[Fascinating. Though I gotta say I like the midcentury model in the 1959 photo more than any of the current offerings. - Dave]
This cheeky teen is now a 66-year-old man collecting Social Security. Hike 'em up, Sir.
Some friends of ours had a very similar pool up until about 5 years ago. I wish I could remember how old they said it was at the time they finally got rid of it.
Who knew? Even back then, suburbia had a crack problem.
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