Recreation & Fun

Today was a great day, not just for me, but for everyone who’s been waiting for the grand reopening of Hamilton Recreation Center and Swimming Pool in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood.

Hamilton is easily one of our most popular and most important recreation spaces, as it sits at junction of a number of communities, including the Western Addition, Japantown and the Fillmore, that rely on the area’s one and only full-service recreation center.

The center’s grand reopening, after a spectacular $18 million bond project, brought together a mix of folks who were eager to see the new center’s features, which include brand new multi-use community rooms, a new gymnasium and offices. The adjacent pool, which created most of the buzz leading up to the event, features not one, but two, indoor water slides.

District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi was on hand to help cut the ceremonial ribbon, as was 1996 Olympian Kenny Hamilton (triple jump) and London Breed, from the African American Art and Culture Complex.

But the day belonged to the members of the community, who were all eager to see the new Hamilton. Some were first-time visitors to the site. Others had a lifetime of memories from the old Hamilton. But all agreed that new Hamilton is truly amazing and its potential limitless in regard to the exciting new programming that can, and will, fill this space.

If you haven’t done so already, I invite all of you to Geary Boulevard and Steiner Street to check out the new Hamilton. And be sure to bring your swimming gear.