Swimming instructor Ann Tartaglia teaches beginners at Nuss Pool.July 9, 1964
Bill Morem shares his memories of swimming in San Luis in the following entry.
The Nuss Memorial Pool, a watery institution for thousands of human polliwogs of all ages for almost 50 years, was THE summer place to be from 1954 until its demise in the late 1990s. Named after Harry Nuss, a prominent banker and county supervisor, the pool was jointly run by the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, the city and county. In addition to swimlessons for all ages and school swim programs, the pool was open to the public for recreational swimming — which led to cheek-to-jowl conditions on warm San Luis summer days.
As adult recreation swimming became more popular in the late 1960s and ’70s — with dozens of adult swimmers swimming laps before dawn and after dark,
the city pulled its support for Nuss and concentrated on building the Sinsheimer Swim Center off Laurel Lane, which was opened in June 1979.
After piecemeal efforts at maintenance, Nuss Memorial's last gasp came in 1999 when then-State Senator Jack O'Connell managed to get $1.5 million earmarked for renovation, only to see that amount cut in half in committee.
The pool has since been bulldozed in and paved over.