As a little girl, I loved to swim, still do. Just about any chance I got to go swimming, I would. I dreamed of having my own pool. My bigger dreams were to be an Olympic swimmer and also to swim the English Channel.
Pools and water became an obsession as well as a love. I would look into my backyard and fantasize a swimming pool. It never appeared. My dad always lived in an apartment building with a pool so there was usually a place for me to swim. When I was older and using his for exercise, I would have to share it with his elderly neighbors. They could get nasty and it was tricky navigating around their crankiness. Some of them became my new best friends in life...as long as we stayed in our own lanes.
When I saw the David Hockney series of pools, I totally understood how the swimming pool was his muse.
As a little girl, I loved to swim, still do. Just about any chance I got to go swimming, I would. I dreamed of having my own pool. My bigger dreams were to be an Olympic swimmer and also to swim the English Channel.
Pools and water became an obsession as well as a love. I would look into my backyard and fantasize a swimming pool. It never appeared. My dad always lived in an apartment building with a pool so there was usually a place for me to swim. When I was older and using his for exercise, I would have to share it with his elderly neighbors. They could get nasty and it was tricky navigating around their crankiness. Some of them became my new best friends in life...as long as we stayed in our own lanes.
When I saw the David Hockney series of pools, I totally understood how the swimming pool was his muse.
When I was a freshman in high school and was forced to swim, I often lied and said I had my period, which in fact I really didn’t get until my sophomore year. I felt more comfortable and relaxed holding my breath under water than just about anywhere else. I wasn’t really aware of how therapeutic it was, but swimming under water there put me in a serene state, one I have never found again.
I went to a high school that housed one of the most famous pools in the world. Beverly Hills High School has an Olympic-size swimming pool with a hardwood floor that closes over it to become a basketball court. Mesmerizing. You’ve probably seen it in Frank Capra’s Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which was filmed on location there. Remember James Stewart & Donna Reed falling into the pool in their dance clothes? Well, I won swim contests in that pool during lazy summers. And not just won, but set some serious records.
When the weekends rolled around and we spent them with my dad, I was always bathing-suit ready. We would drive to one of his friends’ houses. A friend with a pool. And that is where I whiled away my whole day, in water, doing handstands for my dad’s approval. My dad, being handicapped (from polio), floated around in an inner tube. I would hang on to be as close to him as possible. Being the focus and center of my dad’s world was another excellent thing (other than pools), and now I had both.
One of the best summers of my life was when my father must have “made a deal” that gave us full use of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel pool. It was so exclusive, like being a member of a private club. I would swim most of the day, taking breaks only to lie around in huge lush towels ordering cokes and sandwiches and charging them to dad. Fantastic.
One year before I designed my own pool, I joined the gym at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. It might be one of the best kept secrets in L.A. Because when you join its gym, you get full use of the pool, hot tub and steam room. Another secret is that you can pay for just a day’s pool use even if you’re not staying in the hotel. I spent many nights there suggesting good restaurants to out-of-towners.
One that I often recommended, and still do, is Capo. Italian. Only a few steps from the Loews Hotel. Terribly expensive – and worth it. It has a very charming style, small and manageable. I think their Rigatoni with Truffle meat sauce is one of the best dishes of pasta in Los Angeles. Any appetizer with Burrata cheese is great. Bruce Marder, the owner (a Beverly Hills High graduate) is known for his steaks and other grilled meats at this restaurant, so try one. I also love the hummus they serve with the bread. For dessert, try the chocolate soufflé or bread pudding. The hot apple tart with caramel ice cream is also worth the trip.
Fredrica Duke shares how she discovered her love of food while growing up in Los Angeles on her blog Channeling the Food Critic in Me.