NOR Community Pool in Bakersfield, California

The NOR Community Pool is located at 401 Galaxy Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93308. The part of town it is located in is Oildale. It is very easy to find once you get onto Galaxy Ave. It is on the same property as North High School. Once you see North High, keep driving until you come to the corner and that is where the pool is.

I am the new coordinator for a family group in Bakersfield. As the coordinator, it’s up to me to think of different family events that will keep us entertained during the hot summer months. I started doing some research on public pools and discovered that the NOR Community Pool would work for our group.

I was very nervous about going to a public pool because I’d never been to one. I thought that it might be packed full of people and maybe even a little gross. I wanted to give it a fair chance however so on one hot Saturday in June 2009, our group met at the NOR Community pool right before it opened. There were not a lot of other people waiting. When it was time to go in, you paid and they directed you where to go. If you were a male, you walked through on the left hand side. Females went through the right hand side. The reason for this is that the side you went on, is also the shower, bathroom and changing area for your gender.

The pool inside is quite large. The right hand end is 2 feet, the middle front is 4 feet, the left hand side is 3 feet and the middle back is ten feet and has diving boards. There are lifeguard stations where lifeguards sit to assist you if needed. In the back right hand corner is a small wading pool for little kids. Around the property, there are benches to sit on. The right hand corner has some picnic tables under a shady cover.

You can’t bring any flotation devices such as rings or noodles into the pool. Running is not allowed (for safety reasons) and you can’t jump into the pool unless you do so from the diving board. The right hand side of the pool has stairs that you can walk into.

In my group, there were about 11 people. It was no problem for all of us to go in and swim together. Even after we had been there for a while, it was not super busy. The pool is big enough to hold a lot of people and the water looked clean.

I would recommend this pool anytime you want to go swimming during the summer. It was a nice experience overall.

The NOR Community Pool is open on Saturdays from 1 PM to 5:30 PM. They are also open for swimming on weekdays, call (661) 392-2006 for more information. Swimming in the pool costs $1 dollar per person.