Park Avenue shoppers may have an excuse to go dumpster diving.
For the first three Saturdays in August New Yorkers can take a refreshing dip in a dumpster that has been retrofitted into a pool. The dumpsters are part of the New York City Department of Transportation’s Summer Streets program, which returned to the city today for its third year of giving pedestrians and cyclists seven miles of car free roads.
The program begins up on E. 77nd Street and goes all the way down Park Avenue to the Brooklyn Bridge. It only runs until 1 p.m., though, so get out early. And if you miss it today, you've got the next two Saturdays to look forward to.
Check out performances, free exercise classes and a lot of other activities along the stretches usually dominated by blaring taxi cabs and city buses. And, of course, there are the dumpster pools.
Macro Sea, the company responsible for retrofitting the construction equipment first debuted the pools in Brooklyn. They also recently built the Glassphemy public art project.
The dumpsters line the famous avenue will be found between 40th and 41st St. with Grand Central Terminal as its backdrop. The pools are converted eight foot by 22 feet long dumpsters that have been cleaned. A protective liner will also add another layer of safety as well as a filtration system that is mandatory for all pools.
A five-foot-wide metal deck with a nonstick rubber surface encircles Dumpster pools, and the surrounding streets will house changing-room cabanas, portable showers and portable toilets.
According to the New York Times, Crunch Fitness will provide lifeguards for the pools
The pools will be open from 7 a.m. to 1p.m. At the end of the day a heavy mesh will cover the pools. The containers will then act just like their construction counterparts and sit curbside until the next Saturday.
