@jeepster Hello, Back when we were little kids, our neighbor had a couple of brothers similar in age. They were members of the local Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts Organizations. But the cool thing was, they had access to two huge swimming pools. One was the U.S. Navy Base on Terminal Island, just a few miles from our house. The other was this old building on a corner location in Downtown Long Beach. It was a YMCA building. It was a huge multistory building on a busy street that later on, we would figure out it was near the local car dealers and our old high school. Jnaki My brother and I did not know how to swim as we went to the beach with our dad. He went surf fishing from the shoreline of different beaches in So Cal. But, we were satisfied with playing in the sand and walking along the shoreline + rocks during those times. Usually, the water was too cold for us any way. But, when we went to the two large swimming pools, those friends (the dad, a Navy Veteran) taught us to swim. Yippee! They even took us to the beach in front of the Villa Riviera Resort Hotel and that beach was the cleanest sandy beach around. The one other thing was that the waves were non existent during most of the year, except when the Summer storms from the Southern Hemisphere came rolling up the coast. So, the parents wanted all of the young boys (brothers) to learn to swim and we did in the Summer of some waist high waves in salt water, too… yuk! The YMCA pool, wonderful clear water, a little smelly with the standard chlorine + pool chemicals, but swimming was outstanding. YRMV
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