Pool Schedule Released

DPR has announced pool and spray park opening dates and operating hours for the summer season. In Southwest, Randall Pool and East Potomac Pool will open on Memorial Day weekend (May 28-30) from 12-6pm. The pools will be open only on weekends through June 12. Starting on June 18, the pools will be open most days of the week, starting at 11am and will remain open until Labor Day (Monday, September 5). Meanwhile, the new King-Greenleaf Spray Park at Canal and N streets will open for the summer on Saturday, May 28, operating daily from 10am-7pm. The spray park will close on Labor Day. 

On a separate note, the SW Duck Pond, which has been closed for construction, is expected to reopen on July 4.

Doggie Day Swim on September 7th

The summer pool season is wrapping up, so on Saturday, September 7th, DPR is partnering with DOH and the Washington Humane Society to host the 5th Annual Doggie Day Swim.  This year, one of the three locations will be Randall Pool, located at South Capitol and I streets. The event will take place from 12pm – 4pm and admission is free for DC residents. There will be a maximum of 75 dogs allowed at one time in the pool.

To maintain order and to ensure a safe and fun event, dog owners are asked to follow these rules:

• All dogs MUST have and wear a valid DC dog license.
• Dog Handlers must be 16 years of age or older.
• Dog handlers cannot swim or enter the pool with their dogs.
• Dogs must be sociable and remain leashed while on the pool deck.
• All dogs must be current on vaccinations including rabies and distemper.

Adult Swim Pool Parties at Capitol Skyline Hotel

 

It's almost the beginning of Memorial Day weekend which means pools around the city will be opening. One of the most popular pool scenes is right here in Southwest at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, located at 10 I Street. There is a weekly South Beach-style pool party on Sundays called Adult Swim by Liquid Lifestyle. The Grand Opener will be this Sunday from 11am - 6pm with music by DJ Moh Ducis and bongos by Handsmiths. The pool parties feature an all-day barbecue with hamburgers and hotdogs, along with six bars and entertainment. There is free admission each Sunday from 11am - 1pm with RSVP by texting your full name to 202-RESERVE. After 1pm or without a RSVP, the cover charge is $20.  Table reservations can be made by calling 202-737-3738 or 703-597-3941.

Capitol Skyline Pool Parties

As Memorial Day weekend approaches, the most trendy summertime activity in Southwest will soon start again - pool parties at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, located at Half and I Street. On Sunday, May 27, Liquid Lifestyle will host the first Adult Swim Pool Party of the season from 12pm-6pm. Admission is free until 1pm if you RSVP by sending your name via text to 202-RESERVE. The following weekend, Brightest Young Things will have a "Bride of Hipster Camp" pool party on Saturday, June 2 from 11am to 7pm for all ages.  Admission is $15.  Check out Liquid Lifestyle and BYT for more information on future pool parties throughout the summer.

Capitol Skyline Hotel Pool Party Season About to Begin

This news kind of slipped through the cracks, but the Going out Gurus blog at The Washington Post reported last week that after two years of running pool parties, the organizers of the pool scene at the Capitol Skyline Hotel will change from Brightest Young Things to the team behind 18th Street Lounge and Marvin. No more Spike'd Sundays and "zany" poolside activities - instead, the organizers will focus more on music, drinks, and lounging. Food trucks will feed the masses. 

The pool parties became pretty popular since the Capitol Skyline Hotel refurbished the Olympic-sized pool, deck, and hotel a couple years ago. Two summers ago, the pool was the weekly hangout for the cast of Real World DC. Here's a snippet from the GOG blog about what's planned this summer at the pool:

Starting Memorial Day, the parties -- called “Dubsplash” -- will take over the pool every Saturday and Sunday between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. DJs will include many regulars from Marvin and Eighteenth Street Lounge, including Jahsonic, Adrian Loving and Thomas Blondet, with guest appearances by ESL Music artists, including Ursula 1000, and Scott says that there will be regular afternoon performances by local bands, such as the Arkives, a reggae band that packs Patty Boom Boom, and disco-soul singer Frank Mitchell Jr. Later in the summer, Dubsplash will host larger bands -- including Thievery Corporation -- in the hotel parking lot adjacent to the pool, but details about those events are still being worked out. The opening weekend will be DJ-focused. Saturday the 28th finds D.C. funk fixtures Thunderball joining Marvin’s DJ Keenan. Sunday’s pool party features Volta Bureau -- a new DJ team featuring Will Eastman, Micah Vellian and Outputmessage -- with electro-spinner Chris Nitti opening.

The entrance fee for the parties will be $15 and there will be two bar areas - one by the pool and another indoors that will serve "really nice cocktails."  Pool memberships are also available. The Capitol Skyline Hotel is located at 10 I Street.

Poolside this Summer at the Capitol Skyline Hotel

- Nocturnal Vibe passes along word that the Capitol Skyline Hotel will be hosting pool parties again this season on Saturdays. Below is the press release:

WASHINGTON (May 24, 2010)—Nocturnal Vibe, DC’s premier nightlife events planning and multimedia organization announces an exclusive partnership with the popular Capitol Skyline Hotel to produce Saturday afternoon pool parties. The parties, sponsored by Vida Fitness, have been named Liquid Lounge and will feature some of the best house music DJs from Washington, DC and beyond. The hotel and Nocturnal Vibe will host their inaugural event on Saturday, June 5th from 2 p.m. – 9 p.m., poolside at the architecturally iconic DC destination. The event will feature DJ Mr. Greene, RGF, Eric D. and Billy Quest as well as live percussion and saxophone along with other performers and guests.

The Liquid Lounge parties cost $15 at the door and will include $8 drink specials and $5 beers all day long, including an exclusive Liquid Lounge cocktail for $5. Guests will also be able to buy food from the hotel and chill in the swanky hotel lounge if they wish to take a break from the sun. But if you’re a sunseeker wishing to soak up the rays, you’ll have one of the largest poolside decks in DC to enjoy the entertainment. Liquid Lounge features a capacity of 1300 people including 17,000 sq ft of VIP space. Large umbrellas and seating areas are available for rent for larger groups and guests receive special room rates if they wish to spend the night and party poolside again the next day. In other words, DC has never seen a poolside party quite like this.

Nocturnal Vibe is made up of four professionals dedicated to doing something different with the DC nightlife scene. Their passion comes from their love of house music, which is the driving force behind the Nocturnal Vibe brand. Their parties consist of blending local talent with powerhouse names in the house music world to introduce DC to a new style of pool party more commonly found in South Beach during the Winter Music Conference and the famed Nikki Beach. Nocturnal Vibe also wants to use the opportunity to introduce guests to various artists and performers to provide an ultimate user experience by the pool.

The Capitol Skyline Hotel is located just a few blocks from the Navy Yard Metro station at 10 I Street SW. For more information about the event, visit http://www.nocturnalvibe.com/. To schedule DJ interviews or inquire about press access, please contact Douglas Van Sant at 202-579-6055 or nocturnalvibe@gmail.com

Last summer, the pool deck at the I Street hotel made its debut on the DC scene, hosting poolside events throughout the week, including Pool Boy Parties on Thursdays, Young Professional mixers on Fridays, DJ parties on Saturdays, and Spike'd Sundays (where Real World DC cast members were spotted on several occasions).

- In addition, I forgot to pass along this tidbit from reader Drina via urbandaddy.com about the 2010 Water Polo season underway at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. The Capitol Skyline Conference started play on May 4th and will last for 7 weeks on Tuesday evenings, with playoffs on Saturday, July 10. See the Arlington Athletic & Social League's website for details on the schedule in case you want to see the players in action. The next game is scheduled for June 1.

Real World Makes a Splash at Spike'd Cinema

Yesterday, I finally got a chance to check out a pool party at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. Sunday was the first Spike'd Cinema event (see my post from Thursday). I got there a little after 2PM and the place was packed! There were people of all ages - most of them appeared to be in their 20's or 30's, but there were also a few children and older people at the pool too. The lines were long all day at the bars, but the wait staff came around to take drink orders and delivered "complementary" burgers to guests. Specialty drinks, such as the Skyline Blue Margarita, are $5 and beer cost $4, which is pretty reasonable, compared to most trendy bars in the city. There was a DJ keeping the party going with a good mix of music. Coincidentally, it was the same day that cast members from MTV's The Real World and their camera crew showed up at the pool. They ended up setting shop right next to where my friends and I were sitting. Below are some photos of the pool area and hotel lobby.

Here is a view of the crowded pool at around 2:30 in the afternoon. One side of the pool had a pretty intense game of "pass the beach ball" while the other side was more tranquil with a few floaters.

Spike Mendelsohn (in the purple and black swimming trunks) from Top Chef and proprietor of Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill, was chatting it up with some of the Real World cast members poolside. The ever present camera crew was there to get every last word.

Later on, some of the cast members got in the pool and started chicken fighting. Once The Real World DC goes on the air, be on the lookout for the episode when they venture to the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Southwest!

The hotel lobby was also redone during the renovation. The lighting in the room was wrecking havoc on my camera, but I did manage to get a decent shot of this corner area. The lobby and pool area look great...now if they only power washed the concrete exterior and did something about those worn blue panels by the windows (see photo at the top of this post).

The movie screen was set up at the far end of the pool. I didn't stay long enough for "Anchorman," so I don't know how many people ended up staying for the film, but there were still a good amount left when I went home a little before 8PM.

Spike'd Cinema Starts This Sunday

The Going Out Gurus at The Washington Post report that starting this Sunday, the Capitol Skyline Hotel will start showing films poolside. Spike'd Cinema, named after former "Top Chef" contestant and restaurateur Spike Mendelsohn, will take place around dusk on Sundays. Earlier this summer, Southwest...TLQTC posted about Spike'd Sundays, one of the weekly events that takes place at the hotel pool, which was recently renovated. Spike will continue to serve up burgers during the day on Sundays - the movie screenings are an extension of the pool parties that happen every week. This week's movie is "Anchorman."

Capitol Skyline Hotel Pool Featured in WaPo

In Sunday's Washington Post (and reported on JDLand), there was an article about the reopening of the pool deck at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, located at 10 Half Street. The article gives a history of the hotel, which was opened in 1962 and designed in South Beach-style architecture by Morris Lapidus. Most recently, it was a Best Western flagged hotel, but the Rubell family (of Studio 54 fame) bought the hotel in 2002 and recently started some major renovations, including the pool area. Earlier this year, the Best Western brand was dropped from the hotel and it was renamed Capitol Skyline Hotel. Since the pool reopened last month, several events have been held there, including pool parties every Sunday. The hotel has hooked up with Spike Mendelsohn, the former Top Chef contestant and proprietor of Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill, to grill up hamburgers poolside on Sundays. On Spike'd Sundays, for $10, you gain admittance to the pool, with DJ Butter mixing some beats, and receive a free cheeseburger. According to an article in June's Hill Rag magazine, other events at the pool include a Pool Boy Party on Thursday evenings from 4-9 pm with DJ TMY, and on Fridays there are young professional mixers from 5-10 pm. I haven't been to the pool deck yet, but I'll have to check out this new neighborhood "hot spot" sometime this summer. Has anyone been to any of the pool parties so far, and if so, how were they?