Third in a series

Re “Why the Natatorium Never Reopened”

Michael Eskridge, from Culver City’s best known florist family, does not employ flowery language when discussing the subject most closely identified with his School Board career.

Swim headquarters, the long-idle Natatorium, finally is due to disappear this summer.

Back in the ‘90s, Mr. Eskridge had hoped to re-open it after a funding shortage locked the doors and drained the pools.

“Sure I felt strongly about the Natatorium before I ran for the School Board,” Mr. Eskridge said.

“A great building. The pool they swam in and the pool they used for water polo was a deep pool because they had diving boards.

“The Natatorium also had a warmup pool. I think four lanes, and at the deepest point, it was four feet. Our handicapped students used it for exercise and things like that.”

Mr. Eskridge was a collegian in the 1970s when the Natatorium rose on the property shared by Culver City High School and the Middle School.

“My father (Earl) told me if I stayed in college, he would pay my car insurance. I stayed.”

A quarter century after Mr. Eskridge was elected to his first School Board term, he reflects fondly on the doomed building.

“It needed some repairs,” he conceded, “and we had people who would do the repairs.

“But we got a feeling from the Maintenance Dept. that they didn’t want to allow someone from the outside to do the repairs.”

(To be continued)