ROMANS weren't the only people who knew how to have fun in baths. Sutro Baths , a former public swimming pool complex in San Francisco , California , offered locals the chance to splash around with their community. The pool, built in 1894, opened to the public in 1896 and could fit up to 10,000 people at once.
On-site services even offered 20,000 bathing suits and up to 40,000 towels for rent. In order to better accessibility to the baths, Sutro kept fees low. At the time, San Franciscans paid just five cents to take the train and 25 cents to swim, which included the cost of a swimsuit and towel.
Read More on Travel Millionaire Adolph Sutro constructed the privately owned public bathhouse with a vision for a "healthy, recreational, and inexpensive swimming facility for thousands of San Franciscans." The facility resembled a waterpark, with slides, trapezes, springboards, and even a high dive. An underground turbine pump changed the water out every five hours when the San Francisco Bay was at low tide.
Sutro included seven saltwater swimming pools, which were contained within a Greek-style glass roof house. Most read in Travel While the public attraction was built as a gift for the working-class people of San Francisco, Sutro spared no expenses to make the swimming experience luxurious. Sutro hosted music and dance competitions at the baths to amuse and entertain guests.
The bath, which was once the largest indoor swimming pool in the world, is now in ruins. At the time, the b.