Prospect Park YMCA

About

The Prospect Park YMCA, located at 357 9th St in Brooklyn, NY, is a prominent community hub offering a diverse range of health, wellness, and youth development programs. It typically features a well-equipped fitness center, group exercise studios, gymnasium, and an indoor heated swimming pool, catering to individuals and families through various classes, sports, and community services.

The Prospect Park YMCA features an indoor heated swimming pool. While specific daily temperatures may vary and are not always officially published, YMCA multi-use pools of this nature are generally maintained at a comfortable temperature, typically ranging from 80-84°F (approximately 26.7-28.9°C), suitable for lap swimming, lessons, and recreational use.

What are people saying (AI review summary)? The YMCA facility receives mixed reviews from patrons. Positive aspects include friendly and helpful staff, a generally clean facility, and a good range of amenities such as various swimming pools, a gym, and both Finnish and Russian-style saunas with private showers. Some appreciated its availability during maintenance at other locations. However, significant criticisms exist, particularly concerning the locker rooms and management. The pools are often extremely crowded during peak hours, with little enforcement of rules. More alarmingly, one review detailed an incident where handymen entered the women's locker room unannounced while a patron was naked, with management providing an inadequate and dismissive response. Another review heavily criticized the men's locker room and sauna for pervasive public lewdness and nudity by patrons, causing discomfort to others, with no apparent staff intervention or enforcement of decency rules. Additional complaints include absent or unresponsive management, overworked and underpaid instructors leading to class cancellations or complaints, and an overall perception that the membership is not worth the price due to these persistent issues. Locker room cleanliness was also noted as being only average.

Location

Gallery

Amenities

• Good for Children
• Accessible Entrance
• Accessible Restroom

Reviews

Listing Reviews

September 2nd, 2025

Luba Berman

Friendly and helpful staff, clean facility - they still have post COVID-19 glass separating staff from anyone who's walking in. This YMCA has locker rooms (you'll need to only bring your lock), changing rooms, not only sauna like in Finland (dry steam room) but also Russian style sauna, showers with doors with locks from inside for privacy, swimming pools of various depths levels and a gym. During the Labor Day weekend YMCA provided access citywide due to cleaning and maintenance of the swimming pool at some other locations. This location had one of the pools still open, which was great.

May 7th, 2025

Andras Toth-Czifra

If you are considering joining this Y for the pool, do it only if you don't mind swimming during working days or late in the evening. On workday evenings and on the weekend the pool is often extremely crowded, with 4-5, occasionally 6-7 people per (25-yard) lane (as several lanes are closed for swimming classes) and with little to no enforcement of anti-crowding or speed rules. As regards the cleanliness of the locker rooms: I've seen better, I've seen worse. I wouldn't mark the place down too much for that as this also depends on the patrons. It's just a pity that there's virtually no other continuously operating swimming pool south of the Park.

June 1st, 2025

Mia May

I’m afraid to go back to the YMCA prospect park. Last time I was there, two handymen showed up unannounced in the women’s lady’s room at 1pm while I was leaving the shower completely naked. I forgot to bring a towel in and I left the Y shaking with fear. Management is absent, you can never find a supervisor here. They could have put up signs warning us that the women’s locker rooms weren’t private for the day but instead when I sent an email to the manager Brittney Parks she thanked me for the feedback without acknowledging the severity of the situation. Which left me with the conviction that such incident could happen again! Add to that their instructor’s are poorly paid and overworked. I went to classes where the instructor complained the whole time about how tired they were and other times they just didn’t show up. I don’t understand how a non profit organization with so many members needs to cut on so many corners! Not worth the price, you can get better service for a fourth of the price!

August 4th, 2025

Bastian

This is a review of the guys in the locker room who shower with the shower curtains open trying to get other guys to look at their junk, and then stand around the locker room naked, for way longer than necessary, trying to get other guys to look at their junk. You might think the hopeful eye contact would be funny but it's a really gross experience. You'd think in 2025 the YMCA would have some basic rules to prevent the numerous perverts from breaking the law and preying on other customers. NYC Section 245.00 Public Lewdness: A person is guilty of public lewdness when he or she intentionally exposes the private or intimate parts of his or her body in a lewd manner or commits any other lewd act: (a) in a public place, or (b) (i) in private premises under circumstances in which he or she may readily be observed from either a public place or from other private premises,

July 16th, 2025

Dickson Knutz

If you enjoy locker rooms where men shower with the curtains wide open while making direct eye contact with every lucky passer by, then this is the locker room for you! Don't forget to take in the view through the big window on the sauna door—where you should feel free to spreadeagle your towel-less turkey waddle directly facing the window for all to appreciate. Thank you mystery man! Gobble gobble! While down there, make sure to check out all the octagenarian athletes' impressive balls. A bunch of naked old guys standing around reminiscing—likely about prison showers and 1950s locker rooms— for an hour or two, really makes you appreciate how important it is to stop and enjoy the little things. But for those of you who prefer a more contemporary view whilst trying to open your locker without accidentally castrating an overly comfortable stranger, don't worry, there's no shortage of (in the)buff Brooklyn bros—who, once they put down their phones and finally find their socks, will take another 20 minutes to decide which foot they go on—to enjoy after a good workout. Who said there's no more 3rd spaces left in the city? 5 stars is way too low for all that you get. Some clubs charge a $20 cover and you still have to buy drinks! I highly recommend spending the extra few dollars and splurging on the citywide membership.