Street scene outside Daniel’s Bar & Grill, Harlem, 1939.

As summer falls upon the city, New Yorkers have long-filled the public parks, pools, bike paths, tracks and stadiums to enjoy some friendly competition under the sun. These photos take you through some of the city's iconic outdoor sporting locales, from the public gymnastic rings that once drew crowds on the Hudson River, to the well-loved public pools that still scatter the city today.

Dunbar Apartments, March 6, 1928. The Dunbar Apartments — named for the African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar — are a six-building housing development built by John D. Rockefeller between 1926-1928, in response to a housing shortage in Harlem. The buildings, designed by architect Andrew J. Thomas, were the first large-scale garden apartment complex in Manhattan, and, according to the New York Times, “the first large cooperative project in the country built for occupancy by blacks.” However, the Great Depression caused many middle class residents to default on mortgages, leading Rockefeller to foreclose on the properties in 1936. The buildings were subsequently converted to rental units. In 1970, the Dunbar Apartments were designated a New York City Landmark.

232 West 147th Street, unknown date.

Dunbar Apartments ARCHITECT: Andrew J. Thomas DATE: 1926-28 STYLE: Apartment The Dunbar Apartments, named after the famous Black poet of the turn of the century, Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906), occupies the entire block bounded by 149th and 150th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues. It was the first large cooperative built for Blacks and was Manhattan’s earliest large garden apartment complex. Financed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and designed by the architect Andrew J. Thomas, the building was completed in 1928 and was destined, from the planning and sociological points of view, to occupy a pivotal place in the history of the Harlem community. The complex consists of six independent U-shaped buildings, containing 511 apartments, and is clustered around a large interior garden court. Eight arched entrance ways lead into the court and to public staircases. With its lawns, shrubs and trees, the garden court provides a quiet, green oasis removed from the traffic and noise of the surrounding streets. Architecturally, the dominant note is one of simplicity. The architect successfully avoided the cold monotony of many later housing projects by breaking up the massive walI surfaces. He varied the heights of the buildings from five to six stories, alternately projected and recessed adjoining units and introduced a variety of window alignments and sizes. The warm tones and varicolored brick are set off by decorative accents of limestone. Handsome wrought iron balconies and window guards and architectural terra-cotta at the roof level complete the decorative scheme.

Olympic Pool in Colonial Park (now Jackie Robinson Park), Harlem, 1939. The Colonial Park pool was one of eleven public swimming pools opened during the summer of 1936, at the direction of Robert Moses and funded by the WPA. Its opening ceremony drew 25,000 spectators.

2465 Seventh Avenue (Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard), ca. 1939. Two sailors stand in the doorway of a Seventh Avenue restaurant; note the bunting advertising the 1939 World's Fair.

The 1930s were an important moment in history of recreation in New York City. In the early 1930s the Department of Parks came under the control of Robert Moses, who had very specific goals regarding citywide access to recreation facilities year-round. Moses employed the at-the-ready manpower of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration to create a spate of new, modern, and large-scale recreational facilities. This included the construction of 11 neighborhood Olympic sized pools. The pools all opened over a few weeks during the summer of 1936. The pools and accompanying play centers were constructed of inexpensive materials but featured advanced design and technology in filtration, chlorination, and heating systems and underwater lighting. Most were rendered in sleek Art Moderne styles. Each had a wading pool, lap pool, and diving pool and could accommodate thousands of swimmers at a time. In the non-summer months both the pools and the play centers were converted for paddle tennis, shuffleboard, volleyball, basketball, handball, roller skating rinks, and dance classes. These facilities in total had a capacity for nearly 50,000 people at the same time. They changed the way New York kids spent their summers. In a 1934 press release announcing the pools Moses said, “It is no exaggeration to say that the health, happiness, efficiency and orderliness of a large number of the city's residents, especially in the summer months, are tremendously affected by the presence or absence of adequate swimming and bathing facilities.”

Children in Colonial Park Swimming Pool.; Harlem