John Lorentz learned to swim before he learned to walk.
His dad, a co-manager of Portsmouth鈥檚 Dreamland Pool for more than 30 years, taught him when he was just two years old. The swimming pool would become the backdrop of Lorentz鈥檚 childhood summers.
鈥淚 had a continuing connection to the water my entire life,鈥� Lorentz said.
During the years the Dreamland Pool was open, from 1929 to 1993, generations of kids like Lorentz spent their summertimes splashing in its waters.
鈥淚t is really a universal story about the role that public spaces play in building a sense of community and the significance that a sense of community plays in what happens [there].鈥�John Lorentz
鈥淎nd the commonality was what this [pool] meant to them in terms of having a sense of a community greater than just their own little neighborhood or their own little clique."
Lorentz鈥檚 new documentary, 鈥�,鈥� which he made with his son, explores how the pool transcended class and racial lines in its 60 years of operation.
From the pool鈥檚 founding just before the Great Depression to its journey through desegregation, it tells Portsmouth鈥檚 history. And Lorentz believes it speaks to broader truths, too.
鈥淚t is really a universal story about the role that public spaces play in building a sense of community and the sign