Pool News
Revered Dallas bar Lee Harvey's launches splashy pool club next door
Revered Dallas bar Lee Harvey's is often affectionately dubbed the best dive bar and now they're taking that literally: This popular destination in the Cedars neighborhood south of downtown is spinning off a new sibling right next door called Lee Harvey's Dive In featuring a pool, cabanas, and outdoor oasis.
It's a new swim club opening directly across the street, in an unoccupied corner lot at 1315 Beaumont St. that's been empty for nearly 20 years.
It'll be an outdoor bar, open summer and fall, centered on a pool which sharp-eyed Lee Harvey's patrons have witnessed being dug. It'll be a lounging pool, five feet at its deepest, with 30 X 60 feet of surround seating in the water.
"There'll be an open sunning lawn, with patches of shade from surrounding trees," says Lee Harvey's owner Seth Smith. "Members can reserve furnished cabanas and chaise-lounges with umbrellas."
It'll come with a full bar with cocktails, beer on ice, and food: "fresh summer eats from the kitchen," he says.
Table service will available throughout the club.
Smith, an early settler in the increasingly buzzy Cedars District who opened Lee Harvey's in 2003, has been visioning this concept since at least 2014.
"It gets so hot in the summers, and our summer crowd at Lee Harvey's atrophies a little bit," he says. "We're hoping there'll be a synergistic effect between the two."
"We've tried a number of times, we've been playing around with the idea for years, and went back and forth with the city," he says. "We finally got it done, and got our permit in October."
Dallas has places with pools where you can hang out and drink, but most are hotel pool bars such as Waterproof at the Statler Dallas hotel, and many allow only hotel guests. A closer parallel is the Fraternal Order of Eagles, aka F.O.E., a laid-back venue with pool that's been an East Dallas staple for decades. Except this will maybe be nicer.
"It'll be a really nice place — not a dive like Lee Harvey's," Smith says. "You won't be getting any splinters from the benches."
The 2022 season will begin in May and last through mid October, with both seasonal memberships and daily passes available. Passes will get you entry, but this isn't a deluxe kind of deal. You'll still need to bring your own towel.
