9. The McCarren Park Pool Has Pieces of the Coney Island Boardwalk

A Marvel Architects model of the McCarren Pool and Bathhouse. Photo by Jeffrey Man, courtesy of Usagi NY Gallery.

In 2012, Marvel Architects, the team behind some of Brooklyn’s recent architectural projects, restored the McCarren Park Pool. They strengthened the 1936 brick archway and removed years of graffiti. For this project, Marvel Architects lined the building’s inner walls with discarded planks from the Coney Island Boardwalk. They also covered the lobby ceiling with wire storage baskets—the same ones that McCarren Pool visitors used in the 1900s to hold their clothes.