Welcome to the ultimate pool party: The “V.I.P. Swim Experience,” held at the recently renovated Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle, started with a trouple of Esther Williams lookalikes in matching white bathing caps and red halter suits doing fan dives off the marble steps of the pool’s signature Roman Temple, reports The New York Times.
Guests at the Hearst Castle paid more than $1,000 to fulfill the real-life fantasy of swimming in the Neptune Pool, which is filled with more than 345,000 gallons of water.
“My husband doesn’t know what I spent on this, just so you know,” Barbara Littrell, a retired elementary school office manager from Costa Mesa, said to The Times.
The evening was a benefit by the nonprofit Friends of Hearst Castle to celebrate the completion of the five-year, $5.4 million project to repair cracks that caused the pool to leak up to 5,000 gallons a day. It was the largest restoration project in the property’s history. The pool was drained in 2014 and hasn’t been used for swimming since. The funds from the evening will go toward art and architecture conservation and education programs at the historic and famous castle.
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