WheretoPlay?

The "Lost" Public Paddle Tennis Courts of Los Angeles
(A one day travelogue of a paddle tennis player's journey to find the public courts around LA)

You've come to the right place!

In the directory below you can look up or add venues for paddle tennis. Heard of a new place to play, add it to the list. Remember, many paddle tennis locations may be private and not open to the general public. Read interesting information about paddle tennis regions around the world in the Regions section under the Directory.

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Paddle Tennis in Los Angeles...

California

	Venice Beach
	Culver City
	Private Clubs

Vacation Spots

	Mexico
	Hawaii
	Cruise Lines:

Regions

Today there seem to be only two true "centers " of paddle tennis - Southern California and the five boroughs of New York City (and some of the public beaches on Long Island). There are also about 20 courts in Florida, most in the St. Augustine area. Elsewhere in the country it is very difficult to find a paddle tennis court. The east/west differences continue in the courts [west coast court] [east coast court] and in the relationship with tennis. Paddle tennis is a more a distinct sport for all ages in Southern California. On the east coast paddle tennis is still popular in New York, Florida and South Carolina and is still seen more as an introduction to tennis for children. There are more courts and players in California, mainly because of the climate.

In California the center of the game is clearly the courts at Venice Beach.  During John E. Harmon's visit to Venice in January of 1999 there was active use of the courts.   he spoke with three players that afternoon about the unsuccessful attempt for a professional tour with Almaden as a sponsor.  They seemed to feel that it was the personalities of two of the top players that brought about Almaden's withdrawal as a sponsor.  So while the game appears to be holding its own in this region, the failure of the professional circuit and a concern that younger players are not picking up the game give some concern to paddle tennis' future as a popular game. (Let's change th!)

Platform Tennis

Platform tennis is often called paddle tennis by its players and sometimes only "paddle" but it is a very different game from the paddle tennis above. The game is played outdoors usually on a raised court similar in size to a paddle tennis court. The major difference from tennis is the enclosure of the court with a tensioned chicken-wire like cage and the ball can be played off the wire as in the indoor court games. The ball is soft sponge rubber, the paddle a perforated solid paddle, only one serve is allowed and most play is doubles. Because of the particular origin of the game, it is still played principally in winter by tennis players who want a year-round game.

ORIGINS AND DIFFUSION

The inventors of platform tennis lived less than 50 miles from Rev. Beal but claim that they knew nothing of paddle tennis when they developed their sport in 1928. Scarsdale, NY, then was exactly the sort of place it is today - a bedroom community of upper-income families with high-paying jobs in Manhattan. The fact that Fessenden Blanchard and James Cogswell had no idea that paddle tennis was a craze in New York City speaks very clearly of the role of social class in games in the United States, as these quotes attest:

	"The original form of paddle tennis is the game for the great majority." (Blanchard 1944, 77)
	"Platform Paddle Tennis is the game for tennis, beach and golf clubs, for private places, for those who can build a platform." (Blanchard 1944, 78)

Tennis and golf were the fashionable sports of the 1920s. This decade saw the establishment of dozens of high-status suburbs around eastern cities and country clubs (usually offering both golf and tennis) came along with these suburbs. But winter was a quiet time for the serious athletes in these clubs who either did not want to play or did not have access to the indoor racquet sport of the elite, squash. Blanchard and Cogswell wanted an outdoor game to keep up their tennis skills during the winter, still the principal season for platform tennis. They began by constructing a badminton court (44 by 20 feet) on an elevated platform to help keep snow off. They also marked the court for deck tennis (played on the cruise ships of the day) and began playing badminton and deck tennis on the court in Cogswell's backyard in the early winter of 1928. They built a wire frame around the court to keep the balls and birdies on the court. They soon got the idea of a soft ball and paddles and considering balls hitting the wire to be still in play.

This game did not have, nor did its originators seek, the advantage of the parks and recreation movement to spread the idea. A small group of 25-39 families formed the core of people who first played the game at the single court and some built courts at their own homes or summer places. Many believe that the second court was built at the summer home of the Blanchard family in Nova Scotia; it was recently replaced with an aluminum courts. Visitors also took copies of the plans that the inventors had made up and a few courts were built outside of Scarsdale. The development of a tension system for the wire surrounding the court and putting sand in the platform paint improved the game and made it playable in rain as well. By 1932 there were7 courts in Scarsdale and the New York Times covered the first official tournament. In 1939 there were courts in upscale neighborhoods of many eastern cities with Scarsdale still having the most (28) but Greenwich, CT and Englewood, NJ, were #2 and#3 in number of courts.

Note: This is a partial listing but there were "platforms too many to mention in the suburban area of New York City," also courts in Los Angeles and Nova Scotia. Responses to inquiries about the game had also come from Russia and South Africa. Source: "Growth of the Game," Report to members of the American Paddle Tennis Assn.", in (Blanchard 1944, 45).

The early courts were built in people's backyards but the first club to adopt the game for its members was a beach club, the Mansuring Club of Rye, NY. The first tennis club to build platform courts was the Fox Meadow Tennis Club of Scarsdale in 1931. By 1934 the club went "all out" as a winter club in response to declining membership due to the Depression and other clubs adopted the game as well for the same reasons.

Diffusion outside the United States has been slow.

Map of platform tennis locations in Europe as of late 1995 (Source: R.J. Reilly Co.). Clubs may have more than one court so this does not indicate the number of courts. There are so many courts in the Netherland because R.J. Reilly worked in the Netherlands about 20 years ago and assisted a Dutch company to install about 50 courts in the country. The sport was not well organized there, however, and failed to take off. The company, which plays an active role in disseminating the sport, has stronger hopes for recent efforts in Germany (Reilly-Gross 1977).

REGIONS

Today platform tennis is more widely spread but still concentrated in the Northeast, particularly New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.While there are platform tennis courts available for all to use in public parks in many places, it is still largely a sport of the elite and played by avid tennis players during the winter.

Map of customers of the R.J. Reilly Co. (Brewster, NY), the largest manufacturer of platform tennis courts, Summer 1997. Each dot is the five digit zip code of a customer but some have more than one court. While many private wealthy individuals (a court can be as much as $40,000 depending on site preparation), most of the installations are at private clubs - country, tennis, golf, yacht, polo, cricket, etc. All the schools with Reilly courts are private schools as well. Some condominium and apartment buildings, hoping to attract this client base, have built courts outside the Northeast. There are few courts in the South but a rule change in the 1980s which allows courts to be built in the ground (this lowers the cost) may result in additional courts coming into this region as well.

Acknowledgments

Fessenden Blanchard
Phil Ender - United States Paddle Tennis Association
R.J. Reilly Co., Brewster, NY - locations of platform tennis courts
John E. Harmon - Central Connecticut State University