With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today .
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Susan Sarandon Puts Her Passion For Ping Pong on the Table at New L.A. 'Social Club'
Susan Sarandon plays a little ping pong at the SPiN Happy Hour At Bing Bar during the Sundance Festival in 2011 (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images Entertainment)
()
You know how your friends are always asking you if you'll join them in a game of ping pong? No?! Well, we may be skeptical now like we once were about cellphones and instant messaging, but if ping pong takes off as the new "it" pastime, we may have Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon to thank.
Opening today in Los Angeles is the newest location in a modest chain of "ping pong social clubs" called SPiN. L.A. joins New York, Toronto, and that bastion of urban entertainment, Milwaukee, in the ping pong mini-empire, with the new club that now occupies the entire second floor of Downtown's Standard Hotel.
Leave it to The Standard (the hotel that put a lady in a glass box above the registration desk) to make ping pong chic, and to Sarandon for joining in the fun. As the Associated Press reports, the 66-year-old star "has been giving ping pong tables to friends and to inner-city schools since she helped open the New York club in 2009" and calls herself a ping pong "propagandist."
Sarandon likes the game because anybody can play at any age, it's fun for a family, and it's a good option for a date. (Rumor has it ping pong--namely her alleged affair with a ping pong club owner--is what tore apart Sarandon and her longtime love Tim Robbins in 2009.) The "club" concept is to amp up the social aspect of the game.
Support for LAist comes from
In L.A. the SPiN club will have "state of the art sporting facilities showcasing a court for professional matches, sleek new tables for the rest of us and of course, the 'standard' nightlife facilities," according to the hotel. "Professional instructors are available to teach the basics to those who didn't grow up with a table in their basements and to help amateurs perfect their skills," adds the AP. (Sorry, Los Angeles, the gold-plated ping pong table of your dreams is going into the club in Dubai, not our fair city.)
If this seems like your thing, The Standard has "founding" memberships available, although you don't have to be a member to bat the ball around.
Oh, and lest you think Sarandon's love of ping pong is purely recreational, she is making it doubly professional. In addition to the SPiN club partnership, she's starring in an indie film about...you guessed it...ping pong.
At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.
But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.
Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
The study found recipients spent nearly all the money on basic needs like food and transportation, not drugs or alcohol. -
Kevin Lee's Tokyo Noir has become one of the top spots for craft-inspired cocktails. -
A tort claim obtained by LAist via a public records request alleges the Anaheim procurement department lacks basic contracting procedures and oversight. -
Flauta, taquito, tacos dorados? Whatever they’re called, they’re golden, crispy and delicious. -
If California redistricts, the conservative beach town that banned LGBTQ Pride flags on city property would get a gay, progressive Democrat in Congress. -
Most survivors of January's fires face a massive gap in the money they need to rebuild, and funding to help is moving too slowly or nonexistent.
Best of LAist