The turf war between tennis and pickleball roils another LA neighborhood park

Real estate is always at a premium in L.A. That reality extends to how — and where — Angelenos play and recreate. With the phenomenal rise of pickleball, that has meant an ongoing turf war with its racket sport elder, tennis.

The latest battleground is in Hermon. Specifically, Hermon Park, which abuts Highland Park and Monterey Hills. The multi-acre community green space offers a playground, picnic tables, barbecue grills and a dog park. In addition, 11 free tennis courts — the majority of which are first-come, first-served.

"You can just come at any point and just play," said Alex Haug, a tennis coach who was working with a client on a recent morning. "In L.A. that is a rarity."

For that and other reasons, tennis diehards are up in arms over a plan from the city's Department of Recreation and Parks to convert one tennis court into four pickleball courts. A community meeting will be held Wednesday in Highland Park. Ahead of the meeting, the department has released a survey taking feedback from the two contingents.

Both sides are planning to turn out in support of their sport.

What Team Tennis says

While Hermon Park is the latest flashpoint, its courts aren't the first — and won't be the last — to get caught in this tug-of-war.

Two tennis courts among 11 at Hermon Park.

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Cynthia Su, a freelance film worker who started playing tennis a few years ago, quickly became an avid player. Su can be found many days and nights practicing her serve solo or with her coach at the Hermon courts. She is part of a WhatsApp group whose members wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get a court.

" I considered Hermon my home court," said Su, given its proximity to her home in Eagle Rock. Like many players, Su also clocks time at other courts in L.A., like in Griffith Park — which was where her activism to keep tennis courts for tennis began.

In late 2023, Su met a guy who was starting a petition to stop the conversion of a tennis court at Griffith-Riverside into six pickleball courts, which would entail demolishing the spectator bleachers — a feature that Su said is rare among public courts.

"As soon as he told me about that, I got right on it," Su said. She started getting the word out about the petition and calling relevant city departments. The next year, something similar happened in Echo Park, and she was recruited to help.

"I  decided [that] this is gonna keep happening and... I would love to just organize the greater tennis community in Los Angeles because it really affects us all when we lose courts," Su said. "When there's overflow at one court, you kind of migrate to another court. So you're always just looking for vacancy and availability somewhere else."

As such, she started a digital petition to keep the tennis community informed. Su has also been flyering in Hermon Park to raise awareness about Wednesday's community meeting.

A flyer posted in Hermon Park about Wednesday's community meeting.

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What Team Pickleball says

As it happens, pickleball players say they run into the exact same issue of long wait times and a dearth of courts.

Tim Cruz lives in Los Feliz and has been playing pickleball for years. He said he's had to court hop between  Glendale, West Hollywood, Pasadena and Burbank because  "it's hard to get a good court rotation."

In Glendale where there are four pickleball courts, for example, the wait on a weekend can push up to an hour and a half. On the sidelines, he says there are easily some 30 players waiting for their turn.

"The thing with pickleball that's really unique is that you end up talking with strangers and your friend list suddenly grows," said Cruz, who works in the film industry, adding that he sold one of his films to an executive while both were waiting to play.

Most pickleball courts, Cruz said, are carved from public tennis courts. Some are temporary, like in Glendale and West Hollywood, meaning there are lines for both sports on the floor. It can make for a dizzying experience.

 "Don't get me started about indoor pickleball, because you've got basketball lines, you've got badminton lines, you've got, oh my God, pickleball lines," Cruz said.

The filmmaker said the appeal of pickleball is undeniable. The sport with the funny name saw its popularity supercharged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and will likely never slow down.

"But here is the issue, right? It's that most of the time, the tennis courts are empty," Cruz said. "Then you just pan over to the pickleball courts and there's just like tons of people waiting. Why? Because the barrier of entry in pickleball versus tennis is vastly different."

In the case of Hermon Park, Team Tennis says demand for tennis court remains high.

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"There's usually long wait times for tennis courts," said Haug, the tennis coach who works out of Hermon almost daily. "The idea that some of them would be changed into a different sport is kind of upsetting."

Something both sides can agree on

One thing that both camps want is their own dedicated facilities — where tennis is tennis, and pickleball is pickleball.

Juan Aynat supervises recreation in the city of L.A.'s San Fernando Valley region. He also chairs a pickleball committee to meet growing demand.

 "They want brand new courts. They want access in the morning and at night. They want to play indoors, they want to play outdoors," Aynat said.

At first, the strategy was to have both sports share the same court, what he called a "hybrid" model. But now, the department is moving toward creating dedicated pickleball courts — done by replacing existing tennis courts. About 20 of those now exist — among some 60 courts that are free of charge provided by the city, Aynat said.

The dream, he added, is to build standalone facilities for pickleball, so that no tennis courts would be displaced. Last summer, four of those debuted in Porter Ranch.

" We are definitely headed in the direction of just doing dedicated facilities," he said.

A sign at one of Hermon Park's tennis courts.

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Until more of those can come online, Aynat preaches patience and peace.

" We have heard the voices of the tennis community," he said. But "we have way more tennis courts, obviously."

One reason why the department has chosen Hermon Park for the latest conversion is because of a lack of access in the vicinity.

"In that L.A. area, we've been getting a lot of responses from the community as to why there's no pickleball," he said, adding that there are only two courts at the nearby Montecito Heights Recreation Center. "That is one of our hotspots that we need to increase some access for them."

The original plan was to replace two tennis courts for eight pickleball courts. But it was scrapped due to concerns for the area's tennis community.

Which probably isn’t much solace to Hermon Park regulars like Su.

The tennis fanatic said a couple years ago when she was circulating the petition at another court, she got talking to another player.

"He said to me, it's a different sport, get a different court, you know," she said. " I'm not fundamentally against pickleball. I just wish it didn't have to come at the expense of an existing sport that already means so much to so many people."

How to attend the community meeting

Date: Wednesday, April 9
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Highland Park Senior Center at 6152 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles