When Steve Shpilsky first heard rumblings about padel as it gained traction in Miami, he did not think much of it. A tennis player himself, Shpilsky’s perspective on padel began to shift as he heard more about the sport and tested it out for himself.
“There’s a great vibe in all these clubs in Miami, and like most tennis players, I kind of blew it off at first, right?” Shpilsky told What Now Los Angeles. “I was just used to playing tennis, but then I kept hearing people talk about padel.”
Padel, which was invented in Mexico in the late 1960s, is played in doubles fashion on a 20-by-10-meter court. The court is encased in glass walls and metal mesh, allowing players to ricochet the ball off the glass walls to volley, similar to the way the wall is used in racquetball. As Shpilsky and his family began to gain interest in padel, he saw an opportunity to use his real estate, hospitality and finance background to bring a new concept to the Los Angeles market.
“We went to the clubs that were in Miami, and I really saw what padel should be in Los Angeles as well, given our racket sports legacy and heritage in Los Angeles, the weather, and the health and wellness culture,” Shpilsky said. “I’ve been looking for something that combined real estate, hospitality and sports business, and after looking at all these different kind of ways to invest in padel, I thought the best thing to do was to build a high-end padel club in Los Angeles because that just doesn’t exist and it fits right within my wheelhouse.”
Later this year, Shpilsky and his wife Jennifer will open Los Angeles Padel Club in West LA at 3801 Lenawee Ave. They are taking over a historic house at the address and converting it into a clubhouse that will have an “old-school racket sports heritage vibe,” according to Shpilsky. The spot will feature nearly 15,500 square feet of court space, with seven padel courts, including two “tournament runouts” designed for high-level players who run outside the cage during games to return the ball. The courts will have plenty of seating around them, with 63 outdoor seats and a nearly 2,000-square-foot patio. There will also be an outdoor cafe, a wellness area with a sauna and cold plunge, outdoor showers and a zen garden.
Inside the 3,976-square-foot clubhouse, the ground floor will feature a cafe and bar serving breakfast and lunch items such as wraps, avocado toast, salads, yogurt parfaits, espresso drinks and smoothies. The second floor of the clubhouse will feature members-only spaces with recovery rooms, locker rooms and a co-working space.
“A big part of padel is the social aspect, and a big part of socialization is being able to grab a coffee, a drink or something to eat with your friends and family,” Shpilsky said. “We wanted to make sure that’s a big part of the experience.”
Los Angeles Padel Club will bring something new to the market, offering the first full-service padel club experience in Los Angeles.
“There are some nice facilities around LA, but no one has opened a facility that has all of the amenities that I listed out, which to me, as a padel player, is important and something that I think a lot of padel players are going to appreciate when we when we open,” Shpilsky said.
The team is planning to open by the end of the year, though an exact opening date is still forthcoming. Over the coming years, Shpilsky hopes to expand to other areas of Southern California to create third spaces for people and continue to grow the sport in the U.S.
“Padel brings a lot of people together. It allows adults a platform to to play and connect, which I think is very important,” Shpilsky said. “People tend to lose that as they get older. Most people start playing sports in high school or college, and as you become an adult, you lose that play and competition. Padel does a really good job of bringing people together. You need four people minimum to play. There are a lot of tournaments, and it’s a lot of fun to watch as well. Even if you’re not playing or you’re still new to it, watching other people play is highly entertaining, so I think over the next few years we’ll really start seeing the padel story evolve in Los Angeles.”
