Where the Stars Play: LA's Celebrity Tennis Clubs

Every tennis city has its famous courts. Los Angeles has famous members. This is the town where a 1937 doubles match paired Charlie Chaplin with Groucho Marx across the net from two Wimbledon champions, where a movie star filmed herself playing a tennis pro on a country-club court, and where a software billionaire liked a racquet club so much he simply bought it. I went looking for the six LA courts with the deepest Hollywood lore — pulled from every venue in the TennisWhere Los Angeles directory, then filtered to the ones with a real, sourced celebrity story and enough player data to trust.

A quick word on trust before we rally, because this list is different from my usual scenic hunts. Most of these are private, members-only clubs — I'll be honest about which ones you can actually set foot on and which are lore-you-admire-from-the-sidewalk. Ratings and player notes come from reviews aggregated on TennisWhere as of July 2026; the star and celebrity history is cross-checked against each club's own site and standard references (linked at the bottom). And since these clubs guard their courts closely, the photos here are representative scenery from each neighborhood, not the courts themselves — check the linked profile for the real thing before you plan anything.

LA's celebrity tennis courts at a glance

Here's the cheat sheet. The honest theme: the star power scales with the velvet rope. Only one of these six is a court you can just show up and play.

Club	Area	Courts	Access	The celebrity hook
Riviera Country Club	Pacific Palisades	24	Private (members + guests)	Bogart, Hepburn, Disney — plus King & Sampras on the courts
Beverly Hills Tennis Club	Beverly Hills	5	Private / members	Chaplin & Groucho's famous 1937 doubles
Malibu Racquet Club	Malibu	8	Private (steep dues)	Larry Ellison-owned; Brosnan, McEnroe, Timberlake
Los Angeles Tennis Club	Hancock Park	16	Private	Gable & Dietrich in the box seats, 1930s–60s
Toluca Lake Tennis Club	Toluca Lake	—	Membership + drop-in classes	Bob Hope, Carson, Eastwood, next to the studios
Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center	Calabasas	11	Public — free to play	The one you can actually book, in celeb country

The pattern jumped out fast: the deeper a club's Hollywood history runs, the less likely you are to ever hold a racquet on it. So treat the first five as pilgrimage — drive by, soak up the lore, maybe talk your way in as a guest — and save your court time for Calabasas, or for the [public courts across the city](https://www.tenniswhere.com/los-angeles/tennis-courts-near-me/).

1. Riviera Country Club — Pacific Palisades

If one address in LA earns the word "legendary," it's this canyon spread above Sunset Boulevard. Riviera Country Club holds a 4.7-star rating across 101 player reviews on TennisWhere (and 4.7 across 670 Google ratings) as of July 2026 — and while the world knows Riviera for its golf, its tennis side is one of the oldest and largest on the West Coast, with 24 courts (22 hard, two clay). The Hollywood ghosts are golf-first: Humphrey Bogart nursing bourbon under his own named sycamore on the 12th, Katharine Hepburn filming Pat and Mike here in 1952 as a golf-and-tennis star, guest suites christened for Dean Martin and Walt Disney. But tennis royalty is real here too — Billie Jean King and Pete Sampras have both played these courts.

Now the velvet-rope reality. This is a private, members-and-guests club, and reviewers are blunt that membership is costly and typically needs a sponsor — so unless you know someone, this is a lore stop, not a hitting session. What players who do get on describe is an upscale, peaceful setting, immaculate courts, and a well-run summer program. If you land a guest invite, take it; if not, know that you're driving past a genuine piece of both film and tennis history.

At a glance: 24 courts (22 hard, 2 clay) · private, members + guests · upscale, well-maintained · costly membership

You'll love: the pedigree, the pristine courts, and the summer clinics. Heads-up: members-only access with sponsorship, and no published court fees.

The takeaway I'd tattoo on a wristband: Riviera is where Hollywood and tennis history actually overlap, not just neighbor each other. You may never play it — but it belongs at the top of any LA tennis pilgrimage.

Full details and access → Riviera Country Club on TennisWhere

2. Beverly Hills Tennis Club — Beverly Hills

This is my sentimental favorite on the whole list. Tucked onto a half-block of Maple Drive since 1929, the Beverly Hills Tennis Club rates 4.3 stars across 44 ratings, with a 4.0 average across 21 player reviews as of July 2026 — five courts, a pool, and a dining room that has quietly hosted half of Hollywood. Its founding story is its own kind of history: it was started largely for members of the Jewish faith who struggled to find a court elsewhere. Then it became the funniest room in tennis. At the club's 1937 inauguration, Wimbledon champions Fred Perry and Ellsworth Vines took on Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx in a doubles match still remembered as the most comic ever staged.

The member roll over the decades reads like a studio marquee — Chaplin, Groucho, Billy Wilder, Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, Barbara Stanwyck, Johnny Carson, Walter Matthau. Today's reviews praise the well-kept courts, excellent locker rooms, and a real community feel, but they're candid about the flip side: a difficult guest policy, pricey membership, and a front desk that some found frosty. So manage expectations. This is a small, private gem you admire for what it's meant to the game, not a court you casually drop into.

At a glance: 5 courts · private / members · pool + clubhouse dining · founded 1929

You'll love: the sheer history, the tidy courts, and the clubby intimacy. Heads-up: members-only with a strict guest policy, and mixed service notes.

What sticks with me isn't the roster — it's that a club built to give excluded players a court became the warmest comedy stage tennis ever had. Worth a slow drive down Maple Drive just to tip your cap.

Full details and access → Beverly Hills Tennis Club on TennisWhere

3. Malibu Racquet Club — Malibu

For the modern star map, drive up the coast. Malibu Racquet Club earns a 4.8-star rating across 14 Google ratings as of July 2026 — a smaller sample, and it doesn't have the deeper TennisWhere player-review layer yet, so I'm leaning on that Google score and the club's own facts. What it has instead is eight fully-lit outdoor hard courts perched above the Malibu Country Mart, and an owner who tells you everything about the clientele: Oracle's Larry Ellison bought the place outright in 2007. The regulars reported over the years include Pierce Brosnan, John McEnroe, Justin Timberlake, Tracy Austin, and Lindsay Davenport.

This is the priciest kind of exclusive — a private club with individual membership running about $9,000 to initiate plus roughly $305 a month, per the club's published dues. So realistically, this one's a "spot the celebrity from the parking lot" entry unless you're deep in the Malibu ecosystem. Still, if you're the sort who wants to know exactly where the A-list actually rallies rather than where they're merely rumored to, the answer up the coast is here — eight lit courts, ocean air, and a members list that would make a tabloid editor weep.

At a glance: 8 lit outdoor hard courts · private · ~$9,000 initiation + ~$305/mo · Malibu hillside

You'll love: the lit courts, the ocean setting, and the genuine star wattage. Heads-up: steep dues and a private door — this is not a walk-on.

Call it the opposite of a hidden gem: everyone knows it's exclusive, and that's exactly the point. Malibu Racquet is where LA's current tennis-playing famous actually show up.

Full details and membership → Malibu Racquet Club on TennisWhere

4. Los Angeles Tennis Club — Hancock Park

Before Malibu money and Beverly Hills comedy, there was the stage that fused tennis and film in the first place. The Los Angeles Tennis Club carries a 4.8-star rating across 59 Google ratings as of July 2026 (this one also predates the deeper TennisWhere review layer, so it's the Google score plus the club's own record here). Founded in 1920 in Hancock Park, its 16 courts hosted the Pacific Southwest Championships from 1927 through 1974 — for decades the second-biggest tournament in the country after the US Championships. And the crowd was the point: Marlene Dietrich, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Errol Flynn filled the box seats while Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry, Jack Kramer, Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe played below.

I go deeper on its tournament pedigree in the historic clubs guide — for this list, the relevant part is the box seats, not the trophies. This is where the movie business first learned to treat tennis as a Saturday-afternoon social event, and the glamour of that era still clings to the place. It's private, so plan on lineage over court time: admire it as the historical anchor of an LA tennis trip, then go book a court elsewhere in the city.

At a glance: 16 courts · private · founded 1920 · host of the Pacific Southwest Championships

You'll love: the unmatched golden-age history and the Hancock Park calm. Heads-up: private club — a walk-on isn't happening.

If Riviera is where the two worlds overlap and Beverly Hills is where they laughed, this is where they were introduced. No LA tennis story is complete without it.

Full details and access → Los Angeles Tennis Club on TennisWhere

5. Toluca Lake Tennis Club — Toluca Lake

Now for the quiet one — the club the studio crowd used precisely because nobody thought to look. On Forest Lawn Drive, a short chip shot from Warner Bros. and Universal, the Toluca Lake Tennis Club rates 4.6 stars across 38 ratings, with a 4.6 average across 13 player reviews as of July 2026. Founded in 1974, its early regulars were exactly who you'd expect from that address: Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Farrah Fawcett, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall. The pitch was privacy — a low-key spot where a boldface name could hit for an hour without a photographer in the hedges.

Here's what makes it the most approachable of the star haunts: it's a membership club, but it runs drop-in tennis classes (reviewers mention roughly $30 for 90 minutes), so a visiting player can actually get on court without a sponsor and a waiting list. Players describe beautiful courts, a warm and genuinely welcoming vibe, and coaching that people rave about by name. The court count isn't clearly published, so I won't guess — but of the exclusive names on this list, this is the one where a normal human has a real shot at playing.

At a glance: membership club with drop-in classes · ~$30 / 90-min class · studio-adjacent · warm community feel

You'll love: the welcoming atmosphere, the coaching, and the drop-in access. Heads-up: court count isn't published, and full membership is its own commitment.

The lesson from Toluca Lake is that not every celebrity court is a fortress. Some just wanted quiet — and quiet, it turns out, occasionally lets a stranger in for a lesson.

Full details and programs → Toluca Lake Tennis Club on TennisWhere

6. Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center — Calabasas

Let me close with an honest one, because a "where the stars play" list that only sends you to locked doors is a little cruel. Calabasas is LA's current celebrity enclave — you know the reality-TV zip code — and its public Tennis & Swim Center rates 4.5 stars across 202 ratings, with a 4.2 average across 60 player reviews as of July 2026. Eleven outdoor courts, free to play, with a junior coaching program that reviewers single out and named pros on staff. I want to be straight with you: I found no sourced claim that A-listers actually rally here, so I'm not going to invent one. What I can promise is that you'll be playing good courts in the middle of celebrity country.

That's the trade, and it's a good one. Reviewers love the well-kept courts, the friendly staff, and the strong junior development; the honest gripes are a brutal membership waitlist (some cite years), a few unevenly leveled courts, and customer service that runs hot and cold. But the courts themselves are free and open, which makes this the rare entry on the list you can plan a real match around. Star sighting: unlikely. Actual tennis: guaranteed.

At a glance: 11 outdoor courts · public, free to play · strong junior coaching · long membership waitlist

You'll love: free open courts, good coaching, and a family-friendly scene. Heads-up: a multi-year membership waitlist and a few uneven courts.

After five velvet ropes, Calabasas is the exhale. You won't get a photo with anyone famous — but you'll get a court, in the one part of this list where "the stars" are your actual neighbors.

Full details and hours → Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center on TennisWhere

How I picked these courts

Full transparency, because a celebrity list is easy to fake. I started from every venue in the TennisWhere Los Angeles directory, then kept only clubs that met two tests: a sourced, verifiable Hollywood connection (checked against each club's own site plus standard references — see Sources), and enough real player data on TennisWhere to describe honestly. That knocked out some famous names on purpose — the Beverly Hills Hotel courts, for instance, were removed back in 2011, so I left them off rather than send you to a ghost. Ratings, court counts, access, and pricing are drawn from data aggregated on TennisWhere as of July 2026; celebrity facts are history, not our data, and are cited below. Details drift and clubs guard access — always confirm on each linked profile before you drive out.

Frequently asked questions

Which LA tennis club has the most celebrity history?

Two share the crown for different eras. The Los Angeles Tennis Club in Hancock Park (founded 1920, 4.8 stars across 59 ratings) drew Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, and Errol Flynn to its box seats through the golden age, while the Beverly Hills Tennis Club (founded 1929) staged the famous 1937 Chaplin-and-Groucho doubles match and counted Kirk Douglas and Doris Day as members.

Can I actually play at any of these celebrity clubs?

Mostly no — Riviera, Beverly Hills, Malibu Racquet, and the Los Angeles Tennis Club are all private. The two realistic options are the Toluca Lake Tennis Club, which runs drop-in classes (around $30 for 90 minutes), and the fully public Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center, where the 11 outdoor courts are free to play. For more open courts, start with LA's public tennis courts hub.

Where do celebrities play tennis in LA today?

The current answer is up the coast at the Malibu Racquet Club, bought by Oracle's Larry Ellison in 2007, where reported regulars include Pierce Brosnan, John McEnroe, and Justin Timberlake. It's a private club with roughly $9,000 initiation and $305 monthly dues, so it's more star-spotting-from-afar than open-to-visitors.

Did Charlie Chaplin really play tennis with Groucho Marx?

Yes — at the 1937 inauguration of the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, Chaplin and Groucho Marx played a doubles exhibition against Wimbledon champions Fred Perry and Ellsworth Vines, and it's long been remembered as one of the funniest matches ever staged. Both comedians were longtime members of the club.

What's the best celebrity-adjacent court a visitor can book?

For pure access, the Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center — free public courts in LA's most famous modern celebrity enclave. If you'd rather chase the scenery than the star map, my most scenic LA courts guide and the best courts for night tennis in LA both lean toward courts you can actually play.

The bottom line, from one wanderer to another

Chasing the stars in LA taught me a simple truth: the more famous the court, the higher the fence. Riviera, Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles Tennis Club, and Malibu Racquet are pilgrimages — drive by, drink in the history, and take the guest pass if the tennis gods hand you one. Toluca Lake cracks the door with drop-in classes, and Calabasas throws it wide open with free public courts. Figure out whether you want the lore or the match, and plan accordingly — then check the live profile before you go.

• Deepest tennis-and-film overlap: Riviera Country Club and the Los Angeles Tennis Club.
• Best story: Beverly Hills Tennis Club and its 1937 Chaplin-Groucho doubles.
• Where you can actually play: Toluca Lake (drop-in classes) and Calabasas (free public courts).

Now go find your court — and if you spot someone famous on it, play it cool and hold your serve.

Key Takeaways

• Most legendary: Riviera Country Club (Pacific Palisades) blends film history — Bogart, Hepburn, Disney — with 24 tennis courts that Billie Jean King and Pete Sampras have played (4.7★).
• Best story: the Beverly Hills Tennis Club staged the famous 1937 Chaplin-and-Groucho doubles match against Wimbledon champs Perry and Vines.
• Where the stars play now: the Larry Ellison-owned Malibu Racquet Club, with reported regulars like Brosnan, McEnroe, and Timberlake.
• Actually bookable: Toluca Lake runs ~$30 drop-in classes, and Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center's 11 courts are free and public.
• Most of these clubs are private; ratings, courts, and access above are from TennisWhere as of July 2026 — confirm on each linked profile.

Planning a tennis trip around LA? Browse every court near you — hours, surface, lighting, and booking — on TennisWhere Los Angeles, or jump straight to tennis courts in Los Angeles and the tennis courts near me hub.

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About the author: The Scenic Baseline is TennisWhere's traveling-player column — a laid-back, low-stakes hunt for the best courts (with a view, a story, or a famous member) in every city, backed by the TennisWhere directory's player ratings and reviews.

Sources

Ratings, court counts, access notes, and pricing are drawn from the TennisWhere Los Angeles court directory and its aggregated player reviews, retrieved 2026-07-20: https://www.tenniswhere.com/los-angeles/ · Celebrity and historical facts were cross-checked against each club's own site and standard references: Riviera Country Club (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riviera_Country_Club; pgatour.com) · Beverly Hills Tennis Club (beverlyhillstennisclub.org; thewrap.com "Courting Celebs: The Storied History of the Beverly Hills Tennis Club") · Malibu Racquet Club (hollywoodreporter.com, "Tennis in L.A." club list) · Los Angeles Tennis Club (latennisclub.com/club-history; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Tennis_Club) · Toluca Lake Tennis Club (tolucalake.com; Toluca Lake Magazine).