The Latest
The Video
Issue Summary
About the Site
In the News

Maravilla community kids playing handball at the court. Photo by LAC staff.

The Latest

Great news! On August 3, 2012, the State Historical Resources Commission voted to list the Maravilla Handball Court and El Centro Grocery in the California Register of Historical Resources.

The site was nominated by the Conservancy in partnership with the Maravilla Historical Society. The nomination had the formal support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Listing in the California Register offers preservation protection for the building by making certain changes to it subject to public review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Since the building is located in unincorporated East Los Angeles, which does not have a preservation ordinance, state-level designation currently offers the strongest protection.

Thank you to everyone who wrote letters and/or attended hearings in favor of the nomination!

Read California Register nomination (PDF)

As the oldest remaining handball court in the Los Angeles region, the 1928 site has a rich, layered history and continues to serve as an important community space for youth and families.

Maravilla Handball Court, ca. 1950. Photo courtesy Who remembers in East L.A.

A small electrical fire in mid-December caused some minor damage to the El Centro Grocery, though it does not affect the structure's integrity or nomination.

Thank you to all the MHS volunteers and to Shannon Davis of ASM Affiliates, who donated extensive pro bono work for the nomination and the site’s Historic Structures Report.

The Video

This great two-minute version of the Maravilla Handball Court video played on Metro buses' Transit TV over Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

Maravilla Handball Court: A Place that Matters from Out the Window on Vimeo

Issue Summary

This unique site reflects the rich layers of history common in Los Angeles. The handball court was built brick-by-brick by East L.A. residents and completed 1928, with the El Centro Grocery and attached residence added in 1946.

Maravilla preservation advocates gather for a "This Place Matters" photo. Photo by Conservancy staff.

“It is my passion to save the legacy of my people, my community, and our Chicano culture,” says MHS President Amanda Perez, who grew up in the Maravilla neighborhood and has garnered broad support on this preservation issue. “We want this place to be a beacon for all to come and step into the past, present, and future.”

In December 2009, the MHS organized the court’s first-ever co-ed youth handball tournament. Attended by over twenty-five local boys and girls, the event helped introduce the sport and the historic court to a new generation of players. Veteran players attended to mentor participants, including young girls eager to learn the sport.

The Maravilla Handball Court is the oldest known handball court in the Los Angeles area. Photo by Shannon Davis.

The effort to preserve the Maravilla Handball Court is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s This Place Matters campaign, spearheaded locally by the Conservancy, which identifies important historic sites that merit national attention.

The Maravilla Handball Court was profiled in the Spring 2010 edition of the National Trust's Forum Journal.

About the Site

TOP: El Centro Grocery and Maravilla Handball Court. Photo courtesy Who remembers in East L.A. BOTTOM: The Nishiyama family in front of their store in the 1960s. Photo courtesy Tommy Nishiyama.

From 1928 to 2007, the court was home to the men’s-only Maravilla Handball Club. In the early 1940s, Michi and Tommy Nishiyama began operating the property in the 1950s following Michi’s internment at a Japanese relocation camp.

The family opened a local El Centro grocery store next to the court; the store and court together became an important historic and cultural landmark to East Los Angeles residents.

Maravilla was also the only court in East Los Angeles where players still played bola basca, also known as Basque pelota. This court sport, played with one’s hand or a racket, is commonly seen in Basque communities throughout Oregon and Idaho.

A photo of Michi and Tommy Nishiyama hangs inside the Handball Court. Photo courtesy Maravilla Historical Society.

In 2006, Michi passed away; Tommy followed a year later, and the court and store were closed.

The site was boarded up for a year, until Amanda Perez and the Maravilla Historical Society began efforts in 2008 to restore the court and store for community residents to appreciate, use, and learn about an important part of their neighborhood’s history.

Residents and handball veterans who remembered the legacy of the court took up the cause to save the building.

For more information or to donate to the capital campaign, visit the Maravilla Historical Society website.

In the News

Los Angeles Times — "Extending a hand to a faded East L.A. handball court"
89.3 KPCC FM— "Group works to preserve East L.A.'s Maravilla Handball Court"