Gowanus: If You Build a Whole Foods, There Will Be a Children’s Tennis Club, or Something
This week in “They’re putting a what in Gowanus?” news, Court 16, a miniaturized tennis club for kids, has opened its doors on Baltic Street between Nevins Street and Third Avenue. Everything from the bathroom fixtures to the water fountains have been built to child scale, and it has the distinction of being the only kids’ tennis facility in the five boroughs.
The Brooklyn Paper interviewed Court 16 founder Anthony Evrard, who was himself a young student of tennis. But only since a 2011 ruling by the United States Tennis Association, which is a thing that exists, have miniature courts been officially sanctioned for junior instruction. Though apparently all the rage in Europe, they’ve only recently gained popularity in certain pockets of the United States.
Earlier this week, DNAinfo reported that Frolic, a 5,000 square foot “rock ‘n’ roll kids’ play space” in Williamsburg waterfront luxury development The Edge, is closing. Whatever a rock ‘n’ roll kids’ play space is, it was reportedly a hotspot for celebrity spawn, and its annual membership fees ($1,000) were double those of Court 16 (a comparatively low $500). With a decidedly clearer purpose, if not necessarily so many Suri Cruises, one hopes Court 16 will fare better. Indeed, with rapidly high-rising Fourth Avenue just around the corner, the tots’ tennis spot may have packed classes for a few decades hence. And so it goes.
Follow John Sherman on Twitter @_john_sherman.