Tennis matches and lessons have resumed on the newly resurfaced courts at Alta Plaza.
“A GOOD PARK is never done,” Alta Plaza Park’s longtime neighbor John Wheatman, the celebrated interior designer who wrote A Good House Is Never Done, might have said of the park’s recently resurfaced tennis courts.
The upgraded tennis courts will be dedicated on Sunday, September 20, with a neighborhood celebration from 10 a.m. to noon. Light refreshments will be served and there will be tennis instruction and games.
All manner of city leaders will join the Friends of Alta Plaza to unveil a commemorative plaque honoring tennis legend Helen Wills Moody, an Olympic champion who played at Alta Plaza and has a park atop Russian Hill named for her. Wills was already an international tennis star in 1929 when she and her fiance, Frederick Moody Jr., posed for news photographers and newsreel cameras in the park. “Miss Wills chose Alta Plaza Park for the photo shoot because, she said, ‘it’s pretty up there,'” according to an article in the Chronicle.
San Franciscans for Sports and Recreation helped fund the improvements and oversaw the work. Friends of Alta Plaza Park also contributed to the resurfacing and is still seeking donations.
All of the courts at Alta Plaza have traditionally been first come, first serve, but that is changing soon. As of September 23, the northernmost tennis court at Alta Plaza will be reservable here.
Anita Denz, a leader of the Friends of Alta Plaza, on the old courts.
FURTHER EVIDENCE that a good park is never done: renovation of the playground near the tennis courts will begin soon. The playground will close on September 28 and remain closed through early January. The revamped playground will feature all-new surfacing and several new play structures.
Casual sets with a skyline
Amy Suto at Alta Plaza
My home courts and the ones in the photo. Alta Plaza has three courts at the crown of Pacific Heights — two dedicated tennis courts plus an all-purpose court with a basketball hoop and pickleball lines — and the views from up there are genuinely incredible: the Marina rooftops, the bay, the whole northern sweep of the city.
Everything is free and first come, first served, and that shapes the culture: weekends get crowded, and the posted limits (30 minutes of rallying, one set when others are waiting) mean this isn’t the spot for a marathon match. Come for casual hitting instead. Weekday mornings are the quiet window, late morning to early afternoon is solid, and it fills once school lets out in the neighborhood.
The two main courts are being resurfaced through late September, so this fall they’ll be the freshest slabs in Pacific Heights.
