The first meeting of the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club took place at the home of Doug Todd on Sept. 2, 1936.
By then, the assembled group already had begun its search for a place to play their game. They settled on the second floor of the Marine Avenue Pavilion, a wood-frame bathhouse on the beach that had opened in 1922.
Once a social gathering place in the town, the two-story structure had become somewhat dilapidated by this time. The avid players forged an agreement to use the top floor of the bathhouse, which had been used as a dancehall, for badminton matches.
One problem: its 15-foot ceiling wasn’t nearly high enough to accommodate the game. Rules had to be adopted to account for shuttlecocks hitting the ceiling during play, which happened frequently.
The new club’s members met regularly, and eventually decided to raise money to build their own badminton facility. While casting about for ways to do that, they came up with an idea, possibly from watching the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musicals of the day: let’s put on a show!
They staged a musical comedy, “April Follies,” at the Pier Avenue School in Hermosa Beach for several weekends. Club members handled all the production’s details, from costumes to advertising and ticket sales.
Enough money was raised from it – about $2,000 – to buy seven connected parcels of land in the then-desolate inland area of Manhattan Beach then known as “the back country.” The lots were selling for $200 each at the time. (Lots on the strand cost $1200.)
By 1940, construction had begun on the new clubhouse on 18th St. near Ardmore Ave., and its courts opened for play in 1941. (Coincidentally, the Marine Avenue bathhouse burned down that year and had to be demolished.)
In addition to building the club, the members also paid for the construction of part of 18th St., from Ardmore up to the club. The roadway didn’t exist before the club was built.
This surge in interest in badminton wasn’t just a local phenomenon. The sport’s first club had formed in New York City in 1878. The sport initially became popular among British officers who had served in India during the 19th century. Its name comes from a British estate, the Duke of Beaufort’s Badminton House in Gloucestershire.
Badminton became popular among the Hollywood elite during the 1930s, numbering such luminaries as James Cagney, Bette Davis, Boris Karloff, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks among its players.
After the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, the U.S. Army took over the club. It was used as officer’s quarters and an entertainment center for the troops stationed nearby at Live Oak Park and at the artillery battery installed on 19th St. to protect the coastline from invaders. When the threat of invasion lessened, the Army returned it to club members in November 1943.
Though it’s often fallaciously regarded as being as lightweight as its rackets and birdies by those who’ve only dabbled in the game in their backyards, competitive badminton takes both remarkable hand-to-eye coordination and top physical conditiing.
The sport enjoys tremendous popularity in Asia and Europe, and it officially became part of the Summer Olympics at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. To date, no American has medaled in badminton in the Olympics.
But its American devotees remain hooked on the game. As players grew in strength and skill, the once-ample 30-foot ceilings at the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club have been judged by some to be too low for the venue to host top-flight international competitions.
That didn’t keep the club from hosting the final Olympic Badminton qualifying tournament in the U.S. before the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in 2016, with the world’s top 65 players from 21 countries competing to become eligible.
The building has been modernized and remodeled over the years. In 1951, its popular swimming pool was added. During the 1960s, a lounge and outdoor kitchen were built, and special wooden flooring that was easier on players’ legs was installed. Its exterior has been updated and accessibility ramps put in place.
In 1974, the club asked the Manhattan Beach City Council for a permit to expand its facilities. Neighbors raised objections, citing potential noise and traffic problems if the court were allowed to add two more courts, and the permit was denied.
The club eventually added the courts; it now has five. But a restriction added later by the council limits the club to 250 members, resulting in potential new members being put on a sometimes-long waiting list.
Despite its status as one of only a handful of venues in Southern California completely dedicated to badminton play, the generic-looking Manhattan Beach Badminton Club building isn’t widely known; it often gets mistaken for the phone company or an Edison substation. But, to its members, it’s home to a game they love.
Sources:
Beach Reporter archives.
Daily Breeze archives.
Easy Reader archives.
Los Angeles Times archives.
Manhattan Beach Badminton Club website.
“Manhattan Beach Badminton Club & The Road to Rio,” The South Bay Show podcast, Jan. 28, 2016.
“United States Badminton History,” by the United States Badminton Association, Washington Post website.
A Walk Beside the Sea: A History of Manhattan Beach, by Jan Dennis, Janstan Studio, 1987.
Video:
A spirited rally during the 2015 match between top-seeded Nicholas Waller and local product Shawn Whong at the Adult Nationals at the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club.
South Bay History 