Squash Court Near Me in South Pasadena: Arroyo Seco Racquet Club

Down a hill off Arroyo Boulevard, past the sign for the Arroyo Seco Golf Course, sits the Arroyo Seco Racquet Club at 920 Lohman Lane in South Pasadena. Most people drive in for the nine lighted tennis courts, but the club also houses a small squash program run by LA Squash Academy, and for anyone in the San Gabriel Valley typing squash court near me, it is one of the few places where a beginner can walk in, book a lesson and keep playing.

Squash here is younger than the club itself. Before May 17, 2013 the game was practically unknown at Arroyo Seco, according to a 2016 report in DailySquashReport. That evening the club dedicated its first court, the Ed Brooks Family squash court, with a barbecue, a jazz keyboard set and exhibition games featuring Ronen Goldberg, a five-time Israeli national champion, and former PSA tour player Al Preston.

The person behind it was Bob Hanscom, the coach the academy now calls the Godfather of Southern California Squash. He had run the teaching job at the University Club of Los Angeles for seven years and then the Los Angeles Athletic Club program for fifteen, won the U.S. 55+ title in 1993, and came out of a short retirement to push for the first racquetball-to-squash court conversion at this public facility.

A second converted court was dedicated on January 22, 2016, paid for with help from the U.S. Squash conversion program, the club's own players and the Robin A. Sateriale Foundation. By then about 60 families were playing, and the report called Arroyo Seco the only publicly accessible squash facility and program in the San Gabriel Valley. The academy's memorial page for Hanscom now says the South Pasadena location has five squash courts and more than 150 players.

The racquet club is operated by iTennis, the company founded by former Stanford All-American and Wimbledon competitor John Letts, which also runs public tennis sites in Pasadena, Arcadia, Riverside and elsewhere. Squash is handed to a specialist: the club's squash page states that the lesson program, group classes and tournaments are operated by LA Squash Academy, and a January 2026 update on the club's announcements page lists squash as a lesson program run by the academy.

LA Squash Academy is owned by Aria Fazelimanesh, who joined the Iranian junior national team, won what the academy describes as the first international medal in Iranian squash history, became a U.S. junior national champion after his family moved to the States, and played in the University of Rochester side that reached the national final. He holds U.S. Squash Level 1, 2 and 3 coaching certification.

Head professional Tom Williams played junior squash in Scotland before moving to Los Angeles in 2012. At the 2016 court dedication he was already the person supervising the junior round robins, so many of the families who started with Hanscom have stayed with the same coaching staff.

The academy sells three ways in. Private lessons are one-on-one sessions aimed at technique and match strategy, and they are the usual first step for adults who have never held a squash racquet. Group clinics put four to six players on court together, which is cheaper per head and is how most regulars find hitting partners of a similar level.

Juniors get their own clinics and private lessons, and the academy has posted a 2026 summer program with two tracks: an Elite Hadrian Camp for competitive players and a Core Junior Development Camp for kids still learning the basics. The academy also runs a college squash track for high school players hoping to compete at universities that field varsity squash teams. Lesson rates are not published online; the academy sets them by phone or email when it schedules you.

Players who get hooked can join the club itself. On the membership page captured in January 2026, a squash membership carries a $300 initiation fee, then $75 a month for an individual or $100 a month for a family. A multi-sport membership covering tennis, squash and pickleball costs $500 to join and $100 a month for an individual.

Members pay no court fees for general play, get advance court reservation privileges, free use of the gym and 15 percent off clinics, pro shop merchandise and racquet stringing. The page promises you won't find a country club attitude at iTennis Arroyo Seco, and the published, pay-monthly rates are what separate it from the private athletic clubs where most Los Angeles squash courts sit.

Start with LA Squash Academy rather than the tennis desk.

Bring non-marking indoor court shoes, since outdoor tennis soles are not allowed on squash floors, plus protective eyewear for juniors, which U.S. Squash requires in its sanctioned junior events. If you are joining a group clinic, ask which level the session is pitched at, because four to six players share one court and a mismatched group slows everyone down.

The club's own directions are the easiest: drive south on Orange Grove Boulevard until it ends at Mission Street, turn right and keep to the right lanes, continue to the stop sign at Arroyo Boulevard by the golf course sign, then head straight and down the hill on Stoney Drive; the parking lot is on the left.

Without a car, the Metro A Line stops at South Pasadena station on Mission Street, and from there it is a downhill walk west through residential streets toward the Arroyo. The parking lot is shared with tennis and pickleball players and the golf course crowd, so leave a few minutes to find a space on busy weekend mornings.

Next door, the Arroyo Seco Golf Course runs a par-three course, a driving range and a mini golf course, so a family can split between squash lessons and putting. The surrounding Lower Arroyo is laced with walking and riding trails along the concrete-lined stream that gives the club its name.

For food, drive five minutes up to Mission Street in South Pasadena, where the Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain at 1526 Mission Street serves milkshakes and sandwiches at its soda counter, a short walk from the Metro station.

Address: Arroyo Seco Racquet Club (iTennis South Pasadena), 920 Lohman Lane, South Pasadena, CA 91030. Club hours listed on its contact page: Monday to Sunday, 7:00 am to 10:30 pm. Squash lessons and clinics: LA Squash Academy, info@squashacademy.la. Squash membership: $300 initiation, $75 a month individual. Parking: on-site lot off Stoney Drive.