My wife has been urging me to make a giant wall map of my quest to play tennis on every public court in Los Angeles, complete with map pins showing where I have already played and where I haven’t played yet. I love her enthusiasm for this arts and crafts project, which is really like our very own cave painting, representing my derring-do not in hunting mastodons but in taking public transit to courts across the 4,084 square miles of LA County.

Not just the City of Los Angeles but the entire county, because what are you gonna do — leave out Pasadena and Compton and Santa Monica and Long Beach? I can’t do that because the whole quest and public tennis courts themselves are all about inclusion. Everybody can and does play on public tennis courts, whose openness, fairness, and opportunity all remind me of the Statue of Liberty.

On the map, the courts where I’ve Played are in Purple, and the courts where I still need to Go are in Green. These courts are, at this point, mainly east of East LA and south of South LA. As of the first day of spring in 2024, I have played 142 out of 240 courts. I’m glad to still have what are, for me, many far-flung destinations ahead. Every time I visit a new court that is way out of my usual surroundings, I realize that this new park I’m visiting from Sylmar to Cudahy is a hundred thousand or more people’s regular neighborhood. Playing the game of tennis is fun; what makes the quest feel special is getting beyond my bubble.