Tommy Nishiyama, Sr. playing handball in Downtown LA. (Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Nishiyama, Sr.)

On Mednik Avenue, between Avenida Cesar Chavez and Floral Drive, across from the Maravilla Housing Project, is an inconspicuous building that you might have passed many times but never noticed. There, stands a tall wall of brick and mortar that was laid in the 1920’s next to El Centro Grocery. If you look up high enough you will see a group of weathered letters hanging for dear life to a chain link fence that read: The Maravilla Handball Court. The MHC is the latest historic center that is now in jeopardy of being destroyed. But a group of organizers are fighting to preserve it. (more…)