January 30, 2017

Meet Adam James of The Toluca Lake Tennis and Fitness Club

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam James.

The Toluca Lake Tennis Club was founded in 1974 by Paul Ramsey and Wendell Niles, Jr. and catered to the residents of Toluca Lake, Hollywood, and surrounding communities. It became known as “the place” to play tennis during the ’70s and ’80s where celebrities such as Johnny Carson, Farrah Fawcett, Clint Eastwood, and others frequently played due to its proximity to the various movie and TV studios in the area. The original clubhouse also housed a popular restaurant known as the Magic Pan that enjoyed brisk business where it was often hard to find a seat, especially during the lunch hours.

Paul Ramsey eventually became sole owner of the Club, and in 1991 with his architect son Paul Jr., designed a vastly larger new building with an expanded lobby, offices, members lounge, restaurant, tennis courts, and pool.

In 1993, Randy Landsberger and Paul Philo entered into a partnership with Paul Ramsey to open a fitness center within the Toluca Lake Tennis Club. Originally intended as an option for strength and conditioning to the club’s tennis members, the fitness center soon also became popular with regular fitness members & private trainers who wanted to utilize the clean new facility and escape traditional gyms of the time.

After nearly five years of consistent membership growth and a busy private training program, the fitness center within the tennis club had outgrown its original location. Randy Landsberger and Paul Philo joined forces with Paul Ramsey to dramatically expand the fitness operations and create what was then called the Sports Center. The expansion was complete in 1999 and included moving two tennis courts to build a 4000 square foot building that houses the club’s group exercise room, spinning studio, and upper deck cardio training room. The previous location of the fitness center was expanded to focus solely on strength training and private training. Numerous other improvements were also made to the Club’s locker rooms, pool, and surrounding grounds.

The Toluca Lake Tennis Club and Sports Center remained two separate business entities, until 2002, when Randy Landsberger and Paul Philo also become part owners of the Tennis Club. Combining the Toluca Lake Tennis Club with the Sports Center allowed the two businesses to consolidate while combining the best in tennis with the best in fitness in a very unique country club setting.

In 2013 the club was renamed to better reflect the merging of its tennis and fitness history to Toluca Lake Tennis & Fitness Club. Today the club continues to offer tennis and fitness memberships or a combination of both with exceptional service, programs, and facilities. The club has been selected as one of the best Gyms in LA by Los Angeles Magazine and as one of the ten best gyms in LA by Citysearch. The club also received the prestigious “Best of Citysearch” award for health clubs in Los Angeles. Over the years the club has also received recognition as one of LA’s best boutique gyms by numerous publications. The club was voted the Best Health and Fitness Club in Los Angeles by the LA Daily News Reader Choice Awards in 2015 and 2016.

Combining classic Hollywood charm with elite, modern fitness facilities, the Toluca Lake Tennis & Fitness Club is one of the finest health and tennis clubs in Los Angeles

Has it been a smooth road?
Over the years, there have been many ups and downs, but the club has continued to overcome and stand out as the premiere health and fitness club in Los Angeles.

Being located next to Warner Brothers and Universal Studios, the club caters to the entertainment industry professionals, and there have been numerous television shows and movies that have filmed at the club. Sometimes these have created challenges with Paparazzi but the club’s staff has always managed to maintain the private and serene setting.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Toluca Lake Tennis and Fitness Club – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The Toluca Lake Tennis and Fitness Club offers world-class tennis facilities and fitness programs. Ben Brunkow, our Tennis Director, is a nationally ranked doubles champion, and Christian Straka, our Head Pro, is one of the best tennis instructors in Los Angeles. Christian was double partners with Roger Federer during their amateur career, and they made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open together. When Christian became an instructor in Europe, he trained Victoria Azarenka, and she became the #1 Junior Player in the World under his tutelage.

However, we are more than just tennis, and our fitness programs and facilities are amazing as well. We offer a Group X program with over 50 classes per week, including yoga, Spin, boxing, boot camp, Mat Pilates, dance, and more. We are actually an official Spin Studio and we have the Spinner Blade bikes, which are the top of the line Spin bikes.

Our Personal Trainers and fitness facilities are also world class, and we have over 20 personal trainers at the Club. Each of the trainers are fully certified and/or have degrees in exercise science. They all specialize in various unique disciplines like post-rehab, pre/post-natal, martial arts, functional training, sports conditioning, and others.

In addition to all of our tennis and fitness programs, what makes the Toluca Lake Club truly special are the members and staff. We pride ourselves in being a place where people come together for fun, exercise, and social events.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Toluca Lake is a very unique and special part of the greater Los Angeles area. Located around the major studios of Warner Brothers, Disney, and Universal Studios, Toluca Lake has a small town feel with big city business activities. Here in our community, we create the world’s best entertainment in music, movies, television, and video games. Our people are leaders in the fields of business, medicine, and entertainment, but we are also very friendly and down to earth.

Pricing:

Fitness Membership: $450 initiation and $125 per month
Tennis Membership: $750 initiation and $175 per month
Tennis and Fitness Membership: $750 initiation and $235 per month
Non-Prime Time Memberships also available
Personal Training: Free Fitness Consulation to all members
Kick Start Personal Training: 3 sessions for $225
Tennis Private Lessons available (prices vary)
Tennis Group Lessons/Tennis Clinics: $25 for members and $30 for non-members
Group X Class Passes for non-members: $22 (includes all classes like Spin, yoga, boot camps, and more).
Massage Theray also available

Contact Info: