Even better, all you'll need is a two dollar ball and your hands. Six-time king of the court John "Rookie" Wright says besides basketball, handball is the most played sport in the city.

They’ve come to the neighborhood of Maravilla from as far as Hesperia and Mojave, Azusa and Burbank, to hit a small rubber ball in what must be the oldest handball court in Southern California.

Off the scuffed and battered court walls echo the sounds of heavy percussion and the hallmark calls of old-fashioned sportsmanship: the squeak of sneakers on sweat-slicked wood, ...