6 dedicated courts
Free during scheduled open-play hours
Level: All levels
Hours: Daytime only, no lights
Castro Park is El Cerrito's only public pickleball venue: two tennis courts were converted into six dedicated, individually fenced pickleball courts in a July 2025 renovation, funded largely by the East Bay Pickleball Association with additional city money. Free open play runs at least 16 hours a week across scheduled blocks; outside those windows the courts can be reserved by the hour. Courts are color-coded by skill level (green/blue/red), and restroom access requires a key rented with a refundable deposit at the adjacent Community Center. The correct address is 1420 Norvell St — you may see it wrongly listed elsewhere as 1441 Lawrence St.
How it plays
Court details
- Courts
- 6
- Indoor / outdoor
- Outdoor
- Surface
- Outdoor hard court -- 6 dedicated pickleball courts, converted from 2 former tennis courts in a 2025 renovation. Each court is individually fenced with an 8-foot perimeter buffer (a design response to the discovery that the original tennis courts were narrower than standard), with permanent lines.
- Price
- Free during scheduled open-play hours (minimum 16 hours/week guaranteed). Outside open-play hours, reservations are $8.25/hr for El Cerrito residents, $10.50/hr for non-residents, $21/hr for instructors (one-hour minimum; $1/hr fee for cancellations inside 48 hours), per the current elcerrito.gov Courts & Play Fields page. Several sources describing the July 2025 opening cite a flat introductory $8/$10 resident/non-resident rate, which appears to have been the rate at launch before a small increase to $8.25/$10.50.
- Hours
- Free open play: Sat-Sun 9am-12pm, Mon-Tue 10am-12pm, Wed-Fri 4-6pm (summer) / 3-5pm (winter) -- reservations are not available during these blocks. Reservable 8am-sundown outside open-play blocks; not lit for night play. Park grounds open sunrise to 1 hour after sunset daily.
- Reservations
- Mixed
- Level
- All levels welcome; each court is individually color-coded by skill level (green = beginner-friendly, blue = intermediate, red = advanced), per the local news account of the 2025 renovation.
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