The Lights Are Testing at the Old Weddington Site. Here's What Studio City Gets Back.

On the evening of October 19, the field lights over the new turf at Whitsett Avenue and Valley Spring Lane came on for testing, and they went off by 8 p.m. The tennis court lights were tested the same evening and went off by 9 p.m. According to Harvard-Westlake's construction update, those cutoffs were set on purpose to match the hours the site will keep once it opens.

That test previews how the public will use River Park. The former Weddington Golf & Tennis property will once again be a place where anyone can walk in free. The hours that matter most, though, come from the school's own practice schedule, so the public's best windows run from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., while the school takes most of the afternoon.

What the Site Was, on Paper

The 16 acres beside the Los Angeles River started out as a sheep and melon farm. They became a golf course in the 1950s and added tennis courts in the 1970s. Harvard-Westlake bought the property from the Weddington family in 2017, as the Los Angeles Times reported during the 2023 debate over the project. In that same article, a Studio City resident of 35 years called Weddington the neighborhood's "heart."

The City Council made the property a Historic-Cultural Monument in September 2021. The city's record lists its character-defining features:

The clubhouse, the golf-ball-shaped lights, the putting green, the brick wall, and public recreational use.

Public recreational use appears on that list next to the physical features. Everything that followed came back to it. On November 14, 2023, the City Council voted 15–0 to approve the River Park project, according to the Times account of the vote. The city's response to the appeal lays out the conditions of approval. Public access to the site and much of its athletic space is generally available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. when the school is not using it. The public will reserve the recreational facilities through a reservation system and will pay no fee. The school later reached an amicable resolution with the Studio City Residents Association and Save LA River Open Space that ended the remaining litigation. In their joint statement, Harvard-Westlake reaffirmed its commitment to work with both groups to ensure public access to River Park. The two groups will be able to confirm the safety of the artificial turf and will work with the school on community benefits and beautification projects.

The Clock That Sets the Public's Hours

Harvard-Westlake says it will generally use the athletic facilities from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the school year, with most of that use between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. No football games will be played on site, and all outdoor competition will end before 8 p.m.

The public windows in the school's River Park FAQ are built around that block. The six-acre park and the clubhouse sit outside it. Both are planned to be open to everyone, free, every day of the year from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visitors will be able to walk in from the Zev Yaroslavsky LA River Greenway or through the main pedestrian entrance on Whitsett Avenue. Everything else follows the school's schedule.

Here is a school-year weekday under the published plan:

1. 7 a.m. The park, clubhouse, and all eight tennis courts open to the public. Individual lap swimming runs until 9 a.m., and Field B and the track are open to individuals until noon. Both of those individual windows apply on weekdays from September through May.
2. Noon. Individual use of Field B and the track ends. The park and the tennis courts stay open to the public.
3. 3 p.m. Public tennis time generally ends, and the school's busiest stretch begins.
4. 6 p.m. Public tennis time generally resumes, and it runs until 9 p.m.
5. 8 p.m. Field lights go off.
6. 9 p.m. Tennis lights go off, and the park closes.

Fields, the pool, and the gym will also be open to community groups when Harvard-Westlake athletes are not using them. The pool will also be available through pre-approved swim programs. The FAQ says the public will have the tennis courts "a majority of the time." That holds up. Between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., the published windows give the public eleven of the fourteen hours.

The three hours the public does not get are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. For anyone who can only play after work or school pickup, those are the hours that count. A court time that was easy to find at Weddington in the late afternoon will be easier to find at River Park at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m.

Why the Evenings Will Be Quieter Than Weddington's

The lights at Weddington stayed on much later than River Park's will. The school uses that contrast to make its case.

The October 19 test followed the planned cutoffs exactly. On the north side, an earthen berm and an eight-foot solid sound wall line much of the property, and the athletic fields sit more than 100 feet from homes.

Getting there by car works the same way. All parking is underground or at grade, with 386 subterranean spaces and 17 surface spaces, and every car enters and leaves from Whitsett. School shuttles have a fixed route: north on Coldwater Canyon Avenue, right on Moorpark, right on Whitsett. Visitors are told to come up Whitsett from Ventura Boulevard. On-site staff will ask arrivals to confirm they did not park in the neighborhood. People who break the rule can lose permission to use the facilities.

The River Door Changes How the Park Connects

Weddington faced Whitsett. River Park will have a second public entrance on the Zev Yaroslavsky LA River Greenway. That half-mile stretch of trail runs between Whitsett Avenue and Coldwater Canyon and links up with other trails to form a five-mile river corridor, as PBS SoCal reported when the segment opened.

Under the plan, a walk along the river can turn into the park without going near the parking garage. The Times' July tour described the first year as a period of trial and error. The school expects to work out traffic patterns while welcoming the public to the tennis courts, a privately run café, and a walking path beside the river.

Café Southwest closed for construction. The school plans to reopen it in the remodeled clubhouse with a new kitchen and more seating. Under the historic designation, that clubhouse is one of the features the site has to keep.

Where the Opening Date Stands

Construction began in April 2024. In late July, the Times described a nearly finished $200 million complex. It has two gyms, a 52-meter pool, eight tennis courts, two turf fields, and community rooms. Before anything opens, it still has to pass city inspections and receive a Certificate of Occupancy. The school was aiming for activity to begin in early 2027.

On August 25, the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle reported that the opening had slipped from fall 2026 to early 2027. Beth Slattery, Head of Upper School, told the paper, "The city decides when it gives approval for certain things, so River Park's opening will probably be sometime towards the end of this calendar year or the beginning of next."

Until River Park opens, the hours above are the school's published plan, and the public has no access yet. Work on the edges of the site is still visible from the street. The school's October 16 update said sidewalk repairs and tree planting along Whitsett would continue, with a lane closure, for about two more weeks, and the sidewalk work on Valley Spring Lane on the same timeline. Bleachers were going up at Field A and the pool, and turf was being laid on Field A. The Whitsett work moves the sidewalk farther onto school property, widens the public right-of-way, and adds native oaks along the strip. The 14-foot covered fences along Whitsett were expected to come down so neighbors could see the work. Harvard-Westlake runs a construction hotline at 818-487-6611 and answers questions at [email protected].

If you own a home near Whitsett, Valley Spring Lane, or the river corridor, River Park's hours, access points, and traffic plan are now part of what nearby homes offer. Joseph Babajian can go over what the new campus means for your property in a confidential home valuation or private consultation.