The Bakersfield Racquet Club was founded in 1948 by the late Lake Lovelace, an avid tennis player on public courts, who moved to Bakersfield in 1922. At that time there were no private or commercial tennis clubs in the area, so Lake organized the local players at Jastro Park into a public parks club named Bakersfield Tennis Club. From 1939 to 1948 Lake operated a small tennis shop at Jastro Park and along with a few local businessmen tennis players came up with the idea of building a member-owned and operated private tennis club. A Tennis Development Corporation was created to sell stock and the tennis facility was built in 1948. A membership club was then created, which was named the Bakersfield Racquet Club. Many years later, before he died, Lake Lovelace wrote a book about the club which he titled: A Home for Tennis.