Ping pong hot spot to open in club district

The club, which is being designed by New York’s Todd Oldham, will have a “fun and funky look,” at least a dozen ping pong tables, a licensed bar and a full food menu with charcuterie plates, mini tacos and flatbreads, says SPiN Toronto founder Ryan Fisher.

Fisher, 32, started playing ping pong as a kid in South Africa and at age 9 moved to Canada, where racket sports were less popular and finding a ping-pong table was a bit of a game unto itself.

But in recent years, the Olympic sport has become more mainstream. In Toronto, a group of aficionados launched the Dedicated Association of Ping Pong Players and started hosting charity tournaments. Meanwhile, two filmmakers in New York City began throwing weekly ping pong parties in their huge Tribeca loft — attracting models, bankers, artists and an unlikely mix of celebrities, including Owen Wilson, Salman Rushdie, 50 Cent and Susan Sarandon.

The party outgrew the loft. In 2009, Sarandon — along filmmakers, Jonathan Bricklin and Franck Raharinosy and a former investment banker named Andrew Gordon —opened SPiN New York, a swanky clubhouse.

“People loved it, they’ve never seen anything like it,” says Gordon, CEO of the SPiN holding company. Buoyed by their New York success, the SPiN partners opened two more locations in L.A. and Milwaukee in 2010.

SPiN Toronto will give young people living in nearby condos yet another extracurricular option beyond the beloved downtown hobbies of drinking and dining. In December, a chic bowling alley called The Ballroom opened nearby at the corner of John and Richmond Sts.

For Fisher, who has a background in the food and hospitality industry, the idea of opening a ping pong club started “brewing” four or five years ago — long before SPiN launched. Last November, he visited the New York club, where he had a four-hour meeting with the partners and found himself sitting across the table from Sarandon, who has called herself “the Johnny Appleseed of ping pong.”

“She’s one of the most down-to-earth people who’s in the limelight I’ve probably ever come across,” Fisher says.

SPiN Toronto, a $1.5 million investment backed by some local partners including Fisher and his father, Ian Fisher, will be open during the day and until 2 a.m. most nights.

“It’s for everyone,” Fisher says. “Kids play, women play, men play, you can play competitively, you can play while you’re drinking, you can play with your kids.”

The club will also have ping pong pros on hand for people who need some help learning the game.

Gordon confirmed that he and his partners have been filming a TV series about the New York club, and are in the process of getting a network to pick up the show.