• ANAHEIM, Glacier Falls Ice Arena. 211 W. Katella, Built by George Baney, local contractor in approximately 1960. It was converted to ice hockey in the late '70's by a trio of doctors.I believe one of the doctors bought the others out and used it for his daughter's practice rink until it was converted to a 'warehouse'of some sort with a different entrance. Willi Kall (Kalinyak) had been the manager for many years. It was very popular for public skating. Since I lived within four miles I skated there a great deal. We played hockey at night before the conversion but we had to use a foam rubber puck made from the floor mats. Willi and Bill Kall, Fred and Guy Hildebrand, Evy Scotveld, the Chiaverinis were among those of us who had a ball, a wide open skating game on Sunday evenings. We did not always have goalies, the lights were not very bright and the nets were very light so we could lift them easily over the low dashers. The 'puck' even hit the low ceiling at times.
  
  
  
  
  Click on the thumbnail pic, then when it loads slowly click on the pic. Bill Kalyinak emailed me the pages of the program and came through even bigger than I have them 'scaled down' some.
  
    Glacier Falls Reunion, Saturday, July, 14, 2007 at Mile Square Regional Park, Fountain Valley, CA
 
• Bakersfield Ice Chalet (more info needed)
   
• BREA, Ice Capades Chalet at north end of Brea Mall. Opened in early '80's, closed in about 1987 for expansion of the mall. Moisture from the ice would have required some $$ improvements also. Kristin (Muravez) Burt Cooper emailed the following on May 31, 2007....."site had a brief life  in the 80's as a roller skating rink, then it was remodeled into a craft  mall.  After the craft mall closed, it was taken over by The Ritz, and  turned into a wedding/banquet facility.  My husband, Don and I were married  there in 1993.  It was torn down completely in the late '90s to make way  for a supermarket based shopping center." 
  

 
• CANOGA PARK, Topanga Plaza, Topanga Canyon & Vanowen CANOGA PARK, Topanga Plaza, Topanga Canyon &  Vanowen
  & Victory.  It is now the food court in  the current Westfield Topanga
  Mall.
  I played hockey there and in 1973, Bob  Pulford (Played for the Toronto
  Maple
  Leafs and Coached the Kings) was my  Pollywog coach!
  
  

 
• COSTA MESA, Klondike. 95 by 212 ft. Built by George Baney on Paularino Avenue, bounded on the north by South Coast Plaza and the San Diego Fwy, on the east by the Newport Fwy and on the southwest by the Corona Del Mar Fwy. Opened and closed in the '70's but was not put to alternate use for a long time.
  

 

• COSTA MESA Ice Chalet

  was in the Mesa Verde Center

  2701 Harbor Blvd, approximately 1970-2001

  Demolition pictures July 2003

  
  

• CULVER CITY, a roller rink which may have had an ice surface, on Washington Place which ran parallel and in between Venice and Washington Blvd off Sepulveda Blvd.

Ronda Kalan emailed August 4, '05: 
"Memories of Harlan and Margaret Parker's Skating Rink (Culver City studio rink at 5575
Sepulveda  Blvd. at Jefferson, about 40' x 60'. In 2005 a FedEx Kinko's per Sylia Stoddard) come back as I remember (1953-1962) having all of my childhood birthday parties at their tiny skating rink. When they had "shows" we needed to walk through the liquor bar next door to get around back so the audience out front would not see us in our costumes first.  My sister and I took lessons with Harlan who made us do far too many figure eights!  Buying a new skating skirt from their display behind the register was a highlight in a young girl's day!  I remember it well. Even fonder memories were my Saturday afternoons at the Polar Palace until it burned down in the early 60s.  My teacher, Mabel Fairbanks (a kind lady with red hair and gold skates) was always telling me to put more "oomph" into my flying sit spins.  One day, she told me that since I was an advanced skater she would need to raise the price of my lessons from $3.00 to $3.50 per lesson.  I thought that was very high but was proud to
be considered advanced.  
   Two years ago, I finally turned in my figure skates for hockey skates and am having the most fun I have ever had skating!  If I could only find a team of "kids" my own age, we'd need to call ourselves "The Geri-hat-tricks!"  My teammates haven't realized how old I really am!"

• FRESNO (since S. California teams played there). An article on Ice Skating in the book,"Fresno County in the 20th Century From 1900's to the 1980's Volume 2." by Charles W. Clough with several co-authors,  available at the Los Angeles Public Library.
" A storage plant and icehouse in the vicinity of South Elm Avenue near Easton served as the first makeshift ice skating rink in Fresno during the winter months of the 1930's.

Plans for a new ice skating rink northest of the corner of Olive and Fresno streets began in 1940, and interest was generated over a local hockey team organization in addition to other sporting activities. The building design included a trussed, barrel-type roof structure and slab-covered side embankments for tiered seating. The Fresno Bee noted the official opening of the Fresno Ice Rink on February 5, 1942.(at 2545 Olive.Street)."...............

"The rink closed in 1943 because of World War II, and the ice arena was converted into a defense plant occupied by a Fresno branch of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation for assembly of military plane sections. It again became an ice arena after the war."...............

"The Ice Arena was torn down in 1956 because of fire hazards, and the old Camp Pinedale Theater building on Harrison was leased by Beverly Jones and Clifford Paige for a new ice skating rink. Three weeks after the equipment was moved into the building it burned to the ground. A rink was rebuilt at the same site in 1957 and was called Iceland. This facility was sold to Bill and Julie Barrett in 1962, who operated it until 1975. Ice skating then moved to Icelandia at 2455 North Marks in 1976."


Chuck Collins brought the following information to my attention in March 2004.Gateway Ice Center 2473 N. Marks Avenue was built about 1995, adjacent to the above cited Icelandia rink.  The Gateway management group took over Icelandia and later converted it to roller hockey.


• GARDEN GROVE, Westbrook Ice Arena, 10131 Westminster Ave. Opened in mid '70's and was converted to a bowling alley within about two years before the public ever knew it was there. Excellent facility. Apparently a Sharks practice arena. I played 'pick up' there a few times.  Mike Yoder emailed me in Dec '04 that he played at Westbrook in 1974-75 for the Garden Grove Americans Bantams. He said it was fun and he misses the rink. He recalled playing in Norwalk, Costa Mesa, West Covina and Torrance.
  

 
• HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA, Skate Zone was a converted warehouse, 16091 Gothard St. Closing on March 31, 2007. per Kevin Stockdale  whose broomball group played there 5-6 years after playing at Ice Capades Chalet, Costa Mesa from '85 till it closed.
  
  
  Photos by Dave Monshaw as it closed, ice still in, arcade machines and Zam trucked off.

 
• IRVINE, Irvine Ice Arena, 3400 Michaelson Drive. In 2000 this very successful, popular, very attractive modern rink was closed and converted to a synagogue  under questionable circumstances.

 
• LAKE ARROWHEAD-BLUE JAY area.  In the early 1930s, an outdoor rink was built among the pine trees on Highway 189. That rink was torn down in the late 1970s  and a new one was completed in 1983. Lake Arrowhead resident Carol Probst, who had skated with the Ice Follies, was approached by the Blue Jay Village Co. to build a bigger and better rink, a unique structure open on three sides to give an  outdoors aspect. The only rink in the country designed to let in fresh air and sunshine. It was called Ice Castle, a large ice skating rink opening in 1983. After three days of snowfall, on Feb. 14, 2001, the entire roof collapsed due to the weight of the snow.

 

As it was.

looking at rink from front door.

Warm room end from front door.

The entrance with parking lot in background.

Demolition pictures, July 2002 by Dave Monshaw

Besides a professional-size ice rink, the 30,000-sq.ft. building contained offices, lockers, restrooms and concession areas. Built in 1982, the building's superstructure was a pre-engineered metal frame of tapered steel beams spaced 25 feet apart on center and spanning the width of the building.  

see my page for currently operating rinks for the  Ice Castle International Training Center, Lake Arrowhead, CA



 
• LONG BEACH, Polarink, 645 W. Anaheim Blvd opened March 17, 1939 next to CRS (California Refrigerated Services). Both are still located there in March 2001, however the 'rink' is used only for cold storage. How long it lasted is now 'the question'. Our guesses are not longer than the mid '50's, at best.

  LOS ANGELES
  Polar Palace has a separate page on this site.
 
• UCLA Hockey History goes back to 1926
   
• Sonja Henie Westwood Palace of Ice, originally called the Tropical Ice Gardens and was the first home of the All Year FSC (now at Culver Ice Arena). Jim Parsons speed skater, reports this is where he spent some of the most enjoyable times of his youth in the '40's and states the rink was located in Westwood Village just north of Wilshire Blvd  between Veteran Ave and Westwood Blvd. Photos and the whole fascinating history on Sylvia Stoddard's 'Square One' site.
  
 
• No name 'rink' which started life as an open air rink with a roof  added after WWII.., I found a building via directions from the late Art Guiney which he said had housed a small ice surface at one time. I recall vaguely it was on Hollywood Blvd, east of La Cienega and was a dark wooden structure with the grade sloping away from the road. In the 70's my guess it was into some sort of floral or art shop. I know Art said it had been open at one time and  not suitable for ice hockey.

 
• Ice Skating Palace, 1041 South Broadway per the Los Angeles Examiner December 23, 1916
" Old Skaters Renew Youth at Ice Rink How I used to skate" back East and up North was the chief topic of  conversation last night at the Ice Skating Palace, 1041 South Broadway, (6  blocks south of Staples Center if you go down 11th Street) which was opened  for an "invitational try-out."  Hundreds of Los Angeles folk glided, skidded  and otherwise disported themselves on the glassy surface to the music of a  band.  Many who had "not skated for years" took a chance and "came back,"  even though they knew there would be some sore muscles in the morning.  Barney Goss, the assistant manager in charge, saw that everybody got a chance to try the big sheet of real ice, which is 65x210 feet and "smooth as  glass."  The new rink, which opens to the public at 2 o'clock this  afternoon, is one of a chain of five owned by Joseph Patrick."
 
• 1925, the Palais du Glace on Melrose almost a block east of Vermont in a low area, near the Braille Institute and Los Angeles City College, which today is likely zoned residential but was formely commercial. Possibly also called Winter Garden. Cary Adams added that the low area was subject to flood and every so often the water would rush through the rink during a rain storm. Dana's research found that a Mack Sennett silent movie was made there in 1926. Most likely used at least to the mid 1930's by college, pro and semi-pro hockey. Possibly filmed there was a Turner Classic Movie, an early Robert Taylor,  mid-30's, "Times Square Lady" with a hockey scene between the L.A. Giants and Glendale Greyhounds from the short lived Intercity League. Photos and more on Sylvia Stoddard's site

 
• Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on the L.A. Public Library site a 1959 photo of installation of the ice floor. Opened in 1958-59 on the grounds of the Coliseum, home of college and pro football. If it still has an ice surface I have no knowledge of it being used. The ice surface was below ground level and it was a good facility, used also for exhibitions and basketball.

 
• Mack Sennett studio an ice rink in mid -30's. Located at 1712 Glendale Blvd., between Aaron and Effie Streets.

 
• PAN PACIFIC AUDITORIUM, Melrose Ave, L.A.
  
  In about 1970 I witnessed the preparation of one of the last ice surfaces for a show. Sylvia Stoddard sent the photos and wrote; "I'm enclosing four photos of the wondrous Pan Pacific.  One is vintage with great old cars.  You can see how huge the place was.  The other three were taken in the mid 1970s by my father when it had been repainted (and the
  "Pan Pacific" letters knocked down) for use as an NBC studio in the film FUNNY LADY. The last ice shows I saw there were the 1961 Ice Follies and Ice Capades.   The LA Sports Arena opened then and the ice shows all went there--a terrible move as there was never a house as dark as the Pan Pacific.  The Sports Arena had zillions of doors on all levels and you could never get the place very dark.   I think Holiday on Ice played a couple of times at the Forum.   The pipes at the Pan Pacific were permanent, so there could have  been a champions' tour or some such put on there after that, but I still have the program for the 1972 post-Olympics tour, and it was at the Sports Arena."
  

  End of L.A. city list
   
• NEWBURY PARK, Conejo Valley Ice Skating Center. Bill Ruggiero emailed that he started skating there in 1987 and he thinks it closed in 1993-94. His daughter Angela went on to the 1998 Olympic Team and son, Billy, the Moncton Wildcats-QMJHL. Jan 2007  Leesa Johnson Large emailed her memories of the rink. " I skated at the Conejo Valley ice skating center from 1976-1986. The rink was a huge part of my childhood  and produced a lot of great skaters.  I loved that dirty, disco rink.  I have fond memories of the roof leaking everytime it rained, battling the hills during figures on the end patches, and skating with my friends.  I am very thankful each day that I had such a great rink to skate in.  It may have been dirty, freezing, and leaky, but it was a great environment for kids.  I
  don't have any bad memories there.  I learned valuable life lessons, and pass them on to my skaters today.  I am now a coach at the most beautiful rink in America.  My current rink my be a beautiful building with a lake view, but it doesn't have the warmth and feeling of family that Conejo had
  for me.  I maybe romantizing my childhood but the parents and coaches did a great job not letting us kids know about any of the typical club bs that happens. The last time I saw the rink it had become a home depot.  Very sad."
  
 
• NORTH HILLS Iceoplex, 8345 Hayvenhurst Place, NORTH HILLS, CA, closed in 2001 due to the 'energy crises', unknown status whether ever will re-open
  
  

• NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Ice Capades Chalet, Laurel Plaza, Laurel Canyon & Oxnard was destroyed along with it's end of the shopping mall when the Northridge earthquake struck.  The May Co. at the other end of the mall survived, but was closed for  years.   It is all that remains of the shopping center on Laurel Canyon Blvd.
  
 
• NORTH HOLLYWOOD,Schramm's was located on Vineland just north of Vanowen or Sherman Way. It closed down for years and then later re-opened as the "Valley Gardens" with wrestling events and boxing, but apparently not ice skating. Marty Tryon emailed that in approximately 1960-63 he learned to skate there. Sylvia Stoddard wrote; "Schramms was a hoot--a real barn of a place.   April Schramm drove a 1959 Chevy convertible entirely covered in glitter.   Really!   I used to see
  her  occasionally at Pickwick after Schramm's closed."
  
 
• PALM DESERT, City Skate of Palm Desert closed in 2001. Reputedly a 'postage stamp' sized rink but home to the Desert Hockey Association. Was replaced by stores.   Westfield Shoppingtown 72-840 Highway 111 , PALM DESERT, CA
  

 
• PASADENA, From the February 1941 "Southwest Builder and Contractor" , a defunct trade journal, the article "Ice Skating Rink Attests Value of Complete Planning", about . the newest ice skating rink in the state, the Pasadena Winter Garden. Apparently it was built by Cliff Henderson of the Pan Pacific. The article has several interior and some exterior front entrance pictures. The journal is available in the archives of the Los Angeles Public Library. My boys Mites team played one of their first games at the Winter Garden's on Green Street, a  huge surface with iron guard rails and no dashers. The rink closed about a year later in 1967 for a new Post Office whose workers discovered the perma frost in the ground would not go away. The cold affected postal workers so badly, the facility eventually closed and became a storage facility. Apparently about 10 years later the current rink opened in the same area.

 
• RIVERSIDE--There was an artificial surface open sides and covered completely with a roof not far from the old Mission Hotel. People my age (67) who skated there as children recall it a bit of an imitation of the 'Dutch' farmers building in Paramount, next to Zamboni's property. These farmers had refigeration running for processing and storage of their dairy operations so running pipes for an artificial surface was an easy adjunct operation.

 
• RIVERSIDE, Olympic Ice Gardens, 11070 Magnolia Avenue, full scale hockey practice rink, whirlpool and all. Opened and closed in early '80's. Built by Biff Reddin of Newport Beach.

 
• SAN BERNADINO, Daryl Wright emailed in Feb '05 that there was an ice surface in the old Swing Auditorium on the 'Orange Show Fairgrounds'. He went to a hockey game there in the late '50's with a school friend whose family took them.  

 
• SAN DIEGO. Pat Lesh emailed in May 05; "A rink infamous for water on the ice, fog, etc., was Glacier Gardens located on Harbor Drive, at the foot of  (if I recall) 5th or maybe 8th Avenue.  Dutch Miller  was the rink manager at one time, and his daughter, Marlene, trained there  before becoming Richard Dwyer's first skating partner in the Ice  Follies.   The San Diego Figure  Skating Club was founded there over 60 years ago, and it was also home to the  Skyhawks hockey team; several touring shows, Ice Cycles (a "minor league" Ice  Follies) and a couple of Sonja Henie shows performed there, and at least one  wedding was held on its ice. (JN note; guys I practiced with in Norwalk CA played senior games at this rink and told tales of 'uncertain' ice conditions.) When it was torn down in the early 50s, a  tiny ice studio on Midway Drive became the only local ice surface in the area  until the rink opened on Lake Murray Blvd. in La Mesa.  I have not  been able to find out when it was built.  During the first part of the 70s, an ice rink opened in El Cajon on Johnson Ave, in a metal warehouse-type building.  Rene Daisy was the pro there.  It wasn't in operation very long, and the building is now,  naturally, a warehouse." 
  

  LA MESA  was an old rink in the late 50's and closed in approximately 1964. Located at the corner of Lake Murray Blvd. and Dallas Street,  now a postal facility. On January 17, 2005 Jim Sperber emailed information which contributed greatly to this write up. When his family first started to skate,about 1961, his mother drove them to the La Mesa facility. They lived in western San Diego (Point Loma)and as soon as the new facility in Mission Valley Center West opened, c. 1963, they used that rink and stopped going all the way to La Mesa. The La Mesa rink closed a year or two later.

  MISSION VALLEY Ice Arena, Mission Valley Center West, Route 80. So for awhile the Mission Valley rink was only one left in the county. Jim wrote "Mission Valley's rink closed in the early 1970s (possibly 1970 or 71) and became Moskatel's, which was a crafts/decorating store (not unlike Stats or Michael's). Mission Valley sometimes dyed the ice different colors; I distinctly remember pink ice. Mission Valley had glass windows which were closed in summer, to keep heat out, but were removed in the winter to create an open air facility (though covered). There was a food court built around the rink, so diner could sit and eat at rinkside tables and watch the skaters. Sort of had a European feel to it. They had a party area with bench tables and birthday parties were common at this rink when I was growing up."

  That's the rink where I watched Peter McNab and other hockey players at a 3 on 3 type game with a goalie at only one end of the small rink.

  HOUSE OF ICE was built near the corner of Lake Murray Blvd. and Interstate 8 in about 1967 or 1968 and closed circa 1978. It is now a Church. So after Mission Valley closed it was the only rink in the county other than the Sports Arena downtown. Jim distinctly remembers a high school ice skating trip (sponsored by a service club) in 10th grade, 1971-72, and they were obliged to go all the way out to House of Ice.  
  

Suzanne Shea Reed's email of Aug. 4,2005:

I used to ice skate in San Diego so it was really nostalgic to read the entries about the San Diego (La Mesa, Mission Valley) rinks!  I had taught myself to skate at a tiny ice rink that was part of Vic
Tanny Gyms in San Diego.  They were the first "chain" of gyms, even before the Jack La Lanne chain.   This was around 1959 and the gym was on El Cajon Blvd not far from San Diego State College area. My dad signed up for the two year family plan.    In addition to the workout room, pool, steam room and tiny two lane bowling alley, there was also a very small ice rink.  I took to the
sport right away and was soon going backwards and doing small spins etc, in that tiny space.

One day my dad brought home some second-hand Rydell skates for me.  Someone he had done a real estate job with had given them to him. He also found out about that  ice-rink out in La Mesa on Lake Murray (I believe it was called, "IceLand") .  He took me out there and I signed up for classes. I was soon in the advanced classes and zooming around like crazy. I LOVED everything about skating. The exercise, the music, the performing,  the outfits! Ha.. I loved it all. I'd get so excited to get out there my legs would shake when I was putting on the skates. As other places opened up I'd go and skate there as well, Mission Valley and House of Ice. 

I had always enjoyed singing too, so for my  13th bday,  I got a guitar to accompany myself.  I took to guitar as fast as I had to skating so it soon captured my attention. But I was still skating as well, at least for the next couple of years.  Soon, though, my parents tired of the expense of skating and driving back and forth to ice rinks ..so they encouraged my guitar-playing and singing instead, something I could do at home.   I started going less and less to ice rinks and more and spending more time at the Coffeehouses singing on "Hoot" nights.  
 
I ended up singing professionally for 25 years, but I still have such fond memories of skating. Thru the years I'd skate now and then., first about 10 times a  year, then 3-4, then a few years not going at all.   Up until about age 40 or so  I could still zoom around the rink a bit.. I went out last year at 55 ,.  and tho it was fun,  it was a bit hard on the ole joints! Still love to watch the skating events tho. 

I have a big regret that in all my skating years, no one got a photo of me skating!  At the time I didn't think to ask anyone to take photos.wish I had though.  I got good at the sport but I never got involved in any skating clubs at all. If I had I suppose I would have had the opportunity to have some photos! Ah well.   



• SANTA BARBARA, Ice Patch, 1933 Cliff Drive.  Built in 1975,  closed sometime in 1983-4. Some history via email (edited by me) as follows:

From: "Tim Fahringer"
To: "'Joe Nix'" <nixit@mo-net.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002

"The owner who originally built the rink had a figure skating daughter so that activity was the focus of the  arena's design.  It had hockey dimensions but no glass. The top of the boards was covered with carpet, and the cinder block walls at the north and west ends were painted an 'ocean' collage of dark and light blue figures.  Nets were drawn around part of the rink for hockey matches and play stoppages were common in the south end from the puck flying into the locker rooms. The rink did have a very sophisticated scoreboard for its time, with two penalty clocks for each team.

The hockey program there was pretty much restricted to in-house with a travelling team that played some AHAUS teams like Burbank and Conejo.  I played both in-house and travel from 1975 to about 1978.  My dad was one of the larger sponsors and actually had the "Fahringer Cup" which was given to the champions of the Bantam Division.  It also had a Junior B team, the Santa Barbara Islanders.  I tried to locate the Fahringer Cup several years ago but had no luck.

I attended the first ever hockey camp during the summer of 1975, which went from 8 a.m. to
4 p.m. every week.  I lived in Ventura at the time, and John Field, who lived in Ojai, would drive down Highway 33 to pick me up and take 101 north to the rink.  The local newspaper did a photo shoot, including a shot of everyone involved in the rink and the camp. ..........I am sure you would recognize many of the faces and names in the picture, like Steve Kostichuk, Dal Daibold, Vic Mori and others.  I kept a copy of the article, although it is not in great shape today.

Later that summer was the Butch Goring Hockey Camp.  This was quite a thrill because in 74-75 the Kings were pretty good and Butch was quite the character.  He stayed at John Field's house in Ojai and so I was able to ride up and back a few times with Butch.

I had heard that the rink closure was due to the fact that land yields in Santa Barbara were very attractive, and that particular location was very desireable for office space.  Thus, the owner converted or razed the structure for commercial office development and use.

I hope this helps.  Tim"
 

• SANTA MONICA, Ice Capades Chalet opened in 1966 and closed prematurely in 1983. The building is still there at 500 Broadway at 5th. The surface was 85 by 201.5 feet with a very low ceiling featuring a mirrored disco-ball in the middle, Pete Lemoine, manager. Art Guiney's equipment business started there as the skate shop. It was the 'home rink' for my oldest son in 1969-70 (and we always lived in Anaheim). Tai Babalonia & Randy Gardner, and Ken Shelley & Jojo Starbuck practiced there. Sylvester Stallone took Talia Shire out for a spin on the ice in the first 'Rocky' movie (although the script pretends its in Philadelphia).

 
• Iceon Skating Center Ice rink, (closed May  2004)
  12385 San Fernando Road
  Sylmar, Ca. 91342
  
   
• TARZANA, Valley Ice Skating Center, 18361 Ventura Blvd. Smaller than regulation with a 'quonset hut' roof which caused dripping condensation and the infamous 'Valley Fog' near the ice surface. Tim Hutcheson emailed  in Feb '05,  "I was fascinated to run across your website with the early rinks of  Southern California and immediately looked to see if the Tarzana rink  was represented.  I skated and taught figure skating there  1967- 1973. I recall it being close to full size, having resurfaced it by hand many nights. It was owned and operated by Ron and Sheila Priestly, both remarkable figure skaters and show  performers of their time. Ron was, as I recall, a British champion who skated a famous  routine called "The Phantom" and collaborated on the design of the  famous Phantom skating blade that was well regarded.  I used it myself  for most of my skating career."
  
  

 
• WEST COVINA Ice Arena, 85 by 185 ft, 2235 E. Garvey. Email from Nanette Varela: "Free standing building built around late 60's off the 10 fwy. Had a lifesize statue of a woman on top of the building near the entrance in skating attire and skates doing a spin on glaciers

  
  

  (see two 2005 pics at it's location on the front of the Culver City rink ).

  Many top skaters trained there one Olympic pairs team of Peter Oppergard and Vickie Heasley. Her mom, Joan Heasley was my coach there. John Nicks also coached there from time to time. Home of the West Covina figure
  skating club. In the mid 80's the rink was sold by the long time owner Joe Ursetta to a skater's family who mis-managed it and sold the property to a builder in 1989 who promptly bulldozed it."
  
   

• WHITTIER-LA HABRA, Polar Palace, Whittier Blvd, just east of Beach, technically 'in' La Habra. By email Oct '04 from Kari (Crocker) O'Dell, "opened in the spring of 1969.  I took figure skating lessons there from Harland Parker (?). He had previously been at Glacier Falls. I skated at Glacier Falls from 1968 to 1977 and was on their speed skating team in 1970/71. More people from Glacier Falls were Joe Horvath, Rich King, Dick Lang (?), Mike Cote, Ron Lynch, Glen Schulte, and Brian Hadley (who later managed Klondike).  Thanks for keeping the website, it brings back lots of memories. I have skated at many of the rinks you mentioned."
  
  Kristin (Muravez) Burt Cooper emailed the following on May 31, 2007
  
"I took lessons from Harlan and Tina Parker (formerly of Glacier Falls) from  1974 to 1980, and also skated there with their daughter, Traci.  Figures,  figures, figures!!! And oh how I remember Ice Flicks '76!!! (With John Nicks as  director/producer).  What a first class production -it was a very very  popular place in the 70's, and we had some really good skaters come out of  that place!  After it closed, most of the skaters followed the Parkers  to Ice Capades Chalet in the Brea Mall.

---

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