By Jorge Casuso
October 14, 2009 -- For 91-year-old Mary Ellen Johansen, ICE at Santa Monica is a way to relive a long life in Connecticut, when, every winter, skaters take to the ice and glide through the freezing air.
For 4-year-old Caroline Newall, the outdoor skating rink that has become a holiday fixture. Downtown provides a taste of the winter fun she would have had if her parents had stayed in New York.
“I think it’s unusual for people on the Westside to skate outdoors,” says former World Figure Skating Champion Randy Gardner, who once again will MC the grand opening. “It reminds them of back east.
“It’s refreshing. You get the fresh air. It's an open feeling, and it’s warm outdoors. It’s just really fun. We’re lucky.”
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| Skaters take to the ice last year. |
On October 30, East Coast natives can join the throngs of skaters who will start enjoying a slice of old-fashioned winter fun warmed by Pacific Ocean breezes when ICE at Santa Monica returns for its third holiday season.
For nearly three months the parking lot at the corner of 5th Street and Arizona Avenue will be transformed into an outdoor skating rink that can accommodate 300 skaters on a sheet of ice guaranteed to stay solid in balmy Southern California weather.
Attendance at ICE at Santa Monica has skyrocketed from 30,000 skaters the first year to 60,000 skaters last year. And record crowds are expected this holiday season.
“I think people are looking forward to it now,” Gardner says. “I think they’re expecting it.”
One skater sure to come back this year is Patrick Newall, along with his daughter, Caroline.
“I remember seeing her face,” says Newall. “She grew up in Santa Monica, and it was so much fun. Back East, we would have gloves and scarves, so skating in 70-degree weather was a real nice treat. I’ll definitely go back.”
This year, little Caroline Newall will be able to take to the ice without a swirl of big people whisking by her. A 400-square-foot rink will be set aside where children six and under can safely learn to skate.
“She couldn’t skate on her own,” her father, Patrick, recalls. “We went around the rink twice and she loved it. My other daughter is only two, so I’ll probably take her this year.”
Mary Ellen Johansen is also looking forward to a return visit when she comes to town this holiday season. Johansen, who frequently visits her daughter, Martha Goode, in Santa Monica, doesn’t have to trudge through the snow to watch.
“We take ex-pats from Connecticut and visitors from Connecticut, and we marvel at the wonder of it all,” says Goode, who grew up skating outdoors in her home state.
Goode recalls her mother’s reaction when she first spotted the ice rink.
“It’s December, and it’s sunny and there are jade trees, and we come to this skating rink,” Goode recalls. “And mom says, 'The world is a wonderful place.'
“It’s extremely happy-making, and these are trying times we’re living in, and people are having a simple good time.”
This month, work crews will cover the parking lot with what resembles a huge sandbox, perfectly leveled to support the ice. Then, they’ll cover the sand with rows and rows of tubing connected to a large refrigeration unit. The tubing will then be covered with half an inch of water that, once frozen, will be painted white.
Gardner -- who trained for the Olympic Games in 1976 and 1980 at the indoor rink that would soon be torn down to make way for Fred Segal’s on 5th and Broadway -- is looking forward to taking to the ice and feeling the wind in his hair.
“It’s amazing,” he says. “It’s a very spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. People just walk by and say, ’Let’s go skating.’”
Part of Bayside District’s elaborate Winterlit holiday program, ICE at Santa Monica will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday through January 31, including Halloween, Christmas Day and New Years Day.
Admission, including skate rental, is $10.
Both the main rink and the kids’ rink offer skating lessons, season passes and special event options for birthday or holiday parties.
For more information please visit downtownsm.com or call 310.393.8355.
