Look, I get it. It’s getting hotter. We didn’t get nearly enough rain. There wasn’t even a good Christmas movie this year. But you know what you can do anytime? Ice Skating! Let’s have a look at this “Glacial arena”, this “Ice Themed” Sports center, and see if I can ride this walrus or fall like so many children before me.
(EX: all clutching their lower back, saying stuff like “argh, my back” and “help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up”).
Apparently, for the last 2 years, I have been working right next to an ice rink without knowing it. The Rinks - Lakewood ICE is snuggled up behind a Bowling Alley (we’ll do that another day) right next to a lumber yard. So, if you weren’t looking, you’d never find it. I've driven past it so many times, seeing kids in hockey gear all jumping up and down like they won something and the only thought in my head was “Wow. That’s a lot of gear for bowling".
With how the front is decorated, nothing really guides you to the main entrance so I just tried the first door and got lucky.
Soon as you open the door, there's a nice front counter with a screen above showing the current program schedule for the day. Public skating time was 4pm-5:30pm on this day. What I really love about this place is the new user friendliness. No waivers, no infinite Q&A session of 30 minutes sucking the initial fun out of a new experience. They just charged me for the entrance fee + ice-skate rental and said “Go left, last door on the right". I took longer to order food in a drive through.
The hall stretches out into a long, bench-lined, locker room. Had a seat, swapped my feet, then finally noticed the floors cushioned with tough rubber for walking on your skates!
Thankfully they had lockers so I could send my shoes to stinky feet jail for the hour.
Everyone kind of just leaves their stuff around, it feels pretty chill, I wish I had more stuff to leave on the floor.
It’s a narrow space to the rink once getting through the doors, but I appreciate the extra space on the ice. It has a nice gentle ramp all the way to the easy launch and landing. Alright, I’ve procrastinated enough. Time to see if the ice wins, claims another butt, and sends me packing home listening to Abba’s “Winner Takes it All” with a frown on my face.
I step onto the ice with the little front spikes skates have so I don’t just fly off into space and take a moment to really balance myself. After 40 seconds of “uuuuuwaaah” and “eeeeeeeaaaA” and “nnnHHNnnnnhhhnnnn”’s, I finally find peace so that I can look and enjoy the indoor view.
Now that you’re on the ice, you can really feel the winter, but more than that, you can feel the empty space. It’s really nice to have a whole parking lot of ice practically to yourself. It really made me far more confident to move on the ice, wave and throw my arms for balance, and most importantly, know that if I call, I won’t crush a child.
Finally, I got to do 1 lap on the course. Feet shaking, sweaty from the constant balancing and fear of falling, I finally felt as though I could, and am, skating. With each lap I finished, the more natural it felt, like rollerblading all over again. I could finally pass up the 4-year-old in front of me. With my nose high.
By this time more and more people found their way onto the ice, but it never felt crowded. I started spending my time watching other people’s feet on how to better glide along.
It was around then that I needed a break from some foot muscle never used soI sat on some break way wall bleachers. I got to rest and do more people watching.
There were 2 main parties to watch. The first group was 2 girls and their instructor, gliding on the ice, jumping and spinning like pro’s. The number of turns they could do really did shock and delight. The second were 2 small boys, kitted with full padding and helmets. As soon as they got the ice they practically sprinted across the ice at full speed. They didn’t really seem to care about stopping because they would just simply tumble to the floor and walls in 2 separate piles, and like springboards, shoot right back up and do it all over again.
Don’t worry, there was a man in an orange vest always doing laps to make sure no one fell too hard and that no one was stuck on the ice.
I watched both groups until my feet felt better. When I returned to the ice, like magic, I could suddenly skate so much easier. Hands in pocket, sailing down the way. I even emulated what the boys were doing trying to go as fast as I could and stopping on a dime, successfully, collapsing into a pile of myself. It was the getting up that I found the hardest. By the time I realized it, the hour and some change had passed.
I felt plenty tired and left a bit early. I broke my old feet out of stinky feet jail and swapped back over.
It wasn’t a big deal either to return the skates. You just hand them off and you’re clear to leave. I cannot stress enough how simple and clean it is to come and go from here; easier than a gym.
As I was leaving, I realized, there were 2 other rinks?!?! Inside this backlot building, there were 3 Ice rinks: The small one, this middle one that the ice skaters were practicing on.
And the hockey practice rink.
I took and extra minute to watch each rink and marvel at the environment, also seeing how some people go really hard at their passion.
For the hockey rink, there was even an extra space for chairs, separate team locker room and…
Food court!!! Maybe i'll come here when they have a game.
I wasn’t expecting to have such a good time here. I was worried the whole time about how long it would take to learn how to even move on the ice, let alone, feel natural. I was worried how crowded it might be, how uncomfortable I’d feel in a new hobby. I’m probably going to keep doing this here and there. Maybe they got a year membership or something, I don’t know. You have a good one. (Then I guess i'll put on some shades … see you on the ice... *YYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHH* and that sound plays).
The Rinks – Lakewood ICE is a hidden gem just steps from Lakewood Self Storage. With its welcoming atmosphere and hassle-free setup, it’s an ideal spot for both beginners and seasoned skaters. Sometimes, the best discoveries are right around the corner, literally!
The Rinks – Lakewood ICE
3975 Pixie Ave, Lakewood, CA 90712
Open Daily from 6am-12am
lakewoodice.therinks.com
