As in, wonder how it feels to skate on synthetic ice?

PHOTO by DAVID THYBERG

Nothing says winter along Southern California’s waterfront better than a synthetic-ice rink across the street from a Chili’s. Now that exactly such a seasonal juxtaposition is finally being arranged in Long Beach, even the people who are melding the space-age polymers with the iconography of Currier and Ives adjacent to a place where everyone can “Pepper in some fun!™” are surprised it took them so long.

“We’ve been looking at bringing in holiday ice skating for some years,” acknowledged Jennifer Gartland, marketing director for the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. “We’re all excited to see how this is going to work.”

Hear that. It’s hard to imagine a surface that’s both smooth and durable enough that skaters with sharp metal blades—no special skates are required for synthetic ice—can glide, spin and stop without leaving a groove or shaving something off the top.

It was even harder to imagine this last Friday, a week before the rink’s Nov. 29 opening, when the only inkling that anything might soon be occupying the Shoreline Dr. lawn in front of the Ferris wheel and carousel were several tiny red flags sticking out of the grass. Mitch Darwish, a balding man in Versace sunglasses and a black shirt decoratively stitched on the cuffs and collar, nodded thoughtfully as the little flags fluttered along what would be the border of the rink.

“There are advantages to this synthetic-ice technology,” Darwish explained. “Environmentally and economically, it’s more friendly, because it takes just five percent of the energy needed to maintain water as an ice-skating surface.”

Darwish conceded there are some drawbacks, too, especially aesthetically.

“It’s not cold. Some people will miss that,” he said. “It’s not as fast—although that can be safer for people who don’t skate much. Not that it’s not slippery—it’s super slippery. It has a 90 to 95 percent slippery ratio (versus the 100 percent of ice).”

There’s another advantage to the way this ice-skating rink is set up, too: according to Gartland, it’s being completely paid for by the owners of the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. Last spring, Diana Bosetti reported in The District Weekly that the Downtown Long Beach Associates were floating a plan to spend $300,000 on a rink—this one with real ice—somewhere near the Promenade.

“It’s an opportunity for us to bring more attention to this area, drive more customers here and give something to community,” said Gartner. “We think we’re adding a piece of fun to
the waterfront.”

A mini fun zone, actually, right where the old Pike Amusement Park used to be. A Christmas-tree lot is going up next to the rink, on the opposite side from the Ferris wheel and carousel; and during the first three weekends of December there will be kids’ crafts and balloon artists. Gartner said that purchasing a skating ticket—$12 for 90 minutes—or a tree comes with validated parking.

Speaking of parking, skating on synthetic ice does not lessen the reality of crash landings.

“If you fall, it’s still hard,” Darwish emphasized. And in fact, falling on synthetic ice may feel a little harder, inasmuch as you don’t tend to slide as easily . . . which is the downside of that 90-percent slippery ratio mentioned earlier. That made Darwish think of something else.

“You might want to mention,” he said, “that it’s skating at your own risk.”

Tags: ice skating, Long Beach, synthetic ice, the pike