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On Thin Ice: 10 Abandoned & Defrosted Ice Skating Rinks

19 Dec

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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At these abandoned ice skating rinks, hockey turns to hooky faster than frosty ice turns to lukewarm water. Kinda like Blade Runner but without the blades.

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Berkeley Iceland opened with a bang on November 1st, 1940 when three-time Olympic skating champion and Hollywood actress Sonja Henie performed before a packed house. Sixty-six years later, the venerable rink closed and soon fell prey to vandals and graffiti artists. Fun fact: East Bay Iceland, the rink’s owner at and after closing, was Richard Zamboni, son of the inventor of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine.

Bladeless in Bristol

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The Bristol Ice Rink opened in 1966 and closed in late 2012 after a 46-year run… and a jolly good run it was! It’s estimated that over 10 million people from all across southwest England visited the rink, including Olympic Ice-dancing gold medalists Torvill and Dean. “It’s not a case of skating being dead and buried in Bristol,” explained rink manager Eddie Pearson, “but we’ve come to the end of our lease and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

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Urbex explorer Beyond The Boundary did something, however, even if it was photo-documenting the doomed rink in April/May of 2013 and again later that year, just as building demolition was getting underway.

Poconope

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The Pocono Ice-A-Rama rink at the couples-only Penn Hills Resort in Analomink, PA opened in 1962 and was promoted at the time as being the only indoor ice skating rink in the Poconos. Flickr user Kate McCann (k8mccann2) visited the long-closed resort/rink complex in 2014 and yeah, vacations in the Poconos aren’t what they used to be.

Akita Mañana

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It gets pretty snowy in northwestern Japan so one would think winter sports & recreation facilities would attract a loyal local crowd. Well, think again: the Akita Ice Arena is most definitely closed and obviously abandoned. Imgur user plasticscissors visited the shuttered but not-quite-inaccessible arena in March of 2013 and was kind enough to post a host of images. Now you know what an iceless ice skating rink looks like – miles of plastic tiles.

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On Thin Ice 10 Abandoned Defrosted Ice Skating Rinks

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Freezeways: Using Bike Paths as Winter Ice Skating Corridors

11 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

freezeway design concept drawing

Proposed by a landscape architect from Edmonton, Alberta, this 7-mile urban project may not be as far fetched as it first sounds – in many regards it is simply a linear extension of an ice skating rink or more pragmatic variant of for-fun skateways found in Holland and Russia.

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freezeway design concept drawings

For the many cities in the United States, Canada, Northern Europe and elsewhere that are only warm (and thawed) enough for comfortable biking half of the year, designs like The Freezeway by Matt Gibbs could provide a means to modify extant bike pathways to get exercise, have fun and commute to work during colder months. The process is not as simple as pouring ice on existing paths – issues of grade, embankments and connections would need to be addressed – but the concept is gaining momentum and these problems all have solutions.

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The idea has local appeal for places like its architect’s hometown, which is ice cold for much of the year and dark to boot, providing an excuse to get outdoors as well as a way to move about the city. It also has potential international appeal as a tourist attraction and urban icon akin to the High Line in New York, Garden Bridge coming to London, Sea Wall in Vancouver and other one-of-a-kind landscape projects around the world.

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More details from the designer: “By shovelling a mapped out route, the space between snow banks could be flooded, perhaps by a fire hydrant at first (though it’s not ideal), creating a web of trails to explore on skates, requiring minimal expenditure …. This space could eventually be animated by lights and music. If popular, it could incrementally expanded every year.”

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More on the advantages for and beyond commuting: “This project is not meant to be a tax payer’s burden. The Freezeway is meant upgrade city infrastructure for a multitude of uses, potentially doing wonders for the redeveloping City’s core, our international reputation, as well as attract investment into the City. The proposed route exists entirely on existing City infrastructure; the land is already secured. The numerous character areas along the route could be developed in phases, lending themselves well to private funding/sponsorship, like Calgary’s GlobalFest, or Vancouver’s Festival of Light fireworks shows, funded by donations of over 1 million dollars annually. The design team is currently exploring numbers.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Rolling Stop: 10 Abandoned Roller Skating Rinks

23 Feb

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

These abandoned roller skating rinks once saw social interaction mesh seamlessly with healthful recreation backed by a toe-tapping musical soundtrack.

Faded Starlight

abandoned Starlight Roller Rink Utah (image via: Arbyreed)

Pretty much all that remains of the former Starlight Roller Skating Rink and outdoor dance hall are the bandshell, ticket booth and concrete outdoor “dance floor”. Located between Toquerville and Pintura just off the old Cedar City highway (now I-15), the Starlight was built in the early 1940′s as an open-air dance hall and/or roller skating rink, the latter activity taking precedence as the Big Band era closed.

abandoned Starlight Roller Rink Utah (images via: Arbyreed)

According to the oldest resident of Pintura (likely a former patron), the Starlight Roller Skating Rink was abandoned in 1953 as the Korean War was drawing to a close. Credit Utah’s arid climate for preserving the facility’s remnants and credit Flickr user Arbyreed for these spectacular photos taken in February of 2010.

Alberta Blues

abandoned roller rink Calgary Alberta Canada (image via: Michael Oliver)

Who could imagine a roller skating rink wouldn’t be able to thrive in Calgary, Alberta? Oh, just about everyone: this is CANADA, a place where real skating is done with ice skates and nobody pays for the privilege… during Calgary’s long cold winter, at least. Props to Flickr user Michael Oliver for the disturbing yet delightful image above.

A View To A Bushkill

abandoned Bushkill Park roller rink (images via: TheUnknownCameraman)

Bushkill Park had a good run – the Easton, PA-area amusement park was open from 1902 through 2004 – but severe flood damage inflicted by Hurricanes Ivan and Wilma caused the storied park and its signature roller rink to close pending a massive renovation nobody thinks will actually occur. Almost a decade after the worst flooding in a century, Bushkill Park remains stubbornly comatose.

abandoned skates at Bushkill Roller Rink (images via: TheUnknownCameraman)

If Bushkill Park’s owners need funds to jump start the clean-up they might try selling off some of the roller rink’s massive inventory of skates before they rot away. Check out this video from TheUnknownCameraman to virtually experience exploring the post-apocalyptic rink.

Beaten Down In Eatontown

abandoned Eatontown Roller Rink (images via: Legend Has It… and Atlanticville)

The former Eatontown Roller Rink in Eatontown, New Jersey closed in 2005 and has been quietly deteriorating ever since. Well, not exactly EVER… on February 19th of 2009, high winds caused part of the building’s roof and side walls to collapse. The Eatontown Roller Rink’s rather sudden demise may have been a blessing for its owner, who was planning to demolish the moldering roller rink anyway. Now it won’t take quite so long.

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Rolling Stop 10 Abandoned Roller Skating Rinks

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Team Ro Sham No skating

14 Dec

Jason Vickery, Dave Searle, Tom Hodder, Aaron Newman and Matt Holland skateboarding at Clevedon, Yatton and Weston Super-mare skateparks. Recorded by Alex Finney using a Nikon D300.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Posts Tagged ‘skating’