I love ice skating but the rink i go to is really crowded, does anyone know any good rinks in Los Angeles?

Question

please give me names

Answer 1

if you're going just for fun then i'm sorry but i dont know any other ice rinks. But if you are practicing jumps and spins etc., try freestyle sessions.

Answer 2

yyyyeeeeaaaaaah

Answer 3

Well, the rink in Pasadena isn't too crowded in the freestle sessions in the morning. The early hours of the public session are okay as long as it isn't one of those day a group of 30 boy scout kids come to skate. Don't bother going to the 4 pm freestyle skate though, it's way beyond crowded. Why do most of those teachers insist in teaching power circles in those conditions is beyond me.

Curious fact. The Pasadena rink is on the side of the concert hall building where they do the final selection of the 24 finalists on American Idol. It's just a 1 minute walk from that yellow and reddish painted building, I swear.

I went to the Paramount rink twice and it was nearly empty. The ice isn't bad either, but a lot of people seem to be so snobbish and how us mexicans like to call "fresa" that they avoid skating there like the plague just because the building is like 50 years old despite being in pretty good condition otherwise. Believe me, the rink looks pretty decent in comparison to the Lomas Verdes rink in Mexico City (only 12 years old and the rink seems half a century old because they don't maintain it ¬¬). BTW, I visited the Paramount on the public session and the freestyle and neither was very crowded. I also was there during the summer. Actually, the rink only had like 4 people during the public session.

I liked the Culver city rink, it's kind of nice. A bit crowded (if you get intimidated by better skaters than you, you might wish to avoid the freestyle sessions there because there's 8 year olds zipping doubles and flying camels like jelly beans). I skated during a public session early on a Saturday morning and it was skateable. Couldn't do much anyways because it was the first time I was skating on my new custom skates (BIG change).

The last rink in LA I skated in was the Disney rink in Anaheim (the one near Disneyland). It's a dual rink, but one of them is for hockey. I did the public session but I reccomend you to not go there because the place just has WAY TOO MANY little kids skating in every direction possible. They just don't respect the figure skating area and the staff does nothing. Never skated there on a freestyle session though.

Well, hope that helped a bit. I had some interest in skating in this other rink in Torrance, but it was closed when I was in the area that day. ¬¬

Oh, I also breifly visited the Burbank rink and it's nice looking. I was surprised it didn't look super flashy or anything despite being in a super nice neighborhood, looks like an ordinary but well maintained rink. In fact, most of the new Mexico City rinks looks far better but the Burbank isn't bad and the prices are accesible. Didn't actually skate there, but the public session seemed mildly skateable (went there kinda late at night though so it should be less corwded earlier in the day).

Answer 4

It's getting into summer right now, so the rinks may get more and more crowded during public sessions.  Normally if the rink has a morning public session, that's usually the least crowded . . . but when school is out, that could mean more kids will be at the rink.  There are some good weekday evening sessions, but it can't be guaranteed that it will always be "good".  Weekends are really crowded no matter what day or time.  

  

You might want to call ahead to see if any summer camps are headed to the rink . . . it's super busy and super crazy when they're there.  In fact, you might want to call "that" morning because sometimes the schedule changes unexpectedly!!  You can also ask around - skating regulars . . . or even if it's a skate guard or someone who works there . . . they might give you the scoop on the best time to be at the rink.          

If you mean freestyle sessions, it's possible many of the real early morning fs sessions (like 5-6am) would be less crowded once school is out.  But if you go to a seriously competitive rink, say like Pickwick in Burbank, many of the kids will still keep up their routine - and there is a set summer schedule in which everyone is supposed to pick a day/time (and I think pay) in advance.  But remember you have to be of a certain level to go to a FS session.    

Valley Ice Center (Panorama City)

They offer both morning public and early FS

Public skating

http://www.valleyicecenter.com/Pages/pub...

Freestyle

http://www.valleyicecenter.com/Pages/fig...

Iceland (Van Nuys)

Small rink - not the best neighborhood - it may be less crowded there depending on when you go

Public skating (they're rather long sessions, perhaps people won't stick around for all of it)

http://www.valleyskating.com/public.htm

Freestyle (because it's smaller, not everyone wants to go there)

http://www.valleyskating.com/freestyle.h...

Pickwick (Burbank)

Limited public sessions (no mornings)

http://www.pickwickgardens.com/sqs/dsk.a...

Freestyle . . . you can check online, but the summer schedule I mentioned above starts in a couple weeks.  

http://www.pickwickgardens.com/sqs/dsk.a...

Culver Ice Arena (Culver City)

Public skating (I've gone to some excellent weekday evening sessions there)

http://www.culvericearena.com/public.htm

Freestyle

http://www.culvericearena.com/freestyle....

Then there are the rinks in the outskirts of Los Angeles, like the one in Simi Valley (I think it's an Iceoplex now) and Ice Station in Valencia.  I've had luck at both rinks in the past . . . but it depends on when you go there.  I haven't gone to Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo yet, but you might see skating biggies there . . . not sure how crowded it actually is.  There's Pasadena too . . . and that's sort of a "square" rink.    

Anyway, you'll find most all of these website listings here:  

http://www.arenamaps.com/search.php?posi...

(by the way, the Iceon one in Sylmar does not exist anymore).  

Lots of choices - good luck!