By G. Woods Santa Monica
The skating rink in Santa Monica is a wonderful addition to this great city, but why is not on our fabulous Santa Monica Pier? It seems a no-brainer — plenty of parking and existing food concessions without the need to bring in a Santa Barbara-based food concession. Why can’t the rink help local business? In addition, this is the time of year when the pier needs promotion. What a great venue and attraction that would be!
The Santa Monica Pier tried for several years to get a skating rink up there and rumor has it that the city was the stumbling block because of excessive rent, for a corner of the pier parking lot, required of the promoters. Now again, rumor has it, the city donated this current parking lot rent-free to accommodate the skating rink.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 8, 2007. Read the original PDF.