After some 50 years, the Redwood Roller Rink will be giving its patrons a few last laps during a 12-hour public skate Saturday before it closes its doors for the last time.
Known as a hub for family entertainment and one of the last remaining training facilities for roller skaters in the Bay Area, the rink’s closure signals the end of an era for those who frequented it.
Claudia Hyslop, who has skated at the rink for more than 20 years, expects a bittersweet last day for the rink where she found a tight-knit community.
“It was like a family,” she said. “I’ve made so many friends over the years from being there.”
Hyslop commended the rink’s owners, Jim and Suzie Pollard, for being gracious hosts to the skating community and creating a rink known internationally for being home to world-ranked roller skaters. Though Jim Pollard died in March, Suzie Pollard has kept the rink’s doors open until she announced her retirement last month.
In a public statement, the Pollard family thanked generations of Redwood City and Peninsula skaters for their patronage over the years.
“The Redwood Roller Rink has been our family’s joy and passion for decades and it’s been an honor to share it with you,” said the family.
The daughter of an avid roller skater, Hyslop said she fell in love with roller skating after hours of watching her mother practice at a rink in Michigan. Though she skated through her teenage years, Hyslop took a break from the sport for several years until she caught the bug for it again in 1995.
Hyslop still remembers what it felt like the day she walked into the rink for the first time.
“It was just like what I left,” she said, adding that the organ music and skaters of all ages taking private classes were reminiscent of the rink where she learned to skate. “It was like, ‘this has all been here waiting for me all this time.’”
Though she’s now a San Mateo resident, Hyslop said she was living in San Francisco when she discovered the rink and drove many miles to practice two to four times a week for almost 10 years. She said she quickly became immersed in the community of competitive skaters training there, which inspired her to train for roller skating competitions and eventually start the Redwood Amateur Roller Sports Foundation, a group collecting funds to support skaters with competition and training expenses.
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Fremont resident Aubrey Taff remembers growing up at the rink, which she calls her family’s first home. Taff said she and her two sisters were born while her mother and father, Lorry and Kenny Orcutt, served as coaches and managers of the rink for more than 25 years.
“We spent every waking hour at that rink,” she said. “That was pretty much our life.”
Taff and her sisters spent hours at the rink, at first to be with their parents but eventually to train for national and world skating competitions. Though she has countless memories of the rink, Taff remembers it as a place where many felt they could be themselves and find a release from the workday.
Mayor John Seybert said he plans to attend Saturday’s event, and noted he has heard from a number of Peninsula residents in the weeks leading up to its closure that the rink was a place where kids always had fun. He commended the Pollard family for providing a community space for the Peninsula, and wished Suzie Pollard a peaceful retirement.
“When you’re providing something like that for the community … I feel like you’re doing it to give a sense of the community and families something to look forward to,” he said.
Gina Henson, a spokeswoman for Butler Realty, who owns the property, wishes Suzie Pollard well on her retirement and said the company has not yet started to find another tenant for the space.
Both Hyslop and Taff aren’t sure where skaters are going to go to skate or train after Saturday. They are both looking forward to seeing old friends Saturday, but for Hyslop, it was tough to look past the loss to a community that cherished the space.
“I think it’s going to be sad,” she said. “I think you’ll see a lot of tears there.”
The Redwood Roller Rink farewell public skate will be held Saturday, Sept. 30, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 1303 Main St. Admission is $10 for all ages.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
(3) comments
This is sad that the last roller rink in the SF peninsula is closed down. My cousin used to do roller derby and she used to skate at Rolladium in SM, and these redevelopments are happening because housing developments. Redwood City lost Malibu golf, this roller rick and these family friendly recreational activities. We're so sick of these high density projects.
Sad to see this rink close. The bay area has lost too many recreational assets in recent years. With the rapid development of high density housing in every nook and cranny of our cities, one wonders what activities are all these people (provided they can even afford to live here) are going to DO once they are here.
When you look at all the indoor and outdoor recreational places that have disappeared from San Francisco and the Peninsula over the years, it is sad that cities aren't setting aside areas for recreational entertainment businesses, instead allowing developers that are looking for the most profit to go another direction. With this closure the final roller rink closes, as did Rolladium in San Mateo. There were once 6 ice rinks from Burlingame to Sunnyvale, and now there are only 3. The amount of ice rinks in San Francisco shrunk from 4-1 and the waiting list at Yerba Buena is 4 years to get on an adult team. Peewee golf, is now extinct here. With the advent of mega theatre complexs, where there were once 4 drive in theatres (Belmont, Redwood City, Burlingame and South San Francisco), there are now none. Were times different then, sure, At the end of every beginner hockey class, I always ask players if they had fun, the answer is always yes, and many say, they wished they had done something liike this years ago, As the popularity of golf decreases each year, how long before the golf courses begin to shut down for more housing or high tech campuses.
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