Courtesy of Pinterest. Beautiful black light mural of wintery scene of mountains. Beautifully reflex on the rink. Can be made into a puzzle! Should be!
Photo courtesy of Russquatch Gould on Facebook. c. 2007. Sign already gone, already unkept ground. Sad.
Courtesy of FRRP. Remodeled and it looks like an office building but.. next photo showed it became car dealership. (That next photo is of Google Map.)
Noticed something very off in the Google Map. Look at the road enterance to the parking lot. It got CUT OFF! Haha. I believe that was there originally in the original renovation in 2000s before the dealership purchased it and ruined it all by removing the path, and changed windows that the 2012 was designed for. Spend all that money and new glass and then just few short years later. Try 4 or 5 years later, took out and put wall up again and new windows at different location and then they added garage doors for mechanics. Dealers are mafia I tell ya.
Next one is the YouTube video of the closed up rink. Courtesy of wwazman.
Next one is the YouTube video of the closed up rink. Courtesy of wwazman.
Skate Palace, 1860 Fisher Road, West Salem, OR
This rink, Skate Palace had quite a bit of history in late 20th Century and early 21st Century including some good and some bad as well. Yes, the bad including the rising insurance rates affecting everyone including rinks and second of all, there were many crimes occurred at the rink especially a rape on Friday December 20, 2002 by a 17 years old rapist, Alejandro Torres who lured a 13 years old girl to go outside and then he grabbed her and took her in a van and assaulted her.
Yes, the subject was arrested and had serious felony charges. I could not find any more article regarding this case occurred. However, the subject was arrested again for a serious crime in April 2017.
Another sad case happened was that a mother of children suspected that a man was lurking and looking at the mother and children and her guts was right that the man stole the van with her other child still sitting in the van. The man dumped the van few blocks away.
Never mind those negative stories. The positive was that the rink had a very unusual number of partners who owned the rink. 214 people owned the rink. Yes, 214. Perhaps the profit sharing was a little hard on that. (The amount of investors was corrected by Michael Gilliam, Thank you Michael!)
It was first opened on May 14, 1976. But already by 1996, they put the rink up for sale. But closed in October 31, 2004.
It was at a flat overhang roof building that was Brown and Blue colored externally. But the interior was unique. It displayed a black light mural of beautiful mountains on the wall above the rink. Deep Solid Red concrete half-wall rails around the rink. It was beautiful interior, really.
The rink had roller hockey team playing there as well as many competitions even regional tournaments.
Unfortunately, there are means to end. The rink closed for good in October 31, 2004. Many people tried to keep it a rink because at that time it was the only rink in town. They sold to someone who was not interest in it remaining a rink, he sold to Power motors and it sat empty for about 8 to 10 years. (source word for word- Michael Gilliam).
Skate Palace was the home of Oregon Skating Academy after [Michael Gilliam] moved to Skate Palace to coach full time in 1981. [They] started with 3 coaches Earlene Gilliam, Danny Trussell, and William Duncan and went to 7 to 8 coaches and a large competitive team with many national finalist and placements to the end of its time of operation. [They] also had a speed team and the boys and girls club ran a hockey program for a few years. It is missed. (source word for word- Michael Gilliam).
Now as of 2019, the site is a car dealership.
Rink Size: 187 X 90 feet (16,830 SF) Floor: Blue plastic (Likely Polyurethane or related) with a chip board under the plastic coat. Floor Layout: Fan, Roller Hockey.
Building Size: N/A Built: N/A Demolished: None. Now as a car dealership.
Type of Building: Steel Free Span "big box" Building.
Roof: Flat roof.
Operated: May 14, 1976 to October 31, 2004.
Reason for Closure: Hard economy on the rink.
Wanted: Information regarding Specific why they closed.
Sources: Stateman Journal-March 19, 2017, FRRP, Stateman Journal-Sunday August 15, 1976, Stateman Journal-Sunday December 29, 1985 (rising cost of insurance), Stateman Journal Friday April 6, 1990, Stateman Journal-Saturday April 13, 1996 (Rink up for sale), Stateman Journal-Sunday December 22, 2002 (Concerned about rape occurred at the rink's parking lot).
© 2019 - 2020 Dead Rinks. All Rights Reserved.
This rink, Skate Palace had quite a bit of history in late 20th Century and early 21st Century including some good and some bad as well. Yes, the bad including the rising insurance rates affecting everyone including rinks and second of all, there were many crimes occurred at the rink especially a rape on Friday December 20, 2002 by a 17 years old rapist, Alejandro Torres who lured a 13 years old girl to go outside and then he grabbed her and took her in a van and assaulted her.
Yes, the subject was arrested and had serious felony charges. I could not find any more article regarding this case occurred. However, the subject was arrested again for a serious crime in April 2017.
Another sad case happened was that a mother of children suspected that a man was lurking and looking at the mother and children and her guts was right that the man stole the van with her other child still sitting in the van. The man dumped the van few blocks away.
Never mind those negative stories. The positive was that the rink had a very unusual number of partners who owned the rink. 214 people owned the rink. Yes, 214. Perhaps the profit sharing was a little hard on that. (The amount of investors was corrected by Michael Gilliam, Thank you Michael!)
It was first opened on May 14, 1976. But already by 1996, they put the rink up for sale. But closed in October 31, 2004.
It was at a flat overhang roof building that was Brown and Blue colored externally. But the interior was unique. It displayed a black light mural of beautiful mountains on the wall above the rink. Deep Solid Red concrete half-wall rails around the rink. It was beautiful interior, really.
The rink had roller hockey team playing there as well as many competitions even regional tournaments.
Unfortunately, there are means to end. The rink closed for good in October 31, 2004. Many people tried to keep it a rink because at that time it was the only rink in town. They sold to someone who was not interest in it remaining a rink, he sold to Power motors and it sat empty for about 8 to 10 years. (source word for word- Michael Gilliam).
Skate Palace was the home of Oregon Skating Academy after [Michael Gilliam] moved to Skate Palace to coach full time in 1981. [They] started with 3 coaches Earlene Gilliam, Danny Trussell, and William Duncan and went to 7 to 8 coaches and a large competitive team with many national finalist and placements to the end of its time of operation. [They] also had a speed team and the boys and girls club ran a hockey program for a few years. It is missed. (source word for word- Michael Gilliam).
Now as of 2019, the site is a car dealership.
Rink Size: 187 X 90 feet (16,830 SF) Floor: Blue plastic (Likely Polyurethane or related) with a chip board under the plastic coat. Floor Layout: Fan, Roller Hockey.
Building Size: N/A Built: N/A Demolished: None. Now as a car dealership.
Type of Building: Steel Free Span "big box" Building.
Roof: Flat roof.
Operated: May 14, 1976 to October 31, 2004.
Reason for Closure: Hard economy on the rink.
Wanted: Information regarding Specific why they closed.
Sources: Stateman Journal-March 19, 2017, FRRP, Stateman Journal-Sunday August 15, 1976, Stateman Journal-Sunday December 29, 1985 (rising cost of insurance), Stateman Journal Friday April 6, 1990, Stateman Journal-Saturday April 13, 1996 (Rink up for sale), Stateman Journal-Sunday December 22, 2002 (Concerned about rape occurred at the rink's parking lot).
© 2019 - 2020 Dead Rinks. All Rights Reserved.