Above, true 1950s style sign for Skateland roller rink back the day and yes, I see a 1957 Chevy in the background behind the sign! Photo appeared to be in 1960s. Right, now as Star Skate, the sign remains but renamed rink though. And yes that character is still there. See next few. Photo above Norman Transscript, Right, Yelp.
|
More photos of Skateland sign. You will need to see the old Black and White photo first to see the first generation of the sign. But then you need to see bottom two above because they replaced the neon lights with light box style sign which is having lights behind the letterings. Then when it became Star Skate, they changed the sign and the light shining from the inside remains and only major unchanged was the little character. He does reminded me of Little Caesars character. This pre-dates Little Caesars because Little Caesars began in 1969 (seen it say 1969 on the boxes when I take home pizza often) and now comparing to the original photo, Star Skate who inherited from Skateland wins in court if ever fought. Pizza Hut had a little Italian guy with similar features too. But Pizza Hut got rid of it as it is an insult to us Italians that we are short. Yes, I am short Italian American at 5' 2.5"! My sister too, shorter than me. My mom.. on another hand, Irish.. nope, not an Italian so maybe they need to change it. Little Caesars, are you listening? This is a classic Googie architecture on the sign. I love it really! A rare sight to see it today. Better stay up there! Noticed the skater short guy? He wore black pants and no shirt on! Above two taken from Google Images.
The current Star Skate sign today covering the huge bushes they let it grow too big. (needs to pull them out now or cut at the base and new one will grow again) with their modern European style mini van by Dodge Ram. It would be nice to go with it is a used HHR, PT Cruiser, or a real classic 1950s vehicle to go with it. But still, it is great looking vehicle. Noticed the skating character? Yes, he is now sporting purple pants (yuck color for pants!) and sporting a T-shirt on. Kind of ruining the original character. I am sure next owner is a bit peeved with that and might want to get rid of that and do over again and restore that short guy like it was in 1960s. Photo source: Star Skate Norman Facebook.
Taken in 2014 and 2020, both shown rink as Star Skate. Star Skate appearance exterior was not much changed compared to the 1960s photo (Top left). The difference were more windows in the 1960s as you can see in the photo. Under the canopy and over to the left side of the building but the newer photos showed no windows there. It was all covered up. And the new wall up front too. Those were the changes. Even the colors were changed too. I am not talking about the photo, I am talking about the building itself. If it was red sign, likely the building itself was of a soft 60s or even 50s toned color.. Maybe Miami Pink? Or maybe Baby Girl Pink? Salmon? Anyone know? It goes with that sign clearly. Both sources: Google Map.
The interior of the Star Skate. Beautiful lights! Reflexions are awesome with Black Lights. The graphic.. on that long wall with the logo. The logo position and professional look of it is great but the ribbons on the wall.. no offense, but it look like an amateur painted it without smoothness of curves. Looks like someone who is not an artist did this. Please do not complain to me. But that is how I saw it compared to the restrooms side (left side of the rink seen in the photo below the photo of arcade video games). Sources: Yelp, Star Skate Norman Facebook, and Amusements and Parks websites.
Skateland of Norman 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK
Skateland 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK
Norman 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK (lists say just "Norman")
Star Skate 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK
Skateland 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK
Norman 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK (lists say just "Norman")
Star Skate 2020 W Lindsey St, Norman, OK
Several name brands were roller rinks at the 2020 West Lindsey Street in Norman, Oklahoma. They were Skateland of Norman which I believed were related to the Skateland of Midwest City and its local chain. So was just Skateland. But the strange name I got from lists were "Norman" Just "Norman" I listed because of the humor of that. I believe it was meant to be Skateland of Norman. Then the final brand was Star Skate which just recently closed. Three times same location, different ownerships with their ownerships of their chains.
The original-- Skateland of Norman was built by a father-and-son team who fought hard to overcome the council who were against having a rink built on some cornfields. And fought against unions too. I asked him more questions on why. So stay tuned!
Chris Hale operated Star Skate. Chris purchased the former Skateland of Norman in 2008.
In 2014, Skateland made big in the news because of nightclub feel, dance party controversy because of a Fraternity from a college wanted a venue to have a dance party and they agreed no alcoholic beverages but the Frat house did not properly have security set up and the rink security had to try to disburse the crowd but about 600 people wanted to go in which is already over the max. The owners said to the newspaper 150 people but the fire marshall said 560 people can go in the facility. However, it was already over if allowed those 600 to come in. So, the crowd were trying to push in the doors. Unlike the one in Florida that the crowd broke in the glass front doors into the building to get inside and had fights.
This one some neighbor business owners had to call in the police and the police came and used microphone from their cruisers and told the crowd to go home. The security guard for the rink had to use pepper spray and the fume got inside the seams of the doors and it made it things worse inside.
The owner of Skateland at the time in 2014 was Lacky Harkins and his wife. And after that first time of allowing to have such party was the last time and they decided not to do that again. He did not want to ruined his reputation.
I totally gets that. Years later, it became Star Skate in 2008.
But in 2021, Chris Hale was notified by the Landlord that they must vacated the building. “We don’t want to leave Norman. We’re not behind on our bills, we’re not in dire straits. We are in kind of a legal conundrum,” Hale said. “They’re unwilling to negotiate in any shape, form or fashion and have been not agreeable.” According to Central Oklahoma Weeklies.
Will Chris find a new location? Good question. Hopefully he can!
One interesting note about how they had to close.. this is from Chris, the owner of Star Skate in his email he send to me--
The last day of operation for Norman was January 30th. We had one last adult night and 24 hrs later had everything out of the building.
Whoa. 24 hours! That is a lot of rented skates to haul out, the food, the machines, the DJ equipment... the disco lights.. and arcade. He must had quite a bit of help to move them all out. Anything is possible and he did! Good for you Chris! Must be the adult skaters helped him and his staff to move them all out quickly.
UPDATE--
This is what I recieved in the email today from the original owner of Skateland of Norman! Here is what he has to say--
Skateland, my dad and I built it! We fought like crazy to built it from both the city council and the unions. It was a corn field when we bought it. I designed the logo and NO one had ever seen that before. My son was the guy wearing and skating the costume as we skated down the streets of Norman.
Alright, thank you so much for brief information. That was great you and your father built it after hard fought against the council and union.
MORE UPDATES!
We closed mainly because of landlord issues. In addition to reduced business due to COVID we decide to let the Norman location go.
The skating surface was an asphalt floor with and epoxy coating. 170x70. Original built as a rink in 1963
Thanks Chris. I figured it also had to do with COVID. Thanks for the info on the rink. so it was 1963, not earlier as I thought. I look forward to see the new Star Skate somewhere. Just like the sign.. how about that 1950s decor inside.. truly 1950s look.
The Interior.
It is a beautiful rink that the interior as Star Skate, I do not know what it was like way back to the 1950s. The graphics is nice but could have been better. The curves could have been better. If you see in the photos you will know. I love the colors and the checkered flag look on it but they needed to make it more curved. If Star Skate was to reopen at another location or buy out, they need to work on that mural. The rest are fine. Perfect Happy Birthday section graphics and the bathroom graphics. Perfect. Maybe 2nd coat would have been better as I can see through a bit in a photo (not shown due to many people stood for a photograph).
The Exterior.
The highlight was the famed 1950s theme sign that Skateland had with neon lighted name and 50s style font with a Red organic boomerang sign holding up the name and the 50s character with huge nose skating. That character is similar to Little Caesars and Pizza Hut character but also the Pink Panther cartoon version of Inspector Clouseau. Popular style back in the mid-century. It was a Googie style sign. Out righteous Googies look. Even the character itself. That was a Googie look too. I love the sign and character actually. The logo, the shapes.. Truly Googie.
However, the building was actually a plain Gable roofed Cinderblock building but with the front faking it to be two story high to appear to be a 1950s look and it was updated later likely in 1983 according to both Realty Trac and Xome. But they made changes like taking out a window that was on the left side of front wall. And windows appeared slightly smaller near the main entrance.
The building next door which is a fast food restaurant style building and at one time it was a donut place, and currently a Mexican restaurant. It sits on same property and shared parking lot with the rink. Likely the landlord owns both buildings.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 70' x170'. Floor: White painted, Asphalt Floor with Epoxy coating. Floor Layout: Standard.
Building Size: 40,736 SF. Built: 1963, remodeled exterior 1983. Demolished: Still standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblock-Walled Mid-Century storefront - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: 2.2399 Acres.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1950s/1960s to End of January 2021.
Skateland of Norman: 1950s/1960s to 2008.
Skateland: 1950s/1960s to 2008.
Norman: Weird name but I think it was meant for Skateland of Norman - 1960s to 2008.
Star Skate: 2008 to January 30, 2021.
Reason for Closure:
Skateland of Norman: N/A.
Skateland: N/A.
Norman: N/A.
Star Skate: Loss of lease contract, and COVID effected.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Amusements and Parks - Star Skate Norman; Yelp - Star Skate Norman;
Expillion - Star Skate Norman; Star Skate - Norman website; Judy's Book - Star Skate Norman;
Facebook - Star Skate Norman; Norman Transcript - Skateland faced overcrowded - PDF;
Manta - Skateland of Norman; Central Oklahoma Weeklies - Star Skate survives;
Central Oklahoma Weeklies - forcing to close; Realty Trac; Xome;
Date of issue: 14 May 2021. Update: 29 August 2021.
For office use only: 15 p, 2 gms.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
The original-- Skateland of Norman was built by a father-and-son team who fought hard to overcome the council who were against having a rink built on some cornfields. And fought against unions too. I asked him more questions on why. So stay tuned!
Chris Hale operated Star Skate. Chris purchased the former Skateland of Norman in 2008.
In 2014, Skateland made big in the news because of nightclub feel, dance party controversy because of a Fraternity from a college wanted a venue to have a dance party and they agreed no alcoholic beverages but the Frat house did not properly have security set up and the rink security had to try to disburse the crowd but about 600 people wanted to go in which is already over the max. The owners said to the newspaper 150 people but the fire marshall said 560 people can go in the facility. However, it was already over if allowed those 600 to come in. So, the crowd were trying to push in the doors. Unlike the one in Florida that the crowd broke in the glass front doors into the building to get inside and had fights.
This one some neighbor business owners had to call in the police and the police came and used microphone from their cruisers and told the crowd to go home. The security guard for the rink had to use pepper spray and the fume got inside the seams of the doors and it made it things worse inside.
The owner of Skateland at the time in 2014 was Lacky Harkins and his wife. And after that first time of allowing to have such party was the last time and they decided not to do that again. He did not want to ruined his reputation.
I totally gets that. Years later, it became Star Skate in 2008.
But in 2021, Chris Hale was notified by the Landlord that they must vacated the building. “We don’t want to leave Norman. We’re not behind on our bills, we’re not in dire straits. We are in kind of a legal conundrum,” Hale said. “They’re unwilling to negotiate in any shape, form or fashion and have been not agreeable.” According to Central Oklahoma Weeklies.
Will Chris find a new location? Good question. Hopefully he can!
One interesting note about how they had to close.. this is from Chris, the owner of Star Skate in his email he send to me--
The last day of operation for Norman was January 30th. We had one last adult night and 24 hrs later had everything out of the building.
Whoa. 24 hours! That is a lot of rented skates to haul out, the food, the machines, the DJ equipment... the disco lights.. and arcade. He must had quite a bit of help to move them all out. Anything is possible and he did! Good for you Chris! Must be the adult skaters helped him and his staff to move them all out quickly.
UPDATE--
This is what I recieved in the email today from the original owner of Skateland of Norman! Here is what he has to say--
Skateland, my dad and I built it! We fought like crazy to built it from both the city council and the unions. It was a corn field when we bought it. I designed the logo and NO one had ever seen that before. My son was the guy wearing and skating the costume as we skated down the streets of Norman.
Alright, thank you so much for brief information. That was great you and your father built it after hard fought against the council and union.
MORE UPDATES!
We closed mainly because of landlord issues. In addition to reduced business due to COVID we decide to let the Norman location go.
The skating surface was an asphalt floor with and epoxy coating. 170x70. Original built as a rink in 1963
Thanks Chris. I figured it also had to do with COVID. Thanks for the info on the rink. so it was 1963, not earlier as I thought. I look forward to see the new Star Skate somewhere. Just like the sign.. how about that 1950s decor inside.. truly 1950s look.
The Interior.
It is a beautiful rink that the interior as Star Skate, I do not know what it was like way back to the 1950s. The graphics is nice but could have been better. The curves could have been better. If you see in the photos you will know. I love the colors and the checkered flag look on it but they needed to make it more curved. If Star Skate was to reopen at another location or buy out, they need to work on that mural. The rest are fine. Perfect Happy Birthday section graphics and the bathroom graphics. Perfect. Maybe 2nd coat would have been better as I can see through a bit in a photo (not shown due to many people stood for a photograph).
The Exterior.
The highlight was the famed 1950s theme sign that Skateland had with neon lighted name and 50s style font with a Red organic boomerang sign holding up the name and the 50s character with huge nose skating. That character is similar to Little Caesars and Pizza Hut character but also the Pink Panther cartoon version of Inspector Clouseau. Popular style back in the mid-century. It was a Googie style sign. Out righteous Googies look. Even the character itself. That was a Googie look too. I love the sign and character actually. The logo, the shapes.. Truly Googie.
However, the building was actually a plain Gable roofed Cinderblock building but with the front faking it to be two story high to appear to be a 1950s look and it was updated later likely in 1983 according to both Realty Trac and Xome. But they made changes like taking out a window that was on the left side of front wall. And windows appeared slightly smaller near the main entrance.
The building next door which is a fast food restaurant style building and at one time it was a donut place, and currently a Mexican restaurant. It sits on same property and shared parking lot with the rink. Likely the landlord owns both buildings.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 70' x170'. Floor: White painted, Asphalt Floor with Epoxy coating. Floor Layout: Standard.
Building Size: 40,736 SF. Built: 1963, remodeled exterior 1983. Demolished: Still standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblock-Walled Mid-Century storefront - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: 2.2399 Acres.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1950s/1960s to End of January 2021.
Skateland of Norman: 1950s/1960s to 2008.
Skateland: 1950s/1960s to 2008.
Norman: Weird name but I think it was meant for Skateland of Norman - 1960s to 2008.
Star Skate: 2008 to January 30, 2021.
Reason for Closure:
Skateland of Norman: N/A.
Skateland: N/A.
Norman: N/A.
Star Skate: Loss of lease contract, and COVID effected.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Amusements and Parks - Star Skate Norman; Yelp - Star Skate Norman;
Expillion - Star Skate Norman; Star Skate - Norman website; Judy's Book - Star Skate Norman;
Facebook - Star Skate Norman; Norman Transcript - Skateland faced overcrowded - PDF;
Manta - Skateland of Norman; Central Oklahoma Weeklies - Star Skate survives;
Central Oklahoma Weeklies - forcing to close; Realty Trac; Xome;
Date of issue: 14 May 2021. Update: 29 August 2021.
For office use only: 15 p, 2 gms.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.