Ice Chalet melts away

Stefanie Frith

Outside, a yellow poster with the words, “Goodbye Ice Chalet, We’ll

Miss You” hangs at the ticket window. Inside, the pro shop is almost

empty. Only a few T-shirts that read “Figure Skating is Life” hang on the

walls next to leftover mittens. The ice and hockey skates have been put

away.

“I just cleaned out the shop,” said Ice Chalet pro shop manager Joy

Giczewski, her eyes tearing up. “This is so sad. It’s over. I keep

thinking that this is the last time that certain things will happen, like

the last time the Zamboni will run. It’s so strange. I can’t believe it.

It’s gone.”

The Costa Mesa skating rink, a community treasure and training ground

for Olympic skaters, closed its doors Sunday for good, despite petitions

and a visit to a City Council meeting by parents and skaters to keep it

open. Residents plan to lobby for a new ice rink.

Parents, skaters and rink staff celebrated Ice Chalet’s long life

Sunday afternoon with a baby shower for skating school director Claudine

Mascia. During the public skating session, current and former skaters

gathered for one last skate.

“I used to skate here in the 1980s,” Jim Fish, 47, of Santa Ana, said.

“I was so surprised to hear that it was closing. So I came here today,

one last time, just to reminisce and think about all the good memories I

had here. I just never expected this to happen.”

Toni Solo, 37, of Foothill Ranch, also came to Ice Chalet Sunday for

one last skate, bringing her two children, Brianna, 6, and Sarah, 9, with

her for one last spin.

“I have skated for 30 years. I coached, skated and trained here. There

were countless nights spent here,” Solo said as she adjusted Brianna’s

earmuffs in the empty pro shop. “We used to have a group when I was here,

The Rink Rats. We were here all day long. It’s so sad to see it go. It’s

such a major part of Costa Mesa.”

Sarah Buba, 19, of Irvine, said that for her, Ice Chalet wasn’t just a

place for her to skate, but also a place to escape from her everyday

problems.

“This is where I could come to get away,” Buba said, her eyes red and

teary. “I could step on the ice and feel free. I have been crying so

much. They treated me, and everyone else, like family here. And already,

you can see the ice is melting. No one cares now because it’s closed. I

am just so sad.”

For 56-year-old Margo Misterly, Ice Chalet’s closing also means the

end of a newfound exercise.

“I almost cried when I found out. I just started ice skating,”

Misterly, a Newport Beach resident, said. “I just got these ice skates

from my kids for Christmas and I was so excited about learning how to do

this. Now where will I go?”

In the pro shop, Giczewski, a Fountain Valley resident whose son has

been skating at Ice Chalet for 10 years, blinked back more tears as

customers came to the ticket window where the yellow poster was hung.

“I just can’t get it into my head yet that this is it,” she said.

“‘It’s only a matter of time before the ice is all melted and gone. Some

of the hockey kids have taken some of the signs like ‘Skate at Your Own

Risk’ and the figure skaters want the bricks from outside if it’s torn

down. And you know, I don’t blame them. This is just too sad.”