Being in sunny Southern California we don’t get the sort of holidays they celebrate in the movies or Christmas songs. “Sleigh Ride, huh?” “White Christmas, what?” So it’s very exciting stuff to find out that someone put an ice skating rink in the middle of Downtown L.A. Just think, it evokes images of Rockefeller Center’s ice rink. Of falling on your ass and looking up at all the surrounding skyscrapers. Get a winter wonderland where you can get it, I say.

But when I checked it out last year, I wasn’t too impressed. The rink was a lot smaller than I imagined and with everyone packed onto the ice, I really couldn’t pick up speed and get into the groove of things, especially as a novice. Too many people in the way. And the ice had incongruities that made me scared of falling, even though they did smooth it down every so often. Plus there were so many people going around and around pretty fast making the thought of merging a terrifying prospect. Instead I stuck to the walls with the other rookies while the show-offs danced closer to the center of the rink.

I even took a date there once, thinking it would be a fun and different thing to do. We stood on the sidelines watching this huge herd of people skate in an endless circle…and then we decided to go drinking at the Golden Gopher instead.

But I say try Downtown on Ice once just for the experience of ice skating in Downtown L.A. Apparently there are free holiday concerts on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon, Fridays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Perhaps afterwards you can even go across the street to the Biltmore Gallery Bar for an Irish coffee or saunter down the street to my fave, Golden Gopher, to warm up.

December 1-January 16
Mon-Thu 12pm-9pm; Fri-Sun 10am-10pm

December 3-5 — Laser Light Show
December 9-11 — Winter Holiday Festival with tree decorating, crafts, and teen karaoke night
January 3 — Free “Disney on Ice” preview of Finding Nemo

532 S. Olive Street
Los Angeles, California 90013
(213) 847-4970
Admission: $6 per hour; skate rental $2
Call (818) 243-6488 for group rate information.