Great story about Melissa and about Skateway. The photo brings back fond memories. [Re: Skateway Child Is Derby Girl]
Around 1975 Mission Viejo Company saw an opportunity to do more commercial building projects and the Recreation Department started investigating commercial recreation opportunities. We did studies on bowling alleys, ice and roller skating rinks. I did the studies, but don’t think I kept any copies. I was a big fan of roller skating, especially for our youth in community, remembering how much fun it was visiting the Skate Ranch in Santa Ana during junior high.
Jerry Curran, the director of recreation, his boss and I flew to Olathe, Kansas, and Cincinatti, Ohio to see the latest in rink design and the new epoxy floors. In a bit of nostalgia, we met up with Brian Goodell at a major swim meet in Cincinatti and had some lunch during his break at the swim stadium. Brian swam for the Nadadores, which Mission Viejo Company funded, and was a swimming star in that sport.
We built the Mission Viejo Skateway and it was so successful that we took the same plans and built Cypress Skateway. We really didn’t know how well the Mission Viejo rink would do, but made some projections. They were way too low. I attended opening day and lost count of the youth and adults lined up to get into this newest addition to the community.
The saddest part of the story is that lawsuits virtually killed these wonderful facilities. Insurance got difficult to obtain and many mom and pop owner/operators couldn’t afford to run them anymore. Skateway lost its feasibility and a difficult business decision was made to close it and sell the property. The same for Cypress.
Bob Bunyan
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That it had to close was a bummer. I used to go and skate not only for recreation, but as exercise. I remember that I got to use my skates and case from way back in high school. It was a wonderful facility. Too bad that litigation made us lose it.
I worked at Cypress from 1978 to 1980. It is where I met my wife who also worked there. We were a family and I still keep in touch with some of the friends that I made there. When I came home from the army there were about 20 girls waiting for me all from skateway. I miss it terribly. For our 25th anniversary I went to the church that occupies the building and asked them to let me use the lobby to lure my wife in and sing her a song. It was great since that is where we met.