Popular Pickwick Skating Rink May Reverse Decision to Close : Skating: Press conference is scheduled for today to announce fate of Burbank facility.

A press conference is scheduled today at Pickwick Ice Arena in Burbank amid indications that the popular facility will remain open.

An earlier announcement that the facility would close Sept. 30 met with such public outcry, according to George Yates of Pasadena, that the owners have been “a little overwhelmed.”

Yates, secretary of the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Assn. and captain of the Caltech team, said Pickwick’s manager, Cary Adams, told the PCHA “all teams using the Pickwick Ice Rink should plan their 1990-91 season under the assumption that the rink will remain open.”

Yates said if the various organized programs in hockey, figure skating and speed skating were to hear today that Pickwick will close, they will be hard-pressed to find ice time elsewhere at this late date. For that reason, the remarks by Adams seemed to indicate that the rink will remain open.

Yates said Adams was not at liberty to be more specific on details, but that prices would go up substantially if the rink stays open.

Another possible clue to the nature of today’s announcement was provided in an encounter between Nick Nickerson, a 72-year-old hockey player, and Walter Stavert, who owns Pickwick with his son, Edward.

Nickerson said he was on the ice in a scrimmage at Pickwick when he saw the elder Stavert walk into the facility. It didn’t take Nickerson long to make his move.

“I skated over and asked to talk to him; told him how old I was and took off my helmet so he could see my gray hair,” Nickerson said. “When I let him know I’d been playing there for years and hoped he would reconsider his decision to close the rink, he said, ‘Well, we’re gonna keep it going.’ ”

The Staverts have been in talks with city officials and members of the ad-hoc Save the Ice Committee since they made public their intentions to close the facility.

Yates said he thinks the Staverts have a genuine concern for community sentiment, but were faced with half a million dollars in repairs to the facility.

Gino Vella of Pasadena, vice chairman of STIC, said he believes Pickwick’s owners wanted to keep the facility but were hoping the city would be able to help them.

John Halebian, STIC chairman, said: “I don’t think they are as concerned with repairs or liability insurance as they are in concessions from the city on energy costs--a discount of some kind on the basis of them being a recreational facility. However, the city manager doesn’t seem to feel the city can make that kind of concession.

“The mayor has been doing a lot of talking about the city’s ‘Focus on Youth’ this year and we wanted to call his bluff.

“Basically the Pickwick people feel the city has not been cooperative. Officials could indicate a more lenient attitude on permits, for example. Frank Silvio (Pickwick general manager) told me they once asked for a permit to install a dishwasher room behind its restaurant next to Pickwick, and were told ‘sure, if you repave Riverside Drive.’ The Staverts want to see some practical evidence of the city’s concern.”

Burbank Mayor Thomas Flavin said the owners’ major concern is the capital cost to bring the rink up to standard. Flavin said he told them the city is willing to explore ways to help. “But we’re not in a position to do anything financially,” he said. “We’ve had the Lockheed announcement, and we’re preparing a contingency budget. We may have to cut back on existing services.”

His statement echoed an earlier announcement from City Manager Robert R. (Bud) Ovrom, which read: “Our discussions with Mr. Frank Silvio and Mr. Ed Stavert were very cordial and helpful. We personally know each other better now and have a greater understanding of each other’s abilities and limitations . . .”

“(Pickwick) has been a tremendous asset to this community for over three decades. Surely the city has never adequately or often enough expressed its appreciation . . . .

“We most sincerely hope Burbank won’t lose the Pickwick Ice Arena. Whatever decision the Staverts ultimately make, we know they will do so only after careful thought. We do not know what that decision will be.”

The statement was a disappointment to some, especially after Ovrom had expressed sentiments in favor of that type of recreation.

“The City Council and I are very interested in the whole notion of commercial recreation, not just the ice rink. That kind of thing--skating rinks, bowling alleys, etc.--is a vital part of the community mix and it seems to be vanishing,” Ovrom said a week before the statement was released.

Vella said he thinks the Staverts were impressed with a rally held by STIC last month, attended by a number of skating standouts including Tiffany Chin and Tai Babilonia, as well as actors Chad Everett, whose daughter skates, and Dave Coulier, who plays hockey as a hobby.

And in a statewide action, the California Amateur Hockey Assn. formed a committee at a board meeting last month to study ways to underwrite development of new rinks. Vella, association president, said the committee is a permanent, long-term project.

Burgeoning interest in organized skating programs and a succession of rink closures in Southern California has resulted in hot competition for ice time. In fact, the size of Pickwick’s ice area and its seating capacity for spectators makes it the only rink left in the northern part of Los Angeles County that can play host to qualifying competition for regional and national figure skating championships.

“We’ll have to travel a long way to get to anything like it,” said Mary Roof, a past president of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club. “We’ve produced a lot of champions at Pickwick. The ‘Fabulous Forties,’ a revue that skates to the music of the 1940s, won national titles three times.”

Ice Castle, a facility near Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County, can seat 1,000 for its annual benefit show, but owners Carol and Walter Probst have decided their niche is training. The only Southland facility with two ice surfaces, Ice Castle has accommodations for serious skaters from all over the world who come for extended stays to take advantage of the big-name instructors, mile-high altitude and freedom from distractions.

The Probsts built their first rink in the village center at Blue Jay and later opened another on the outskirts adjacent to a dormitory and cottages. They also acquired a lodge for food service and meetings. Both ice surfaces are 85 by 185 feet. They are now planning a building in which to offer off-ice dance instruction for figure skaters.

The head instructor is Robin Cousins, a former Olympic gold medalist from Britain. Also on the staff are Irina Rodnina, a Russian pairs skater who won three Olympic golds, 10 world championships and 11 European titles, and Frank Carroll, three-time U.S. champion who has coached many Olympic contestants.

“It’s all a labor of love,” said Carol Probst, a former Ice Follies star who moved to the Arrowhead area to retire. “We haven’t turned a profit yet. We have developed recreational and hockey programs, but I think getting into the black will depend on our specialty, advanced instruction for figure skaters.”

Pickwick has an 85 by 200-foot ice surface and seating for 2,000, making it the area’s biggest facility next to the Sports Arena. “Hockey participation has really grown,” Adams said. “In the ‘70s we had virtually no adult hockey. Now we’re running 1,500 players through here every week.”

Brad Berman, a principal in the California Senior Hockey League, said he had 400 players three years ago and now there are 800.

“The rinks are making money,” he said. “The Pickwick people just aren’t interested in the skating operation, so they don’t want to keep it repaired. Our Memorial Day tournament was literally rained out; the roof leaked so bad we had to call it off. The owners are more interested in expanding their banquet activities.”

Despite the demand for ice time, rinks have closed in Santa Monica, West Covina, Brea, Topanga Plaza, Tarzana and Santa Barbara. There is talk of closing the rink at Laurel Plaza in North Hollywood as part of a mall expansion program.

Joan Kradin of Forest Development Co. said present plans at the North Hollywood mall call for demolishing the one-story structure next to the May Co. to make room for a larger structure that would house three anchor stores and have space for movie theaters.

“The skating rink now located in the mall is not included in current plans, but we have talked to people concerned about it and are exploring options,” she said. “We’re still working on an Environmental Impact Report, so the mall won’t come down for years.”

Rumors have circulated that even the Culver City Ice Rink is doomed, although it is used for practice by the Los Angeles Kings and the building belongs to former Kings owner Jerry Buss. The structure sits on leased land, however, whose owners are reportedly looking at other uses.

Jim Fox, a former Kings player working in the club’s public relations department, said the team is considering a new rink and it sought his opinion on designs a few months ago, but he has heard nothing since.

Rob Moore, the Kings’ director of administration, said: “We’re not initiating anything at present. Some persons have approached us, and we’re always open to suggestions about new rinks--we’d love to have as many as possible. We’d support hockey in any form; the future of our franchise depends on increasing the Southland’s understanding of the game.”

Efforts to open new rinks have been stalled or stymied by a combination of factors, including land cost and availability, building costs, zoning and homeowner opposition.

All those obstacles seemed to have been hurdled at San Dimas, where a redevelopment site was obtained for a rink and office buildings, and the objections of neighbors were resolved. Bea Gallant, who formerly managed the West Covina rink, has agreed to sign a 30-year lease on the new one, but got so depressed at delays in the project “I opened a new business to take my mind off it. I have things for the rink stored all over and told people I’d take them back in six months. It’s gonna be years.”

Although groundbreaking repeatedly has been postponed, Monrovia developer Fred Bowden said, “We’re moving ahead slowly. Most small cities send all their stuff to the county, and it’s in plan check with county planning now. They move at their own pace. Financing will be firmed up once we have plans.”

Berman is working on a new rink with two others, Larry Bruyere and a silent partner, and they have conducted an extensive search for a site. “We’re looking at one now in the Saugus area,” Bruyere said, “in the new city of Santa Clarita. There’s an existing building that could accommodate a rink without much renovation. I think we could be operating there in eight or nine months. The owners like our project, and we expect estimates soon from a couple of rink builders.

“I hope Pickwick doesn’t close; I see our rink as a nice networking project with theirs.”

Even before he heard of the Pickwick closure, Berman had made plans to expand the senior hockey league to Nevada. He has already scheduled some major tournaments at a new 85- by 200-foot ice surface with seating for 3,000 under construction in the Las Vegas area.

Bruyere said the league will include youth hockey for the first time when it expands to Nevada, and the entire program will be announced Aug. 26 at a “Registration Extravaganza” at the Sahara hotel which will be attended by Luc Robitaille of the Kings and Pat Brisson, who played as a pro recently in Europe.

The new manager for the Nevada rink--part of a hotel-casino-recreation complex under construction in Painted Desert--is Arnie Sagarsky, who left Iceland in Paramount on May 21. Contradicting the assertion that ice rinks don’t pay, Sagarsky said he tripled the gross at Paramount in five years.

“I came there without any experience in ice arenas, but I knew a lot about promotion, advertising and positive attitudes,” he said.

“When I took over, Paramount opened at 6:30 a.m., closed from 11 to 2 and closed for the day at 7:30 p.m. The gross was $300,000 a year. Five years later we were open from 5 in the morning until 2 the next morning, with no dark time in between. The gross had climbed to almost $1 million.”

He attributes the rink’s success to aggressive promotion and the elimination of negative attitudes among Paramount personnel.

“I only changed 10% of the staff, but I let the rest of them know I didn’t want to hear another discouraging word,” he said. “I set up promotions with the schools, got a new director for the skating school, installed a hockey program--even offered free ice time to little kids.”

Sagarsky said 50% of the ice time is already sold at the Nevada rink, scheduled to open Nov. 1, “and that’s the hard part. Selling the rest will be easy. There’s a substantial figure-skating group here, which used the former rink at Henderson (Nev.), but I think hockey will be our bread and butter. I told the owners the rink will not run in the red--ever.”

Another group considering a new rink in the western San Fernando Valley is headed by Sean McGillivray, who operates the Conejo Valley Ice Skating Center. He headed a successful effort to stave off closure of Conejo, but is convinced that ice rinks are not money-making enterprises and is attempting to establish one on a nonprofit basis.

“We hope to interest a well-known institution in supporting the venture,” he said. “Rinks often have municipal support in Canada and back East, where they recognize the recreational value to the community.”

McGillivray is also chairman of the state hockey association’s new committee formed to study the possibility of new rinks, and said the group will hold its first meeting in August.

A new rink has been approved in Brea, where a strong skating community lost its ice in recent years and has been agitating for a replacement. Ret Wixted, the city’s director of community services, said the rink will be part of a community center, recreational and commercial complex near the civic center.

“The project and site have been approved by the City Council and it’s in the design process,” she said. Construction should start early next year, with completion by the end of 1991 or early ’92. The multipurpose complex will include a gym, art studio, classroom, condos and outdoor sculpture garden.

Wixted said revolving revenue is expected to cover total costs and the city is looking into private management of all components, including the community center. “We’ve talked to the Ice Capades Chalet people, as well as others, about managing the ice rink,” she said.

Ice Capades owns or manages 18 ice arenas, seven of them in California--including North Hollywood, Palos Verdes, Costa Mesa, Palm Desert and La Jolla in the Southland.