Skating on Thin Ice--and Loving It

On Tuesday nights at Paramount’s Iceland, the music plays for a fading tradition. That’s when Frank Barrois cranks up the 1,100-pipe 1924 Wurlitzer organ to play waltzes, tangos and fox trots for skaters.

There was a time when every ice-skating rink, any patch of frozen water that could call itself something like “Iceland” had a live organ. Now, others play recorded music.

Among the skaters here on a recent Tuesday evening--and some have memories reaching back to the ‘30s--the view is that Barrois is playing taps on the last of an era.

Ice skating “used to be all racing and figure,” says Joan Mosteller. “Now all they want is to play hockey.” As she says this, players from a local league holding helmets and pads lounge around the metal fireplace. They’re waiting for 10:30 p.m., when they take over the ice. None looks like he might enjoy a good fox trot.

“Back in the ‘40s, all you had was the movies,” says Carl Nebe who repairs the pipe organ and also comes to skate. “Skating was one of the best sports. It was cool in the summer.”

Barrois and his organ are in an unlikely locale for a cultural treasure. The 53-year-old building makes other functional architecture seem almost baroque. In the austere setting, with the temperature hovering around 50 degrees, it’s like being inside an unheated Siberian airplane hangar.

The arched ceiling is covered with silver insulation. The floors are hard rubber pads that won’t damage skates. Bleachers line one wall, where generations of bleary-eyed parents have watched their young Olympic hopefuls at pre-dawn practice.

The focal point is a 100-by-200-foot ice rink, the largest in Southern California.

It’s in this decidedly utilitarian setting that Barrois plays his romantic music. In front of him are aging pieces of sheet music and handwritten notes concerning the metronome speed for each song.

“You must have the exact tempo,” he says looking down at about 150 skaters. “Too slow, they fall down. Too fast, they break a leg.”

At the moment, Barrois appears to have the skaters moving well to “New York, New York.” It’s a mixed crowd ranging in age from one hyperactive 6-year-old in an over-sized Kings jersey and helmet, to couples in their 60s.

Missing are teen-agers. They usually come Friday and Saturday, when a deejay plays what manager Judith Gallagher calls “modern” music. “All I say is no heavy metal,” she says. “Let’s not excite them.”

Barrois keeps to a steady pattern, stopping every 20 minutes or so to make a barely intelligible announcement. Indecipherable as it is, it gets an immediate response from the skaters.

“He just said ‘couples only,’ ” explains Nebe.

Even the rocketing 6-year-old knows to head for the exit as the room darkens, red-and-green mood lights go on and Barrois starts on “The Coo-Coo Waltz.”

An older crowd gracefully circles the ice. Some hold hands, some perform Ice Capades-style dual skating maneuvers, most just glide.

“If you’ve never skated, you don’t know what a joy it is,” says Nebe as he watches.

The lights come back on and the hockey players start tightening their laces as the music ends on what turns out to be the last waltz.

* Name: Paramount Iceland.

* Where: 8041 Jackson St., Paramount, (310) 633-1171.

* When: Open daily; times for the public vary. Live organ music accompaniment Tuesday, 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.

* Cost: Admission is $5; skate rental is $1.75; a 12-week course of weekly 40-minute group lessons is $105.

* Dress: Warm. The indoor temperature hovers around 50 degrees. Wear a sweater or jacket; gloves also help to cushion falls.