Smooth Skating : A touch of winter is on deck at Universal CityWalk where skaters glide smoothly around an outdoor ice rink. Don’t worry about skates, you can rent them there.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Rockefeller Center West.

Or make that Walkefeller Center. From now through Jan. 2, Universal City Walk brings a touch of winter wonderland to the Cinema Plaza at its eastern edge, in the form of an outdoor ice-skating rink.

Shopping malls throughout the country have long played host to indoor rinks. So it stands to reason that the brashly eclectic, high-tech CityWalk would go them one better, presenting what is probably the only outdoor arena in the Los Angeles area.

The idea for such an enterprise was proposed by representatives of Pepsi, one of CityWalk’s partners, which last year sponsored a popular outdoor rink at San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center as a holiday promotional effort for its Crystal Pepsi drink.

CityWalk executives were receptive, and the Crystal Pepsi Ice Skating Rink, as it is officially known, was born.

“When we opened in May, we immediately began looking at the rest of the year and what we could do,” said Tom Gilmore, vice president of MCA Development Co., which co-owns CityWalk. “For the holiday season, this fit in with our strategy. CityWalk is a place where little kids run through our fountains, the merchandise reaches out and grabs you, the restaurants and shops are alive. We’ll have people who want to be outdoors doing things--families during the day and early evening, couples and singles later.”

The 40-by-60-foot rink, which offers skate rentals, is being provided by Hollywood-based Willy Bietak Productions, whose portable surfaces have been used in the company’s touring and theme park ice shows and in television programs such as “Roseanne.” Bietak also installed the Embarcadero Center rink last year, with a return engagement this season.

Given favorable weather conditions, it takes about 48 hours to set up the rink, according to Bietak’s production manager, Brian Klavano. Atop a platform that provides a level surface, aluminum plates are laid down and linked together to create a 2,400-square-foot surface. Next, a brine solution flows inside the plates from a refrigeration unit located in a trailer behind the rink. With the temperature of the platform surface lowered to about 20 degrees, water is sprayed from hoses onto the aluminum plates, creating a layer of ice.

The rink is enclosed by plexiglass barriers. A cluster of fir trees, complete with twinkling lights, serves as a backdrop.

In keeping with the season, music is predominantly holiday-themed. At least once a session, skaters will be able to see themselves captured on camera on the plaza’s nearby Astrovision screen, which in turn has been programmed with holiday images.

Having a rink at CityWalk affords more than commercial benefits, Klavano noted. “There’s the joy of skating,” he said. “We do have other (indoor) rinks, but this is an opportunity to make an outing of it, instead of being in a cold environment.” The untented rink, he added, will be closed in the event of heavy rain.

There is also the element of nostalgia. “In San Francisco last year, it was amazing how many people knew how to skate,” Klavano recalls. “We found out that they were transplanted from the East, or the North. They were able to come out and (relive) their youth.”

Gilmore said several charities affiliated with celebrity skaters have expressed interest in holding fund-raising exhibitions. He would like to eventually present shows, and predicted that the rink will become an institution.

“We think it’s going to be a hit,” he said. “Our intent is to create a new holiday tradition.”

WHERE AND WHEN What: The Crystal Pepsi Ice Skating Rink. Location: Universal CityWalk, Hollywood Freeway at Lankershim Boulevard, Universal City. Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday-Thursday; longer hours Friday through Sunday. Price: $5 (subject to change during the season), $2 skate rental. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the rink for same-day sessions. Call: (818) 622-4455 for recorded information, or (818) 622-9539.