Ice Burgs

Just because the holiday season is over doesn’t mean winter fun has ended.

Although periods of warm weather have made it feel like springtime in Ventura County, there are two spots where visitors need to bundle up to enjoy what can be exercise, family time or just pure fun.

Easy Street Ice Arena in Simi Valley and Oxnard Ice Skating Center are the only two slabs of the cold stuff between San Francisco and the San Fernando Valley.

Each indoor facility has two rinks and offers plenty of public skating time, lessons and league sports.

“We have a wide variety of people who come for an assortment of reasons,” said Julie Erickson, a skating instructor at Easy Street. “There’s also one benefit for everyone, and that’s that ice skating is a year-round sport.”

For the person who’s not interested in strapping on a pair of sliver-thin blades, both sites also have a little star power to attract those who like to perch on a bench with a steaming cup of coffee or cocoa.

World champion figure skater Scott Hamilton, who’s on tour with a show right now, practices regularly at the Oxnard Center, said Kevin Berns, the facility’s assistant manager.

At Easy Street, the Ventura Mariners, a Junior B team of players under 21, practice and play, and two young figure skaters, Beatrisa Liang and Brianna Weissmann, practice for national figure-skating competitions.

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Easy Street Ice Arena is housed inside a light blue building in an industrial area at 131 W. Easy St., just off the Ronald Reagan Freeway. The business has been around for more than a decade and at its current site for seven years.

Visitors need a warm coat and mittens because just inside the main entrance, they are greeted by a burst of cold air, and the cold permeates all areas of the giant facility.

The two rinks are divided by a small seating area with lockers where people can change into skates. Most of the public skating is on an Olympic-size rink circled in plexiglass.

There are public skating hours daily. The cost, including skate rental, is $7.50 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under. The best deal is “Cheap Skate Night” on Tuesdays, when the cost for any age is $4, including skates.

On a recent afternoon, as a Zamboni driver got the Mariners’ NHL-sized rink on the west side of the building ready for action, about three dozen skaters were circling the public side.

Some were veterans of the sport just stretching, others were first-timers who wobbled and giggled with each turn.

A few young girls stood in the center of the ice with an instructor learning to do figure eights and small spins.

Five-year-old Kyle of Simi Valley, wearing what looked like a bicycle helmet, was about to start his weekly lesson.

“We went a couple of times and he really loved it and wanted to learn more,” said his mother, Laura Malinowski.

Local teacher Andrea Feil brought her son, Ryan, to the rink so he could brush up on his hockey skills after being away from the sport for a while. Accompanying the family was one of Feil’s former students, Natalie Burger, 13.

“I can skate fast in the middle,” Natalie proudly proclaimed.

Feil touted hockey as a great sport for kids but added that it’s an expensive one.

She said she had her son take lessons for a year before deciding to shell out the money for equipment and regular time on the ice.

“They either love it or they hate it,” Feil said. “The kids who do it are very dedicated, and so are their parents.”

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The rink in Oxnard is at 830 Wagon Wheel Road in a beige warehouse just off the Ventura Freeway. It’s nearly new, having opened last March.

Visitors can tuck their mittens in a pocket and fling the jacket over a shoulder because technology has arrived at this center. It’s warm everywhere off the ice.

Both rinks are 85 by 185 feet, referred to as old-NHL size and slightly smaller than the new professional-sized rinks.

Oxnard also offers public skating daily. The cost for anyone is $8.50, which includes skates.

The best deal, however, is Monday’s “Family Night” when the price is a total of $5 for two or more people, including skates.

The Oxnard center also offers a reduced price on Wednesday nights, when admission and skate rental for any age is $6 each.

Rinks in both cities offer group and private hockey and figure skating lessons for all ages and levels of experience.

Both also offer junior and adult hockey leagues; broom ball, which is done on the ice in sneakers with brooms used to bat around a ball; pickup hockey games; birthday packages; and student field trips.

“Church and youth groups love coming down and playing broom ball,” Berns said.

Prices for lessons vary in both Simi and Oxnard. As an example, the cost for a 30-minute lesson, once a week for 10 weeks, is $99 at the Oxnard Ice Skating Center.

Both businesses offer soda and snack vending machines, fully stocked pro shops, lockers and benches or bleachers for viewing the activity on the ice.

Call 988-4440 to reach the Oxnard Ice Skating Center, 520-7465 to reach Easy Street Ice Arena.

Ideas for Jaunts can be forwarded to Holly.Wolcott@latimes.com.