Santa Clarita's New Roller Rink Is a City Facility, and You Book It Like One

Santa Clarita went almost 40 years without a roller rink. The one that opened on October 9 at the George A. Carvalho Sports Complex, 20860 Centre Pointe Parkway, is owned by the City of Santa Clarita. The City of Santa Clarita calls it The Rink Sports Pavilion.

City ownership shapes how the place works. You book a skate session the way you'd sign a child up for a city class. The floor is shared with pickleball, basketball and volleyball. The monthly calendar tells you whether the rink is open for skating at a given hour. Skaters who remember the old rinks may expect to walk in and rent skates, and that habit will need adjusting.

Two private rinks came and went before the city existed

The Rink is the Santa Clarita Valley's third roller skating space, not counting ice rinks. The Signal's opening-day story notes that the first two were private businesses, and both opened and closed before the city was formed.

• Rollerama, Saugus. The Signal announced its grand opening with a full-page feature in its October 11, 1960 edition. The rink was a big Quonset hut near Saugus Junction. The paper's archives don't mention it after 1967 except as the former Rollerama site.
• The Rollerama building afterward. According to SCVHistory, it stood on the west side of Bouquet Canyon Road, just north of today's Magic Mountain Parkway intersection. The Newhall-Saugus Volkswagen dealership later used the building as a service department.
• Skate 'N Place, Golden Triangle Road. It opened in 1978 and had its best years in the 1980s. By November 1987, the space where MB2 now sits was already being called the former Skate 'N Place.

Since the late 1980s, local families have had to drive elsewhere to skate. One parent at the opening told The Signal she had been taking her kids to Ventura. Others had gone to Skateland in Northridge, which closed during the pandemic. The new building fills that gap with public money, about $28 million according to The Signal.

The case for building it was made on park basketball courts

Mayor Laurene Weste told The Signal that people had asked for a rink for decades. The question was always whether demand would be strong enough to keep one going.

The Skating Mamas of the SCV supplied the answer. Founding member Dawn Walker told The Signal the group started on Facebook in 2021. Members wore masks and skated on the basketball courts at local parks, and the group has grown to about 1,700 members. Weste described how she took that to City Hall: "The roller-skating mamas came on, and I went to (City Manager) Ken (Striplin) and I said, 'If you don't think that we need this, watch them.'"

The timeline from there:

1. April 2022. The City Council's April 12 agenda included a design contract for a rink at the Sports Complex, as SCVNews reported.
2. August 30, 2024. Groundbreaking behind the Sports Complex.
3. August 20, 2026. A preview tour, where the Skating Mamas broke in the new floor. In The Signal's coverage, a capital projects manager said more than 40 subcontractors had worked on the building.
4. October 9, 2026. Ribbon cutting and two free opening-night sessions. A parks official told The Signal that 350 people had signed up for each session.

In a June column, Striplin described the rink as a permanent home for the outdoor meetups and skate groups that came with roller skating's comeback. He also mentioned the former Saugus Rollerama by name. The city built a permanent indoor space for something residents had already been doing outdoors.

One floor, four sports, and a calendar that decides

This is the biggest difference from the private rinks people remember. The building is about 25,000 square feet, built around a 12,000-square-foot skating surface. That surface converts to three pickleball courts, one volleyball court and one basketball court, with spectator seating. At the opening, Weste joked that the courts can't be used at the same time as the skating.

Every hour the floor spends as pickleball courts is an hour without skating, so the calendar matters. The October calendar had public skate sessions at different times on different days, including 12 to 2, 2 to 4, 3 to 5, 5 to 7 and 8 to 10 p.m., plus some morning slots. October also had an adults-only session from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, and Halloween events on October 30 and 31. The rink was closed October 19 through 23 for a special event. That week included the city's State of the City event, held at The Rink on October 22.

Admission for public skate sessions and drop-in pickleball goes through the city's registration system, according to The Rink's site. Opening month set the pattern. Pre-registration for every October session opened on Monday, October 5, at 10 a.m., four days before the doors opened. Plan a Friday night skate the same way: look up next month's calendar early and register before the session you want.

What a session costs

The fee schedule took effect July 1, 2026.

A few details that matter when you plan. The 15-entry pass works out to $12 per visit, the same as adult non-primetime admission and $3 less than primetime. It saves money when most of your visits fall in primetime. A child without their own skates pays $9 plus $5 for rental at a non-primetime session, $14 in all. Party reservations include skate rental for 15 guests, and each additional guest pays the public session rate. Because the party area is booked during a public session, the birthday group skates with everyone else on the floor.

The building, and what hasn't opened yet

Inside, The Rink has a DJ booth, dining areas, a commercial kitchen and a disco ball, which the city calls one of its signature features. There are also built-in bleachers, locker rooms, a skate rental counter and a concession stand called The Wheel. In July, the city requested proposals from outside food-service operators to run The Wheel, with proposals due August 26.

Some programs are still listed as coming soon. The Rink's FAQ shows skating classes and fitness classes that way, with no start date yet. If you want lessons for a beginner, keep an eye on the site and on @TheRinkSportsPavilion on Instagram and Facebook. The front desk is at (661) 250-3797 and [email protected]. The November and December session schedules will be posted on the Rink calendar, which is also the only reliable place to check theme nights and adults-only sessions.

Making a day of it on the city's other new projects

The Rink is one of several recreation projects the city opened this year. In Canyon Country, the expanded David March Park at 28310 North Via Joyce Drive reopened with a ribbon cutting on June 1. KHTS reported that the new amenities include a baseball field with shaded terraced seating, a lighted basketball court, a shaded picnic pavilion, outdoor fitness equipment and a 116-step ridgeline staircase. A morning on the staircase followed by an afternoon skate session makes a full Saturday.

Haskell Canyon Bike Park at 21450 Copper Hill Drive isn't on the list yet. The city's page for the park still says "Coming Soon." In May, The Signal reported that the city had no opening timeline while it worked with LADWP on the access road.

For more outdoor options, our guide to Santa Clarita parks, trails and local fun covers the trail system. Light Up Main Street in Old Town Newhall is on Saturday, November 21, from 4 to 8 p.m. It's another city event worth putting on the calendar next to a skate session. Our post on Old Town Newhall's local businesses has ideas for dinner before or after.

At Sterling Realty & Lending, Caroline Daniel follows what Santa Clarita builds and opens, from a new rink on Centre Pointe Parkway to a renovated park in Canyon Country, because that is part of knowing the valley. If you'd like to talk about where you live now or where you might go next, schedule a free consultation and we'll start with the places your family already uses.