The pending closure of Golden Skate on Fourth Plain Boulevard marks the end of an era for Vancouver, serving as an indicator of the passage of time and a changing city.
Sure, nostalgia requires such introspection whenever an iconic business closes — such as Steakburger or the downtown, walk-up Burgerville in recent years — yet the demise of Vancouver’s only indoor roller-skating facility touches especially close to home for those who have spent decades in the city. Owners John and Janie Wainwright are selling Golden Skate for $1.5 million to the city, which plans to tear down the building and expand its nearby Public Works Operation Center.
In the process, the news has opened the floodgates of memories for many residents. The building, which opened 71 years ago as Holcomb’s Recreation Hall and served as a restaurant and dance hall for Kaiser Shipyard workers who lived nearby, has been owned by the Wainwrights since 1984. Over the decades, the skating facility has been a part of childhood for countless Vancouverites who later introduced their children and then their grandchildren to the recreation and camaraderie that could be found with eight wheels and a hardwood floor.
Golden Skate will host a final skating session from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today, and a liquidation sale will be held the following two weekends. But the memories will linger. “It’s almost like a death for me,” Janie Wainwright told The Columbian. “We did it for the love of the children and to see these kids grow up. We stayed in it for the kids. We felt we were doing a community service. That’s why we always tried to make it affordable and enjoyable.”
Indeed. But as the building grows increasingly run-down and as the business struggles to attract customers and as the Wainwrights look forward to retirement, time marches on. So does progress. All of which is why Golden Skate somehow represents something larger than merely the closing of a business. “We have outlived the community,” Janie Wainwright said.
Yes, communities change. And while it is human nature to lament the loss of a place that holds fond memories of childhood, it would be curmudgeonly to suggest that today’s kids are not forging similar memories in their own way. There are swimming pools and community centers and businesses such as Big Al’s that these days serve as gathering places and that someday will be fondly recalled by new generations.
Expansion of the city’s operations center has been in the master plan for a decade or so, as the needs of a growing community have called for an increase in services. As the Public Works website explains: “We keep your drinking water clean and flowing. We make sanitary sewer and wastewater treatment facilities reliable and environmentally effective. We design and oversee construction of new streets, resurface existing streets and patch potholes. …” The list goes on, but you get the gist — public works are pretty important to a well-functioning and livable city.
But that hasn’t kept the memories from pouring out of citizens simultaneously lamenting the loss of a Vancouver landmark while acknowledging the passage of time. Such is the nature of nostalgia. As columnist Doug Larson once wrote, “Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” Memories tend to be smooth and shiny, while changes can be ragged. But, as Golden Skate owner John Wainwright noted: “It’s time to do what has to be done. It’s time to move on.”
