First in a series
Re “Bye, Bye, Ice Rink – At Least for Now”
Interviewing the owner of the Culver City Ice Arena is not different from running shoulder-to-shoulder with a marathoner who insists on sprinting the entire 26.5 miles.
Michael Karagozian may change directions, but he never slows.
He is the man to be watched as the decommissioning of his ice rink begins on Thursday, melting the ice and the business that, until Feb. 2, never had slowed, either, during 52 years of operation.
With the eyes of thousands of West Side skaters, and City Hall, trained on him, what will be his next move with the property his late parents purchased in the 1950s?
“Hey, once we decommission it,” Mr. Karagozian said this morning from his Fresno law office, “it’s going to be a piece of property that’s sitting there like any other property, now that the so-called dangers and stuff are gone. We will go from there.”
Question: Will it reopen as a rink?
“Now I couldn’t even tell you. I know one thing. There’s been plenty of offers, as rinks, as rinks with a dual purpose. Been all kinds of offers.
“One thing about the publicity (daily for the last five weeks), it got a lot of people interested in the property. All kinds of offers. There is nothing wrong with having that as a rink. It’s commercially viable. That’s the problem. Supposedly, the only people it was commercially viable for were those Kings.
“Hey, you know, these Kings can fly a kite. Since I was a kid, I have had a principle that once somebody cheats you, you don’t deal with them anymore.
“The Kings are the ones who have put the city up to a lot of this (bologna). Let’s face it. We know this.
“But as far the property goes, hey, we tried. First, they were in an uproar because we were going to change the use (to rock climbing/yoga/fitness).
“Now, you know the Takahashis (the putative current lessees) are good people. They deserved a break.”
Question: What is going to happen to them?
“I am going to take care of them because I just simply like them.”
(To be continued)
