The quotable Jim Fox

Rich...they practiced there for many years. It's old and run down, but it's an institution in the area. I grew up in Culver City and skated there many times in my childhood years...we're talking the 70's and even a couple of times during my college years in the 80's. Used to be one of the few ice rinks in the area. Iceoplex in the SF Valley came much later.

The Kings (and others) used to complain about the uneven ice surface.

Poor ice surface? We have an "institution" here in the northeast (northern MA) where the corners of the ice are sloped up like the corners in a foosball table.

I grew up in Culver City and still live there. But yeah the building is old but its an institution and every Friday and Saturday night is packed....Still cant believe the Kings practiced there for years...

Couldn't be worse than the rink in pasadena. It's a square, and the puck often slips underthe doors. Seems like the neutral zone is like 10 feet wide.

yeah the Culver City rink. Does Hans still run the pro shop? I remember the ice is uneven because of the sand base. The ice surface undulated as you are skating.

Hans still runs it. And the ice still sucks. I have too many childhood memories to stop skating there though.

I've only been there once - it was about 6 or 8 years ago and it was a dinosaur then, as it was in the early 90's when the Kings practiced there before moving to the valley. I was talking to a guy at work a few months back about our leagues and found out that he plays his games there! I couldn't believe it's still standing. the Pasadena one is also funny, but for a tiny rink it's OK. at least the ice is fine as opposed to the slush I'm used to skating on. they should buy new doors!

It's no Toyota Sports Center but it's the only ice skating rink on the west side. If you don't count the 10 ft by 10 ft box they put up in Santa Monica over the holidays. The Culver City Ice Arena is a dump but it does have character.

Hans still runs the shop. I played there as a kid and still play in the adult league during the week. Its used for figure skating all day and then for hockey after, Thats why the ice is so chewed up. They still do it that way. I did however used to go watch the kings practice during the week in the mornings and many times being one of a handfull of spectators. This was great cuz it was the days of Gretzky, Robinson, Carpenter, etc. Gretz at Culver Ice Rink? I still cant believe it. I remember Gretz yelling aloud " Doesn't anybody go to school anymore?" when the parents would bring the kids out to watch during the week. Great to watch other clubs practice there too.

Culver City ice rink is what made us "SoCal" hockey players so tough! Upstairs locker rooms, uneven ice surface, boards a foot too tall, and more figure skating divets than Jim Fox's face. Although it was a step up from Pasadena where the boards were made of chain link fence or in Ontario where one side of the boards was actually cinder block. Yeah we had to rough it way back when.

I have played travel hockey for about ten years in So cal and I must say it is one of the worst. There used to be a team that played out of there called the Marina Cities Sharks haha. Riverside, Glacial Anaheim, Pasadena, old Sylmar and Escondido are also bad

The Kings practiced there long before the likes of Gretzky, Coffey, Hrudey, etc. did. You can go back to the days of Terry Harper, Gene Carr, Don Kozak, Frank St. Marseille, Butch Goring...the Kings practiced there for a long time.

I got my first Dave Taylor autograph standing outside just as Big Bird drove up with Rob Blake in tow. Back in the day when Rob was Larry's caddie. Ahh the memories this post brought back.

You guys ever skate at the Van Nuys Iceland behind the police station?? Talk about a classic, the puck would slip under the boards just about everywhere in that rink. Lots of our local figure skaters practiced there just before we'd take the ice, same as Culver City, pretty rutted out. Culver is a classic tho, I enjoyed skating there as the ice was usually better than in a lot of other places. Yea, Gretz skated there, the Kings practiced there and it was closest sheet of ice to the Forum visiting teams could use to practice. I've seen worse, the Pasadena Civic does bring back some memories but you've got to have tried Iceland to REALLY have some fun. They resurfaced the ice with a Jeep and some sort of towed apparatus behind the Jeep the scraped or plowed the ice....It was hilarious....

To those who knows Hans.

Does he remind you of the Hans from the M*&^^y Ducks movies? I wonder if the character is based on him, but nicer?

I think most of us here have backed off the 'Fire Crawford' chant. At least for this season. But it looks like the Pundits are smelling the blood in the water:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=3308840

Have to agree with Gann. I remember Eddie Shack's purple and gold dune buggy (with a big 23 on the front). Back then the boards were really bad. Then around '78 or '79 the Forum updated their boards (with ones that they could advertise on) and the Forum boards replaced the ones at the Culver rink. The problem was that the ice was a little smaller so the boards didn't fit well. They ran some metal braces up to the dressing room areas that stiffened the boards. A couple years later, I broke my collar bone in three places taking a winger out along those boards - his stick was wrapped around my neck as we crashed. Funny thing - that was a "no check" senior league.

God Bless you all, bringing back memories of that rink, as well as the Pasadena "Ball room", and the Ontario cinder block wall, which when I played there was actually giant exposed wood splinters with pylons in front of it! There was this one kid for the Ontario Jets who was so freakishly big, we called him "Rackie". I was a Bay Harbor kid myself - we had corners that sloped up as well. Good times.

Why are there so many booring posts here lately? Come on, I want to look at the future, not in the past..

Rich, bring up a new poll or something haha..

If you look at almost all of the good teams, you will notice they have a solid foundation and tradition built on the past. Why did Edmonton go to the Finals 2 years ago and are fighting for a playoff spot this year though decimated by injuries? TRADITION. Why did the Canadians win the Cup in '86 and '93 with just average teams? Tradition Why is Detroit always at the top of the standings pre or post lockout? Tradition
Why are the Devils near the top in the East without Gomez, Rafalski and Niedermeyer??? Do I need to go on... Sorry if you were bored MacSwede, but I think if the Kings developed a little more tradition they would play with more heart like these other teams.

Just to get some confirmation, is this the place at 4545 Sepulveda? Cause if so, its funny that I'm reading this today, as I visited the Vet (almost) next by yesterday. I had never been to either place before.

An NHL actually practiced there? It looks like such a dump.

Just to get some confirmation, is this the place at 4545 Sepulveda? Cause if so, its funny that I'm reading this today, as I visited the Vet (almost) next by yesterday. I had never been to either place before.

An NHL actually practiced there? It looks like such a dump.

You mean Foxy didn't say, "From the standpoint of the ice, I've seen better ice on my windshield."?

Anyone remember the slap shop in Westchester? Lived in El Segundo looong before the Kings and Lakers came around and used to go there quite a bit.

I also remember seeing our old coach, Tom Webster, eating at The Donut shop on Main St. all the time. He always had a plain buttermilk, a coffee, and newspaper. I never went up to him b/c he always looked pissed. Sometimes I wish Crawford would heave a stick onto the ice.

yep that's it!

I didn't realize the locker rooms were upstairs. there's only one other place I know set up like that, but it's much newer in South OC. stairs and skates, always fun.

I grew up skating Harbor City, also known as "Skating Edge". the ice always seemed so huge back then.

yes that's it.

I never realized the dressing rooms were upstairs. only two other places I've skated that had them like that, but both are much newer. Lakewood has one upstairs and a rink in South OC is like that. stairs and skates, fun.

I grew up skating at Harbor City ice, aka Skating Edge. the ice seemed so huge back then.

yes that's it.

I never realized the dressing rooms were upstairs. only two other places I've skated that had them like that, but both are much newer. Lakewood has one upstairs and a rink in South OC is like that. stairs and skates, fun.

I grew up skating at Harbor City ice, aka Skating Edge. the ice seemed so huge back then.

yes that's it

One time, while coming out of the rink, two hotel shuttle vans pulled up and out stepped the detroit red wings, in full (ridiculously bright red) regalia. It was surreal.

There are no real locker rooms, so visiting teams had to suit up at their hotel rooms first. It was bizarre to see these dudes pile out of the shuttle like that.

I remember skating around that smelly place, blown away that the greatest player in the world practiced there.

Culver Rink was the Taj Mahal compared to some of the places I've played; Topanga Mall, Pickwick, North Hollywood Mall, Canejo Fieldhouse had a nice rink, Van Nuys was a joke, but the worst was the ice cube I learned to skate on and practiced on for 8 years. Lancaster had a rink that looked like (and smelled like) it was built in some cow barn in Minnesota then shipped to the desert to add character. The boards were only three feet tall and sloped to the outside by 5 inches at the top, the ceiling was barely 12 feet from the floor, the locker room was a bench in the men's restroom, the ice was resurfaced with a 55 gallon drum on wheels that had to be pushed around the rink, at mid rink was a hump tall enough to get airborne. How bad was it? Teams from the Antelope Valley would travel to...wait for it...Culver City to play their home games. God I miss that place.

Buck said:
"One time, while coming out of the rink, two hotel shuttle vans pulled up and out stepped the detroit red wings, in full (ridiculously bright red) regalia. It was surreal.

There are no real locker rooms, so visiting teams had to suit up at their hotel rooms first. It was bizarre to see these dudes pile out of the shuttle like that.

I remember skating around that smelly place, blown away that the greatest player in the world practiced there"

I forgot about that! Thats classic. I remember seeing other teams practice and then get on the team bus in full pads and uni's. That great. What memories of the great NHL.