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Hi Martin, In 1953 I was attending Van Ness Av elementary school. The Polar Palace was just across the street. I believe it may have been part of The Republic
Pictures Studio lot. At the time, my job was, Paramount Studio news boy. My paper route covered the entire studio, including K T L A and Western Costume Co. I even got to be Cecil B DeMill’s personal news boy. There is a ton of movie history that surrounds this neighbor hood. The Polar Palace was always packed. And one night
me and my buddies snuck through the bushes covering the girls dressing room, and watched the girls undress, until we got caught.
Hope I haven’t bored you with my trivia. I look foreword to reading your novel.
Regards
M.W.Corky Gill
Corky – “bored me with your trivia”??? Are you kidding??? Just the fact alone that you were once Cecil B DeMill’s personal news boy is enough to make my jaw hang open. Any time you want to share your “trivia” on any of these pages, you just go right ahead! Thanks for stopping by!
I lived off Melrose on Wilton Place and remember skating at the Polar Palace many times. I was very young too and attended Santa Monica Blvd Elementary School from 1955 to 1959. Those were the days for sure. Paramount was two block from my house and we used to play in there movie sets all the time. I can believe the fire must have been a big one as I remember all the wood inside it was everywhere. One summer about 1958 they were putting in new refrigeration coolant piping system and were testing it and one of the work dared my to cross the rink as I was a bare for 8 year old… No problem I crossed it and my a quick 10 cents, easy money.
Bruce (Retired in Kansas City)
I remember going there as a kid in the late 50’s, early 60’s. I couldn’t skate very well. I mostly hung onto the wall, surrounding the rink. I do remember the snack section. A rather large room which you would enter through swinging wood doors. They had the best hot chocolate. Many TV shows were filmed in the area. KTLA handled most of them. I won a “Ranger Horn” on the Popeye Show with Tom Hatten. Bozo the Clown was filmed there too. Great times. Great area. Of course we rode our bikes everywhere. Thanks for the memories. Rob
I remember taking ice skating lessons at Polar Palace in the 1950s with my friend Marsha, we met at Highland Hills School on Highland Av. across the street from the Hollywood Bowl. Mabel Fairbanks was our instructor. I have treasured pictures of our experience and we performed at the Shrine Auditorium for the NAACP with Mabel Fairbanks.
Hi Martin. I’m halfway through your novel “All the Gin Joints” and am enjoying the read. I’m in the middle of writing my memoirs for my children which I call “Before I Forget”. Part of my memories include skating at the Polar Palace. I’m 83 now and have travelled the world and worked in Saudi Arabia for ten years. I still cherish growing up in Hollywood across from Paramount Studios. I’ll continue purchasing your stories as I can relate to them.
Keep up the good work. Yo might want to check on my historical fiction novel “Beyond the Gates of Ani”
Hi Martin. I’m halfway through your novel “All the Gin Joints” and am enjoying the read. I’m in the middle of writing my memoirs for my children which I call “Before I Forget”. Part of my memories include skating at the Polar Palace. I’m 83 now and have travelled the world and worked in Saudi Arabia for ten years. I still cherish growing up in Hollywood across from Paramount Studios. I’ll continue purchasing your stories as I can relate to them.
Keep up the good work. You might want to check on my historical fiction novel “Beyond the Gates of Ani”
Hi James and thanks for stopping by. I’m very happy to know that you’re enjoying “All the Gin Joints.” I envy you that you got to grow up in time and place that I can only imagine and dream about and experience through photos!
I grew up not far away – attended 3rd Street School on 3rd Street and Las Palmas – and used to go ice skating at the Polar Palace – at least until it burned down, after which my elementary school friends and I had nowhere to go for this rapturous treat. My mother thought that the owners burned it down to collect the insurance and then sell the land under it. She was no dummy.
Thanks for stopping by, Alicia. And your mother was probably right.
Just saw some magazine photos of Annette and good friend Shelly Fabares with dates at the Polar Palace back in the day.
Was that the same Polar Palace which appeared in the movie “The Hunted” from 1948 starring Preston Foster and Belita?
Thanks.
I’m not familiar with that movie, but I suspect it is, yes.