Santa Cruz Roller Palladium

“A signature historic staple in the Seabright Neighborhood of Santa Cruz. This place hasn't aged a day since the 1950s when it was built and it shows in classic style, wood finishes and retro music choices. I highly recommend the day time sessions for younger kids but this is def an all ages family affair! Disco ball, retro lights, and groovy tunes bring you back to simple time when it was about style, dancing, feeling the groove, and living your best life in the moment. Seize the day at the Santa Cruz Roller Palladium today!”

“We loved this place. Was a great family time, a genuine roller skating experience. If you want a nastalgic skating experience, this is the place to go.”

“Awesome local hangout spot there's just a few problems with it, it's very unsafe when your actually trying to learn new moves or practice, the professionals have no regard for other people or safety, crowds of people against the wall which causing crowding, I've seen multiple people on their phones in the middle of the rank the staff members don't do anything about it either they should add rules to make it fun for everyone! Plus.. the music selection it's terrible who wants to listen to Charlie xcx while roller skating like seriously 🤮”

“i’ve been coming here for years and i used to love it so much! i’ve been coming since i was a kid. when i was in high school my friends and i would come skating every friday night. when i was a student at cabrillo i would go skating twice a week after my shorter classes and go skating by myself. i haven’t been here since early 2020 and i was so excited to be back but im so disappointed and sad at what it’s become. the staff used to be a lot more caring and attentive and made sure it was a safe and fun (and clean) environment for everyone, no matter your skill level. however, it seems so exclusive and cliquey now, with people having zero disregard for less experienced skaters, casual visitors or even children! they used to make sure that people weren’t weaving in and out of other skaters too much or bumping into people or cutting them off, but now it’s kind of a free for all. all night i had people too busy showing off that they didn’t care who they bumped into or knocked over or cut off and it’s downright dangerous. for reference, im not even a terrible skater i can go decently fast and maneuver as well as i can considering i haven’t skated in about 6 years. i had many people blatantly bump into me and knock me off balance. one guy even bumped into me because he was going so fast and the floor was full at this point and said “move bruh!” and he was the one who bumped into me! absolutely insanity. i very kindly asked the girl at the front counter if people are alway this aggressive on the floor because i don’t remember it being like. ive never had anyone be so rude to me at the rink before. i was curious if there’s maybe a less busy day i could try to come back and was surprised by the aggression on a wednesday night honestly. the girl asked who it was and said “im gonna make him pay now” and explained that he’s a regular who thinks he’s “the shit now” (her words) and thinks he’s too good to pay and by her own admission they let him come in without paying which is so weird to me. the other guy working the counter kept telling me to just “push him back” and the two girls kept joking that he’s the owner’s grandson so it’s okay if i act aggressively because i got special permission. the whole time they were making jokes and were so dismissive and ignoring me whenever someone would come up and joke with them. the whole place feels like a cliche high school clique now, especially if they’re letting people in without paying who they KNOW and admit are aggressive skaters. one of the other girls said “you tell him he’s in big trouble now” and was so condescending. i miss the older staff who were professional and actually cared about the place and not just some ucsc kids hanging out doing the bare minimum. the older staff were so kind and attentive and paid attention to the floor and would periodically make announcements when they noticed people were behaving recklessly. after feeling ignored and them literally laughing at what i was saying, i just said “well im glad that you guys find it funny at least” and left. im genuinely so shocked at the difference now, and that it’s just become a place where people who own their own skates and are very skilled and can arguably skate anywhere are allowed to just dominate the floor with disregard to anyone else and aren’t even asked to pay like everyone else. i used to recommend this place to everyone! and now i cant recommend it anymore. what if i had gotten seriously hurt? or what if you bring your kids here and these full grown adults are too busy going full speed and showing off and cutting off literal children (which i witness multiple times that night). of course this isn’t every skater plenty of kind regulars! but far too many people purposefully cutting off others and weaving in and out of people to make it enjoyable. i think they need better staffing, i really got the vibe that they were mean girls lol and the guy who claims to be the owner’s grandson was also very rude. so so sad. i wanna try it again because again i loved this place and used to come weekly but im weary”