Pikes Peak Skateland opened in 1948 as a community hub where residents gathered to skate, socialize, celebrate birthdays, and take part in couples skates, with classes and live-music activities held on a 10,000-square-foot floor at 118 W. Colorado Ave. For more than three decades it stood as one of downtown Colorado Springs's most recognizable institutions.
The rink was designed and built by brothers Jerome "Jerry" Penkus and Bob Penkhus together with business partner Isaac Rucker. Before Skateland, the brothers had bought out a smaller, earlier rink that Ernest C. Borgman had run at 109 N. Cascade Ave. The exterior of the Skateland building displayed signage and vehicles tied to the Penkhus family's separate automobile dealership ventures.
Jerry Penkhus, Bob Penkhus, and J.C. Hoeppner ran Pikes Peak Skateland through 1960, when Delmar Jones took over as lessee and kept the doors open through 1983. A succession of different businesses later occupied the building, which eventually became a Paul Mitchell beauty school.
For some skaters, the rink served as a proving ground for roller derby ambitions, and at least one local skater turned that dream into a professional career. A Colorado Springs native who developed her abilities on local sidewalks and at the rink departed for Los Angeles at 14 and eventually won a roster spot on the professional Los Angeles T-Birds, though injuries brought her career to a close at 18.
Among the most memorable figures connected to Skateland was the rink's organist, Lee White Penkhus, Jerry Penkhus's wife, whose playing kept skaters in motion through songs including the "Hokey Pokey." She also held a position as featured pianist for upscale brunches and afternoon teas at The Broadmoor and cut recordings for Rinx Records across the 1950s and 1960s. A professional model and arts supporter, she led the music program for the 1972 Colorado Springs Centennial Celebration, directed public relations for the Colorado Springs Symphony, and earned a national Boy Scouts of America honor for establishing the Symphony Service. She served three separate terms as president of Kappa Alpha Theta National Sorority and fronted her own music and interview broadcast on KRDO.
Roller skating outlasted Skateland in Colorado Springs: Skate City Academy, situated at North Academy and Constitution Avenue, has been operating since 1973 and recently marked 53 years in business, with its current owner at the helm since the 1980s.
The Penkhus automotive enterprise launched in 1951 as a used-car lot at 444 E. Pikes Peak Ave., expanded into new vehicles — including an early Volvo franchise in 1957 — and shifted to Motor City in 1972, with additional family dealerships eventually joining the portfolio.
Whether any formal recognition or commemoration of the original Skateland site at 118 W. Colorado Ave. is planned remains to be seen.