SAN RAMON — The Golden Skate’s smooth rink and cosmic carpets helped Shayan Khosravanifarahani relearn how to balance on eight wheels — the perfect “controlled environment,” he said, to strap on roller skates for the first time in years.

It’s also one of the few places he can revisit teenage memories of growing up in San Ramon. The 33-year-old has returned to the half-century-old rink nearly every Wednesday night for the past few months, worried the welcoming community inside isn’t going to last. Rumors of The Golden Skate’s closure have swirled for the past three years.

“It reminds me of a fun, older time — I want to keep it alive,” Khosravanifarahani said. “This is my ‘home rink,’ so maybe I have a little extra pride in that.”

Shayan Khosravanifarahani, from San Ramon, skates at The Golden Skate in San Ramon, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

Three years ago, with development plans looming, The Golden Skate’s owner Hassan Sharifi vowed to remain open “indefinitely” after receiving an overwhelming outpouring of support for one of the last two roller rinks in Contra Costa County and the greater East Bay.

By that time, the 3.5-acre property had already been in limbo for two years after San Ramon’s Planning Commission approved Sharifi’s pitch for Windflower Fields, a 47-townhome development in eight three-story buildings on his land near Interstate 680 and the Diablo mountain range.

Progress, however, has rolled to a halt on the infill project, which was granted an 18-month extension in December.

Roller skaters have Mother Nature to thank for the ongoing delay.

After torrential rainstorms in early 2023 triggered a landslide just west of the roller rink, some of that loose dirt rolled down onto the Golden Skate property at 2701 Hooper Drive — sparking an ongoing dispute over cleanup of the private, open hillside.

A November 2024 letter sent by a Walnut Creek-based attorney on Sharifi’s behalf put the blame on Lennar Homes, which owns the housing development built along nearly 300 acres of the hillside adjacent to the rink, saying Lennar has failed to mitigate the lingering impacts of the storm damage “or done anything to ensure the slope will be stable in the future.”

Sharifi, who is in his 90s, did not respond to multiple calls, and neither did his former attorney. Planners and engineers who had worked on Windflower Fields said they haven’t heard from the owner about those or any other plans in the past year. Representatives from Lennar declined to comment on the impasse.

Manuel Duarte, a manager who’s been on The Golden Skate’s staff since 1997, said his boss hasn’t really explained anything to anyone.

“I don’t really know what happened, and he hasn’t shared too much,” Duarte said on a recent Wednesday night, when he greeted nearly everyone with a familiar handshake, respectful head nod or introductory hello. He said that the weekly adult session is The Golden Skate’s only reliable revenue. The 62-year-old Concord resident said he has “no clue” how or why Sharifi is able to keep the doors open when the business can’t break even most nights.

“He just wants people happy and to come skate, but we’re not really making money at all,” Duarte said. “If something happens to him, we’re done.”

The Golden Skate in San Ramon, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

By the time disco soared to popularity in the 1970s, there were more than a dozen roller rinks across the Bay Area. That’s no longer the case.

While skaters regularly congregate in Oakland near Lake Merritt and San Francisco boasts both Golden Gate Park and the Church of 8 Wheels as local hubs of skate culture, the South Bay, specifically, has had relatively slim pickings since Milpitas’ Cal Skate closed in 2011, San Jose Skate followed in 2014 and Aloha Roller Rink was priced out of its space in the Eastridge Mall earlier this year.

The Golden Skate isn’t the only rink that’s managed to dodge the eulogies, however. Contra Costa County’s Paradise Skate first opened in Antioch as “Roller Haven” in 1969. There is also San Rafael’s Skate Escape, which carved out a space inside the Northgate Mall.

Up north in Sonoma County, Cal Skate of Rohnert Park paused its regular family-friendly events, themed skate nights and skills classes to freshen up its wooden floors, while the Santa Cruz Roller Palladium celebrates its 75th year in business this year on Seabright Avenue.

Meanwhile at The Golden Skate, rink regulars keep the faith.

Jojo Johnson, center, from Oakland, dances while skating at The Golden Skate in San Ramon, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

Jo Jo Johnson gets wistful thinking about the idea of losing her skating home. The 65-year-old remembers spending Sunday nights at CalSkate in Milpitas, where she said thick crowds congregated for hours, dancing their way out of life’s constrictions to Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove.” She makes the commute from North Oakland to The Golden Skate every week to help keep those safe spaces alive for seasoned skaters, as well as those just starting to find their groove.

“I’m not the best skater — I can’t do all those fancy things — but it’s fun just to see the sheer talent and strength and power of people,” Johnson said after lacing up at The Golden Skate one Wednesday night. “More of these kinds of spaces need to come back.”

The purpose, health and community that can be found inside The Golden Skate, she added, is needed, “now more than ever … so go hard or go home.”

Jojo Johnson, center, from Oakland, get a hug while putting on her skates at The Golden Skate in San Ramon, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)