Frost on 5th is back on the corner of Arizona Avenue and 5th Street in Downtown Santa Monica, bringing real ice to the coast for a 19th consecutive year. The seasonal rink opened Nov. 5 and will operate daily through Jan. 18, 2027, drawing families, downtown workers, and neighborhood shoppers out for a skate under the coastal sky.
Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. opened the rink with an evening celebration joined by city leaders and business organizers, according to the Santa Monica Mirror. Debbie Lee, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., welcomed the community to the grand opening, and Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis said the rink brings families, friends, and visitors together and helps create traditions and lasting holiday memories. A longtime attendee told the Mirror the rink is fun and good for the community, adding that their children enjoy skating there every year.
Real Ice, Real Numbers
The rink spans 7,200 square feet of real ice, Lee said, according to smdp.com. Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. reported that more than 36,000 skaters visited the rink last season. Each skating session runs 60 minutes, per Frost on 5th's website, with admission and skate rental priced at $22 before sales tax.
Hours run from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from noon to 10 p.m. on weekends and holidays, according to downtownsm.com. Skaters looking for a longer commitment can buy a season pass for $165, good for specified dates between Nov. 9 and Jan. 18 with a holiday blackout period built in, the same Frost on 5th listing notes. The rink also advertises private events on select Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, starting at a base rate of $10,000.
How This Season Stacks Up
Frost on 5th's predecessor, Ice at Santa Monica, shifted to timed one-hour sessions and online advance ticketing starting with its 2023-24 run, the same report notes. That season logged 563 sessions, with only 14 rained out, drawing 53,910 skaters and 123,993 total visitors — a project organizers described at the time as 25% bigger than any previous year. The season before that, 2022-23, brought in 50,813 skaters and generated rink revenue of $1,053,767 between Nov. 16 and Jan. 16.
The rink's roots go back further still: an earlier season, running from Nov. 1, 2017, through Jan. 15, 2018, was identified at the time as the rink's 11th, according to the jeffwagneragency.com account of that year's opening. Frost on 5th isn't the only seasonal attraction drawing holiday crowds to the city this year. A Swiss Winter Village was also scheduled to make its debut on the Santa Monica Pier on Nov. 18, running through Jan. 3, 2027, per the smdp.com report.
Whether this season's attendance matches or exceeds last year's 36,000-plus skaters remains to be seen, as current-season numbers have not yet been reported. For now, the rink is open daily through Jan. 18, offering downtown visitors a now-familiar slice of winter along the Southern California coast.
