Family-Owned Skateland Tulsa Closes After 52 Years, Will Reopen Under New Ownership

Family-owned Skateland Tulsa closed its doors this week after more than 50 years, but the building's new owners say it won’t stay closed for long.

The new ownership gives the Skateland building a new lease on life, and the move preserves a decades-old piece of Tulsa history.

With a mix of emotions, Steve and Sheila Enlow handed over the keys to Skateland to its new owner Saul Pena.

"Memories, a lot of memories in this place. It's been open for 52 years so many, many families have enjoyed this place," Pena said.

"It is bittersweet," Sheila Enlow, one of the former owners, said. "There's been a lot of years in this building."

Skateland's history in Tulsa started in the 60's with Sheila's husband, Steve's family.

"I was 12 when we opened it. We lived here for a year or so," Steve said. "So lots of memories growing up as a child through here."

Hundreds of others shared a childhood here. Laura Thompson learned to skate here in the 80's.

"I was in first grade. I was a brownie," Thompson said. "We'd go all the way up one end that way and we'd go all the way up back the other way. Running into the wall, falling down, oh my gosh, all of those memories."

Thompson's vison of this place can still be seen in bright oranges and blues. Years later, Sheila and Steve hired Thompson to paint murals covering the inside walls of Skateland.

"By then my oldest daughter, she could drive. So she would come after school and bring her friends, and her little sister and her friends and they would roller-skate while I was painting," Thompson said.

Though the name may change, Pena said it'll stay a place where generations of future families can continue making memories.

Pena said the building still needs some renovation work before he opens it back up to the public but said that should be within three to four weeks.