A nostalgic look back at Cal Skate of Milpitas
By Eric Shapiro, The Milpitas Beat, July 25, 2023
With Retro Milpitas right around the corner, The Milpitas Beat got on the phone with Chris St. Germain – the longtime co-owner of Cal Skate and the daughter of its original founders Ernie and Evelyn St. Germain – for an exclusive interview. Chris, who now lives in Henderson, Nevada, ran the business with her brother Trace and their dad till it closed in 2011.
Cal Skate burns bright in Milpitas’s collective memory. Even years after they shut their doors, they still maintain a robust Facebook page. To many, the business represents a lost time, one of joy, innocence, and simple togetherness.
They opened their doors in 1977. Ernie, Evelyn, and Chris moved here from Sacramento; Trace was off serving in the army. Ernie had worked for many years in broadcasting, but he and Evelyn wanted to start a business, so they got involved with a pool of developers that was building skating rinks around California.
“My dad was a skater,” Chris explains. “My dad used to take me skating as a kid. I’ve been a skater since I was around four.”