Simi Valley now has a Skateboarding Mall of Fame. Yes, SkateLab co-founder Todd Huber has taken his collection of gnarly boards, which had been displayed at the Simi Valley private skate park until its closure was announced in October, and moved it to an unlikely venue: Simi Valley Town Center. “So far, so good,” Huber told the Business Journal, regarding his Skateboarding Hall of Fame, which opened Dec. 15. Jeffrey DiJulius, general manager at the shopping center, which is owned by Alberta Development Partners in Greenwood Village, Colorado, explained how Huber’s nonprofit venture came to materialize at space No. 230 at 1555 Simi Town Center Way. “I approached Todd Huber in 2011 and spoke with him many times throughout the years,” DiJulius said. “When I read about his pending closing, I called him — he was in New York with his brother and it was midnight there, and I told him to come to the Town Center. We consummated a deal within days of his arrival back in Simi.” Three months after the Business Journal published a July feature on SkateLab, Huber had a falling out with the business’s co-founder, former baseball player Scott Radinsky, who decided to shutter the 20,000-square-foot skateboarding park and instructional center at 4226 Valley Fair St. Yet even last summer, Huber had shared his ultimate dream of spinning off the Skateboarding Hall of Fame into a destination independent of SkateLab. So as his former business jumped its final ollie last month, Huber doubled-down on his longtime dream of opening his museum, which now occupies a 10,000-square-foot retail space that once housed an Urban Outfitters. Nearby neighbors at the mall include Macy’s, Starbucks and Buffalo Wild Wings. As it turns out, the idea of shoehorning a museum into a mall space in Ventura County is not without precedent. California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks, which had entered into a strategic partnership with The Oaks – a Macerich property, announced four months ago that it was abandoning its Thousand Oaks Boulevard address for 5,500 square feet at The Oaks. The new California Museum of Art debuted Nov. 8 at 350 W. Hillcrest Drive — on the second floor between Nordstrom and Macy’s, and across from JCPenney. According to DiJulius and Huber, having the Skateboarding Hall of Fame at Simi Valley Town Center is a win-win. “Since moving (in), (Huber) has become an indispensable part of the merchant’s association with his marketing and social media skills,” DiJulius said. “He has generated a lot of activity and buzz.” As for the museum’s owner, he’s enjoying the benefits of living his dream amid shoppers and diners. “As much as I loved Skatelab, the foot traffic was literally zero,” Huber said.
