My package feels snug in these jeans and this bandana looks cool tied around my leg: A Thread about Roller Rinks.

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Yes, roller rinks and roller skating. Extremely popular in Massachusetts in the 80's. Popular anywhere else? Do roller rinks still exist? I was always a decent skater but never was asked to have a skate with a girl. Sometimes I miss the roller rinks and the cheesy dj's who's playlist always included The Outfield and Journey.

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 11:33 (twenty years ago)

Well, after watching that Kelis clip, I assume there must be some rinks left.

― Nathalie, the Queen of Frock 'n' Fall (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 11:39 (twenty years ago)

do they exist in the uk?

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

There was (maybe still is?) one in Clydebank, but ice-skating was more my thing.

I lived a short jaunt away from the Magnum (Ayrshires Premier Leisure Centre don't you know) and my best friends mum worked there. We got in for nothing so spent a good deal of our teenage years at 'ice discos' oh yeah baby, cool as. The last song of the night at ice discos was Jennifer Rush 'The Power of Love'. Even now, hearing that song makes me think of chafed heels, numb hands and sloppy kisses.

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

the empire rollerdrome, now and forever.

― america's next top ramen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

i cant skate, but i have strong memories of a friend of my fathers in the 80s who went everywhere on rollerskates, he was about 8 ft tall and his name was alan ferrari, or "fritz", and he wore short shorts. he also introduced the concept of putting lavender in the mashed potato. i was desperate to skate then and i didnt even know about rinks! they would have been fun i bet, the music sounds good. i associate it with that cliff richard 'wired for sound' song, which i cant decide whether it's good or bad. supposedly ppl rollerskated to 'xanadu' by olivia newton john and elo too. there was a lot of nostalgia for it in the late 90s and early 00s, like the kelis video nath mentioned.
in the 90s it was all about rollerblades and i couldnt do that either, but i wanted to because i had a crush on a boy who rollerbladed everywhere, maybe because he reminded me of the fun times with a. ferrari (another fritz incident = he bought coco pops for us at a beach house one summer, and when we poured them out they were full of ants that swam in the milk)

― minna (minna), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 12:06 (twenty years ago)

the wind in my feathered hair as i flew around the beautiful hardwood floor.

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 12:18 (twenty years ago)

I had the biggest crush ever on one of the stewards (guys employed to help you up off your arse) He was five years older than me and looked so swoony swishing past in his Magnum jacket.

I finally snared him - he's holding MY hand girls - look at me, I'm so cool, and no I don't find it creepy that a twenty year old guy is locking lips with a fifteen year old.

He was called Gary, and he had a glass eye and long hair (what was I thinking?) but all the girls fancied him. I tended to get jealous though, not always knowing which eye was looking where in the dark.

"You're ogling her!"

"No I'm not"

"But you're looking at her!"

"I can't help it!"

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

I used to go to a place (Ashton-under-lyne UK) called wheels, I was never really any good but I could go round both ways. Only one memory remains, asked girl to skate with me, amazingly she agrees, I was young and nervous at the time so her agreeing was a big thing. Anyway, we go round twice and she tells me to wipe my hand as it’s sweating. I let go to wipe my hand (highly embarrassed) and do some crazy unbalanced thing, never got to hold her hand again as she said “I’m just going to the loo, I’ll see you later” half hour later, she skates passed with older cooler boy.

Ahh well!

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

Why do all roller rinks have that distinct smell? What IS that smell?

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

im just guessing, but is it dry ice? kind of chalky and sweet and musty?

― minna (minna), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

the smell of sweaty rental skates. everytime i went skating the dj had a fascination with talking heads "burning down the house".

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

i remember having an embarassing skate once...there was a girl i liked out on the floor skating around with her friends. I thought i would impress her with my moves, so i flew by her a couple times and she giggled. next time around i did this skating backwards to try to grab her hands and get her to skate with me to "Roseanna" and as I went by the damn toe brake caught the floor and i wiped out hard.

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

I wanna go to a roller rink! It's so cool and fifties! I want to be a roller waitress!

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

now this has me thinking of roller rink anthems.
Journey
Big Country
Talking Heads
Prince
MJ

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

roseanna has good harmonies. i wish id been embarrassed in a skate rink to 'roseanna'. i was embarrassed in a bowling alley once, it was with boys from highschool and i went in to send my 8lb ball down the alley and my pants split right down the middle at the back, they were rainbow leggings. i cant remember what the song was, maybe boyz II men

― minna (minna), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

I lived a short jaunt away from the Magnum (Ayrshires Premier Leisure Centre don't you know)

I knocked a little girl over in the Magnum once and she smashed her face into the ice. There was blood everywhere and everyone looked at me as the personification of evil.

I can't rollerskate. I remember they used to have a rollerskating thing at Butlins in Ayr, but it was an outdoor thing with no music.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

In Brooklyn: Empire Roller Skating Center

They shut down a bit of the road in Central Park every summer for skaters, and have somebody playing disco jams.

― Confounded (Confounded), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

There's a skating rink right in the center of downtown Providence -- ice skating in the winter, rollerblading & -skating in the summer. It also serves as a venue for outdoor concerts, and nowadays hosts the bouts between the teams of the Providence Roller Derby League (hot skating chixx0rs & beer, yay).

― elmo (allocryptic), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 15:00 (twenty years ago)

i bet ned was a rollerskater.

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

We used to go to Evesham Skating Center in Marlton NJ back in the very early 80's. I believe it's still there and operating, though under a different name. I can remember Styx's "Lady" being a very popular tune. There was a dj booth at rink level and we would harass the poor guy with non stop requests. There was also a long row of video games, I probably spent more time trying to complete Jungle Hunt than I did on the floor. My friends and I used to play tag on the floor and annoy the other participants.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

"Jump" is the roller rink song for me. Everytime I hear that bitch, I wanna strap skates on.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

there used to be an awesome one in my hood growing up - the Scarborough Roller Palace (toronto suburb, not the UK). they had the fancy lights and the PA and all that... the slow, hold-a-girl's-hand-if-you-dare skates were called "moonlights", and they left the disco ball on solo for that. which was a bit awkward, since the light dots went in a circle around the rink in the same direction as the flow of traffic, but not quite synchronised, which led to some occasional vertigo-like confusion and accidents... i once asked this girl ida-monique to moonlight with me once, but she wouldn't hold my hand :(

i remember they would always do the 'hokey-pokey' at the end.

it's a fucking denny's now.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

There's a roller rink a few miles from my house. It's always packed on the weekends. The inside looks (and smells) the same as rinks from the 80's. The DJ's still play cheesy music, but now it's "Who Let the Dogs Out?" and "The Electric Slide". They still play red light, green light. The nachos are still gross. The laces are still way too long and chewed on and you have to wrap them around and tuck them in.

― Rebekkah (burntbrat), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

all couples, reverse skate!

― kingfish, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

We did the hokey pokey as well.

Re: the thread title: Remember "Joanie Loves Chachi"? When they gave up all notions that it was the 50's, or even the 60's, and Scott Baio had long feathered hair and a bandana around his thigh?

― andy --, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

i bet ned was a rollerskater.

Oi. My good friend Stripey wrote a wonderful article about her more recent roller rink experiences for Freaky Trigger but alas it is not available, though it is listed, in the archives. :-/

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

i loved the roller rinks. i never had cute boys asking me to skate with them though, i was all shy and awkward and had big glasses in the 80s.

― Juulia (julesbdules), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

Since I'm from the heartland, "Jack and Diane" was a roller rink anthem, along with "There's Something Goin' On" by that one lady from ABBA. Oh, and Joan Jett. And Journey. And later, tons of Expose!

I went through a phase when I lived in NC when I would go every week, and they still played cheesy music, though not the SAME cheesy music, but it was just as fun. One time they played "No Diggity" and it was heaven. I love rollerskating A LOT.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

For somre reason I always remember skating around to "Sticky Music" by Yello, of all things.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 10 November 2005 11:13 (twenty years ago)

Rat City Rollergirls reprazentin' Seattle/White Center, yo!

― (plurplurplur) ^_- DJ 'O' Nut -_^ (rulprulprulp) (donut), Friday, 11 November 2005 02:01 (twenty years ago)

Argh. My post should, of course, say "Sticky Music" by Yellow Magic Orchestra. Yeesh.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 11 November 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

I DJed at an ironic hipster rollerdisco in London a few years back. It was very fun. The big records were fast whooshy disco things like Harry Thuman's "Underwater". It also had a hip hop room where some very gifted people wearing lycra and crop tops would semi-breakdance, on rollerskates.

― Jacob (Jacob), Friday, 11 November 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

first time I held a girl's hand was to Abracadabra, Steve Miller Band, and then into I Think I'm In Love, Eddie Money, USA Roller Rink, somewhere in the widwest in the '80s...

I think USA was some kind of roller rink chain. Anyone remember the movie Skatetown USA where Arnold Horseshack played the tough guy?

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 11 November 2005 05:00 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to see a rollerderby show on Sunday. I'm so psyched.

― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 11 November 2005 06:10 (twenty years ago)

Wow, people still do shit like that? :) cool.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 11 November 2005 07:06 (twenty years ago)

check it out!

― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 11 November 2005 07:11 (twenty years ago)

http://www.gothamgirlsrollerderby.com/

― teeth marks on your tongue (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 11 November 2005 07:13 (twenty years ago)

Fuck yeah.. Gotham Girls vs. Rat City FITE!

― (plurplurplur) ^_- DJ 'O' Nut -_^ (rulprulprulp) (donut), Friday, 11 November 2005 07:26 (twenty years ago)

Man, now I am convinced I have to do this trip next year :D Someone has to take me to roller derby! Oh and ice hockey!

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 11 November 2005 07:27 (twenty years ago)

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