Have you ever been to a roller rink?

Grampa Don said:
I went once. I was 14. We were visiting my aunt in Manteca, CA and my cousin Marie who was a few years older took me along with her boyfriend and his younger sister. I had a great time. It was large wooden rink with organ music accompaniment. I don't know why this came to mind this morning.
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Seems Calif used to be really big on skating rinks. Almost every shopping mall had one.

I went to one called Rollerland every chance I got when I was young. The awesome thing Rollerland did was become an ice-skating rink in winter, so I ice-skated, too. It was a great place to meet girls.

And I took my kids to various skating rinks when they were young. My youngest son was especially good on the wood and the ice. He could do a lot of trick stuff. The older one was fast but not so swell at the jumps and twirls and limbos. Or on ice.

My daughter was ...welll... she was a klutz. No other word for it.
 

OregonGuy said:
I suspect one of the reasons it became "uncool" is because kids started exercising less and eating more
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I think the main reason that skating fell out of favor with teenagers was that skating was a multi-age sport. You had parents, teens, pre-teens, little kids.

Become a teenager, and who wants to hang out with parents, pre-teens, little kids? Besides, there were waaay too many things to do that were school-and-age-oriented. Friday night football or basketball games. Saturday night teen dances at the Y or the Lodge. DATES! Or cruising around with your friends....looking for DATES!

Skating just fell by the side. Oh, we still went skating occasionally.....when somebody "cool" said, "Hey guys! Let's go skating!" "Coolness" ruled everything.
 
My dad was a fantastic skater. In his teens, he was a roller-derby star and travelled all over to competitions. It was really big in the 1940's.

One of my fondest memories as a young child was going skating at the BIG skating rink at the amusement park on Sunday afternoons with my dad. Just us. He was such a good skate dancer and it was so easy to do the dances with him.

He and my mom loved to skate when they married and they had me on skates as soon as I could walk.

I was pretty good but I'm a born klutz and was never what you'd call graceful.
 
jujube said:
I think the main reason that skating fell out of favor with teenagers was that skating was a multi-age sport. You had parents, teens, pre-teens, little kids.

Become a teenager, and who wants to hang out with parents, pre-teens, little kids? Besides, there were waaay too many things to do that were school-and-age-oriented. Friday night football or basketball games. Saturday night teen dances at the Y or the Lodge. DATES! Or cruising around with your friends....looking for DATES!

Skating just fell by the side. Oh, we still went skating occasionally.....when somebody "cool" said, "Hey guys! Let's go skating!" "Coolness" ruled everything.
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Speaking of skating ... the place to hang out and be seen was the local A & W where the car hops were bitchen (where did that term originate?) girls on roller skates.
 
Yes. When I was younger I used to go to a roller rink which was near my parents cottage. It was really fun. It was an outdoor roller rink and they played really good music.
 
OregonGuy said:
Speaking of skating ... the place to hang out and be seen was the local A & W where the car hops were bitchen (where did that term originate?) girls on roller skates.
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One of my sister's first jobs at 14 was a car hop (on skates) at the local A&W. She would never drink root beer again in her life. Hated the mere smell of it. She said she had so much of it spilled on her, she never wanted to see it again.
 
I loved roller skating before 9 years old. Bicycles replaced it all.
So few kids bike anymore. They walk with a Smart phone instead.
Exercising has changed for the youth is a thought. Soccer ?
Colleges offer Field Hockey.

Sort of looks like EV Bikes have made an impression on Young adults and middle aged. Thas good.
I am watching the EV 4X4 UTV's here. Slo-traffic passing past and local BURB street use seem a great thing.
 
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Still roller skating in my area... great for field trips, scouting events, and birthday parties.
They have a HUGE NYE skate with great prizes too :) (actually two, one early for the younger skates, and the midnight skate).

While there ARE open skates, more common is special times for specific themes and/or ages.
 
jujube said:
One of my sister's first jobs at 14 was a car hop (on skates) at the local A&W. She would never drink root beer again in her life. Hated the mere smell of it. She said she had so much of it spilled on her, she never wanted to see it again.
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used to love watchin those girls on usa films - real classy!!
 
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