# Skating Rinks



## applecruncher (Sep 12, 2015)

I posted some songs in the music thread that reminded me of when teens used to “go skating”. (roller states) (I personally remember them in the mid-late 1960s) I think you could rent skates for 50 cents.

I was never very good; started out stiff and fell on my butt many times, and this was before knee/elbow pads. But I tried. It was hard enough staying out of the way of the good skaters. :laugh:

But some kids were PROS. Wow, they would whiz by, keeping time with the music, turning around and around, never falling. Then the slow songs – couples would skate and we’d all watch from the sidelines.

Any skaters?


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## NancyNGA (Sep 12, 2015)

My girlfriend and I got on a skating kick in the early 60's in the high school years.  Went every week for one summer.  Neither of us got very good at it, though.  And then we went on to something else.  nthego:


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## AZ Jim (Sep 12, 2015)

I was a "rink rat" in the early 50's.  Had my own detachable skates and I was pretty good.  I could "rex" (skate backwards) as good as most.  I skated 2 or more days a week for a couple years.


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## hollydolly (Sep 12, 2015)

Yes...I loved Disco Roller skating...it was just like going dancing , but on wheels  ( late 60's early 70's)...all the latest chart hits, strobe lighting etc, but on roller skates... I remember those days with great affection!!


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## SifuPhil (Sep 13, 2015)

I was one of the neighborhood street skaters - we never went to a rink; we'd fly down our hilly neighborhood streets in Yonkers, try to avoid getting hit by cars, set up "obstacle courses" (jumps off sheets of plywood, etc.), play street hockey - even fly around in my parents' huge basement and smash into things. :cower:

... probably explains my brain damage ...


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## Pappy (Sep 13, 2015)

Did a lot of rink skating in the 50s while in the Army. Gor fairly good at it, after awhile. It was a fun way to pass a weekend.


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## Ken N Tx (Sep 13, 2015)

NancyNGA said:


> My girlfriend and I got on a skating kick in the early 60's in the high school years.  Went every week for one summer.  Neither of us got very good at it, though.  And then we went on to something else.  nthego:



The wife and I enjoyed the skate rinks back then..It got to a point where I could not skate without a partner at my side!! LOL


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## QuickSilver (Sep 13, 2015)

Loved it and I could waltz and fox trot on the rink with the best of 'em...  I went twice a week in the 60's..  This was my rink..


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## Ken N Tx (Sep 13, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> Loved it and I could waltz and fox trot on the rink with the best of 'em...  I went twice a week in the 60's..  This was my rink..



We went to "The Hub" over by Riverview Park..


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## QuickSilver (Sep 13, 2015)

This is Fleetwood  way out on the SW side... Archer and Harlem

Girls wore skating skirts and the colored pom-poms on their skates..


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## jujube (Sep 13, 2015)

My parents were both excellent skaters (my dad had been a roller-derby star when roller-derby was a serious sport), so they had me on skates as soon as I could walk.  The skating rink was my social life until high school when I discovered boys.....even boys who couldn't skate - lol.   The last time I was on roller skates was in 1980, when I fell down on the boardwalk at Daytona Beach, landed on my face and broke my nose.


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## QuickSilver (Sep 13, 2015)

Yes...  I wouldn't ever dream of putting on skates again...


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## Pappy (Sep 13, 2015)

We drove down to Atascadaro, CA to skate when I was stationed in Camp Roberts, CA. Don't remember the rink name.


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## applecruncher (Sep 13, 2015)

As a kid I had a pair of these (which used a little "key"). For sidewalk and parking lot skating.


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## applecruncher (Sep 13, 2015)

But the skates I rented at the rink looked more like these but not as attractive:


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## SifuPhil (Sep 13, 2015)

applecruncher said:


> As a kid I had a pair of these (which used a little "key"). For sidewalk and parking lot skating.
> 
> View attachment 21390



Yep, those are the ones we used too.


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## applecruncher (Sep 13, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> Yep, those are the ones we used too.




Guarded that key as if it opened Fort Knox.  Almost as valuable as my diary key.

:lofl:


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## SifuPhil (Sep 13, 2015)

applecruncher said:


> Guarded that key as if it opened Fort Knox.  Almost as valuable as my diary key.
> 
> :lofl:



We were always taking the bus downtown to the sporting-goods store to buy more keys - they knew us by sight and would grab a few from the shelf as we were coming through the door. layful:


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## hollydolly (Sep 13, 2015)

Yep we had those skates as kids too AC, with the key and the strap and  laces right at the front of the skate so the skate always slipped off 

During the early 70's while I was wearing  knee high platform soled boots ...I'd have been a lot happier on roller disco nights  if my skates had looked like this ... :wiggle:


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## applecruncher (Sep 13, 2015)

Oh my, Holly!  mg1:


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## hollydolly (Sep 13, 2015)

LOL....funny aren't they? but then again some may have preferred to look more elegant... :turnaround::rofl:


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## Ken N Tx (Sep 14, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> This is Fleetwood  way out on the SW side... Archer and Harlem
> 
> Girls wore skating skirts and the colored pom-poms on their skates..







applecruncher said:


> As a kid I had a pair of these (which used a little "key"). For sidewalk and parking lot skating.
> 
> View attachment 21390





applecruncher said:


> Guarded that key as if it opened Fort Knox.  Almost as valuable as my diary key.
> 
> :lofl:


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