I used to love roller skating....we had the kind that fit over your shoes and had a skate key to make them tight enough.
We skated on the asphalt streets and at the outdoor rink at the park several blocks away. And, later we skated at the roller rink where we had to rent skates.
When our kids were growing up we lived at Pismo Beach and they had a big roller rink next to the pier. Our kids spend countless hours there, skating, falling in love and out again. The rink is closed now but we all have our memories.
Thanks for reminding me.

Nothing stays the same, but you can't take away the memories. Sounds like fun. I remember going to the roller rink and the organ playing but I wasn't as avid about it as you.

Oh Cherryfizz you bring back such memories.

I was a rink rat from the age of around 9 or 10 when a rink opened near by. My older brother worked there as a floor guard and I was friends with the manager's DD. I would go with my brother in the summer to open up and stayed all day.

Friday nights were were sock hops and I got to stay even though it was teens and older because of my "connections" lol.

The roller rinks of the time were like separate communities. I was a shy kid at school but at the rink I rocked. Lots of friends and a sense of belonging. That place closed it's doors after just a few years (lost their lease) but oh the memories. The owners kid and I got puppies around the same time. We used to bring our dogs and play with them on the rink floor.

There were the serious times too, practice and more practice for regionals, Sunday night club, lessons etc. Coaching was a full time job back then for many and we "feared" and respected our coaches as much or even more than our parents.

After the rink closed I quit skating competitively and just went with friends to the one in the next town. Rink romances, cliques and we were still the cool group. LOL

Girls wore their best skating outfits and the really cool guys actually wore jackets and ties. Just imagine.

I dabbled in a little speed skating at another rink but by that time teen rebellion hit and I lost my discipline for the sport. Parents wouldn't support my speed skating. They want me to do only artistic.

When I married and became a mom I met a neighbor who skated at the local rink. She invited me to a mothers exercise skate group and I was hooked. I started to take lessons and put my DD into tiny tots.

DD skated competitively for a round 5 years. I took lessons and redid my tests but d had no desire to compete again. Ironically I fell in love with figures as an adult which I absolutely hated as a kid.

I did participate in a lot of shows and the Gold Skate Classic held once a year in Bakersfield, California.

Sadly today roller skating has gone so downhill little is left of the sport. There are so few participants that you can become a national champion just by showing up to an event. I joke with my DD about it. She used to have to compete (as did I as a kid) in a field of 40 to 60 in her age division. Now you sometimes don't even get 3 skaters in a division. Sad.

As an older adult (late 40's) I switched to ice. Ice is sooooo much easier than quad skating. I can do things on ice I never did on rollers. I love ice to this day but my deafness/vertigo issues have kept me away. I am working on my balance issues so I can start at least skating recreationally again. Funny with my balance issues I can still spin but I cannot "check" or "plant" a jump for the life of me.

Growing up we and the Copeland family would go to the roller rink on Saturday nite.

One Christmas I got my very own pr of shoe skates and a reversible skate skirt, blouse and vest.

I was sooooo proud.

Later Saturday nites at the rink were taken over by not so pleasant crowds and that was the end of that.

My Mother's parents owned a roller rink just outside of Detroit MI, and my Mother skated there. She also skated competitively in the mid 1940s. She introduced all of us eight kids to roller skating. We skated in local rinks once in a while. I have her skates - the white boot kind, size 7 1/2 - upstairs.

I used to like roller-skating as well. Sunday nites was the nite that drew the crowd. Great music over the loudspeakers and lights.

Wildchild, I'd have loved to have seen you skate! I always remember one guy, he could spin on those rollerskates and go as fast backwards as forwards and could really move to the music. He was a joy to watch.

You're right about ice skates being lighter. The way the ice skaters/dancers spin, they'd never be able to do that on wheels!

My dad bought me my own skates and skate case with my name on it when I was about 8 or 9. Our church sponsored lots of "skating parties" and I used to love skating with my dad. He could really skate well and taught me a lot. I was so proud that he was the cool dad who knew how. :)

I grew up in Chicago but never skated in a rink. My brother who was 6 yearsolder used to go to a rink and met his wife there they used the shoes with wooden rollers mine were theold fashioned kind that clamped on your shoes and you had a key to tightn them

I never really liked Rollerskating. I have terrible balance, even as a kid. I remember once, I was about 8 (third grade) my Blue Bird troop went skating. I rented skates and 'tried' to skate. I couldn't balance, just kept falling and falling. I tried to lean on my best friend Andrea, but she skated away after we both fell. A man came up to me and said 'I've never seen anyone fall so much and still get up again.' Made me proud. Both my daughters are good ice skaters. One even took lessons and can do fancy spins like in the Olympics.

Anne, I too have great memories of the "Roller Rink" The music, the people and that feeling of freedom we had when on wheels! My first pair of skates were the old metal clip ons with the key that I wore around my neck. They clamped onto my brown leather oxfords that I and all my friends wore in those days. As soon as dinner was over you could here the sound of those wheels on the pavement outside. Later we discovered the roller rink and escaped most evenings to the other side of town to meet up with our friends and make new ones.
Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories!

Most of my roller skating was done on the sidewalks and street near my home with the metal clamp on skates. We did have a roller rink near us and went once or twice a month - but only in the afternoon since we were preteen. By the time we were teens it had lost interest for us. My best friend had the complete outfit - leather skates in a pink metal suitcase, a short flared skirt that her Mom made with a matching top and print scarf.

In the winter the township made an ice rink out of the basketball courts and we'd spend hours ice skating after school. Then the county built a beautiful ice rink a few miles away complete with Zamboni and a heated food court and that's were we would skate. It was a popular date place too when we were in high school.

Cherryfizz, I sure do remember the skating rink. I remember taking lessons with m girl scout troop. When the lessons were over we did a program for our parents and while doing one of the routines my skate broke and down I went. I remember my brother laughing at me and my having to go back out to the floor and finish the routine myself. I had the white shoe skates for the rink and the metal clamp ones for the street. We had so much fun ane I sure remember the skating skirts and crinolin slips that went under them. What wonderful memories. Thanks for reminding me. Satine

It is funny but last night I was watching an episode of "Storage Wars" on tv and a couple found two pair of skates in the storage unit they purchased. They took them to a Rink which was also a museum featuring old skates and memorabilia. They were now worth a pretty penny. The owner also invited them to go ahead and skate a bit wearing them. It was a fun program and dont be too quick to just "toss them out"

I too had roller skates, but the kind that went over the shoes with the key. I use to skate all over on the sidewalk, street, but we were to far from the roller rinks so just did outside. I do remember my brother would not skate--he was afraid of getting hurt, but then my mom was kind of over protective of him. Not sure why. I think DH did the rink thing in Inglewood CA with his brother.

I also had the kind that fit over your shoes with a key to tighten,which i wore around my neck.I found a picture of a pair just like mine in an old country magazine awhile ago.Cut it out always meaning to frame it,still havn't done that,but someday!!
Kathi

I loved roller skating as a kid. We spent every weekend at the roller rink. I first held hands with a boy during a couple's skate in 7th grade. I still remember the song, LOL.

I bought another pair of skates as an adult (regular skates, no roller blades), but have only used them a few times. I'm clumsy on my feet now that it's been so long.

There is an adult skate night at a place near here that we keep talking about going to. I'll probably break something but I want to go! :)

Although skating last lost popularity, I've been happy to see Roller Derby exploding on the scene now! I know several women I know who are in Roller Derby Leagues (both regular and banked tracks) and it's a lot of fun to go watch.

Carol, I had forgotten all about the roller rink in Pismo Beach. I used to skate there when my family spent a weekend in Pismo clamming. I also used to skate at a roller rink in south Bakersfield and on the sidewalks and streets near my home. When I was in my late 30s, some friends and I skated at a rink one evening a week. I won a race one night. I think there were just 2 or 3 women in my age category. Probably won a free coke.

How about Roller Derby?? I haven't seen anyone mention it I loed it and it used to be on TV a lot years ago

My dad was a big fan. We went to a lot of games. Bay Bomber fans although one of the guys from our speed club skated for the New York Chiefs. LOL I had a bit of a crush on him.

Now thse games were wild, like old hockey games. The fights, the spectators getting into it, people throwing things. Now days you'd be thrown out. Our world has gone so PC.

My brother went to the training club once in a while. i couldn't wait 'til I got old enough but stuff happened by that time.

I got kicked off the floor at the second rink often for playing roller derby. In fact I had a nick name. I was small,fast and fearless. Played with the guys 6+ older than me and they showed no mercy nor I them. I would low and quick and come up from below get them just above the knee on the side. can you say charley horse? LOL Lots of people thought I could have a career with Roller Derby at the time. I was only around 12 then though and too young.

I still have my Snyders both my dance pair and my figure pair.

I also have my old speed skates. They were Hyde boots with with a single action plate and wood wheels with free bearings. None of the hi tech speed stuff they have today.

We skated without helmets or guards. Just jerseys,shorts and tights. If you had a real uniform the only padding was light weight at the knees.

Anyone remember the powder on the floors? We used to have to work it in before sessions. Then if you fell you got it all over yourself.

During artistic practice most of the boys wore black pants. No jeans back in those days. Lot's of spotted pants at the end of the session. LOL Girls skated bare legged in those short skirts. Pleats for practice most of the time. Most of us had some ugly floor burns healing most of the time.

By the time DD started skating the floors were "roll on" (the blue stuff and no more powder. Outfits got stretchy and the girls wore hose. I remember putting her in Leggs Sheer Energy size A pantyhose because they were small enough to fit over her little 5 and 6 year old body. Actually she wore the same size all the years.

I used to skate on the sidewalks in Southern CA when I was a kid, no roller rinks. I loved to skate, first with the metal-attach-to-your shoe kind and then the white boot kind.

I bought a pair of men's roller skates at an auction nearly 40 years ago and brought home to DH as he used to skate a lot while he was in the Air Force. We went to the local rink and rented skates for the rest of us and the rest is history. Signed the kids and I up for lessons as I had never skated in a rink, just sidewalk clip on skates many years before.

This was like in 1972/3 and we were at the rink about 3x a week. The kids, at that time, ages 3,7, and 11, skated in competition as did DH sometimes. Not me, wasn't that good. I did skate in some of the local skating programs we put on and at the Gold Skate Classic that Wildchild mentioned. The kids skated in local parades. All of us took the skating tests but I never got higher than Bronze, everyone else went higher, not sure if all completed the Gold or not. We skated until about 1980 and moved to MO. and no good close rinks around here.

I made all of our skating outfits, dresses, jumpsuits and many of the costumes for the shows. It was an enjoyable time for the entire family and the local paper wrote an article about us.

These are our three kids, Kyla, Kandra and Kody dressed for a competition.