GenX Women are Sick of This Shit!

From Victorian Party Tricks To Disco To Derby: How Roller Rinks Shaped Gen X

• Megan Bennett & Lesley Meier • Season 2 • Episode 21

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A dark afternoon, a good cider, and one glittering memory: the roller rink. We follow that spark into a full ride through roller skating’s wild history and why it mattered so much to Gen X. From a violin-playing inventor crashing into a mirror to James Plimpton’s quad revolution, we connect the dots between Victorian spectacle, postwar neon boxes, and the utilitarian warehouses that became our weekend temples.

We talk about what those rinks gave us as kids: a semi-supervised freedom loop, a place to test courage on turns, and our first real music community. The DJ calls. The panic of couple skate. The pride when Another One Bites the Dust hit and you didn’t wipe out. Then we pull back the curtain on the deeper story—rinks as battlegrounds and sanctuaries. Black skaters staged skate-ins, built iconic styles like JB and Philly backwards, and turned rinks into essential venues for funk, disco, and early hip hop. Flippers in West Hollywood mixed drag, punk, and pop royalty; roller derby revived the punk-feminist spirit with women taking up blistering speed and space.

We track the shift to rollerblades, the tug of cable TV and video games, and why so many rinks closed or morphed into birthday factories. And just when it felt like the music faded, the pandemic sent wheels flying again: pastel quads on boardwalks, jam lines in parking lots, adult skate nights with old-school grooves. The recipe still works—smooth floor, lights overhead, music that moves your feet, and a little bravery to let go of the wall.

Got a rink story, your anthem, or a legendary wipeout? We want to hear it. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with the friend who always yelled “reverse skate.” Your turn: what song instantly drops you back onto that maple floor?

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Megan:

I'm Megan Bennett. I'm Leslie Meyer. And this is Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit.

Lesley:

Hey Megan.

Megan:

Hi Lesley.

Lesley:

I was wettin' my whistle.

Megan:

You were wet and you're whi- Where's your whistle?

Lesley:

Wet and my whistle. I was parched.

Megan:

That's hard to say. How are you? I am okay. How are you? I'm also okay.

Lesley:

Yeah. Yeah. Mostly. Mostly okay. Yeah. It was a quirky, it was a strangely shaped day. I understand. I hear that. Out of my work days. And so it was just like it feels very just out of time. Like I was like, I don't know. And then I had some appointments online. And I went into my little office and closed my little door. And then I come out and it's like a different color outside. And it's like midnight. Yeah. So it's a little disconcerting.

Megan:

It is, it's weird when it gets dark at like 3:30. We're getting so close to it. Yeah. So if we can get to December, what is it, 201st? Then I feel like that's the longest night of the year.

Lesley:

Yeah. The solstice.

Megan:

I like that because then I know it's only gonna get better.

Lesley:

Or brighter. We invite back the light. That is a critical differentiation right now. Right. It's gonna get better. No. But it just brighter. And I love that we each said that the opposite way. That sounds bad. At the same time. That seems right. It feels good.

Megan:

Because you are the yin to my yay. The left brain to my brain, no. I don't have one of those. I was just a right brain. Left brain to your left brain. Yes, we're just two left-brained weirdos that there you go.

Lesley:

It makes up enough of a brain that we can do this.

Megan:

We have no memory, but that's fine.

Lesley:

Has anything happened since we seen each seen saw since we saw each other last that has delighted you?

Megan:

Oh god no.

Lesley:

Or brought a little bit of joy to your just like moment. Like personal.

Megan:

This is what we would call a very pregnant pause.

Lesley:

I'm just gonna like shift the attention. I'm thinking that makes you feel good.

Megan:

This is when Leslie starts shrinking my head. I haven't I don't know that I've got anything other than I'm re-watching Stranger Things. That's that's a tiny joyful, except then except then I get bummed out because I'm like then the final season's coming and then it's gone forever, and then I'll be sad.

Lesley:

Oh god. You have a beautiful sweet dog?

Megan:

I do. I have a fabulous puppy. She is an emotional support puppy. Yeah, there is no doubt.

Lesley:

Have you eaten anything delicious recently? Or had like a unique cocktail experience?

Megan:

No. This is terrible. No, so we let's see. Drink wise, my current uh drink flavor is I like a really dry hard cider. I love it. There's a company called Ash and Elm that's local to India. But I think you can get other places now. I think it's expanding. Yeah, they're expanding. They've got a flavor called Landstone, which is like they're not their driest of the dry, but it's pretty dry. And so I like that. And then I add a little bit of black currant juice. Oh, yes. And then you get what is beloved in England. You can set me straight if I am wrong, ladies who are of British, British nationality. You can tell me if I'm wrong. But then you get a fabulous mix of the hard cider and the black currant juice. So that sounds delush. It is delush. See, that's a little messy. So that's good. Yeah. It is. And it's soup season.

Lesley:

Oh. So are you a soup maker?

Megan:

Soup. Yes. So I will make a leek potato leek soup that I love. And I will make a soup that we call the complicated soup. Because it is. But it's it's basically it's a pot pie soup. So there's chicken and ham and and you make your obase and okay. You know, it's there's a lot to it. It's complicated. But it's delicious. But it's delicious.

Lesley:

So it's worthwhile. Oh, yes. And that takes like time and intention, and you can just like it's a Sunday afternoon kind of thing. So understand. Yeah. Okay. So how about you? Good things recently. Wow, I asked the question, but didn't consider that it might be asked also to me. Yes, I know exactly what's fucking brought me joy. We spent all of last weekend putting up all of our goddamn Christmas lights. Oh, and they look great.

Megan:

Awesome.

Lesley:

And I am thrilled.

Megan:

Good. See, and that's why you do it.

Lesley:

Absolutely.

Megan:

It's for the joy.

Lesley:

It goes back to the like, we're bringing back the light. Like the Christmas lights are like getting us through the dark times. I think that's why it comes back. So I've determined that it's all going to be done before Thanksgiving because this will be the first Thanksgiving where my kid is like coming back from her home away. And I'm like, I don't want to be doing this. No, I want to just hang out. That'll be it's gonna get done. So that brought me good joy.

Megan:

And you have a trip coming up. So you're gonna do a little Mexico jaunt.

Lesley:

Yep, do a little, it's it's a little work trip. But I will be there for like 48 hours basically. Four days total, but 48 hours in one place, and then I'll that's four Markets. And then I'll be back, but it's a different temperature, and that'll be nice. And then I'll come back and it'll be like the holiday open house situation, and then I'm pretty much it at St. Patrick's Day. That's what it feels like. And boom, it's from December 7th on. I will just be like pulling together, gosh, our St. Patrick's Day event and doing all that fun stuff.

Megan:

That's cool. We planned a we did plan a trip for September. So we're doing a we're doing four days in London, and then we're hopping on a boat and going to Norway.

Lesley:

Amazing. Yeah.

Megan:

Have you ever been to Norway? I have not been to Norway. So I'm really excited about that. And then we end in Rotterdam and we're gonna spend the night in Amsterdam.

Lesley:

Perfect.

Megan:

So we'll do, you know, a little bit of tulip looking.

Lesley:

Are you gonna I would do a lot of drugs?

Megan:

I probably will not. Damn. Because I'll be with the in-laws. Uh so that would be a little awkward. That does like I don't want to be that person. Like, hey, daughter.

Lesley:

You all are old enough. She's not gonna go scope around a little bit. I'd be like, what? I would at least want to go hang out and like check something out.

Megan:

Where I don't know that we have enough time though. Yeah. No, absolutely. And you're interested in that. I want to see. And yeah. I've got to play. In some ways, it's frustrating because I have to be the tour guide kind of. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it's it's the in-laws, it's our daughter and her boyfriend, plus two different couples. Oh wow. Friend couples that are coming too. Okay. So it's and none of them have our family has been to England before, but none of the others have been to London before. Okay. So it'll be me going, okay, everybody come on, little chickies. We're gonna go look at the Tower of London.

Lesley:

You're doing like the um the Griswold's trip to London kind of vibe.

Megan:

Kind of, yes. You're like, I have to lead everybody, and yeah.

Lesley:

So oh, but Norway. Sounds amazing. Norway will be very cool.

Megan:

We get to float on the boat through the fjords.

Lesley:

I love fjords.

Megan:

I I like to say fjords.

Lesley:

I also love my cat who's I can hear your kiddie meowing in sadness.

Megan:

Oh, she's very distraught.

Lesley:

It's I promise listening audience, she's fine. Are you gonna take that out and post, or should I keep justifying why the cat is okay? Okay, brilliant. You can just add it around that. Otherwise, they're gonna be a lot of women who are like freaking out about the hell's wrong with your cat.

Producer Tim:

The cat has kiddie dementia.

Lesley:

We we think that's our best guess. She's lost. She's forgotten she's with another cat, she's not alone.

Megan:

She just needs to be reminded that she's a cat.

Lesley:

We all need to be reminded that we're cats or people. But they were people. How about human beings? Everyone's talking about it.

Megan:

Everybody should be reminded that they are a human being, and I feel like that's getting missed sometimes now.

Lesley:

Good golly. So we talked about doing what should are we sick of this week, and then it that just got depressing.

Megan:

It did. So I'd like I appreciated your like trying to focus on something that's positive.

Lesley:

Just anything that just was the opposite of miserable.

Megan:

No, I think that's good.

Lesley:

I think that's good.

Megan:

I'm gonna cling to my puppy.

Lesley:

There you go. That's that's my thing.

Megan:

And future plans, that's I I did get, I did talk to my doctor about hormones. So that was fun. Isn't it funny? Hormones.

Lesley:

That word, hormones.

Megan:

I mean, when you break it up like that, it is all I ever hear. Okay, I have never heard it before until right now. So now I'm like, now I'll never not unhear.

Lesley:

And then you're gonna say it to your doctor, and you're gonna be like, you know, what happens when a hormones she gets a hot flash.

Megan:

Hoy. Yeah, no, okay. Well, so I started waking up at like three o'clock in the morning on fire again. And I'm like, what the fuck? I am like multiple months, years into this bullshit now. So why is this happening? So I thought I probably need touch-up, a touch-up, like give me a little bit more, like refresher, a top off.

Lesley:

Top off my moanin. I need better symptom management, is what she's saying.

Megan:

Top off my moanin' whore. There you go. And so she's going to send me a kit in the mail, I guess, that's like a hormone testing kit. And I have to, it's a saliva kit, so I have to spit in a tube multiple times a day to measure like the joke.

Lesley:

Just keeps going. Hormones spitting in a tube.

Megan:

Yep.

Lesley:

Okay. I it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense. It's just funny. No, that's yeah.

Megan:

Yeah. It's just funny. You're gonna spit in the tube. I'm gonna spit a tube, and I'm gonna see if my hormones fluctuate. Yes, certainly over the course of a day.

Lesley:

Okay. So and then she'll get the data and then she'll say, Yes, at noon.

Megan:

At noon, your peak hormone. An injection. Your moans are horning. Your moans are horning? Your hores are moaning. Or horning. I mean, horns are horning extra loud at noon. By about 7 p.m., they're plum tuckered out.

Lesley:

I mean, it's been a long day at work, honestly. You gotta be done. Okay, so then they'll glean from that. Do you need to make some increases?

Megan:

Yes, whether they need to increase my yeah, my levels of some sort.

Lesley:

Gotcha. And then you'll stop sweating. So are you back to like having a fan in the room?

Megan:

No, no, because it's like it's just like three o'clock in the morning. Wake up, sheets are hot. Okay. I'm not you know, sweaty gross or anything, but the sheets are like on fire hot. Okay. So I get up, go to the bathroom, let them cool down. Gotta let the sheets cool down. Yeah. And then can crawl back in. And then you get back in bed. And sometimes it's with or without clothes because I'm like, now I'm hot. Right. So you had to take everything off. Which the husband thinks is an invitation. You're like, no. But it's three o'clock in the morning. It is not an invitation. It's just me literally being on fire. So please husband. Please, husband. As much as I love you, not an invitation. Don't fucking tag me. Also, if you do, you're liable to get burned because I am hot. I mean, that's what he's probably thinking. I yeah. Either way. Not the way that yeah, he's gonna be grossly disappointed.

Lesley:

Okay, alternative theory. Yes. What if you're actually becoming a superhero because of all of the shit that we ate as Gen Xers, which is what got us to lawn darts. Yeah. Earlier. Earlier when we were chatting. But what if there's like a nuclear option and you're like, hmm, that DT.

Megan:

It was all the things that we that could have killed us got us to lawn darts before.

Lesley:

Yep, it did a while ago. It was a long time ago, but it always comes back around. But just regardless, what if like, you know, some Gen X fission process process is turning you into the I mean that could be that could be the case.

Megan:

I think that would be it's the mosquito spray.

Lesley:

Yeah.

Megan:

It's red number five.

Lesley:

Absolutely.

Megan:

It's creepy crawlies. Creepy crawlies. All the bubblegum you ate. All the bubblegum that's still there. Probably wasn't good. Yeah, because you swallowed it. So it's back for seven years. Well, presumably it's it's probably gone now, right?

Lesley:

Oh, absolutely. It didn't. That was actually a myth. That was on the list of things that were myths that we believed from our childhood. I was so disappointed to find out that gum did not actually say.

Megan:

What were some others?

Lesley:

I don't ask me directly because I'll never remember them. They just have to weave their way in through our conversation.

Megan:

Okay, okay.

Lesley:

All right. Okay. Yeah. Oh, but you we're gonna talk about memories tonight. We're gonna talk about memories.

Megan:

Yeah, because you had one. Yeah, so here's why. Like I I was watching season four of Stranger Things. Yes. And in season four, which is fabulous, there is a roller rank. There's a whole thing where L is at the roller rank and she takes a skate and she wonks her bully in the head with a with a skate, which who among us hasn't wanted to take care of their bully absolutely upside the head with a skate.

Lesley:

And for some reason, now she's in trouble. That's a bunch of bullshit.

Megan:

Right. Now bully, bully, bully. She got what she had coming to her. So uh Angela was the bully's name. That bitch. If your name is Angela and we don't think so, you're probably fine.

Lesley:

Yeah. You're probably fine. We don't want to promise. Don't take this as proof.

Megan:

So anyway, watching that whole episode, I was like, God, I'm so crazy nostalgic for roller rinks and roller skating. Okay. And, you know, I played roller derby for four or five years. And that sort of, you know, I don't know, made me happy to be able to do that. But but God, that whole like getting up, going roller skating on a Friday or Saturday night, you know, the skating parties that you would have in elementary school, stuff like that. So I thought well, we thought it'd be kind of fun to do a little deep dive on the history of roller skating and of you know roller ranks. So that's where we are.

Lesley:

We're going roller skating. I just made that upright now. Because that song is in my head.

Megan:

You know, yeah. You could do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around.

Lesley:

I can. That is. But which direction?

Megan:

What it's all about. But you rip it in. But you ripe it out.

Lesley:

Oh, that wasn't the roller ring. I took me a minute to catch up. I do remember that now.

Megan:

Shake it all about. You do have you begin to turn yourself around. That's what it's all about. Okay.

Lesley:

Yeah.

Megan:

So yes. So I am curious. Yeah. You remember. And by you, I mean the royal you, right? Like everybody who's listening to. Me and all of the me's inside. Oh, and the people listening, yes. Sure, sure, sure. So, like the first time that you let go of the wall at the roller rink, probably like 12 years old. You've got rented skates. They smell like always, you know, Lysol and feet, sweat. Yeah, right. Your jeans are probably too tight. Yes. If you fall down, good luck getting back up, you know.

Lesley:

Yeah.

Megan:

Tricky Jordan Ash are probably a little too snug. There. Your whole goal in life is to not wipe out. Right. And not look like a like a doofist or a couple sets. Just don't let me fall. Or whatever.

Lesley:

Yeah. I don't you don't want to do that. And and like the whole, like, your whole like self-image. I mean, just everything that is most important in your life, your reputation is hinging on whether or not you like collapse or you can keep yourself upright. And when you have to like go around the like corners and you're like, you're not very good, and you're sort of like trying to like get your, you know, you can't. You can get that do the crossover. Crossover with it. Falling on your ass in front of, you know, your crush or your buddies or whatever. Whatever.

Megan:

Yeah. So that's what we're doing. So tonight we're gonna roll back and yeah. I'm gonna do it. I'm probably gonna have some skate puns. Do it, do it. Whatever. You know, we're gonna talk about the history of the roller rink, why it was such a huge deal for kids like us growing up in the 70s and the 80s.

Lesley:

We're gonna go from fancy 18th century party tricks. Nice. They did. To Victorian immortality to disco balls. Oh my gosh. Black skate nights, like black light skate nights, roller dewear, roller blades, TikTok, which you know, I don't tick tock. And of course, TikTok a little bit our deeply awkward roller skate memories.

Megan:

Yep, awesome. So that's what we're gonna do tonight. I think that's kind of fun. I think people will love that. I think so too. So before we do that, should we do a quick break?

Lesley:

Yes. Oh, we should acknowledge people may have died this week.

Megan:

Yeah, but we didn't track that, did we?

Lesley:

We they weren't important enough for us to remember.

Megan:

No one that we knew personally.

Lesley:

That's what we said died this week. No one that we knew personally died this week that I can recall right now. That may not be true.

Megan:

How crazy is that if we got through an entire two weeks without any big names?

Lesley:

I don't know if that's true. I'm just too fucking busy to notice.

Megan:

He's alive. As of this recording, he is alive. Uh, but he is getting ready to celebrate his 100th birthday. I love him. Yeah, same. That's wonderful. So, I mean, we obviously are not gonna have him around too much longer, but it's nice that we still have him.

Lesley:

It's like, oh I don't know, he can live forever.

Megan:

I don't know. How long is for 100 years? 100 years. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Lesley:

125. Yeah. Oh, he's born the same year that my grandmother was born. You know what I found out? What's that? That they are actually the what did I find out? My grandmother, that's actually silent gen. Yes. 1925. Yes. Is that right?

Megan:

Oh no. No.

Lesley:

Lost Jen. Lost Jen. Yes, and then boomer, and then silent is somehow. No, silence before boomer. No, so the lost generation, silent generation, and then boomers. Okay. Boomers. Why were they silent?

Megan:

Do we know? I'm not allowed to ask questions. We'll be right back and we'll answer that question. Okay, that's good. Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit is supported by Lilas. Love You Like a Sis, a Gen X women's social club. What's Lilass, Megan? Lilas is our uh off platform, off uh the Books of Faces, off all of the other traditional social media. Uh, it is our space and place for Gen X women to come together, have conversations, meet each other. It's a social club.

Lesley:

It is a social club. It's a membership-based club. Memberships are $10 a month. Um, that does help support us in growing the platform. We purchased a platform that would host a network of women so that you could come together and meet each other in real time.

Megan:

In a safer space, right, than a traditional social media platform and a much more personal space.

Lesley:

So what do we do there, Leslie? We host movie nights where we live stream some of our favorites as they are available to us for group watches of films from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. We host a space for a monthly book club. We host trivia nights. Trivia nights once a month. We have a live text chat. Four prizes, even. Four prizes. That's true. Um, we the space is able to host like weekly text chats so that you can kind of check in in real time with people. I would say the critical difference between kind of what this space is and any other social media space that I've experienced is that it is active. You will have to engage in it or be engaged in it by other people. So it's not like a passive consumption thing.

Megan:

It's like making connections. Yep. And if that's what you're looking for, the opportunity to meet other people, to find people who are maybe in the same similar spaces as you are.

Lesley:

Like-minded, same time phase of life, navigating all of those transitions, then this might be the right place for you.

Megan:

So check out Laddie Last. You can learn more about it at GenXwomenpod.com. And we're back. We are so back. Okay, so the question was the silent generation? Why was the silent generation called the silent generation? And my theory is that the greatest generation, which was my grandmother, yes, told her younger sibling to shut the fuck up. And she did. And that's why she was the silent generation.

Lesley:

It's the only way to get quiet. I mean that is so close. Oh, good. In that contextual, cultural way. You're so close. I'm close, I'm close. We had to like give this the Googles. And wait, you just said the other generation that was before it. Greatest generation. Greatest generation. What we realized is that Dick Van Dyke is actually in the greatest generation. Okay. Which makes sense because he was born in 1925. And that is how we even got to this damn conversation to begin with. Because he's not dead.

Megan:

Right. Yes. As then recording.

Lesley:

Because they were very eager to kind of like have some life stability post-World War II and post the Great Depression and the stock market. Nobody told him to shut up. They may have. I mean, the world did. The world told him to shut up. The pressures of survival said you just be fucking happy when you get a job and you have a dollar. They were all like, you know what? We're good. We're like, we don't need to rebel. You all have been a hot mess. I was born into catastrophe. I need some, I need some chill. I think I'm just gonna want like a nice little house. And so that it was popularized by a 1951 Time magazine article, which described the youth of the time as being quiet, conforming, and somewhat fatalistic. I think that these are also going to be gen alphas. You think so? Are they alphas right now? Yeah. That's the young, that's the youngest. Because they've been born into the fucking pandemic. Yeah. And whatever this is.

Megan:

And they all went through whatever the fuck's going on. You know what I mean? Right.

Lesley:

You're gonna want like stability.

Megan:

The next generation after them will probably even be more fucked up.

Lesley:

Yeah, or like it'll get, yeah, because they'll be suffering the after effects of all of this shenanigans. And then like their kids will be like, holy Jesus, get it together. Right. Let's just and then we'll start this whole damn cycle again.

Megan:

But we will have slowly progressed. Second greatest generation.

Lesley:

Isn't time a wonky weird thing? It is. Let's time travel, shall we? Okay, okay.

Megan:

Because we're gonna talk about roller skating and stuff, right? Uh yeah, I think so.

Lesley:

As best as I can recall from a couple minutes ago. From way back a couple minutes ago.

Megan:

Okay, all right. So we're gonna start back before your local roller rink where your mom dropped you off. Yes, you know, handed you five bucks and a roll of quarters for the tiny little arcade and said, you know, good luck. We are before that freewheeler. So we're going all the way back, all the way back to the 18th century.

Lesley:

What all the way back. We're going back in time. The first recorded use of roller skates is in 1743 in London on a stage, which feels like a foolish thing to do. But why wouldn't we do that? We don't even know who invented that thing, the wheels on the shoes kind of thing. Some mystery theater kid just rolled out on boots with wheels. Okay. Seems valid. And everyone's like, what the hell?

Megan:

Well, exactly. So my favorite origin story is 1760. So a few years later than that, there's a Belgian inventor. His name is John Joseph Merlin. Nice name. Uh-huh. And he decides to introduce his new inline skates at a fancy party in London. Okay. So this Belgian guy shows up, puts on these skates. Party. Comes to this party, 18th century drag, like all dressed up, playing a violin on metal-wheeled skates. Brilliant. Just as one does. Yes. He has no way to stop. Sure. He crashes right into a giant mirror. Holy shit. Okay. So he shatters the mirror, shatters the violin, probably shatters his dignity at some level. And roller skating then is born into chaos. People really. People are just like, what the hell?

Lesley:

Let's do that some more. And for a long time, that's all there are, are just these like inline skates with metal wheels. You can roll forward. I mean, I remember I think some of like the very earliest skates that I was ever on were the kind that you could just like clip onto your shoes and strap on. And that's pretty much that. You're not turning. No, you're just doing much of anything. You're going forward.

Megan:

So in 1819, somebody finally patents a roller skate in France. It's still in line. Um, and it's so it's still not that Friday night at the roller rink kind of skates. They were like cornering really hard. Right. Jam skating and all that. But the and the big change doesn't actually come until the about the 1860s.

Lesley:

Enter the stage. James Leonard Plimpton, New York inventor, and low-key. Is that like a skate joke? Because there were like skis keys that you would use to like tighten it. That's funny. Marketing genius. In 1863, he invents the quad skate. Four wheels in a two by two setup with little pivoting trucks. So suddenly when you lean, your skates turn instead of just like launching you into furniture tree, another person, whatever. A giant glass mirror. Which can happen.

Megan:

Exactly. So that's when you get the first actual roller skating craze. People aren't laughing at the guy crashing into mirrors. They're like, hey, you know what? This is something I could do, and I might not even die doing it.

Lesley:

Um, Plumpton, he was smart about it, the low-key marketing genius. In 1866, right after the Civil War, he rents out the dining room of this fancy hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, the Atlantic House.

Megan:

So the wild part is that during the Civil War, that same building had been used as a temporary campus for the U.S. Naval Academy. So one year you've got midshipmen doing naval tactics, and the next year you've got rich people learning how to roller skate in the dining room.

Lesley:

Rich people are so fucking weird.

Megan:

Yeah, I mean, right?

Lesley:

He fills it with rental skates, invites the public in, and bam, you've got like the first American roller rank. Love it.

Megan:

It totally works. So, like through the 1800s, especially in New England, purpose-built ranks start popping up all over the place. And they are these, they're these big multi-purpose halls. So they're skating halls, they're dance halls, they're community meeting halls, they've got big chandeliers, they've got grandstands, they've got, you know, couples in top hats and bustles all circling the floor, maybe on skates, maybe dancing, right?

Lesley:

Oh, so everybody's having fun. And you know what happens when people have fun? Nothing good. Other people freak out because fuck your fun. And there's like a moral panic. My lord, what will happen if we're all on wheels?

Megan:

Can you imagine everybody being like, oh my God, they did you see that? They're gliding across the floor.

Lesley:

There's this paper in Lowell, Massachusetts that complains the local rink is the cause of more and worse. So there already was immorality, but more and worse immorality in the city than the music halls, which is saying a lot. You're more immoral than the local orchestra, the local cellist. Like, yeah, I guess.

Megan:

And all of that's kind of funny when you think about it, because that's totally what people said about MTV in the 80s, right? Like it's and they say that now about TikTok and about all that.

Lesley:

I mean, functionally more and worse with our friends. Which is true.

Megan:

Of course.

Lesley:

Not untrue, right? But the truth, the thing that is problematic is not the thing that people are screaming about. Of course. Right. No.

Megan:

So new technology, dancing, young people, it's like the fucking end of civilization.

Lesley:

As always. So we roll forward to the early. Early 1900s skating is pretty well established. There are mass-produced skates, they're big rinks like the Chicago Coliseum, drawing thousands of people. Roller Derby starts up in the 1930s. Did you know that? I did. Did you do you had to do like your roller derby history class, I'm assuming?

Megan:

So, no, we had no roller derby history class, but I do know that it started that way. That's awesome. It was more entertainment, less sport. Okay. So it was more like watching, you know, these women just kind of go at it on the on the rink. And most of the time they were like a banked rink. Okay. Yeah. I skated flat rank, flat flat rink. But the bank skating was like the 30s all the way up through like, you know, mid-70s when you would watch it on TV. Do you remember watching it on TV? Did you ever see it?

Lesley:

I remember the movies about roller derby in the 70s. Okay. I mean, they were like ultra spandexy, sexy ladies, but they were also then like busting the shit out of each other. It was sort of like a full contact, aggressive yet sexy totally like fake, like wrestling.

Megan:

Yeah. And I'm probably gonna get in trouble with somebody for calling wrestling fake, but they know it's not staged. I hope they do.

Lesley:

I mean, they're surely I'm assuming that we have critical thinking. It's fine. That's a silly thing. Okay, please continue with your story. What happens? Real Dory starts in the 30s is more of like a like they called a contact endurance rare. Yep.

Megan:

Okay. Hit each other and keep going. Keep going. Try to stay up. So that sets us up for the mid-20th century boom. So you've got organ music, you've got drive-in waitresses on skates. Think of your happy days and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. And then eventually we get into kind of our hot era, which would be like the roller disco era. Yes. And but really before we get to that, before we have mirror balls and we've got Xanadu, which we've talked about Xanadu before.

Lesley:

So brilliant.

Megan:

We should probably talk about the actual buildings themselves that roller skating is happening in because it kind of tells the story about America.

Lesley:

So fascinating. I have a little bit of information about that. Please do test. So then we found this article that traces 150 years of roller rinks through architecture. And once you kind of like get that information, you can't unsee it the way rinks. I mean, I guess that makes so much sense because they're social centers and they just like reflect what's happening in the country. And they're also pop culture social centers.

Megan:

Absolutely. So the 19th century, the early New England ranks are basically ballrooms, they're big high ceilings, they've got chandeliers, multi-use spaces. It's skating, but it's also where you had all your meeting halls and all that stuff, right?

Lesley:

An immorality. And then you fast forward to like after World War II when America's heading to the suburbs, people are leaving cities, they're buying cars, they're living off the highways, and then the roller rink just like follows them there. Yeah. Not in a sprouty leg way.

Megan:

Not in a stranger thing. But this is where we get that archetype, the Levyton Arena. So it's on Long Island, and it is this huge utilitarian brick box, and it's right off the road.

Lesley:

Oh, got you.

Megan:

But it had a giant neon sign and basically was like shouting to the world get in here, start skating, come like bring the family and come skate.

Lesley:

So it was the big box roller skating rink.

Megan:

Exactly.

Lesley:

Inside there was like a 200-foot maple floor of fluorescent lights and a live organ player in the corner, which like here we had Paramount Music Palace. There was like the no, there was not skating, but it was like the live organ music was a big draw. And on weekends, about 1700 skaters packed in. It's like a roller skating mall with organ music.

Megan:

So that's kind of the image that a lot of us have as Gen X kids. We've got this big box in a parking lot with an neon sign and has a name like Skate World or Rolling Thunder or whatever, right?

Lesley:

Well, for us here locally, like it was USA skates. Okay. So that was your that was your bring. And we would actually go on Fridays during school. Like I went to a Montessori school. I already told you about McCrazy's Montessori school. Yes. And so there were like 12 of us. No, there's probably like 20 of us on a bus. That's not a very big skating party. Small bus. Well, it's, I mean, it's open to the public. So there's like kids from other schools. We kind of went like from, I don't know, one to three or something like that. And it was red, white, and blue. I think it's now like pink, yellow, and blue or something like that. It's still standing though. There is, I don't know if the location still exists. I don't know if it's still open, but it was there for a long time. And we would like get dropped off and we would go in, and there were like the big round seats. Yeah. And they're carpeted. And we would have enough for like our skate rental. We get our like rental tan skates with like the orange toe things and the like weird toe protectors that definitely made it look like you had rental skates on. Yes. And we would get those and then like we would get out on the rink and how were you? Were you pretty good? Yeah. I was okay. I was an ice skater. Oh, that's good. So now they're not the same. No. And I had ice skated for the sky. But if your ankles are used to ice skating, then it makes it a little easier. For me, like ice was infinitely simpler. You're just gliding. Yeah. And it's all like control. So roller skates were a little bit more challenging. So I didn't, I didn't like totally die, but I could not skate backwards very well or do that like shoot the duck thing. Oh, I could never with roller skates because could you do it with ice skating? So heavy. Yeah. Ice skating way easier. The wheels on roller skates were so heavy. And I was like eight, nine, ten, to be able to lift that front leg.

Megan:

I gotcha. I could never get down low enough to be able to do shoot the duck. Like I was, I mean, I'm not a tall person, but it was like, I just, I don't think my body bends that way.

Lesley:

I heard.

Megan:

I understand it was so funny. Is one of the gals that I've skated roller derby with, her derby name was Fire Ann Brimstone. Amazing. Pretty great. She's really tall. Uh-huh. And she was fucking awesome at Shoot the Duck. I was like, how do you do that?

Lesley:

I wonder if it's called the same thing everywhere.

Megan:

I I don't know. That's a good question.

Lesley:

Are we saying something that's like maybe I feel like people know that? Tell us. Yeah, we needed to. Did you call it something else?

Megan:

But if you're squatting down, you got one leg underneath you, like your butt is sort of over one leg and your other leg is straight out and the skate is over.

Lesley:

And you're moving. Yeah. And you're yes. Yeah. So she could do it. She could do it.

Megan:

And in fact, I she would she would get so low doing it that she could skate in between people's legs. That's amazing. Which is really cool. Not mine, because again, I'm really short.

Lesley:

But like that doesn't work.

Megan:

That's gonna work.

Lesley:

We're in the short club.

Megan:

Yeah. Super short. That's amazing. So my my rink is still around. Oh on the east side of Indianapolis. There's a place called the Roller Cave. Oh, yeah.

Lesley:

Yes. I know of this.

Megan:

Yeah, the Roller Cave is awesome. It has not changed very much in 40 plus years. Amazing.

Lesley:

That was my curiosity.

Megan:

It's got at least the last time I was in there, it still has the same paintings on the wall. It still has the same furniture. I think it's different carpet. Please God, I hope it's different carpet. But it had we had lockers in there so you could lock up your stuff. Yeah. It had big round like tables. It had a little snack bar. It had an arcade that went along one end of the rink. And on the other end of the rink was like where the slow skaters were. So if you were brand new to it and you needed like a safe space, you could go over there and skate and like hug the wall and stuff. Oh, that's awesome. And then it had these little like nooks kind of on another corner that had a bench and and it was a little dark in there, and that's where you could go and neck. So it was.

Lesley:

I bet nobody was watching those corners. Like probably everybody. They're all spying on them. Who's going in? Who's going in there?

Megan:

But in elementary school, so our schools, we had a we had a obviously it was a big school district. So it would be like the sixth grade skating party, and it would be sixth grades from multiple schools. So you would have all these schools that would get together and go to their skating party. You know, at one time, which was pretty fun.

Lesley:

Oh no, we were like separated from the rest of the public. Yeah. It was just our scene. I mean, there were other schools there during the day, but like you didn't mingle with others. We we didn't. And that I'm not saying that that means anything one way or the other, but it was probably for the best. We were feral. It was fine. It was not appropriate. God.

Megan:

Oh my god. So anyway, like the the the Levington skating rink, it eventually gets demolished in the 80s. And that's like a lot of those post-war kind of places. There's a whole bunch of tear down the old stuff, build something new, you know, kind of thing.

Lesley:

And well, on the West Coast, contrary to the Leviton situation, on the West Coast, the story is a little different. In California, you've got car culture and lots of weird like semi-industrial spaces. So while some rinks are built from scratch, others are just like reuses. Yeah.

Megan:

So the the Moonlight Rollerway is in uh was in Glendale, California. And it originally started out as an aircraft parts foundry. So a big industrial space. Okay. And then in the 1950s, somebody slaps on in a maple floor, you know, put a nice floor down, throw a snack bar in there, put an organ in.

Lesley:

We need organs. And then boom, you've got an instant roller ring. And it still looks so mid-century. The entry with the old fluorescent lights, a snack bar, the popcorn machine, the molded plastic chairs. It's like walking into your grandma's photo album, but on skates.

Megan:

So just sliding into grandma's room. So then we jump again, right, to now where we've got brand new rinks. Doesn't happen very often, but when they do get built, there's often some part of like an urban park or a redevelopment of some sort. And we've got a like a bike track, the velodrome on the yeah, in Indy. And they've put in they put in a skate park for like skateboards, but there's also a space where kind of like a half type of half pipe. Yeah. Kind of half pipe. Half bowl. And I have seen people on quad skates doing some tricks and stuff in here. So that's awesome. So that's kind of what I think is sort of kind of replace those roller ranks.

Lesley:

Uh there's a great example of the roller rink at the at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Oh on Pier Two. It's got like skyline views. It's one piece of a multi-use recreation area with like body courts and shuffleboard and playgrounds. Shuffleboard, we need to fucking bring back competitive shuffleboard.

Megan:

So what's fun about that is I think, I think I have seen that recreation park. The last time we were in New York, we took the train. There's a couple different ways to get front to Manhattan from Brooklyn. One is underground, underwater, and then the other one is to go on basically on one of the bridges. Yes. And I remember going over and looking down, and there was like this really cool on in Manhattan, like this really cool recreation place that had pickleball, tennis. Oh I bet you anything that's where that is. That's and now I need to know. And next time I go, I'm gonna have to take my skates.

Lesley:

Inquiring minds. That's amazing. Yep. Those are very different from the like gilded ballroom or a big neon box in Levit Town, but the core recipe hasn't changed. There's a smooth floor, something over your head, some music, and some wheels and yeah, questionable nachos. Probably super questionable nachos, which are the best kind of nachos.

Megan:

All right, so now we need to get into our era, and that's where everything, where those neon boxes and those converted warehouses were the place to be on a Friday night when we were kids.

Lesley:

What did the rank actually mean to us as 70s and 80s kids? I'm sure everybody has a different story because it was more than just a place to like get embarrassed and fall down in public.

Megan:

I mean, I think besides the shopping mall, which was super important, this was kind of a place for our first social network. So, you know, by the late 1940s, roller skating was America's biggest participation sport.

Lesley:

Oh, that's crazy.

Megan:

I know it's cool. 18 million skaters, there were 5,000 rinks. Wow. And so by the time that this gets to us, it's totally normalized weekly ritual to go and hang out at a roller cave.

Lesley:

Your parents just like roller rink. Drop you off at seven if they did, if they cared, if somebody else's parents didn't drop you off. They would pick you up at 10, they knew where you were, inside you have just enough freedom to like feel wild, but there are still adults kind of like technically in charge.

Megan:

Technically, mostly it was just like an older teenager that really didn't give two shits. Renting you the skates. Right. Like, there you go, kid. So you get the rental cake, you get the rental skate counter, you know, where you have to like get your skates. Yeah, hope they have my size. Hope they have hope they have your size. I hope you don't get some that are like look like they've like old shitty bowling shoes, right? Like that are super broken in. You've got a weird kind of sticky carpet with the neon squiggles on it. Like I can picture the rollercade carpet still. You get the arcade, you get a snack bar, and it's got pizzas, it's got sodas, hot dogs, popcorn, that kind of crap. Although, although I want to say, I want to say we didn't have popcorn because I don't think they wanted it on the floor.

Lesley:

I mean, that makes sense. That seems like a reasonable adult decision.

Megan:

Yeah, like, right? Like, don't put something like, I could be wrong, but I feel like that was a thing.

Lesley:

Because why would you want to be roller skating over popcorn all the time? I mean, inevitably, some kids can go out there with a mouthful of popcorn and spit it everywhere. Like let's fall and like sleep here. And there were rules at the skating rink. There was a fast lane on the outside, there's a wall hugger lane on the inside. Actually, that was reverse the reverse, yes. The wall huggers were on the far. But there was like a space more in the middle where like if you could get off the wall, yes, and you could get to the center, right? You were a little bit safer.

Megan:

It was like Frogger. Like, good luck getting from there over there because you were gonna get run over.

Lesley:

And you don't skate the wrong way, they'll tell you when you're gonna like switch directions. You don't cut through the middle, and if you fall, you get up as fast as you can.

Megan:

But also as a skater, you crawl off, you should, you know, be mindful, don't worry.

Lesley:

Right with the children.

Megan:

Well, so then you also didn't have organs anymore. Like we had DJs. No organs at my skating rink. Yeah, we didn't have like a true traditional like DJ DJ. It was just some well, I know I take that back. There was a DJ. Yeah, somebody was. But it was just kind of a dorky kid playing music. It wasn't like it wasn't like when you think of DJs now, you think of like somebody who's curated DJ then and DJ now.

Lesley:

Well, we had like sort of even and this we went during the day, like there would be somebody there that would call out like reverse skate, slow skate, like we're gonna do a dark skate, we're gonna do a so there was like an MC. I would think of them more as like an MC of the skating experience. Right. They weren't curating the music, like yeah, sometimes because sometimes they would give like intros to some of the songs, like it was a little bit of a like radio DJ MC vibe on the on the west side. Yep, but they weren't like the theme is, you know, or like trying to like I don't know, my son was ridiculous.

Megan:

You wouldn't have like mixing your depeche mode that would then go into your erasure song on the beat. Absolutely like it was not that yeah, pre that.

Lesley:

There would be what you just said, like there would be somebody going couple skate, and then you had to figure out if anybody's gonna skate with you. Oh god. The snowball where a couple skate starts with just a few people and then they pull people in. So you're kind of like waiting to get like picked. Thank you.

Megan:

And that was like a like a snake, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, the music. So for a lot of us, the rink was where we first heard certain songs too.

Lesley:

Oh, for sure.

Megan:

You know, because you just didn't have you didn't have satellite radio, you didn't have, you know, whatever, and we didn't have MTV back then either. So it was sort of like where we've heard those first songs, and you heard disco and you heard funk and you heard like early hip hop, you know, the first time you hear prints and stuff like that.

Lesley:

Raspberry Beret was one of my favorite songs at the skating room. That was a big time. Absolutely remember that. Yep. You already said this, but I'm gonna ask you really quickly. Your home rink, what was it called?

Megan:

That was the roller cave.

Lesley:

Okay, what did it smell like?

Megan:

Oh my god, I couldn't tell you exactly what it smells like, but I could tell you that it still smells the same. So, like, literally, the last time I went in there, it it like hit me like I just this wave of nostalgia, really wild. We should make it make it a can.

Lesley:

What was the song where you knew you were cool if you skated to it? Like where you felt awesome.

Megan:

So I was a weird alternative kid. So if they ever played anything that was not something that was on the radio, it was like an alternative of something and I knew it.

Lesley:

Yeah, that's it. So how old were you when you went to skating rink?

Megan:

Oh, so probably I mean it started in elementary school, so probably like fifth and sixth grade, and then it's like 10, 11. Yeah, and then all the way through high school.

Lesley:

Oh, okay. Yeah, okay, yeah. Okay, that gives that gives us some cards. How about you guys to that?

Megan:

Do you know what it smelled like? Your USA skates.

Lesley:

You know, I I have more visuals, like it was it was carpety, it was red, white, and blue. Okay. I don't remember so much a smell of it, but the song was another one bites the dust. Oh, that is a good way. And because when it would start, there was just something about it, and then inevitably somebody would fall and it was funny as book. And I just thought it was like boom, I do remember that. It was it was my favorite. That's awesome. Yeah, Queen. Yes, Queen's a solid choice. It was great. We loved that. Never ever did a couple skate with someone that I liked.

Megan:

Did you I don't remember? I really don't remember. I don't have a memory of that. Yeah, I don't feel like that. I think I I mean I remember seeing that happening for sure. I remember people, you know, couple skating, it was all the thing. Okay. I don't think so. I mean, I was just skating with my girlfriend. I might have had a you know boyfriend or something, maybe the I don't know.

Lesley:

We were we were we're at school and we were the weird kids. So the selection was very limited. So I was just hanging out with my friends. Okay. We would just skate together. What would you wear to skate? Oh, we were just nerds. We didn't dress up. No, I think we were just in our school clothes. Yeah. So it was just like whatever my parents, we had no uniforms, we just wore whatever. So I do remember like the era of kind of like Olivia Newton John kind of satin shorts and a little crappie tap. And then the this is so telling the Olivia Newton John braided terry cloth like headband with like the strings on it. Physical. Yeah, yeah, those were kind of cool. And I'd clips, yeah, with none of us were really allowed to have those. We didn't know why. We just weren't allowed to have them because they were so cool. Why would you not want me to?

Megan:

See, and I don't remember like anybody telling me that I couldn't have one of those. I never, I had no idea what it was for. No, absolutely not. I just thought they were beautiful. Yeah. Like I remember I remember knowing that it was called a roach clip, but not knowing what the fuck that was. What is that? What is a rope?

Lesley:

Like, ooh, like a cockrape. Like a clip a roach. Can tell you this is a really specific memory. Out of the group of girls that I would skate with, we did have an idea for skate club jackets. Yes. And matching berets. And they were going to be purple sequined jackets. This all went with like Raspberry Beret being on the lake. And then we were going to have purple berets, and we would be like a skate squad. This was our fantasy. So in our imaginations, that is what we thought we were. And so we were probably like nine or ten. Nice. This was a very highly developed. Yes. I love that. You've got a girl gang. It was in our imaginations. We were going to do that. It was pretty awesome. But one of the fucking coolest things, if you did you ever go skating when there were like professional skaters there also at an open skate? Yes. Do you remember like yes?

Megan:

So they're at Roller Cave still, still and now and then there is there's a group of African American skaters and they jam skate. And I couldn't tell you what day of the week they do that. It might be a Saturday. I I don't know. But they come in and the music is for them and it is fucking amazing. Oh, that's so cool. So much fun. And I, you know, I was actually talking to my mom on the way over here about what we were going to talk about today. And I was, she was like, oh yeah, jam skating. And I said, well, when I played roller derby, there was a gal, I mean, she's she's still a gal and she's still a friend of mine, but um her derby name was Shady Lane and her her number was 317, which is our area code here, which I think is pretty cute. Yes, funny. Is that right, 317? Or was it a zip code? Maybe it was a zip code. Anyway, Shady was, and I'm sure still is just the coolest jam skater I have. I don't know how she learned, I don't know where she learned. But damn, it was always fun to come out when we would skate out before Derby. They would play like ACDZ or something like that to get us wound up. Or I can't remember, like a bunch of other like cool songs. And she was so good at like just going to the beat and getting that like crisscrossing over. And that's awesome. So fun. I love that.

Lesley:

Yep. So skating was not only a place where like we built our very complex social lives, right? Uh your girl gang was also like incredibly political, which I did not realize this when you talked to me until you were like talking through it and we were looking at the research. And it was especially political in minority communities for a long time. Rinks were segregated, unsurprisingly. Even without official Jim Crow laws, you had ranks that were just straight up segregated, like no black skaters allowed, or only allowed on certain nights for like soul night or family night or gospel night. And people didn't like that.

Megan:

Well, good. There were skate ins. So, like the roller rink, think of the roller rink version kind of of a sit-in. So starting in the 40s and the 50s, black skaters would show up, they would demand a skate, and they would refuse to leave when they were turned away. So, in a lot of ways, it's part of that broader civil rights movement that was happening at the same time.

Lesley:

Even official after segregation, officially, not officially, but officially ends, you still sell rings like using dress codes and music rolls. I mean, all the very like coded ways in which we keep segregation going. Right. We still see it today, right? Like no baggy clothes, no hip hop nights, shutting down urban skating. You know, there's a lot of coded language in that.

Megan:

Yeah. So what's extra wild is that while that is happening, black skaters are also literally inventing styles that define roller disco and modern jam skating. So the stuff that we can see now and like yeah at roller at roller cave all came from that, you know, that generation.

Lesley:

There were places like the Empire Skate Center in Brooklyn, for black skate culture DJs, mixing funk, soul, and disco, skaters inventing beautiful new, super technical dance styles.

Megan:

In Chicago, there was a place called JB Skating, which was named for James Brown. So all funky footwork, deep knee bends, Detroit had its own soul style. Philly has kind of a fast backwards thing that happens. Atlanta has its own flair. And so city by city rinks kind of become cultural hubs, and you could sort of identify where people were from based on their skate style.

Lesley:

Oh, that's amazing. And those rinks double, they were like early music venues. So a lot of hip hop and RB acts played roller rinks long before they were doing arenas. You've got artists like Queen Latifah, NWA, Salt Peppa rinks were a key stop for them.

Megan:

That is cool. So there's a great modern documentary called United Skates, and that follows black skate communities that are fighting to keep their ranks open. And that really shows how crucial those spaces are. And they weren't just for fun, but they were there for community. They were there for culture, they were there for joy. And, you know, so, so important to those communities.

Lesley:

And unsurprisingly, there's a whole other strand of skates, ranks as spaces for queer and gender-bending folks.

Megan:

Yeah. There was a place called Flippers Roller Boogie Palace in West Hollywood. I know, right? So that was in the late 70s into the early 80s. It was a wild mix of drag queens, punk kids, Hollywood celebrities, musicians, prints performed there in stockings and heels. Thank you very much. The go-go's played. So very glitter, queer rock and roll energy.

Lesley:

And in a different way, roller derby becomes this big feminist, often queer-centered place. Women on skates, hitting each other, taking up space, being loud. That's been happening since the mid-20th century. And then things get this huge DIY revival in the 2000s. I love it. Of like derby.

Megan:

Uh-huh. So when we think back on our rink memories, especially as girls, that feeling of freedom and power and being in your body, which you kind of had to do, right? Like you had to do in order to be able to skate. So that's part of kind of a much longer story of people using these spaces to really claim dignity and joy, even when all of the rules were were kind of set up against them.

Lesley:

Let's talk about what happened when the disco ball era started to fade. The skates got skinny again, and everything became like extreme sports.

Megan:

Yeah. Then you get into the whole rollerblade thing, right? So late 70s, early 80s, we've got roller discos, we've got movies like Roller Boogie, we've got Skate Town USA, we have your favorite movie of all time, Santa Dude.

Lesley:

It's just fucking unpack Santa. It deserves its own podcast episode. And we'll just leave it at that. I love it. But I mean, The Daughters of Zeus, roller skating. This makes so much sense. Could Olivia Newton John have looked any more gorgeous? Sonny, hello. Oh, he was pretty. He painted album covers. All everything about this movie is like romance and lost art. But we're gonna transition and talk about other things. I know we can totally get something. And inline skating, that's what we were talking about. I was like, what the fuck is happening? So we move from the roller skating that you and I grew up with to modern inline skates.

Megan:

The Olson brothers in Minnesota, they take this old inline concept, they use modern plastics, they use regular like skate bearings, and then they market that whole thing as the rollerblade. So that was where that name came from, rollerblade. At first, it's really more for hockey players to kind of learn to train off season. So do you remember? I I remember that was reasonable. Yeah, and I remember when I first saw rollerblades, and you'd see people that would like they it would look like they were icing, right? Like where they do the yeah, yeah, you know, like for sure. Like to stop, you either like pointed your toes together or Or whatever. Anyway, so then it becomes a full-blown fitness fad. Like everybody is rollerblading in two tight bike shorts, right? Like it's not that great.

Lesley:

And then at the same time, like home entertainment explodes. Cable TV, VCRs, video games, malls. If you're a suburban teen, suddenly you have a lot more options than just going to like skate in circles.

Megan:

I mean, once your friends, once you get the car, right? Yeah. You didn't really have to go skating to hang out with your friends anymore.

Lesley:

Yeah. And you can like stay home and watch a movie or like go to your friends, or you're playing your Atari. Right. So you don't have to like pump all your quarters into the arcade. Yeah. If only we'd known, we would have never done that and saved all the arcade. But what was the consequence of it?

Megan:

Well, so rink owners started dealing with rising real estate prices, insurance costs, because I'm positive. Like you know, a bunch of kids on wheels, probably not super cheap for insurance. Maintenance on those big buildings. So think about those big giant buildings and how much it must cost to, like, I don't know, put a roof on that thing. Perfect, sure. Some of them pivot. So they add in things like roller hockey leagues, they add in speed skating, they turn into kind of those birthday party machines. That's where you would go for, you know, Sally's birthday party.

Lesley:

Here we're gonna go. We're gonna go skate. Keeps the kids busy and sweaty. Yep. And other ranks just like fade away. From the mid-2000s to the late 2010s, the number of roller skaters in the US drops a lot and a ton of rinks close. Some of our childhood rinks are now like churches, warehouses, big box stores.

Megan:

Yours, we're not sure if it's still around.

Lesley:

I know my still there's physically there. I can't remember. I do remember its transition from it, it was like off of oh gosh, my school was over by like the museum, the art museum, and like Hold Springs Ground and that kind of thing. So it was like 38th Street and 465. On the west side? On the west side. Oh, it's gone. Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's gone.

Megan:

But I think it hung on there for a really long time.

Lesley:

It was, I remember it going pink and yellow. And I was like, well, that's weird. It's USA skates. Hello.

Megan:

And I think when I played roller derby, it was still sort of around, and then it kind of pooped out.

Lesley:

So I'm peeking. I'm looking. There are still United Skates. Oh, maybe that's what it became. United Sates of America, Skate Lands. In my brain, it was just like, yeah, it was at 38th and 465. That's definitely where it was. That's so funny. Yeah, there's like a memory page, like a nostalgia page. We're not gonna mention that word. But that's okay. So it's it's probably not there anymore, but that's where I was. Yeah.

Megan:

Well, we should go skate at Roller Roller Cave.

Lesley:

Oh.

Megan:

And you could smell the smell I'm talking about.

Lesley:

My kids have been to a party there, but I don't know if I ever walked in.

Megan:

I was just like just it really is like amazing wild. So in the 2020s, the most 2020 twist happened, right? You had uh you had a stupid global pandemic. Very stupid. But what that does is it actually brings roller skating back to some level. Why?

Lesley:

Well, oh I mean why don't I tell you? I have it written down here. Why? That was my spontaneous question. Why? Because people are stuck at home and they need something to do outside by themselves. That's right. Bike shops and skate shops suddenly can't keep inline skates and quads in stock. Some companies report their biggest sales in decades.

Megan:

So I will say that I, after I finished roller derby, I was like, I'm packing my skates away. So I've got this fabulous pair of pretty expensive Rydell skates that are packed away in a suitcase. I'm a little nervous to ever open it again because there is a smell that comes with roller derby that is something I cannot even describe. I do think I could package it, send it to Russia, and probably like, you know. A couple bucks. Well, probably just get rid of like America's enemies, you know. Like I could probably just knock them out. This is gonna be the new propaganda. So bad. So yeah, somebody don't open that box. But I did buy myself, there's a there's a company called Moxie skates, and they're beautiful. They're like the ones I have are purple and they're like a purple velvet, and they're gorgeous. So I bought those and I bought outdoor wheels to go with those. And I for I I took took them out for a couple spins. There's just no place near me that have like decent, like a I mean, I'd have to go to like the Monad or something, like a bike trail or something and do it. But I would love to put those on and just go back to the go back to the rank. But on TikTok and Instagram, you go, you know, you see like all of these gorgeous kind of retro-looking skate videos. Yes. There are people out in pastel outfits, they're doing smooth dance moves, they're doing the turns and the twists, and they're on empty parking lots, they're on boardwalks. We just need to be somewhere. Oh my god. Some of them, some like a lot of those videos are like gals in gals and guys in California, just out, you know, by the beach and super jelly.

Lesley:

That's amazing. So now we've got this like interesting mix of old school rinks that are kind of lingering, sometimes with adult skate nights. That could mean a lot of things, actually. New urban park rinks like the Brooklyn Bridge Park or like the park that's on the west side of Indianapolis. And then this outdoor social media skating scene that's like half fur back, half new. Everything old is new again.

Megan:

And you know, and these Gen X women who were like me. Like you were like, okay, it's in lockdown. I'm gonna go buy myself some skates. Uh-huh. And then I remember that you know my needs are no longer under warranty.

Lesley:

Was it a little I mean, you just went a couple times?

Megan:

Yeah.

Lesley:

How was it?

Megan:

It's a little scary. And that's crazy because I like it. I played roller derby in my 40s.

Lesley:

Yes. You threw yourself around. It's aggressive. And then like now I'm kind of like, oh, I don't know.

Megan:

I might do that.

Lesley:

I might break a hip. I yeah.

Megan:

Like I'd have to be really careful. I'd have to make sure that my trucks are like in really good shape, and there's all kinds of lane in there that I can tell you about. I mean, I used to go when Gillian was a kid, when she was little, little, she would go to the roller cave and she would, you know, be at a skating party. And I would show up and I would strap my skates on, and like literally, if a kid would fall down, I would jump over them. I would I am pretty sure there were some parents who didn't like me, but they were perfect for training because you could like skate around them and like over them.

Lesley:

I fucking love it.

Megan:

Get some good air and just get it. Mommy dearest at this point.

Lesley:

My daughter thought it was badass. That's amazing. I have not been on roller skates in 47 billion years. I've done ice skating. Oh my god, as an adult, but not roller skating. I don't for any yeah, I don't think so. We should go. I think I really should bowled more than I've done roller skating. I will roll a I think bowling alleys are similar vibes. Yes. They are similar vibes, and there's less like falling.

Megan:

So I there we go. And thankfully, not you don't have the cigarette smoke that you used to in bowling alleys. Like I could I could bowl now because it would be a big one.

Lesley:

Do you want to know like a weird little fun fact? Sure, yeah. We just we're in November now, we just got through October. In the 80s, Ronald Reagan declared October national roller skating month. Really? So he was good for something for minute there. I guess skating was patriotic.

Megan:

But there was the United Skates land too. I would like to point out that producer Tim just put his hands directly in his head or his head directly in his hands when I said he's like, my god lady. So through all of everything, you know, that magic hasn't changed. Like roller skating is still roller skating. The you've got the smooth floor, you have, you know, something over your head with some lights and some disco balls, you've got music that's pumping, and you've got wheels on your feet. And that's pretty, pretty sweet. That's amazing. Pretty sweet.

Lesley:

So do you have any skating stories, dear listeners?

Megan:

Please send them our way. Are you, yeah. If you are like us and remember fondly that strapping on your skates. Maybe you skated at our ranks. Oh, yeah.

Lesley:

Who knows? Yeah. Like, oh god. Sounds familiar to you. Yeah. Yeah. Send us those. Tell us about your favorite song. Where did you get away? Did you get in at the skating rink? Sure. Other people have to do that.

Megan:

Did you have a nook? Did you have a little nook? Like the roller coaster. A makeout nook. I don't I do remember that. That was a wall too, come to think of it. Yeah. Like sit down behind the wall.

Lesley:

Well, if it wasn't really no. Oh, we didn't Yeah, we do. We have roller hockey. I was like, if it's anything like ice hockey, there was like the box where all the hockey players would sit, and we could get in and out of that. That was at the old Coliseum downtown. And it definitely had a wall. And you could definitely sit by a cute person if there were any, which there weren't very often. I mean, if they were playing hockey, they probably didn't have a lot of teeth. Fair point. This was a figure skating class. Oh. You could go like, you know, kind of check out. Well, that was a good time.

Megan:

That was fun.

Lesley:

See, that was fun. This was joy. It was joy.

Megan:

It was joy. It was a good memory of where all of this came from. And I love the history of it. It's so fun. Interesting. And it's high level.

Lesley:

Way older than I thought. Absolutely. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, you know, those Victorian England people, they were fucking nuts. They'd do whatever. It's like, sure, that's fine. I have on more clothes than God. It's I mean, that's where the unicycle came from. Yes, like unhinged. Right. Okay, but you didn't know any better. So you're like, this seems safe. Let's do it. Because nobody unionized yet. Well no, and we had children in factories where they belonged. That's right. Get in there. That is all sarcasm. Sarcasm, just to be clear. And don't get us started on lawn darts. You have been listening to Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit. Hey Megan. Hey Leslie. What do people do if they want to find us?

Megan:

Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and that is GenXwomenpod.com. We also have a Facebook page. We have an Instagram account as well. We have a YouTube account where we put YouTube shorts and other little tidbits up there. We have a TikTok account.

Lesley:

I don't talk the tick.

Megan:

You don't tick the talk? I I barely talk the tick, but I did put a TikTok or explain. That's okay though. That's great.

Lesley:

We need to know how the TikTok works.

Megan:

Can people buy merch? They absolutely can. We have a merch store on the website itself. And we also have an Etsy store too. So they're just pretty easy to find. It's just Gen X Women on Etsy.

Lesley:

And if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you found it somewhere. And while you're there, give us a review. Yeah. Let us know what you think. Throw some stars at us. That'd be great. We'll take one, two, three, four, or five. Ooh, five. Maybe.

Megan:

And and also make sure that you are hitting subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new episode drives. Most important. We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we should tell people about it too.

Lesley:

Hell yes. We want to know your stories, your five minutes of fame stories. You can send those stories in on the website. Or you can call 1888 Gen X COD and leave your story for us, and we will play it live in our next episode.

Megan:

Yep. We'll listen to it on a little red phone just like Batman. That'd be a Batbone. I think that's it. I think we're right.

Head Shot

Lesley Meier

Host
Head Shot

Megan Bennett

Host
Contributor

Tim Barrett

Producer

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