I mention Rollerland simply because that's the only roller rink I've ever been to, and of course there are/were others scattered all over Fort Worth. I'm wondering what memories anyone here may have of the place. It closed in the early 1980s and was a hardware store for a while (they left the hardwood floor in place), then eventually became a gymnastics school, which I think it still is today. But it sat empty for so long in the early '80s that someone even wrote a poem for the Southwest High School (less than a block away) literary magazine, called "Whatever Happened to Rollerland?"
I can still see that booth in Rollerland where you rented your skates. They had a big rack filled with various shoe sizes, and a little workshop for repairing them. There was also a quite prominent one-way mirror near the front door that usually housed a police officer to watch people and prevent mayhem.
I learned roller skating the hard way -- with my butt. At that young age, though, I didn't have nearly as far to fall as I do now. I eventually learned to skate several laps without falling down or hanging onto the rail. But I never was able to do acrobatics as I saw so many other people doing. Once I was skating along pretty well and saw something unusual -- somebody's wooden skating wheel shooting off ahead of me, with several ball bearings flying out along the way. I thought, "Somebody's in for a big surp----" CRUNCH! Yep, it was MY wheel that had come off!
There was usually a DJ there in a small booth. He controlled the rink lights and also chose what music would play over the loudspeakers. IIRC, to make things interesting, he'd say such things as "ladies only," or "couples only," or "all skate." I think there was a mirrored globe hanging from the ceiling. And of course they'd turn out the lights sometimes.
Some of the tunes I seem to remember include "The Hustle" and "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)." I'm sure "Boogie Shoes" by KC and the Sunshine Band made it on the playlist a few times, too. I think I recall they sometimes had "backwards only," where you were allowed to skate in reverse only. I'd probably break my arm if I tried that today. Sometimes they'd have a huge "snap the whip," in which everyone on the floor would join hands in a long, continuous line and the poor dope who was Tail-End Charlie got flung over the rail and into the garbage cans. The snack bar offered the usual variety of soft drinks, but one concoction they offered was unknown to me: "Coca Cola... Dr. Pepper... Sprite... 7-Up... Suicide." Huh? What's "Suicide," and why would you drink it? My sister explained that they mixed together all of the popular soft drinks in the same cup, and called it "Suicide." I don't know if that idea was only at Rollerland, or if that's something that was popular everywhere at the time. You could even order pickle juice in a cup. To this day, sometimes I'll make my own batch of "Suicide" when I'm filling a cup at a fast-food joint.
But I usually stayed in the video game area. Remember, this was the late '70s, and arcade video games were rather primitive back then. But talk about FUN! One was "Space Race," and I remember playing "Night Driver" and "Star Fire" there. And, of course, pinball machines! Once, I stupidly left my little bag of spare change lying around (I think it was on one of the benches) and somebody ripped off all my quarters while I was out skating.
I can't remember why my sister and I stopped going; maybe because it closed, I dunno. But it was fun while it lasted.
