Wednesday, September 8, 2010

I Loved Roller Skating in the 1980s


Recently, our landlord repaved our parking lot. Yesterday, while walking along the newly paved blacktop, I remembered something I hadn't thought of in 25 years... "This pavement is perfect for roller skating!"

As a little girl, I loved to roller skate. Everyone in the '80s roller skated. It was just the thing to do.


I had white skates with pink wheels and stoppers, much like the skates above. Running paths, school yards or parking lots with new pavement were always my favorite to roller skate on. That smooth surface made it easy to maintain my balance. It's funny what was important to me at age 12.

23 comments:

1950s Atomic Ranch House said...

Hiya Ally!

Ahhh I was roller skating as a kid too! What fun.

I found my brothers black skates (with metal wheels) in the hall closet when I cleared it out. I didn't have the heart to throw those out.

There used to be a roller rink near by that played really "old fashioned" organ music and such. They had an announcer and it was a fun place to go as a kid.

Once again, thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Mark Taylor said...

My neighborhood was repaved a couple of weeks ago with glassy-smooth asphalt. I'm 44 but I had to pull out my inline skates and I had a blast going 'round and 'round :-)

Cecelia Winesap said...

I loved roller skating too! Except my parents wouldn't let me use the roller skating rink skates, they made me wear Fisher Price training skates which didn't roll at all. I remember the first day I was able to wear real skates - one of the best days of my life.

Jeanne C. said...

My sister & I wanted skates like yours sooo bad! Our neighbor had them, and she looked so good skatin' around in those pretty white skates!

Christmas of 1980, and we finally got skates ! They were the most hideous looking things I ever laid eyes on! They were blue with yellow stripes (think adidas)on the sides & bright yellow wheels! Blagh!

We never wanted to skate again! :(
But our next door neighbor had the most beautiful skate-worthy driveway! We would bring our tape-recorder out and do dance routines to Olivia Newton-John songs. Can you say "dork?"

Amber Von Felts said...

^^To Jeane C above^^ I have those same skates you described, I found them at a thrift store and hung them up on the wall as decoration! A lot of people ask if they were mine as a kid, and are disappointed when I say no. Now I'll tell em they were yours!

Sara Louise said...

Oh yeah! You weren't cool unless you had a birthday party at 'the rink'. I had white skates with blue wheels and velcro instead of laces. I rocked those!

Jeanne C. said...

Hey, that's great Amber! Maybe I really WAS cool! Nah.

Macey said...

Late 80's early 90's. I was THERE.

Babes Mami said...

I used to rollerblade all over! We had the skates for a little while but then it was straight to rollerblades.

CiCi said...

Do kids even skate any more? You had some pretty cool skates I must say.

Margie said...

This is one of the things I wish I had done. Instead, I cheated and held on to the back of someone's bike. :(

Marlene said...

Oh boy....you really are tickling my nostalgic nerve with this one.

I rollerskated from the time I was 15 until just about six years ago. LOVED roller skating. Wish I knew someone around here who liked to go, I'd still do it!

Marlene said...

P.S. I STILL have them, too. :)

Cheeseboy said...

Okay, I am ashamed, but I had those exact PINK skates when I was a kid until I gave them to my sister.

The pink ones were 50% off and my parents agreed that that 20 bucks they saved was worth my dignity.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

I can't stop laughing at Cheeseboy's response. I hope he got his dignity back. I had those skates too, only with red wheels. Loved rollerskating.
xoRobyn

Unknown said...

Oh yea... I LOVED to roller skate...I think there was a year in my life where I was in roller skates more then regular shoes....and then they closed the roller rink...it was the worse day of my life!! lol

Copyboy said...

I had blue with red wheels. Just saying.

Anonymous said...

Every Sunday from 1-4 PM we were at the rink. Centerfold and Freeze Fraame were my favorites to skate to.

I have taken my daughter skating. We did it one whole winter and it was so much fun!

MoonDoggie said...

I always wanted white roller skates but only had these strange metal contraptions that tied up over your shoes and made skating quite difficult. I had such cheapskate parents.

Pat Tillett said...

To me, there used to be only one thing to do with roller skates. That was to take them apart and make skate boards. I was a decade or two before the 80's, but still...

LaraAnn said...

I was never that into rollerskating. I remember the plastic skates that I had as a kid in the 70s. I didn't use them much.

In 1980 or 81 I broke my arm rollerskating on the patio of my Aunt's house so after that I didn't want to ever skate again.

I did put some skates on for a classmates birthday party which was partially at the rink but I mostly stayed on the sidelines.

Goodnight moon said...

I had this SAME pair of roller skates. My parents had an unfinished basement and I would be down there for hours having my own skating party.

Kristie said...

Oh yes! I can just hear that DJ saying, "It's time for an ALL SKATE." or maybe "COUPLES SKATE".
I used to love to go up to the DJ booth and request a song to skate to. :)

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