"If the good Lord had intended us to walk,
he wouldn't have invented roller skates."
~Willy Wonka
One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to repeat some of the activities I had enjoyed in the past but hadn't done for a long time. Roller Skating is one of those activities. I did some research and found what appeared to be a nice roller rink in Glendale, checked out their website, and decided to give them a try. I sent an email out to my running and skiing buddies requesting someone who was willing to join me in this possible physically dangerous activity. The response was underwhelming, so I went next to my family members. Tracy said she thought it would be fun, and Jenny and Bonnie said they were interested in watching and laughing at us, so we planned the activity for Friday, December 8th.
The Arrival: The Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale has many activities each day. On Friday they had classes until 3:30 pm and "open skating for all ages" from 3:30 to 5:30 that day (I probably would have been better off signing up for a class instead of the open skating). Bonnie, Jenny, Tracy and I drove from Monrovia to Glendale (about a 30 minute drive) and arrived a little before 3:30 pm. I went to the outside window to buy the tickets and was informed quite sternly that we could not enter until 3:30 pm. While we were waiting we noticed the sign (shown below) by the ticket window. The things that stood out to us were, "No Visiting", "Everyone Must Have a Ticket and Must Wear Skates", and "Following Not Allowed - Spectators". Based on the ticket clerk's attitude about not letting us in until precisely 3:30, we assumed that these rules would probably be enforced. So, while Tracy and I are skating, Jenny and Bonnie couldn't visit, they must wear skates, and no spectators were allowed? No way this was going to happen. At 3:30 I went back to the window and in the few preceding minutes the clerk had gained a new attitude and was happy to take my money and let Jenny and Bonnie in without wearing skates and they could be speculators. I asked about the posted rules and she acted like I was making them up. Oh well.
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The Skating: So we went into the rink and it was very nice, the people were accommodating, there were seats for the spectators, and a snack bar - a completely different impression than we had from the outside. Tracy and I picked up our rental skates (not like the old "clamp-ons") and proceeded to the large, hardwood floor skating area. The photos below show the skating area, which was very nice with cycling lights and music, Tracy and I on wheels (moving about as fast as I ever went), and Bonnie and Jenny in the cheering section. Why is it that it's so difficult to stand up when you're on wheels? We skated several laps of the rink, then rested, then skated again, etc. etc. Tracy picked it up quickly and did fine - me? --- not so much. I only fell once, and that was when I was standing still trying to turn around to talk to Bonnie. That doesn't mean I was ever in compete control while skating. With the noise from all the skates, and the music, I couldn't hear whether or not Bonnie and Jenny were laughing at me.
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My Assessment: I have to say that I was surprised and disappointed in how awkward and unstable I was while trying to skate. I've always heard that once you learn how to ride a bicycle you will always be able to ride, and I found that to be true this year. However, I can guarantee it is not true with roller skating. I'm now wondering about the wisdom of my ice skating activity planned for January. Oh well, I'll try it anyway. This roller skating experience was a lot of fun, despite not having the ability I had hoped, and I'm glad we did it.
The photo below is me helping Tracy to skate when she was just learning. We should have taken the reverse of this photo today with her helping me! (Jenny and Grandma June in the background).
A Little of My Skating History: I grew up in a neighborhood with many kids my age and we went roller skating all the time after school, and even to school on some occasions. The skates clamped onto regular shoes (you needed to keep track of your "skate key"), the length could be adjusted, and they had metal wheels that made a lot of noise on the concrete sidewalks. About a block from my house was the Eccles Home (a mansion even in a larger city) that had a large porch with concrete that had been troweled to be very smooth. We loved to skate on that porch and always wondered why the woman peeking out the window didn't tell us to get lost.
When I was in junior high school my cousin Warren and I got a job at the Logan City Roller Rink. It was just part of my plan as a young boy to have "My Own Money." Beginning when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade I sold punch on the street corner, sold worms to fishermen, picked beans and thinned beets, delivered newspapers, tied mattress tufts at a local mattress factory, set pins at the local bowling alley (manual, mechanical setting machines in those days), caddied at the local golf course, and worked at the Logan Roller Rink. The job at the roller rink fell short on the making money goal - our job was to help customers select the proper skates and to assist them in putting them on. Our compensation was that we could skate for free. These skates had wooden wheels and the rink had a hardwood floor, so the result was wonderful compared to the skating on the concrete sidewalks we had been used to. Later, after high school, I spent a lot of time chasing around Bear Lake and at that time there were roller rinks at two of the resorts on the lake - Ideal Beach and Lakota Beach. In addition to boating and water skiing, we periodically went roller skating and had a lot of fun. That was the last time I was on wheels. See the comparison of the roller skates then and now below.
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Post Script- A Little History of the Logan Roller Rink: While I was in Logan in January 2018 to go skiing and ice skating, I took a couple of photos of the old, wood-clad Logan Roller Rink, still located at 1st East and Center Street. See the photos below: the building appears to be unused - see the close-up of the old broken neon sign above the main entrance that says (or used to say) "Logan Roller Rink."
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The building, owned by the Thatcher Orchestra Company, opened in June 1904 as “The Thatcher Amusement Hall,” although apparently many people simply called it “The Bowery.” Originally, it was built as an open-air pavilion, intended for use as a dance hall (the sides were left open to help keep dancers cool in the days before air conditioning).
The Bowery struggled, despite initial enthusiasm. According to an article in the Herald-Journal, the building was eventually sold to the National Guard, who converted it into an armory, walling it in in the process. Even this venture was not successful, and by 1927, the building was abandoned. It sat vacant until 1952, when Keith Spencer bought it. Spencer leased the building to Kay Randall, who turned it into the Logan Roller Rink.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Roller Rink was an important site for the local community.
Unfortunately, with the building of the Cache Valley Mall in 1976, commerce started to move away from downtown, causing businesses there to struggle. The rink limped along until the mid-nineties, when it closed for good. Spencer, the owner of the building, finally sold it in 2005. Without a business to maintain it, the building began to decay. The windows broke and the neon lighting fell apart; the paint began to peel and flake off; and birds and animals nested inside.
In 2009, a new owner purchased the building and renovated it. It was cleaned up, repainted, and brought up to modern standards inside. It seems unlikely that the old building will be resurrected as a roller rink. Reports are that the building is used for private events for friends and family, as well as occasional meetings of the Logan Chinese Baptist church. The building’s odd location off Main, coupled with its rather severe lack of parking, would make it difficult for a business to operate there.