Fun on wheels
So long as the wheels go round and round, everyone’s happy at the Roller Valley Skate Center, especially on Sunday afternoons.
In 1976, when James and Catherine Hughes started Skatetown at 9415 E. Fourth Ave., the wheels on skates were set side-by-side on boots, looking very much like what a figure skater would wear.
By the time the name was changed to Roller Valley in 1985, the polyester-powered roller disco craze was dying out and roller dancing – couples dancing on roller skates – was beginning.
Since then the roller skate underwent a revolution.
The skateboard resurfaced and flourished. In-line skates, with wheels set in a row on an ice hockey boot, burst on the scene in the 1990s, creating a major resurgence in the sport.
“We have both kinds of skates here,” said Colleen Bernstein, who now owns the rink with her husband, Ives. “What’s interesting is that we have young kids come in with their in-line skates wanting to try the old-fashioned ones. They call them ‘old school.’ “
Bernstein , the Hughes’ daughter, has been teaching people to skate since the rink opened. Now on her third generation of pupils, she says it’s all about balance.
“Skating is skating, whether you’re on the parallel skates or in-line skates,” she said. “You have to learn to stand up on skates and maintain your balance. Once you do that, you’re fine.”
One thing that hasn’t changed at the rink is the family tradition of Sunday afternoons.
“When he opened the rink, my father always insisted that we had to have family time on our schedule,” Bernstein said. “When my husband and I took over the rink, we put Family Sunday on the schedule.”
And for several generations, families have put roller skating on their schedules as well.
Sunday afternoons, mom and dad skate free from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Children too young to skate can enjoy the play area the Bernsteins installed at one end of the rink; children who tire of skating take to the rink’s arcade. Three and four generations gather around picnic tables in the refreshments area to share in the fun and drink soda from big pitchers.
At one table, a toddler shows off her first steps to great applause, walking across the table top from daddy to grandma, collecting hugs at both stops.
In perpetual motion, kids flow constantly from one end of the rink to the other, from the concession stand to the rink area, with stops in between to talk to parents and friends.
“We have skaters of all ages,” Bernstein said. “We have a couple who are in their 80s who still love to come in and skate. They’re like our rink grandparents. We have a couple from Vietnam who don’t speak English, but still love to come in and skate.
“It’s great exercise. It’s a lot of fun. And it’s a wonderful, social atmosphere.”
On this Sunday afternoon, the NFL playoffs are showing on the rink television, including the big screen projection television in the skating area. But not even a Tom Brady-Peyton Manning showdown can distract the multigeneration crowd.
“My husband couldn’t come in because he’s watching the playoffs,” Bernstein laughed. “We had a few fathers who wanted to make sure they could watch the game. They’re happy.”
The only trace of sadness on most Sundays comes at the front door, where children forced to leave early show their displeasure in traditional fashion.