In 8th grade, my best friend Henry and I would sneak into his older brothers closet and dig through his wardrobe in search of the coolest things to wear for Saturday nights at the roller rink. Henry’s brother didn’t have much, most of the time we ended up wearing his matching leather pants. He had a pair of Maroon and Brown colored ones. (Go ahead and laugh) Henry’s brother was the best-dressed person we knew; now keep in mind I’m from Gainesville Georgia. Not necessarily the fashion Mecca of the world. After spending nearly two hours getting ready Henry and I would take off to the roller rink. (Not sure if it’s ring or rink…anyway we called it the rink back home) Fortunately, I don’t have any pictures of us. But picture if you will, lots of Aqua Net hair spray and tight leather pant’s. A better visual comparison is Eddie Murphy’s outfit from “Delirious”.
We felt so cool at the time. So hip, so now… but looking back, we were the “delirious” ones. Our idea of cool maybe had something to do with why we were outcasts at school. It was leather pant’s on Saturday nights and the rest of the week was what my mother dressed me in. (E.T shirts and I Love My Dad print t-shirts.) Anyway, lets move on. Whatever happened to roller-skating? Is it still the place to go on Saturday Nights? If so, what are the best skates on the market?
This ones my pick.
23 comments ↓
omg, that is scary….As I child of the 70’s, we wore lots of polyester. I didn’t do too much roller skating. I was involved with ice skating. Thank god our skates didn’t look like that! But we did have to wear those skimpy little figure skating outfits. I never wore leather in the 80’s. Let’s hope those fashions never return! Hey Sung, just saw the Motel. What a great film. Keep up the good work. When are coming out east? Come to Jersey. We can have some fun!
Janet
Hey, I don’t mean to pry but, I’ve noticed that you do lots of smoking in some of your movies. I hope that’s just for the roles and not something you do on a regular basis. Sorry to be a pain, but it would upset me greatly to know you are a regular smoker. Your fans want you to be healthy. At least I do. Thanks for letting me rant. Take care of yourself.
Janet
Ohhh Childhood memories….. In the storm of everyday routines I like to sit for a min and think about childhood adventures. Great post and great skates;)
Take care!
I want to see you in E.T. T-shirt. Why don’t you share your childhood picture with us? I promise I won’t quit being your fan. :p
Hahaha I have to agree with AK1998:)
Oh I luckily missed the bad fashions of the 70’s,but I didn’t escape daggy clothes in the 80’s. sounds like my mum was the same as yours….. mine couldn’t pass a good bargain ( or in my case a bad one with me ending up having to wear some hideous clothes)
oh my God. I can’t imagine you in that pink-mobile..
I’ve had one, poorly. Not pink, it was dark green. But my parents hated any kind of fun that I could have growing up. “dangerous” fun, my mother used to say. I was more a quiet kid.. or outcast as well. (Not good memories in my childhood)
You mentioned the ‘I love my dad’ t-shirt before.. do you still have the t-shirt, somewhere? (I think I love the E.T. more than my old man)
I don’t know about roller skating, but don’t they still rollerblade? I know they still skateboard, because that’s what I do for fun.
Lucky girl, Janet
I do have some friends who skateboard, but I didn’t have the chance to actually learn how to do it. I know how to rollerblade.. it wasn’t so cool when they get off style, though.
oh,.. and, Sung quit smoking. He wrote something about it somewhere in his myspace. But I don’t know if he is still without smoking.. I hope so, it is good for him.
I can’t say anything.. I’m a smoker.
Thank god…don’t smoke. My grandfather smoked himself to death at 47…the same age I will be this summer…yes, I’m 47 and I skateboard. It’s a riot. Especially when I fall. All the little kids look at me and say “Hey lady, are you ok?” I just lay there and say “ow.”
I used to love to roller skate, especially after the movie I watched Xanadu. Wow, that really makes me feel old.
I realize this comment has nothing to do with roller skating, but it does fit nicely into the random category. Just watched a news item that an extremely “intelligent” man in Georgia (Sung, no insult intended for your Georgia brethren) entered a convenient store, filled out a job application complete with actual name and phone number, and then proceeded to rob the clerk. For an extra bonus, the guy was actually living in an apartment complex directly next to the store he robbed. Thankfully, the clerk was not harmed and the thief was caught. If only more criminals would be so generous as to leave their contact information, it would make police officer’s jobs much easier.
Hey AJ, thanks for making me laugh this morning! If you really want to see some stupid people, check out the Darwin Awards.
Let me apologize for using the word “stupid” and replace it with ‘people who lack proper judgement.”
Thanks!
I think the term is “roller rink”… it’s what we say in VA anyway.
I never wore leather… I would imagine it would be hot (temperature wise) especially when skating… ew.
=)
Coming back to this one. Rinks are still popular… just not as, I think.
I was married until 2000, my ex used to go every week. Sometimes me and a few of my friends would go to hang out and watch him because he was good on skates. But I was never good on skates so I didn’t bother. My ex has skates that looked like bowling shoes with wheels… good wheels because he spent money on them but the shoe part was old and dingy.
He stopped going after hitting his forties… he said it just hurt too much to fall. Little kids were always falling in front of him and making him do “FTD”’s to clear them in an effort not to mow over them and despite some really funky moves, he would wind up going down. He said he just wasn’t healing as quickly from all the aches and bruises.
He was like that on skiis too… kind of a kamikaze with no helmet. hmm… why would kamikazes wear helmuts? Well… I’m pretty sure he meant to live… but some of the stunts were spectacular.
I love to rollerskate. Have not been in ages. Kinda hard to do when you’re pregnant, but now that the new one is almost 3 months, I could strap him onto my chest and go for a spin….
I love rollerskating When I was little I spent all day (if possible) saturday and sunday every weekend at our skate rink. My favourite thing to wear was my tight denim jeans with a zips on the sides of the ankles. Probably with what ever t shirt I could find. I still remember getting a pair of skates for cristmas one year they are probably one of the best present I ever got. Nothing beats speed rollerskating as far as I’m concerned.
I use to love to rollerskate, i havent been skating in years, now the thing ig rollerblades, i say give me the old rollerdkates any day oh those child hood memories
WE SAY
Im in ohio and over this way we say roller rink, and yes roller skating is still the thing to0 do friday and saturday night, most all the kids in my neighborhod go skating.I havent been to an rink in years , i use to love to skate, it would be myself,sisster, brother and a group of frinds , every weekend, we hit the roller rink, with are big hair and glitter,are short skirt’s over capri pants, that takes me back, do you remmember the metal strap on skates , my very first pair, that takes me back to the70’s
JUNE 23/08. SINCE I LAST LEFT AN COMMIT, I TOOK MY SISSTER’S THREE KID’S TO ARE LOCAL ROLLER RINK, THEY HAD AN BLAST, AND I MUST SHARE I DID TO ,
this is funny , i recently went roller skating the other day i have to say lots of fun !!!
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