How Long Has Roller-Skating Been ‘a New York Thing’? Take a Look

Roller blades are CRAZY. Ask my coccyx in 1993, when I fell on it to avoid a worse accident while rollerblading. No brakes. The original dangerous 'scooter'. Ouch.

just imagine bring this style back again. i think that it might help people have a time to keep their mind focused in the space we're in; the bustling on the streets back again. wow, i'd love it. never mind we're livin a new age and thinking about it is just utopian

In rural areas ice hockey rinks run up $10,000 a month bill. Roller skating rinks need dusting and resurfacing occasionally, low cost.

I first visited New York on vacation in September of 2010. One of my most memorable experiences was wandering into Central Park in a jet lagged daze and coming across a large group of roller skaters whirling around a DJ. Shirtless muscle men grooved alongside septuagenarians in sequins. It was so surreal and wonderful.

Great article, thanks! I still rollerblade frequently, and I've noticed just in the last couple of years the numbers of skaters seem to be going up again. Not as fast as a bike, but not as dangerous, and they don't take up nearly as much storage space. Hoping more people continue to get into the sport, it's great exercise, a good way to get around the city (unlike LA which is too car-friendly), and it's better for the environment than every transport except walking.

Roller skating is still alive in NYC. I just bought my first new pair of skates in 20 years so I can take a class in roller dancing. I'm terrible at it, but it's so much fun that I don't care.

We grew up in an apartment building in Fort Green Brooklyn in the late 50’s Louis Soto tried to skate down a flight of stairs. We laughed for weeks. Louis rolled down the flight of stairs like a tumbleweed. Those were to days.

I well remember my mom's stories of growing up in The Bronx in the 20's and 30's when her recreation was roller skating, for hours at a time. She would skate with friends on the streets, which were tarred and smooth, not the sidewalks. Thank you for bringing back an old, fond memory.

It was not just in NYC that skating bloomed. used to go skating in Backman Lake Park just north of love Field in Dallas. But did it all through Jr. HS in New York. Wish we could still do it.

Look at those headphones on the woman in the left of the photo! I wonder how much they weighed. I love going to the skaters area in Central Park and watching the skaters dance and move.

Growing up in Little Neck, Queens in the late 70s/early 80s, I have fond memories of my elementary and junior high friends and me going to the Laces rink in New Hyde Park. We believed we were legend. Great times!

I grew up in 50s tenements in Manhattan and recall that a big deal was when you upgraded from "regular" skates to "ball-bearing" skates. There was little evidence of skate-shoes which only the rich had, rather the skates had a sliding mechanism that gripped the edge of the sole and was tightened by a skate key. Another great use for skates when they broke was to nail halves of the remaining good one to the bottom of a 2x4 and add a wooden crate to the front to make a scooter. Simpler times.

My grandmother, who was born in 1897, spent her childhood and young teen years roller-skating the streets of New York wearing the long skirts girls wore then. She and her friends would skate up and down Manhattan, and all over Central Park. Roller skating in New York is as old as paved streets!

When I was growing up in Brooklyn, I skated everywhere, all the time. Roller skates that clamped onto your shoes...and, yes, I still have my skate key.

The photograph of the middle-aged couple rollerskating to work immediately put a smile on my face. Play more, and see if your world doesn't just open up a little. Thanks for the images.

As kids in the 1960s we played Roller Hockey every chance we go but by the time disco came in most stopped roller skating since we were rock and rollers for life.

I still have my skate key, I keep it on my key chain. Still have the skates too!

As a boomer growing up in Manhattan, not very many kids had bikes, but everyone had roller skates. I was cleaning out a drawer recently and came across a skate key. How many people today would even know what one of these was for?