Empire Skate

[labrujah]

Roller Rink Days 083.jpg, originally uploaded by pinkyracer.

Last night I headed to Empire Skate in Crown Heights. They're closing in a week. It's tragic. There are neighborhoods and cities all over the place trying to figure out how to keep the kids off drugs and off the streets -- and here we are, letting a completely awesome place turn into a storage facility.

As the guy in front of us in line said "Everybody comes to the funeral!" He brought his own skates. The line stretched to the end of the block. The place was pretty packed.

Everybody looks better whizzing by in a circle. I told Jenene "It's like those rotating cake stands in diners -- humans like to catch a glimpse of what they want. It's boring if it's just standing still." There is something peaceful about going around and around. You get a moment to groove. It's a little bit like flying, too.

Dudes were super peacocky, doing jumps, skating backwards, having dance-offs. The place reeked of testosterone, and a little bit of weed, ancient weed which had permeated the place over the years. Yet, some guys were skating arm in arm and holding hands. There was one guy with light-up skates who formed a kind of Rockettes-style line of guys whizzing along, all connected. One guy in the line had thick dreads down to his heels, now that looked dangerous to me.

We kept mostly to the baby rink. I never quite learned how to stop, and my friends kept saying "On the big rink, you don't need to stop!"

Au Revoir Empire Skate - the last skating rink in NYC after the Skate Key in the Bronx closed. Word was that a lot of the people there had driven down from the Bronx, and soon they would all have to drive to Bergen, NJ to get their skate on.

Comments

[indiefilmpage.livejournal.com]

The cost of insurance pretty much sealed its fate.

[brooklyngirl.livejournal.com]

between this post and yours today I feel
small.
what do you do?
seems like the world wants what it McWants and we are the minority
have you seen idiocracy? its really stupid and really poignant.
it's supposed to take place in the future but it feels a lot like now.

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

I did see Idiocracy and every other day when I see something stupid I am like "OMG the future is here."

The only solution I can think of is to make your own fun. Like the Amish, and like we used to have to do back in SC when we were underage and had nowhere to go. You know all about making your own scene.

I guess that's why I put my faith in the art collectives. They seem to be chugging along okay even as people have babies and stuff. Exodus! Pittsburgh needs us. Or Detroit. Or New Orleans. Somewhere.

Maybe there will always be a place for us here in NYC? But it is just getting so hard. I though it was hard 5 years ago, but that was a joke.

[indiefilmpage.livejournal.com]

Hard to change public sentiment. It's a different world now. The days of hanging out on the stoop, playing in the streets, going to the bowling alley, roller skating, playing 18 holes of mini golf, hitting a bucket of balls, going to the drive in and mom and pop amusements are all but gone. Video games, consumerism, cell phones, the internet, 1000's of cable channels, staying at home watching movies and big box stores are seemingly what the average person wants or should I say accepts, these days. A lot of it is just the high cost of living but more of it was the allowance of corporate chains to take over this city. I walk down St. Marks Place and it's depressing. I'm just glad that I grew up in a time when this city was alive and was not just a city for the rich.

Haven't seen Idiocracy. Heard good things about it.

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

I think of that movie constantly.

"Ass won Best Screenplay."

I agree with labrujah - we have to create our own scene.

And a big art space in Brooklyn used to have a roller-rink night. I haven't gone in years, so don't know if it still goes on.

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I heard last night too. I sort of don't get it.

People don't get hurt more now than they did in the 70s -- right? I guess they are more litigious?

I really do think that the city should put some money behind these places. It's a quality of life issue.

[indiefilmpage.livejournal.com]

There was a shooting there this past January. That didn't help.

These types of establishments have pretty much had checkered pasts in this city. I grew up two blocks from one in Jackson Heights (it was on Roosevelt Ave. between 72st and 71st.) and the neighborhood was always trying to get it shut down. Eventually it was shut down for drug dealing.

In their heyday they were packed especially during the disco era.

[brooklyngirl.livejournal.com]

I am still in mourning for RollerPalace

How about this?

[indiefilmpage.livejournal.com]

(http://photobucket.com)

Re: How about this?

[brooklyngirl.livejournal.com]

wow. whats there now?
yeah... I know every generation has change
hell, roller palace used to be a movie theater
but once upon a time it was mom & pop taking over mom & pop
now roller palace is a ballys sports club

Re: How about this?

[indiefilmpage.livejournal.com]

It was on 5th and Surf so I can only assume the New York Aquarium?

[capricornia.livejournal.com]

the closing of empire makes me so very, very sad.
like i want to give up.

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

I bet pittsburgh has a fucking roller rink. Probably no awesome roller boogie dancers though. Maybe we can bring them too.

[treads.livejournal.com]

I'm sad to see Empire Skate go. The streets were packed with skaters on weekends; hanging out and waiting for friends to show up n' skate.

[salome-st-john.livejournal.com]

hay, I am a friend of hydrozoa who says a) that you are great and b) that we should be friends. Not least of which because I am on the "he said something stupid" tip these days as well... I am friending you, is that cool?

[ohsnap.livejournal.com]

Well, that's depressing. I guess I should get over there this weekend.