April 25, 2025 • 63 mins
Ever wondered what makes a great roller rink? Ginger Matthews has skated at 443 of them across North America, making her uniquely qualified to answer that question. Growing up in a family where roller skating wasn't just a hobby but a legacy—her parents met at a rink, her aunt and uncle owned one, and they all contributed significantly to skating culture—Ginger's path to becoming "The Skate Critic" feels almost predetermined.
What began as a personal challenge to skate every rink in California evolved into a comprehensive documentation project tracking America's skating spaces. Today, Ginger maintains extensive databases of active rinks, closed venues, and properties for sale—currently 82 rinks are on the market, ranging from $70,000 to $8 million. Her unique 8-wheel rating system evaluates what really matters to skaters: floor quality, staff professionalism, bathroom cleanliness, snack options, and DJ skills.
The conversation reveals fascinating stories behind some of America's most unique skating venues, including The Oaks in Portland—built on 250 pontoons that allow it to float during floods—and the largest skate floor in the country at Guptill's Arena in New York. Ginger shares industry insights about what makes rinks successful (you need five key elements), how COVID affected the industry (about 100 closures but new openings too), and passionate advice for both new skaters and prospective rink owners.
Beyond the business aspects, this episode explores the deep connection between skating culture and community. Adult skaters become the backbone of successful rinks, offering loyalty and support during tough times. For those considering entering this world, Ginger's advice is clear: invest in proper equipment, respect rink etiquette, and understand that skating, like any worthwhile pursuit, requires dedication rather than shortcuts. Ready to roll into the fascinating world of American roller rinks? This episode is your perfect starting point.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate
destination for all skatingenthusiasts.
We cater to everyone, frombeginners to pros.
Whether you love inline and iceskating or prefer quads and
skateboarding, we have it allcovered, and we bring you
exclusive interviews withprofessionals, talented amateurs
(00:30):
and influencers in the industry.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting
journey into the world ofskating.
Welcome to this week's episodeof how Do you Skate.
I am your host, sean Egan.
My guest tonight or today isGinger Matthews.
So how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I am excellent.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm doing good.
So first question is is we'regoing to go back to the
beginning?
When did you start skating?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
When I was four years old.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Okay, and how did it progress from there?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So I was four years old and my step-mom took me to
Valley Vista in Hayward, rightthere on mission.
Yep, my parents met there andmarried and then my dad married
my step-mom from there and myaunt and uncle got married from
there, and it just kept going,but anyway.
So she took me when I was fourand, you know, saturday
(01:33):
afternoons they put all thelittle kitties in the middle of
the rink and they have a littleclass.
And I was in the class and andme, being the cocky person that
I am, I pretty much could figureout how to skate already in my
head didn't need to be there andmy stepmom would come out of
nowhere because the session wasgoing on around you.
(01:55):
My stepmom would come out ofnowhere as fast as she could and
she'd fly by and like, pop mein the head and tell me to pay
attention and all I could do wasjust go.
That's what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I want to skate fast like her Nice.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
It just kept going from there.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And you skated all through high school and all that
kind of stuff too All throughhigh school, I never really took
a break.
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
You know there was, there was parts where it's like,
you know, you had little kidsand stuff and so you weren't
skating as much yeah or you know, as soon as I could put them in
skates and drag them to therink, it was game on nice.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh now.
Did you ever do any kind ofcompetitions or like?
Would you consider your styleof skating?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I never did any competitions.
I come from a real strongbackground of artistic skaters.
Okay.
Artistic roller, derby, roller,hockey, speed skaters.
And then I come along and I'mlike I'm not doing that, I just
want to go skate with the adultskaters and be a freestyle
skater in the adult skate worldand do rexing.
(03:08):
And you know they were all likewhat is she doing?
And I just did my thing.
But, like my uncle and my aunthave said to me, they said if
you didn't do what you did, youwouldn't be who you are today.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So yeah, and it's funny that you use the term
Rexing, because I mentioned thatout here and nobody knows what
I'm talking about and I'm likedude, Rexing is kind of like
kind of freestyle jam skating,Like what you guys are doing now
.
A lot of it's Rexing and that'sjust what we called it back in
the day.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So you want to know some facts.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Facts are that Rexing started here in California.
It started like before I wasborn and as it migrated eastward
and people started picking itup at their rinks, it couldn't
remember what it was called, sothey started calling it shuffle
skating and trucking and allthis other stuff.
(04:03):
So when I was on the the oursboard for when they were
introducing our world to youknow competitions and they were
talking about shuffle skating Isaid let's just be clear here.
I said it started as rexing andy'all changed the name of it,
(04:24):
so you need to pay homage towhere homage is due.
Yeah, I said it started asRexing and y'all changed the
name of it, so you need to payhomage to where homage is due
yeah.
I said we started that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yep, and I just remember that because you and I
being pretty much from the samearea and growing up in the same
area, and I think you mentionedbriefly before that you have
skated at the Golden Skate- yes,so that was my home rink.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
I used to go there on Sunday nights, when they had
adult night, and then they hadit on Tuesdays, and now it's on
Wednesdays.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I just remember going from like 90 to like 93, and
the DJ was Simon and I thinkGina was the manager.
Dave was her husband.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I don't know why I remember all these, dave, was
the cap, boy boots and the beltbuckle.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, the big tall guy.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, he was there for like 26, 27 years and.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Gina.
His wife was the manager there,so they all worked together
every weekend and it was just.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
He only stood at the door and he just scared the shit
out of people looking at him wewere like in.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So when you were there, this we used to do this
because I think the session wasfrom like we started skating at
like six and went all the way tothe 12 30 yeah like 12 to 12 30
.
We pulled all the balls outthat were hiding in the corner
and just had like a free for all.
It was we would go home withwelts the balls I remember those
(05:50):
that was like so much fun andit's just, I think it would be
fun and like at that timesaturday and wasn't an adult
night, neither was friday, butit was like high school, because
I was transitioning from highschool into adulthood.
I'm still transitioning fromhigh school to adulthood it
hasn't fully kicked in yet, butso now you're also known as the
(06:14):
skate critic.
How did that come about?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So that in reality, that started a long time ago,
and so I kept every time likeevery time I take the kids on
vacation, I would likemiraculously plan it around
where there were roller rinks,we could go roller skating while
we were there too.
Just because we came to godisneyland don't mean we can't
go roller skating too.
(06:38):
And so at one point in time Iwas was like you know, I got
quite a few rinks under my belt,so I got this crazy idea that I
wanted to skate every rink inCalifornia.
And so.
I started going to all the rinksin California and I got
irritated at the lists that wereonline because they were
(06:59):
outdated, but at that point itwas like 10 plus years.
It's now like 15 or 16 plusyears, something like that.
So I put together a correctlist of ranks.
I actually physically combinedall those, all those lists, and
then called every rank, seewhich ones were still in
business.
And I still do that to this day.
(07:21):
I call every other year andmake sure they're still in
business, so, anyways.
So while I'm traveling to do allthese rinks, so I could claim
the title of being the personthat skated every rink in
California.
My, every time I saw my auntand uncle at a roller derby game
, because my uncle's was, youknow, the head coach, he wrote
(07:41):
the rules for roller derby, andmy aunt was, you know, in the
scorebox and my cousin was coach, anyways.
So every time I saw them, myaunt would say you need to write
this down, you need to takepictures, people want to know.
And I'd be like yeah, yeah,yeah, whatever.
So probably about the, I'd say,fourth or fifth time she said
(08:02):
that to me, I thought I'm sickof hearing this, and so when she
came at me and said you need towrite this down, you need to
take pictures, people want toknow.
I said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,I'll be the skate critic,
whatever.
So at that point people wereasking me lots of questions
about rinks because I'd been toso many rinks.
So then I had lost my title ofskating all the rinks in
(08:28):
California because a new one hadopened down south.
So I was like, okay, I gotta godown south and reclaim my title
.
So I go down south with no planother than to skate this one
rink.
And then it was happened to beNew Year's Eve and I thought,
well, just go skate in one of myother rinks, you know no big
deal.
And I get down there and I'mlike I started, you know,
(08:53):
googling the rinks and and theywere saying lockdown.
They were locked down, so itwas 15 and under, but you had to
have a parent with you and ifyou were adult, you couldn't get
in without a child.
Well, I didn't have a childwith me, so I couldn't go
skating and I was pissed.
I was in the hotel on New Year'sEve and I'm like bored out of
(09:14):
my skull and I was like, youknow, let's look up this skate
critic thing.
So I started doing someresearch on it.
I'm pretty good at research, soI started researching, you know
, and I couldn't find anyonedoing skate critic nothing.
I did find there was an old manwhich I knew about who did kind
of a skate critic thing and hereleased articles through the
(09:39):
rsa and somebody else, and itwas like every month and then it
went to every other month andthen it went to like every six
months and it was like once ayear and then he just fell off
the planet, yeah.
So I was like, okay, all right.
So I said, well, let me grab,you know, skate critics.
So I grabbed instagram,facebook, youtube, I grabbed a
(10:03):
Tumblr, all of them.
I was like, okay, let's do this.
And I put 33 friends in thegroup that night.
And then during the night Ikept noticing the ceiling was
flashing light.
So I was like what the hell isgoing on with my phone?
Why does everybody want to talkto me?
I was like whatever, I justkept sleeping and ignored them.
(10:25):
In the morning I rolled overand there was like eight or nine
hundred people in skate critic.
I was like, oh shit, what did Ido?
And then, when I came back forthe trip I went to.
I went to golden skate to, andmy friends were like, what did
(10:45):
you do?
And I go?
I have no idea, but we'rerolling with it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
And it's been a crazy ride.
I've been to 443 rinks.
As of today, In the country.
In the country and Canada.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Okay, have you skated in colorado yet?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I have skated colorado.
I've been to uh the wagon wheelgood one.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
They have adult skate night on monday nights, but I
think it's coming to an end.
But that's, that's like woodenfloor, it's, it's cool I love
the wagon wheel.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It's got big tree trucks in the middle.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Exactly I actually spent.
I want to say my first.
Was it my first New Year's ormy second New Year's?
Here at the wagon wheel theyhad a party.
I think it was my second.
Lucky it was an adult skate, soit made it fun.
California how many rinks arethere in california?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
let's look.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
We are currently sitting at 66 rinks in
california okay, because there'snot that many in the bay area,
right, or is there?
There's two left in the bayarea, two official rinks, and
then there's church shape wheelsyeah, and then so is that other
rink in san jose, becausesomeone was mentioning that to
me so the rink in san joseclosed a couple weeks ago but,
(12:14):
she's looking for a new location, so I've been trying to help
her out to find a new locationso she could put her rank back
up, and there's currently apop-up rink in san jose, but it
ends in may okay.
So because my first rink that Iskated at livermore used to have
a roller rink called rollerodyssey on first street on first
(12:37):
street yeah yeah, it was alsocalled.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I'll try something.
Try tri-state roller rink orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
It was called yeah, in the 70s, when I skated there,
it was okay.
Now I'm dating myself you areit was called roller odyssey and
like we would get free ticketsfrom school because I went to st
michael's so we would get freetickets and we would go skating
after school.
So it it's like Kelly Moorepaints now and there's like a.
(13:07):
Rc track behind it for remotecontrol cars.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yes, there is.
Livermore.
It was also called Tri-ValleyRoller Rink.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
But yeah, it was both .
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Nice.
Now what is one of yourfavorite rinks in California?
And then we'll move to the restof the country.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
That could take all day.
I have favorite rinks in everystate, so California, I mean,
when I'm home, I I, of course Iwork for Paradise Skate in
Antioch.
Okay.
On the skate sales side, sothat's one of my favorite rinks.
They're all kind of my favoriterinks, but if anyone says
(13:54):
there's a skate party at SunriseRoller Land in Citrus Heights,
california, I am there.
Okay, because that's the fifthlargest skate floor in the US.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
And it's a rotunda floor.
It's gorgeous and it's up forsale, so somebody buy it, so I
can get you a rink.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I sent the thing to my friend because she said she
wanted to open a roller rink butshe's not ready to buy.
And I think she lives.
She's either in Stockton orshe's in Sacramento, but she's
not ready to buy.
She's in Sacramento but she'snot ready to buy.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
So when, when she's ready, tell her I do consulting
and I'm the only one in the U Sit has the all the roller rinks
on one for sale rate list.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Okay, are there a lot of rinks up for sale right now,
or?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
right now I have like three pages of rinks for sale.
Let's see, I never thoughtabout counting them, but I'm
always looking for the list toget smaller.
Like three pages of rinks forsale.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Let's see, I never thought about counting them, but
I'm always looking for the listto get smaller, but it doesn't
seem to get that way.
Well, it depends, like, what'sthe asking price?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Like what's the cost of some of these rinks?
Sunrise is going for 5.37million.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
That's probably why she doesn't have enough.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, like some ranks on here.
You know they're like 350,000and includes a three bedroom,
two bath house.
Oh, that's in Georgia and China, let's see.
I mean, some ranks aredividable property.
Here's one for 70,000.
(15:30):
It's in Parsons, kansas.
You know we have another onefor $8 million in.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Louisiana.
That just does not seem like a,because when you're buying a
rink you want to know what theirgross profit and net profit is
for the year, and then how mucheverything costs.
So do you think some of thesemight be not priced properly?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
So maybe a couple are not.
However, people need to stopand think about where it is,
what the profit margin is, whatcomes with the rink besides the
rink.
Some people go, oh it's, it'sthis amount of money.
And I go, yeah, but there'sthree properties there.
There's a house, a trailer anda roller rink and an apartment
(16:17):
inside.
You know.
So you buy the rink, you leaseout the trailer or you lease out
the apartment, you lease outthe other properties or sell
them.
Yeah.
You know you got to think longterm about it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, that's what I would look at is like what's all
included?
It's like do you lease thebuilding or do you actually own
the building?
Because if you're asking $8million and you lease the
building, it's.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
If you're not getting the property with it.
Right.
Here's my advice on if you'regoing to buy a rink and I always
tell people this If it scaresthe hell out of them.
I know that the conversation'sover, they're not going to do
anything.
Yeah, first thing I'll say is Iwant you to realize you're
(17:05):
going to be married to the rinkfor at least the first five
years until you find someonethat is a little mini me version
of yourself that you can trustto leave the rink to run it to.
Second off, you want to buy theproperty regardless.
If you have to sign a lease,make sure it's a lease for 99
(17:29):
years.
You never know what's going tohappen.
Or you have the option topurchase it because you know you
could lease it for 35 years andpeople go.
35 years, that's a long time.
Yeah, so you have it for 35years at x amount of dollars and
when 35 years comes up, theowner of the property goes hey,
(17:50):
you've been making a lot ofmoney on that, I'm gonna triple
that rent.
And then you're screwed.
You can't make the rent paymentor they go.
You know what?
I just want to sell this place.
So you're out and they give youliterally 30 days to get.
But if you have it for 99 years.
You're going to most likelyoutlive them.
(18:11):
Yeah.
And then that will go into atrust and gets renegotiated.
Or if you have the option tobuy, you can keep it.
But if you buy the property,it's yours and you don't have to
worry about that.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Exactly.
And then you set up an LLC andproperty management company and
rent it to yourself.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Correct, Correct.
I see a lot of rinks over youknow, rinks that I've researched
because I keep track of all thelive rinks in the US.
I also keep track of all thedead rinks and so I've seen a
lot of rink stories over theyears of fantastic rinks just
making money hand over fist andthey're dumbasses and never
(18:50):
bought the property they didn'tleave and they lost, you know,
somewhere down the road, 20years down the road or 25 or
whatever, and the owner of theproperty is like I'm triple,
quadruply, I've seen it wherethey've went like 10 times the
amount of the rent, you know.
Yeah.
Or Walgreens, walks in and goeshey, I'm going to give you $5
(19:14):
million If you walk away.
I want you out in 30 days.
What's the owner going to do?
He's going to give up theproperty.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Like the owner or the rink itself, like the rink
itself, like the rink people.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Both.
I've seen it done on leases andI've seen it done on property
owners of people who bought theproperty.
So say a lot of times they'llbuy the property and then it's
time for the kids to run therink or the grandkids to run the
rink, and a lot of times it'sgrandkids and the grandkids all
(19:48):
they see is dollar signs, yeah,and so you know they're running
the rink.
And walgreens comes along andsays hey, here's six million
dollars.
Walk and they go.
Oh, six million dollars, woohoo.
And then they don't realizethey gotta split it between
three other grandkids.
And once you buy a house andyou buy a brand new car and you
pay off your debt, you're brokenow.
And guess what?
(20:09):
The best thing next?
You don't know how to doanything else but run a roller
rink.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
So what are you going to do for a job?
It's like you know, some peoplemake it, some don't.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
What?
What makes a successful rollerrink Like what's?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
What makes a successful roller rink.
So I always tell people youneed five things.
So you need public parties, youneed birthday parties and adult
skate and two of whatever youwant Artistic roller, derby,
roller hockey, slalom, whateveryou want to do but if you have
(20:47):
those five things, you'reusually an average rink.
Okay.
Usually make over half amillion dollars.
And then the other theory behindthat is also if you take the
city that the rink is going into, or that city plus three
surrounding cities, and see whatthe population of the kids are,
(21:10):
so if it's like 20, 25 000,then that'll help support the
rink yeah, and people usuallycome back to me and they go well
, you don't really make anymoney at adult skates, and I go
that's correct, you don't I said, however, you can usually run
an adult skate by yourself ormaybe with one other person, and
(21:31):
the thing is is those skatersbecome loyal to you and then
they bring other people to therink, they convince people have
their birthday parties there andthey bring their friends and
they go skating.
And then if shit hits the fanon something you know, like
during COVID yeah, you know usregulars we'd go down the rink.
(21:54):
Hey, what do you need, what?
What can I help you with?
I mean, during.
COVID, I was painting walls atthe rink.
Never thought I'd do that, butit was.
It was kind of fun.
The whole time I was like, ohmy God, don't let the paint fall
on the floor.
That's all I could think of.
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, now did any rinks uh close during COVID
because because they wereleasing and they kind of got
screwed on that part.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
There wasn't too many of those stories, but it was
about 100 rinks closed duringCOVID.
But, we did have a bunch thatopened as well.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
And then we got some back.
The average is like you usuallylose about three rinks a month,
oh wow.
And then we got some.
But the average is like usuallylose about three rigs a month,
oh wow, um one usually reopensand you usually get a new one.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So you know it's, it's not.
It's maybe a dozen a year total.
Okay, because I was actuallysurprised to hear that golden
skate was still open, becausejust a couple of years ago I was
hearing how they were finallyclosing the doors and so, and
even when I skated there in like1990, 91, 92, 93, it was up for
sale then.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Right.
So, that was when the Hoopersowned it and the Hooper's son.
He works for our rink inAntioch now.
Okay.
But the current owner.
He's tried to sell it like fivetimes and nothing's ever come
completely through.
So who knows?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Now, does he own the building then, or is like so if
you bought it?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
He's a big real estate guy.
He owns the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Nice Is there still a , because there was a daycare in
it too, in part of the building.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Daycare is not there anymore.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Okay, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
I remember the daycare days.
Hey, that you were asking me aquestion earlier.
I didn't answer.
So, there's 82 rinks up forsale on my list at the moment.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Oh wow, that's a lot.
Yeah, but nothing in Coloradoright Cause we got skate city
rolls.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Oh wow, that's a lot, but nothing in Colorado, right?
Nothing in Colorado, let me see.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Because we got Skate City Rollers.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
We have none in Colorado and I suspect, if there
was any for sale in Colorado,that the Ingrams would buy it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Probably Open up another Skate City.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Right, they own all of them.
I'd say they own close to threequarters of all the rinks in
the state.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, because there's they have like five or six
skate cities and I've skated at.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I've skated more than that.
Let me see Rinklist Colorado,colorado, because I know we got
colorado springs one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and
skate cities, and then they alsohave some skate cities in other
(24:45):
states too.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, because I don't think.
I don't think um oh sorry,that's eight.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I forgot about the, the pepsi Sports Arena.
They own that too.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Nice, yeah, I've skated at four of them so far,
and also Roller City.
The thing I like about RollerCity is we don't have the walls
around the rink, it's just theback wall, but it's like you can
jump on or off at any point.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It's not like you have to wait until you get to an
opening.
Yeah, step down, step up, ledge.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
And it's a very small step down, step up.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Well, that's good Cause.
Most of them are huge, which isgreat when you're younger,
because when I was younger, itwas like, oh yeah, you go as
fast as you can, you jump out onthe floor, or vice versa.
Yeah.
When I'm older it's like oh, Igot to step down on that man, so
make my knee hurt.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You're like, I can't get my knee up that high.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Right, right.
So, like, as you get older,you're like step down, step up,
ledge.
You see them and you're likeOoh, no, thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So now do you have a grading system for the, for the
roller rinks that you go to, orhow does that work?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
So I grade for the roller rinks that you go to, or
how does that work?
So I grade with rinks on wheelsand toe stops.
So, example, if you have eightwheels and two toe stops, you're
at the top of the list okay gotlike one wheel or two, you got
some work to do like what do youmean like on the skates?
For people that bring theskates in no, no, like when I
write a review on the right atthe bottom I'll say this rink
(26:18):
gets six wheels which means youhave some work to do to get up
to eight wheels, and then yougot to be over the top to start
getting toe stops.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Okay, so that's your grading system.
I'm like thinking like on theskate rack, like if you pull a
skate off and they give you onewith one wheel, they really need
to take care of their skates.
So what is it you're lookingfor when you're critiquing a
roller rink?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So, first off, when I walk in the door, in my head
every rink has eight wheels, andthen you possibly go down from
there.
But what I'm looking at mainly,I am looking at your floor,
your employees, your bathroom,your snack bar and your dj,
because in reality, us skaters,that's all we care about.
(27:06):
The rest doesn't matter.
So that that's where I startand then, once I'm done with
that, I will measure the floorto see how big it is, because
readers like to see how big thefloor is or how small it is.
Yeah.
And once I'm done with that,then I'll go around the rink and
look for historical things onit or things that make that rink
(27:29):
different from other rinks.
Okay.
And then I'll go back and I'llfind the owner hopefully the
owner or, you know, the generalmanager, somebody that knows
some history and I'll startasking them historical questions
about the rink.
So I try to include, like theyear it opened, who started it,
who's running it now anyinteresting historical facts
(27:53):
that you wouldn't know bywalking through the door, you
know yeah you know, some peopletell me some crazy stories.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
There's some stories I just can't put in a review, so
I just chuckle with the ownerit's not like the motown, where
it's like you hear someone dyingin the background and of the
record, or oh yeah, I've heardsome crazy stories, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I did post one one time that I heard about how it
was in an amusement park and theroller coaster went over the
top of the rink and then a kidfell out, landed on the rink and
he died.
And I was like, is this facts?
And they were like you know, wejust heard that story over and
over again and I go, I can't putthat in if it's not facts.
(28:39):
And I researched and researched, and researched.
I found nothing on it.
But there was so many peoplethat said this story was real so
I did put it in the review butI said I cannot factually say
that this happened.
But if you can find something,let me know, you know, let me
(28:59):
know.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
But it's the ranks urban legend it's an urban
legend exactly so what are someother crazy stories you've heard
that you haven't been able toput in, but it just would be fun
right now oh yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I most crazy stories seem to make it into my reviews.
This is the horrible ones thatI leave out, and I was like I
don't think people should knowthat.
So, I've heard one crazy storywas there was there were two
ranks and they got a divorce andI guess the judge gave one ring
(29:35):
to one spouse and one to theother and so they started, like
you know, calling the city oneach other for certain stuff.
And then I guess the one spouse, he was really really good at
it and so he was calling on thisother rink owner over and over
and over again, I mean to thepoint to where her rink was
(29:58):
really hurting.
And when I came I just said,you know, pray for this rink,
and there it was sad.
And then later I heard that hisrink got shut down and she had
nothing to do with it.
So it's like karma.
Yeah.
(30:19):
They should have just ran theirrinks and headed on their merry
way.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah so hopefully they didn't outlasted his by
about 18 months or so.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And so what's one of your favorite rinks in the
country?
Speaker 3 (30:38):
So my favorite rink would be the Oaks in Portland
Oregon.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It is the second largest skate floor in the U S.
It's 100 by 200 feet.
It's a rotunda floor.
It's the last remaining rink inan operational amusement park.
It's also the oldest rink inthe us.
(31:03):
It's probably the oldest one inthe world actually at this point
okay um it, it's a fantasticstory if you, if you go there,
you can't see them anymorebecause the lockers are in the
way, but it's on the shore ofthe willamette river and so the
willamette floods, and so Iforget what years it was, but
(31:28):
like the first time it flooded,I think it was in the 40s or
something and so it flooded, itruined the floor, and so they
rebuilt it and that floor endedup in the dance pavilion, so
they they, you know use it as apractice floor and then weddings
and stuff.
And then it was, you know, notso many years later.
(31:49):
The rink flooded again and theywere like we can't just keep
putting a floor in here, right?
yeah so the army corps engineerstepped in and said if we build
a floor that doesn't flood, willyou stay?
They were, like you know, kindof like yeah sure.
So they came in and dug outunderneath and they put 250
(32:13):
pontoons in their barrels andthey built the skate floor on
top and they made everything inthe rink as portable.
So if it starts to flood and itgets to a certain level, they
go in, they cut this floor looseand they put everything in the
rink on the floor and then thefloor floats up with the water
and then when the water recedes,it goes back down.
(32:33):
And then when the water recedes, it goes back down, and then
they just scrape all the mud andeverything out of the rink and
clean the carpets and puteverything back and the rink's
back in operation.
The floor's not ruined.
Oh, wow.
And so when you skate on thisfloor, if you're a true skater,
the first time you skate on thefloor you'll skate out and
you'll go wait.
What is that?
(32:55):
And you could feel the musiccoming from under the floor,
because it is.
It can go all the way around.
Nice, feel the floor just ahair.
You're like what?
What you got to ask somebody.
You're like what's up with thisfloor?
But yeah, and then they got awavy practice floor in the back,
you know.
So you go through like this.
They have another practicefloor and then they have another
(33:16):
practice floor for the kidswith little railings.
They're not allowed on thefloor.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
They have to be able to skate in there first before
they can come out on the mainfloor okay kind of makes it
safer for people instead ofhaving kids cut in front of you,
and that's why, if I go to thekids session, I just take my
time, my time skating.
I don't skate like I do inadult state.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
No, you can't, because the kids are
unpredictable and most of thetimes these rinks don't have
good floor guards to handle it.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, exactly.
So what is the biggest floor inthe US?
Speaker 3 (33:50):
That would be Guptill's Arena in Latham, New
York.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
It's up by Albany and that floor is 99 by 213 feet.
Wow.
It's a big floor too, andthey've got a couple practice
floors as well.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Okay, and now?
When did the one in Antiochopen?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Antioch's been there a long time.
I'm not sure I have when itopened, you know.
I should know that I work forthe rink, right yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Cause I think I have skated there a long time ago, If
it's been open for a while it'sat the fairgrounds in Antioch.
I have skated there yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
It used to be roller Haven.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Okay, yeah, it used to be.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Roller Haven.
Okay, yeah, and now it's calledParadise.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Because it would have been the early 90s when I
skated there.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So, One more fact about theOaks they're the last remaining
roller rink with a live pipeorgan.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, so you go there and theygot all the pipes in the ceiling
and they play the organ onSundays and Thursday nights.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Do we have like a legend of the phantom of the
roller rink or they can playthat if you want it.
That'd just be kind of coolwhen you're like going by it at
night.
You hear the organ playing, butnobody's there.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
They've done a lot of movies there.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Oh nice, yeah, so.
So next question is is what isyour skate of choice?
Like?
What do you roll on?
Wheels, bearings, boots.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Oh my.
So currently I'm on a goldenhorse boot because I used to
work for golden horse for theartistic side.
Before that, I rolled for many,many years on a 336 Tribute
from Rydell.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
And I'm currently shopping for a new boot, and I
know Jason at Harlech would justlove for me to get a boot from
him.
We've had many conversations,including one a couple of weeks
ago.
Boot from him.
We've had many conversations,including one a couple of weeks
ago.
So my favorite plate in thepast was a Snyder Royale
titanium plate.
I love the crap out of thatplate.
(36:07):
Currently I'm on a Rolline GAuto NTS and back in the day I
rolled on All-Americans foreverwith I don't even remember what
kind of bearings I had back thenUh.
But for the last 20 years maybeI've been rolling on um the
(36:33):
elite roll line, uh art wheels,the red ones, one of three A's.
Swiss uh ceramic bearings frombones.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
those are my favorite , yeah and do you properly
maintain your bearings?
Speaker 3 (36:53):
of course I do, because I wouldn't be able to
get online and chew everybodyelse out for not take care of
the bearings if I didn't exactly.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
It's like one of the most important things and it's
like people don't realize howimportant skate maintenance is.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Now I see people all the time.
I coach adults on sunday nightsbefore the adult skate and when
I get somebody who comes in andthey're like yeah, I haven't
skated in 20 years but I stillgot my skates, and I'm like
that's wonderful, I'm glad youcame.
Did you take those apart andclean them and re-oil the
bearings?
(37:27):
people coming in here andthey're like, oh, do I need to
do that?
I said yeah, they haven't beenskating on 20 years.
They're all dried up and what'sgoing to happen is you're going
to get out there thinking youknow how to skate again and get
cocky and they're either notgoing to roll or you're going to
push them to the limit andthey're going to break and
you're going to fall and bustsomething and then you're never
(37:49):
coming back skating again.
And they always look at you likewhat?
Like, yes, let's look at yourskates, and not to mention even
the bearings, but the bushingsit's like you know you haven't
rolled on them in 20 years.
Yeah, you, you have to maintainthem.
You, especially if you're goingto come back out and rejoin the
(38:10):
skate world, you want to makesure you have the right
equipment, and it's all you know.
Sometimes I have to explain topeople about their skates, like
a car, and I'll say would youtake your car out of the barn
after 20 years, start it up andtake it down the freeway at a
hundred miles an hour?
And they go oh no, I wouldn't.
(38:32):
I would take it to the shop andget an oil change and make sure
everything's working right.
I say exactly.
Transmission fluid, get it allworking right and then the other
thing I always tell them is isI know you can skate, I know you
used to skate.
I said but you haven't been in20 years.
So I want you to take itcompletely easy and don't get
(38:54):
cocky.
You need to come at least threetimes over the next three weeks
.
Get your balance back yeah andthen you can start trying to see
if you can do other things.
And and always and when peopledon't listen to me, it's like
you know they break an ankle orthey break their wrist and it's
(39:16):
like tried to warn you, I triedto stop you yeah, it's funny
because, like in some of thegroups, I'll see like how do you
get better at skating backwards?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
keep skating, right.
It's.
There's no shortcut, there's nomagic formula.
It's it's kind of like how muchwork are you willing to put in?
And that's because I've hadpeople on here that have been
skating like, uh, one of myprevious guests, robbie.
He's been skating only for liketwo and a half years and he's
like a phenomenal skater forfreestyle and inline.
(39:49):
So it's it's, but he skatesevery day.
So it just depends upon.
If you're like once a week,you'll be okay, but it's getting
out there and and just skating.
And I even tell people, takelessons.
If you're not sure, takelessons, get a foundation.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yeah, I hear people all the time Like I'll be in the
middle skating.
It doesn't matter where I am inthe country.
I just seem to attract peopleand they'll come up to me and be
like, oh my God, can you teachme how to skate backwards?
And I'll look at them and I'llgo.
(40:32):
As soon as you learn how to goforwards, I will teach you.
Yeah, it's like you can't justjump to backwards, or I get
people in my class, they'll takemy class and they'll be like
you know, I can't get theseskates to do what I want and I
go first off.
Those are what we callthrowaway skates in the roller
rink industry.
They're only meant to last 30days.
Yeah.
You need to get a real pair ofskates and they'll be like but
these are real.
I bought them from Amazon andI'm like.
(40:54):
They're not real.
They're throwaway skates.
They're meant for kids.
Yeah.
Because kids grow through themfaster than they use them, so
they're not meant for an adult.
And then, when people don'tstart getting it sunk into their
head, I'll look at them andI'll go so what is your ankle
worth?
Yeah.
And they go my ankle and I'll belike, yeah, because you're
(41:16):
going to break your ankle onthose If you fall.
There's nothing holding yourankle in there because there's
nothing there.
I said if you have a goodstarter pair of skates, let
alone, you'll be able to skate alittle better, I says but if
you fall, it's going to holdyour ankle in place.
Yeah, and I go, you have goodmedical and they'll be like well
, what it's like you gotta.
(41:39):
You know, anything you going todo that you're going to put
your heart and soul into or thatcan affect your body?
Make sure you have the rightparts to start with.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
You know, like I tell people all the time, they
always think I'm crazy.
I go, I will spend an assloadof money on three things People
always go.
What three things I go myskatesates, my bed and my car.
Why?
Because that's the place Ispend the most time yeah so the
rest doesn't matter, who cares?
Speaker 2 (42:12):
exactly.
Yeah, it's.
I think I've got three pairs ofinlines, I got a three wheel
speed, a four wheel speed andthen, like my rink skates and
think combination, we're lookingalmost two grand for everything
.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
I got you beat, so I have my my inside skates, I have
my outside skates.
My outside skates are about 500, but my inside skates are two
grand.
Nice.
And I get people all the time.
They're like, oh, your skatesare so pretty Nice.
And I get people all the timethey're like, oh, your skates
are so pretty, I want a pairlike that.
How much does this cost?
I'll be like you don't want toknow.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Down payment of a car .
Speaker 3 (42:53):
They'll be like no, seriously, I want to know.
I'm like you, don't want toknow how much these cost.
You just want a good starterpair of skates and if they ask a
third time, then I'll just letthem have it.
And the third time they'll belike no, seriously, I want to
know how much those are.
I want skates just like yours,I go 2000.
They'll be like did you say2000 with all the zeros?
(43:15):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, it's funny because it's like I even tell
people I had a.
It's a funny story becauseFriday night he wanted to fight
me because he thought I wasstaring at him but I was
watching the TV behind him andevery time he moved I had to
move to.
Then Saturday night heapologized and then told me he
wanted to get into skating.
So I sent him some skaterecommendations and I found out
tonight he ordered some inlineskates.
(43:39):
So I'm going to be teaching himhow to skate here.
Nice inline skates.
So I'm going to be teaching himhow to skate here.
I it's.
I pick skates that I'mcomfortable with.
That I know have a good trackrecord, even if I haven't used
it before, because I've used K2sand roller blade and then speed
skate setups are a wholedifferent story.
But so and I always tell peopleI roll on a hundred millimeter
(44:01):
wheels.
It's kind of like findsomething that's comfortable and
I go, if you're going to skateoutside, make sure a hundred
millimeter wheels.
It's kind of like findsomething that's comfortable and
I go, if you're going to skateoutside, make sure you have
outdoor wheels.
If you're going to skate inside, make sure you have indoor
wheels.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
So all the time I go, you need a pair of skates for
outside and one for inside.
Don't take your inside skatesoutside, don't take your outside
skates inside, and they go.
Well, I can't afford all that.
You get a pair of outsidewheels, pair inside wheels.
Make sure you change them.
Two reasons One outside malewheels are made for outside.
Yeah, inside wheels are madefor inside too.
(44:31):
If you have them outside, youtake them inside.
You're tracking shit fromoutside inside onto the floor.
You're going to get it dirtyand you're going to damage it.
I know and then the rink owneris really not going to
appreciate you Exactly.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Like for speed skating, I have three-wheel
which is marathon and outdoor,and then four-wheel frame is my
indoor frame.
I just switch the boot on top.
Nice.
So now, who is?
Since you come from a family ofroller skaters, it might be an
easy question for you, but someof your biggest influences in
(45:06):
skating that would have to be myparents and then my aunt and
uncle.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
So my short story.
My mom was an art skater atValley Vista in Hayward and my
father was a rink rat.
So my father had come down therink and he tried to talk to my
mom and my mom looked him up anddown.
One day she said if you'retrying to get me to go out with
(45:37):
you, you're going to have tolearn how to skate.
So he got pissed off and heleft.
He told my joe he goes.
I don't care if I ever see thatwoman again.
I am done with her, forget it.
And he came back the followingfriday to his entire paycheck
and learned how to skate.
So I am a product of a artisticskater and a rink rat there you
(45:58):
go, yeah and then my aunt anduncle.
They're both art skaters andthey had their own rink in
Pleasanton.
Did you ever skate there at thefairgrounds?
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, my mom actually has worked at the fairgrounds
since 76.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
Well, she retired now .
So in the Hall of.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Commerce.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Yeah, my aunt and uncle used to own the rink at
the fairgrounds.
Oh wow, Nice and so they've beenrink owners, they've been
partners in other rinks.
They were heavily involved inroller hockey for a long time.
They've got their name onplaques and stuff at the museum
(46:41):
in Nebraska.
Then they got involved inroller derby and my uncle wrote
the rules for roller derby.
Okay, their list of accoladesis just forever.
So I look up at them and I justadmire them for all that.
And then, of course, my aunt.
(47:04):
That's the one that pushed meinto the road of skate critic
and he actually told me at onetime.
He said you know you'd be thebest person for that job and I
said why?
And he goes.
You know just enough aboutevery avenue of skating he goes.
(47:24):
You know just enough aboutevery avenue of skating.
You know about derby and youknow about roller hockey and you
know about owning a rink andyou know about the adult skate
world and you know about speed.
And he goes.
You know enough about everyavenue of skating and most
people don't know that to makeyou dangerous.
Yeah, like, oh, yeah, I do, huh.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Nice.
So now, what is advice that youwould have to give to up and
coming skaters and people thatare interested in becoming rink
owners?
Speaker 3 (48:10):
owners.
So my advice to up-and-comingskate skaters is to learn from
your elders and the number onething you need to respect the
rink rules.
No matter what you think, youneed to respect the rink rules,
and I mean regular rules andadult skate rules, because it's
two different things yeah andthere's a little word out there
called the adult skate worldetiquette.
You need to know that whenyou're skating on the floor you
(48:32):
need to know everything that'sgoing around you in a three foot
radius, and if you're a badjudge of distance, don't do them
damn tricks, because you're notthe only one on the floor yeah,
and there's some people whowill take you out.
I happen to be one of them, soI happen to be another one of
them.
Yeah, if you're going to, you'regoing to come at me.
Stupid, I'm going to push youout the way.
(48:54):
I'm going to do whatever.
You can scream and yell andholler all you want in my floor.
Guard.
I kick you out the rink for it.
But, yeah, are to probably kickyou out the rink for it, but
yeah, so that would be my, mything for them.
Uh, up and coming rink owners,don't be afraid, make that jump,
man.
There's so many people say theywant to be a rink owner and then
(49:16):
they, they come at you and theyyou know, they got these
half-assed crazy ideas.
They're gonna do a.
Go fund meFundMe.
The community is going tosupport them.
No, that's not how this works.
You know, if you're going to bea rink owner, jump off that
hill.
Do whatever you got to do tobecome a rink owner.
Go join the RSA.
(49:37):
They'll help you with abusiness plan.
They have lots of great thingsthrough the rsa that'll get you
going on your rink.
Be prepared to be married tothe rink for five years at least
, till you find mini me to helpyou out and, um, you build it.
(49:58):
They will come.
It's not, they come and thenyou'll build it.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
Yeah, and a lot of the times it's like finding the
area because I saw in the bayarea like a it's not, they come
and then you'll build it yeah,and a lot of the times it's like
finding the area Cause I saw inthe Bay area like a huge
resurgence of skating during thepandemic, because one of the
few things you can actually doand all by yourself.
Yeah, and outrun the cops,because we can take the pass and
they would have to get offtheir car.
So just yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
I don't know anything about that.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
It's the Bay area.
You know it's, it's, it's there.
So now, how can my listenersfind you?
Speaker 3 (50:33):
And I am on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram.
Most of my action is in mygroup on Facebook called Skate
Critic.
I'm actually listed SkateCritic everywhere except
Instagram.
I am the Skate Critic.
Somebody took Skate Critic like10 years ago and they never
(50:56):
done anything with it.
I don't even think they haveaccess to the account.
Some people, I swear I thinkinstagram should disconnect her
account, so I could steal thatname.
But there you go but yeah, mostof the stuff's in.
In my group I do questions aweek.
Every week I post all kinds ofstuff where you could find skate
(51:19):
merchandise and people posttheir videos in there and all my
reviews are there.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
All my ranks and you can read up about them and see
the photos of the ranks.
I get people all the time Hitme up hey, where's what's a good
rank in this state?
And I'll let them know.
And, like I said, I keep trackof all the live ranks in the U?
S.
I personally call them everyother year.
I keep track of all the deadrinks.
I keep track of all the skateparties, all the adult skates.
(51:47):
I keep track of top 10 smallestrinks in the US, top 10 largest
rinks and I'm sure there'sabout 10 other lists I can't
remember right now.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
Sexy rinks derby rinks, speed rinks, cosplay
rinks, furry r cosplay rings,furry rings, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
Hey, did you ever skate at Redwood City?
Speaker 2 (52:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Oh, so Redwood City.
Back in the day, I think it wasWednesday night, so you used to
have lingerie night.
It was like anything you dareyou could wear, you could skate
in it.
Damn it.
I remember going in there andI'm like, oh, like saran wrap, a
leaf.
I was like, wow, I thought Ihad a lot of guts when I was
(52:35):
younger, but I had nothing onthese people.
Let me tell you.
But, it was packed, packed allthe time it's because you might
get a chance to see boobies.
Speaker 2 (52:44):
I mean I swear, I'm sorry, I missed that.
Speaker 3 (52:49):
Yeah, I can't believe nobody else in the US has done
that again.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
I know out here we have a nightclub called Trax.
It's the gay nightclub out here, but once a month they do a
skating party.
It's like you have to out here,but once a month they do a
skating party, but it's like youhave to have your own skates,
but they also give you sippycups so you can drink your
alcohol while skating.
Oh Wow, you might have to comeand check that one out one time.
Speaker 3 (53:17):
You know, it's actually on my rink list because
it's not a rink, it's.
It's some kind of skating thatcan be done although I don't
believe in skating and alcoholmix.
Speaker 2 (53:28):
But you know, you and me both I I've seen there was
one night at the um golden skate.
These guys came in drunk andthe guy's femur snapped in half
and everybody was trying tostand him up and we're like, no,
let him let him yeah, so youknow, the paramedics came,
rolled him out, but then becauseof that it took up like an hour
(53:49):
, so they kept the rink opentill two for us, so but it was
it was nasty, like you can seehis leg flopping so, but I've
seen a couple of those in my, mypast.
Speaker 3 (54:04):
But what else?
Yeah, I, alcohol and skatingdoesn't mix and people think it
does and you know it may be allright for a while for them and
then somewhere down the roadit's like no, you need to get
sober.
And when they get sober theyhave to learn how to skate all
over again only that, when theykeep falling, when you're drunk,
(54:24):
you don't feel it.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
The next day you're like where the hell did all
these bruises come from?
Speaker 3 (54:30):
I?
I have pushed people off thefloor.
They're drunk and I have, like,insisted they'd be thrown out
the building because they'redangerous.
They're not only going to hurtthemselves, but they're going to
hurt other people yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
So I'm kind of like the honorary security at the
skate city here, the one that Igo to rate frequent, so I kind
of have say in what goes onbecause, like, even when the one
manager she's a female, ifshe's closing I will make sure
everybody's out before I leave.
So she's just there with the,with the crew.
I don't want like anybodylingering around, so but that's
(55:06):
just me.
Speaker 3 (55:07):
That's those adult skaters.
I tell you, they help you out.
Speaker 2 (55:10):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
You could always call an adult skater and go hey, I
need help with this at the rink,and they'd be like I got you.
I'll be right there.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
Yeah, there was one time where she was working and
this guy walks in and we'retalking it's like January and
he's in shorts, a shirt, buthe's got like a ski mask on and
he walks in to use the bathroomand they're all freaking out.
So I went up and talked to himand I'm like, hey, let's like
walk outside, cause they calledthe cops.
So I walked outside to meet thecops with him and everything
(55:39):
like that.
And she's like, thank God youwere here.
Speaker 3 (55:42):
Yeah, yeah, strange, everything like that.
And she's like, thank god youwere here so yeah, uh yeah,
strange people think I'm one ofthose people, those like I won't
tolerate your shit.
It's not better.
It doesn't matter what rink Igo to in the country yeah what?
I'm always a floor guard or I'malways like, hey, don't do that
.
People are like that's not evenyour kid, I go, I don't care.
Speaker 2 (56:06):
You're like, I am a skating expert, okay.
Speaker 3 (56:09):
I went to a rink one time and it was out of control.
I mean out of control.
It was a Saturday, kid you know, evening session.
And I go, is the owner of therink here?
And they're like, yeah, I go upto him and I go, this place is
out of control.
I said there's no visible floorguard.
(56:30):
I said these kids aren'tfollowing rules.
This is a disaster.
And he's like, oh, we have afloor guard.
It's that guy right there and Igo, no offense.
I go, but he's 450 pounds, he'son a pair of rentals and he can
barely stand up.
I said how is he going to catchthe kids?
Speaker 2 (56:48):
Just wait for him to come back around and run into
them.
Speaker 3 (56:51):
Yeah, and I was like.
I was like you need to get thisunder control.
This is dangerous.
Someone's going to get hurt.
And he's like he's like, well,I don't want to hurt their
feelings.
And and he's like he's like,well, I don't want to hurt their
feelings.
And I was like, excuse me.
I said, is this your?
Rank or theirs, because I'mconfused, yeah, and he's like.
(57:12):
He's like well, you know whichkids act in the word.
And I said that one right there.
And so he calls him over, hebends down his level and he's
like can you just you behave?
I'm like is this guy for real?
Is this really happening?
So the kid goes away and I lookto him and I go, you know, I
(57:32):
said you clearly don't know howto run a rink.
I said but let me show you howa rink is run.
And I went out to the middle ofthe floor and I sat there for a
minute.
I was watching all these kidsand so I picked out the worst
one, the punkiest kid there was.
I said hey, come here, comehere, he comes over.
And I said I got this fivedollar bill right here he goes.
(57:55):
I said we're gonna have a raceand I said if you win, you get
the five dollars.
I said but if you win, you getthe $5.
I said but if I win, you needto learn how to Rex.
He goes what's Rexing?
I go what you saw me doing onthe outside of the wall where
you were acting like a fool.
And he goes all right, allright, I got you, we raced, I
(58:18):
kicked his ass so bad I flippedaround backwards and waved
goodbye to him.
So then he came out to themiddle to get his $5.
He said I cheated.
I said how did I cheat?
And he goes?
Well, you turn around backwards.
And I said, well, you obviouslycouldn't turn around backwards.
I said now you need to learnhow to Rex.
He's like fine.
(58:39):
So the next day I know I hadhim and like a dozen of his
friends behind me all learninghow to wrecks by the time I left
they were high-fiving me andlike I've told them all the rank
rules and they were followingall the rules.
I walked out by that owner andI said that's how you run a rank
and I left.
Nice.
(58:59):
Oh my God, yeah, I can't standranks that are out of control
like that.
It's like you know, you have tohave rules and you have to have
them set in place for theirsafety and for yours.
You don't want catastrophes tohappen and then they come back.
A lawyer comes back and saysyou know, hey, you don't have
(59:21):
any rules in place, you don'thave any floor guards.
You know that's an appetite fordestruction right there.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Exactly no waiver signed, no.
Speaker 3 (59:30):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (59:33):
So well.
I appreciate you coming on theshow.
Speaker 3 (59:36):
Absolutely, Isabel.
Speaker 2 (59:37):
And I look forward to meeting up with you at your
rink when I come back to visitmy mother in California.
Speaker 3 (59:42):
Oh, there you go.
We skate and adult skate everysecond Saturday at sunrise,
rolling land citrus sites,California, from 11 PM till 3 AM
.
Speaker 2 (59:52):
Okay, I will make it 11 AM to 3 PM 3 AM 3 AM Nice.
Speaker 3 (59:58):
Yeah, I'll send you a flyer when we're done.
Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Cool Well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Thank you, thank you.
Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate
destination for all skatingenthusiasts.
We cater to everyone, frombeginners to pros.
Whether you love inline and iceskating or prefer quads and
skateboarding, we have it allcovered, and we bring you
exclusive interviews withprofessionals, talented amateurs
(00:30):
and influencers in the industry.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting
journey into the world ofskating.
Welcome to this week's episodeof how Do you Skate.
I am your host, sean Egan.
My guest tonight or today isGinger Matthews.
So how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I am excellent.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm doing good.
So first question is is we'regoing to go back to the
beginning?
When did you start skating?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
When I was four years old.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Okay, and how did it progress from there?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So I was four years old and my step-mom took me to
Valley Vista in Hayward, rightthere on mission.
Yep, my parents met there andmarried and then my dad married
my step-mom from there and myaunt and uncle got married from
there, and it just kept going,but anyway.
So she took me when I was fourand, you know, saturday
(01:33):
afternoons they put all thelittle kitties in the middle of
the rink and they have a littleclass.
And I was in the class and andme, being the cocky person that
I am, I pretty much could figureout how to skate already in my
head didn't need to be there andmy stepmom would come out of
nowhere because the session wasgoing on around you.
(01:55):
My stepmom would come out ofnowhere as fast as she could and
she'd fly by and like, pop mein the head and tell me to pay
attention and all I could do wasjust go.
That's what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I want to skate fast like her Nice.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
It just kept going from there.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And you skated all through high school and all that
kind of stuff too All throughhigh school, I never really took
a break.
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
You know there was, there was parts where it's like,
you know, you had little kidsand stuff and so you weren't
skating as much yeah or you know, as soon as I could put them in
skates and drag them to therink, it was game on nice.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh now.
Did you ever do any kind ofcompetitions or like?
Would you consider your styleof skating?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I never did any competitions.
I come from a real strongbackground of artistic skaters.
Okay.
Artistic roller, derby, roller,hockey, speed skaters.
And then I come along and I'mlike I'm not doing that, I just
want to go skate with the adultskaters and be a freestyle
skater in the adult skate worldand do rexing.
(03:08):
And you know they were all likewhat is she doing?
And I just did my thing.
But, like my uncle and my aunthave said to me, they said if
you didn't do what you did, youwouldn't be who you are today.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So yeah, and it's funny that you use the term
Rexing, because I mentioned thatout here and nobody knows what
I'm talking about and I'm likedude, Rexing is kind of like
kind of freestyle jam skating,Like what you guys are doing now
.
A lot of it's Rexing and that'sjust what we called it back in
the day.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So you want to know some facts.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Facts are that Rexing started here in California.
It started like before I wasborn and as it migrated eastward
and people started picking itup at their rinks, it couldn't
remember what it was called, sothey started calling it shuffle
skating and trucking and allthis other stuff.
(04:03):
So when I was on the the oursboard for when they were
introducing our world to youknow competitions and they were
talking about shuffle skating Isaid let's just be clear here.
I said it started as rexing andy'all changed the name of it,
(04:24):
so you need to pay homage towhere homage is due.
Yeah, I said it started asRexing and y'all changed the
name of it, so you need to payhomage to where homage is due
yeah.
I said we started that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yep, and I just remember that because you and I
being pretty much from the samearea and growing up in the same
area, and I think you mentionedbriefly before that you have
skated at the Golden Skate- yes,so that was my home rink.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
I used to go there on Sunday nights, when they had
adult night, and then they hadit on Tuesdays, and now it's on
Wednesdays.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I just remember going from like 90 to like 93, and
the DJ was Simon and I thinkGina was the manager.
Dave was her husband.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I don't know why I remember all these, dave, was
the cap, boy boots and the beltbuckle.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, the big tall guy.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, he was there for like 26, 27 years and.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Gina.
His wife was the manager there,so they all worked together
every weekend and it was just.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
He only stood at the door and he just scared the shit
out of people looking at him wewere like in.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So when you were there, this we used to do this
because I think the session wasfrom like we started skating at
like six and went all the way tothe 12 30 yeah like 12 to 12 30
.
We pulled all the balls outthat were hiding in the corner
and just had like a free for all.
It was we would go home withwelts the balls I remember those
(05:50):
that was like so much fun andit's just, I think it would be
fun and like at that timesaturday and wasn't an adult
night, neither was friday, butit was like high school, because
I was transitioning from highschool into adulthood.
I'm still transitioning fromhigh school to adulthood it
hasn't fully kicked in yet, butso now you're also known as the
(06:14):
skate critic.
How did that come about?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So that in reality, that started a long time ago,
and so I kept every time likeevery time I take the kids on
vacation, I would likemiraculously plan it around
where there were roller rinks,we could go roller skating while
we were there too.
Just because we came to godisneyland don't mean we can't
go roller skating too.
(06:38):
And so at one point in time Iwas was like you know, I got
quite a few rinks under my belt,so I got this crazy idea that I
wanted to skate every rink inCalifornia.
And so.
I started going to all the rinksin California and I got
irritated at the lists that wereonline because they were
(06:59):
outdated, but at that point itwas like 10 plus years.
It's now like 15 or 16 plusyears, something like that.
So I put together a correctlist of ranks.
I actually physically combinedall those, all those lists, and
then called every rank, seewhich ones were still in
business.
And I still do that to this day.
(07:21):
I call every other year andmake sure they're still in
business, so, anyways.
So while I'm traveling to do allthese rinks, so I could claim
the title of being the personthat skated every rink in
California.
My, every time I saw my auntand uncle at a roller derby game
, because my uncle's was, youknow, the head coach, he wrote
(07:41):
the rules for roller derby, andmy aunt was, you know, in the
scorebox and my cousin was coach, anyways.
So every time I saw them, myaunt would say you need to write
this down, you need to takepictures, people want to know.
And I'd be like yeah, yeah,yeah, whatever.
So probably about the, I'd say,fourth or fifth time she said
(08:02):
that to me, I thought I'm sickof hearing this, and so when she
came at me and said you need towrite this down, you need to
take pictures, people want toknow.
I said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,I'll be the skate critic,
whatever.
So at that point people wereasking me lots of questions
about rinks because I'd been toso many rinks.
So then I had lost my title ofskating all the rinks in
(08:28):
California because a new one hadopened down south.
So I was like, okay, I gotta godown south and reclaim my title
.
So I go down south with no planother than to skate this one
rink.
And then it was happened to beNew Year's Eve and I thought,
well, just go skate in one of myother rinks, you know no big
deal.
And I get down there and I'mlike I started, you know,
(08:53):
googling the rinks and and theywere saying lockdown.
They were locked down, so itwas 15 and under, but you had to
have a parent with you and ifyou were adult, you couldn't get
in without a child.
Well, I didn't have a childwith me, so I couldn't go
skating and I was pissed.
I was in the hotel on New Year'sEve and I'm like bored out of
(09:14):
my skull and I was like, youknow, let's look up this skate
critic thing.
So I started doing someresearch on it.
I'm pretty good at research, soI started researching, you know
, and I couldn't find anyonedoing skate critic nothing.
I did find there was an old manwhich I knew about who did kind
of a skate critic thing and hereleased articles through the
(09:39):
rsa and somebody else, and itwas like every month and then it
went to every other month andthen it went to like every six
months and it was like once ayear and then he just fell off
the planet, yeah.
So I was like, okay, all right.
So I said, well, let me grab,you know, skate critics.
So I grabbed instagram,facebook, youtube, I grabbed a
(10:03):
Tumblr, all of them.
I was like, okay, let's do this.
And I put 33 friends in thegroup that night.
And then during the night Ikept noticing the ceiling was
flashing light.
So I was like what the hell isgoing on with my phone?
Why does everybody want to talkto me?
I was like whatever, I justkept sleeping and ignored them.
(10:25):
In the morning I rolled overand there was like eight or nine
hundred people in skate critic.
I was like, oh shit, what did Ido?
And then, when I came back forthe trip I went to.
I went to golden skate to, andmy friends were like, what did
(10:45):
you do?
And I go?
I have no idea, but we'rerolling with it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
And it's been a crazy ride.
I've been to 443 rinks.
As of today, In the country.
In the country and Canada.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Okay, have you skated in colorado yet?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I have skated colorado.
I've been to uh the wagon wheelgood one.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
They have adult skate night on monday nights, but I
think it's coming to an end.
But that's, that's like woodenfloor, it's, it's cool I love
the wagon wheel.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It's got big tree trucks in the middle.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Exactly I actually spent.
I want to say my first.
Was it my first New Year's ormy second New Year's?
Here at the wagon wheel theyhad a party.
I think it was my second.
Lucky it was an adult skate, soit made it fun.
California how many rinks arethere in california?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
let's look.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
We are currently sitting at 66 rinks in
california okay, because there'snot that many in the bay area,
right, or is there?
There's two left in the bayarea, two official rinks, and
then there's church shape wheelsyeah, and then so is that other
rink in san jose, becausesomeone was mentioning that to
me so the rink in san joseclosed a couple weeks ago but,
(12:14):
she's looking for a new location, so I've been trying to help
her out to find a new locationso she could put her rank back
up, and there's currently apop-up rink in san jose, but it
ends in may okay.
So because my first rink that Iskated at livermore used to have
a roller rink called rollerodyssey on first street on first
(12:37):
street yeah yeah, it was alsocalled.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I'll try something.
Try tri-state roller rink orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
It was called yeah, in the 70s, when I skated there,
it was okay.
Now I'm dating myself you areit was called roller odyssey and
like we would get free ticketsfrom school because I went to st
michael's so we would get freetickets and we would go skating
after school.
So it it's like Kelly Moorepaints now and there's like a.
(13:07):
Rc track behind it for remotecontrol cars.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yes, there is.
Livermore.
It was also called Tri-ValleyRoller Rink.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
But yeah, it was both .
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Nice.
Now what is one of yourfavorite rinks in California?
And then we'll move to the restof the country.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
That could take all day.
I have favorite rinks in everystate, so California, I mean,
when I'm home, I I, of course Iwork for Paradise Skate in
Antioch.
Okay.
On the skate sales side, sothat's one of my favorite rinks.
They're all kind of my favoriterinks, but if anyone says
(13:54):
there's a skate party at SunriseRoller Land in Citrus Heights,
california, I am there.
Okay, because that's the fifthlargest skate floor in the US.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
And it's a rotunda floor.
It's gorgeous and it's up forsale, so somebody buy it, so I
can get you a rink.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I sent the thing to my friend because she said she
wanted to open a roller rink butshe's not ready to buy.
And I think she lives.
She's either in Stockton orshe's in Sacramento, but she's
not ready to buy.
She's in Sacramento but she'snot ready to buy.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
So when, when she's ready, tell her I do consulting
and I'm the only one in the U Sit has the all the roller rinks
on one for sale rate list.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Okay, are there a lot of rinks up for sale right now,
or?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
right now I have like three pages of rinks for sale.
Let's see, I never thoughtabout counting them, but I'm
always looking for the list toget smaller.
Like three pages of rinks forsale.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Let's see, I never thought about counting them, but
I'm always looking for the listto get smaller, but it doesn't
seem to get that way.
Well, it depends, like, what'sthe asking price?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Like what's the cost of some of these rinks?
Sunrise is going for 5.37million.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
That's probably why she doesn't have enough.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, like some ranks on here.
You know they're like 350,000and includes a three bedroom,
two bath house.
Oh, that's in Georgia and China, let's see.
I mean, some ranks aredividable property.
Here's one for 70,000.
(15:30):
It's in Parsons, kansas.
You know we have another onefor $8 million in.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Louisiana.
That just does not seem like a,because when you're buying a
rink you want to know what theirgross profit and net profit is
for the year, and then how mucheverything costs.
So do you think some of thesemight be not priced properly?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
So maybe a couple are not.
However, people need to stopand think about where it is,
what the profit margin is, whatcomes with the rink besides the
rink.
Some people go, oh it's, it'sthis amount of money.
And I go, yeah, but there'sthree properties there.
There's a house, a trailer anda roller rink and an apartment
(16:17):
inside.
You know.
So you buy the rink, you leaseout the trailer or you lease out
the apartment, you lease outthe other properties or sell
them.
Yeah.
You know you got to think longterm about it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, that's what I would look at is like what's all
included?
It's like do you lease thebuilding or do you actually own
the building?
Because if you're asking $8million and you lease the
building, it's.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
If you're not getting the property with it.
Right.
Here's my advice on if you'regoing to buy a rink and I always
tell people this If it scaresthe hell out of them.
I know that the conversation'sover, they're not going to do
anything.
Yeah, first thing I'll say is Iwant you to realize you're
(17:05):
going to be married to the rinkfor at least the first five
years until you find someonethat is a little mini me version
of yourself that you can trustto leave the rink to run it to.
Second off, you want to buy theproperty regardless.
If you have to sign a lease,make sure it's a lease for 99
(17:29):
years.
You never know what's going tohappen.
Or you have the option topurchase it because you know you
could lease it for 35 years andpeople go.
35 years, that's a long time.
Yeah, so you have it for 35years at x amount of dollars and
when 35 years comes up, theowner of the property goes hey,
(17:50):
you've been making a lot ofmoney on that, I'm gonna triple
that rent.
And then you're screwed.
You can't make the rent paymentor they go.
You know what?
I just want to sell this place.
So you're out and they give youliterally 30 days to get.
But if you have it for 99 years.
You're going to most likelyoutlive them.
(18:11):
Yeah.
And then that will go into atrust and gets renegotiated.
Or if you have the option tobuy, you can keep it.
But if you buy the property,it's yours and you don't have to
worry about that.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Exactly.
And then you set up an LLC andproperty management company and
rent it to yourself.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Correct, Correct.
I see a lot of rinks over youknow, rinks that I've researched
because I keep track of all thelive rinks in the US.
I also keep track of all thedead rinks and so I've seen a
lot of rink stories over theyears of fantastic rinks just
making money hand over fist andthey're dumbasses and never
(18:50):
bought the property they didn'tleave and they lost, you know,
somewhere down the road, 20years down the road or 25 or
whatever, and the owner of theproperty is like I'm triple,
quadruply, I've seen it wherethey've went like 10 times the
amount of the rent, you know.
Yeah.
Or Walgreens, walks in and goeshey, I'm going to give you $5
(19:14):
million If you walk away.
I want you out in 30 days.
What's the owner going to do?
He's going to give up theproperty.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Like the owner or the rink itself, like the rink
itself, like the rink people.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Both.
I've seen it done on leases andI've seen it done on property
owners of people who bought theproperty.
So say a lot of times they'llbuy the property and then it's
time for the kids to run therink or the grandkids to run the
rink, and a lot of times it'sgrandkids and the grandkids all
(19:48):
they see is dollar signs, yeah,and so you know they're running
the rink.
And walgreens comes along andsays hey, here's six million
dollars.
Walk and they go.
Oh, six million dollars, woohoo.
And then they don't realizethey gotta split it between
three other grandkids.
And once you buy a house andyou buy a brand new car and you
pay off your debt, you're brokenow.
And guess what?
(20:09):
The best thing next?
You don't know how to doanything else but run a roller
rink.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
So what are you going to do for a job?
It's like you know, some peoplemake it, some don't.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
What?
What makes a successful rollerrink Like what's?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
What makes a successful roller rink.
So I always tell people youneed five things.
So you need public parties, youneed birthday parties and adult
skate and two of whatever youwant Artistic roller, derby,
roller hockey, slalom, whateveryou want to do but if you have
(20:47):
those five things, you'reusually an average rink.
Okay.
Usually make over half amillion dollars.
And then the other theory behindthat is also if you take the
city that the rink is going into, or that city plus three
surrounding cities, and see whatthe population of the kids are,
(21:10):
so if it's like 20, 25 000,then that'll help support the
rink yeah, and people usuallycome back to me and they go well
, you don't really make anymoney at adult skates, and I go
that's correct, you don't I said, however, you can usually run
an adult skate by yourself ormaybe with one other person, and
(21:31):
the thing is is those skatersbecome loyal to you and then
they bring other people to therink, they convince people have
their birthday parties there andthey bring their friends and
they go skating.
And then if shit hits the fanon something you know, like
during COVID yeah, you know usregulars we'd go down the rink.
(21:54):
Hey, what do you need, what?
What can I help you with?
I mean, during.
COVID, I was painting walls atthe rink.
Never thought I'd do that, butit was.
It was kind of fun.
The whole time I was like, ohmy God, don't let the paint fall
on the floor.
That's all I could think of.
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, now did any rinks uh close during COVID
because because they wereleasing and they kind of got
screwed on that part.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
There wasn't too many of those stories, but it was
about 100 rinks closed duringCOVID.
But, we did have a bunch thatopened as well.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
And then we got some back.
The average is like you usuallylose about three rinks a month,
oh wow.
And then we got some.
But the average is like usuallylose about three rigs a month,
oh wow, um one usually reopensand you usually get a new one.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So you know it's, it's not.
It's maybe a dozen a year total.
Okay, because I was actuallysurprised to hear that golden
skate was still open, becausejust a couple of years ago I was
hearing how they were finallyclosing the doors and so, and
even when I skated there in like1990, 91, 92, 93, it was up for
sale then.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Right.
So, that was when the Hoopersowned it and the Hooper's son.
He works for our rink inAntioch now.
Okay.
But the current owner.
He's tried to sell it like fivetimes and nothing's ever come
completely through.
So who knows?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Now, does he own the building then, or is like so if
you bought it?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
He's a big real estate guy.
He owns the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Nice Is there still a , because there was a daycare in
it too, in part of the building.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Daycare is not there anymore.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Okay, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
I remember the daycare days.
Hey, that you were asking me aquestion earlier.
I didn't answer.
So, there's 82 rinks up forsale on my list at the moment.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Oh wow, that's a lot.
Yeah, but nothing in Coloradoright Cause we got skate city
rolls.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Oh wow, that's a lot, but nothing in Colorado, right?
Nothing in Colorado, let me see.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Because we got Skate City Rollers.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
We have none in Colorado and I suspect, if there
was any for sale in Colorado,that the Ingrams would buy it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Probably Open up another Skate City.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Right, they own all of them.
I'd say they own close to threequarters of all the rinks in
the state.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, because there's they have like five or six
skate cities and I've skated at.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I've skated more than that.
Let me see Rinklist Colorado,colorado, because I know we got
colorado springs one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and
skate cities, and then they alsohave some skate cities in other
(24:45):
states too.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, because I don't think.
I don't think um oh sorry,that's eight.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I forgot about the, the pepsi Sports Arena.
They own that too.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Nice, yeah, I've skated at four of them so far,
and also Roller City.
The thing I like about RollerCity is we don't have the walls
around the rink, it's just theback wall, but it's like you can
jump on or off at any point.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It's not like you have to wait until you get to an
opening.
Yeah, step down, step up, ledge.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
And it's a very small step down, step up.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Well, that's good Cause.
Most of them are huge, which isgreat when you're younger,
because when I was younger, itwas like, oh yeah, you go as
fast as you can, you jump out onthe floor, or vice versa.
Yeah.
When I'm older it's like oh, Igot to step down on that man, so
make my knee hurt.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
You're like, I can't get my knee up that high.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Right, right.
So, like, as you get older,you're like step down, step up,
ledge.
You see them and you're likeOoh, no, thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So now do you have a grading system for the, for the
roller rinks that you go to, orhow does that work?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
So I grade for the roller rinks that you go to, or
how does that work?
So I grade with rinks on wheelsand toe stops.
So, example, if you have eightwheels and two toe stops, you're
at the top of the list okay gotlike one wheel or two, you got
some work to do like what do youmean like on the skates?
For people that bring theskates in no, no, like when I
write a review on the right atthe bottom I'll say this rink
(26:18):
gets six wheels which means youhave some work to do to get up
to eight wheels, and then yougot to be over the top to start
getting toe stops.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Okay, so that's your grading system.
I'm like thinking like on theskate rack, like if you pull a
skate off and they give you onewith one wheel, they really need
to take care of their skates.
So what is it you're lookingfor when you're critiquing a
roller rink?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So, first off, when I walk in the door, in my head
every rink has eight wheels, andthen you possibly go down from
there.
But what I'm looking at mainly,I am looking at your floor,
your employees, your bathroom,your snack bar and your dj,
because in reality, us skaters,that's all we care about.
(27:06):
The rest doesn't matter.
So that that's where I startand then, once I'm done with
that, I will measure the floorto see how big it is, because
readers like to see how big thefloor is or how small it is.
Yeah.
And once I'm done with that,then I'll go around the rink and
look for historical things onit or things that make that rink
(27:29):
different from other rinks.
Okay.
And then I'll go back and I'llfind the owner hopefully the
owner or, you know, the generalmanager, somebody that knows
some history and I'll startasking them historical questions
about the rink.
So I try to include, like theyear it opened, who started it,
who's running it now anyinteresting historical facts
(27:53):
that you wouldn't know bywalking through the door, you
know yeah you know, some peopletell me some crazy stories.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
There's some stories I just can't put in a review, so
I just chuckle with the ownerit's not like the motown, where
it's like you hear someone dyingin the background and of the
record, or oh yeah, I've heardsome crazy stories, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I did post one one time that I heard about how it
was in an amusement park and theroller coaster went over the
top of the rink and then a kidfell out, landed on the rink and
he died.
And I was like, is this facts?
And they were like you know, wejust heard that story over and
over again and I go, I can't putthat in if it's not facts.
(28:39):
And I researched and researched, and researched.
I found nothing on it.
But there was so many peoplethat said this story was real so
I did put it in the review butI said I cannot factually say
that this happened.
But if you can find something,let me know, you know, let me
(28:59):
know.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
But it's the ranks urban legend it's an urban
legend exactly so what are someother crazy stories you've heard
that you haven't been able toput in, but it just would be fun
right now oh yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I most crazy stories seem to make it into my reviews.
This is the horrible ones thatI leave out, and I was like I
don't think people should knowthat.
So, I've heard one crazy storywas there was there were two
ranks and they got a divorce andI guess the judge gave one ring
(29:35):
to one spouse and one to theother and so they started, like
you know, calling the city oneach other for certain stuff.
And then I guess the one spouse, he was really really good at
it and so he was calling on thisother rink owner over and over
and over again, I mean to thepoint to where her rink was
(29:58):
really hurting.
And when I came I just said,you know, pray for this rink,
and there it was sad.
And then later I heard that hisrink got shut down and she had
nothing to do with it.
So it's like karma.
Yeah.
(30:19):
They should have just ran theirrinks and headed on their merry
way.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah so hopefully they didn't outlasted his by
about 18 months or so.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And so what's one of your favorite rinks in the
country?
Speaker 3 (30:38):
So my favorite rink would be the Oaks in Portland
Oregon.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It is the second largest skate floor in the U S.
It's 100 by 200 feet.
It's a rotunda floor.
It's the last remaining rink inan operational amusement park.
It's also the oldest rink inthe us.
(31:03):
It's probably the oldest one inthe world actually at this point
okay um it, it's a fantasticstory if you, if you go there,
you can't see them anymorebecause the lockers are in the
way, but it's on the shore ofthe willamette river and so the
willamette floods, and so Iforget what years it was, but
(31:28):
like the first time it flooded,I think it was in the 40s or
something and so it flooded, itruined the floor, and so they
rebuilt it and that floor endedup in the dance pavilion, so
they they, you know use it as apractice floor and then weddings
and stuff.
And then it was, you know, notso many years later.
(31:49):
The rink flooded again and theywere like we can't just keep
putting a floor in here, right?
yeah so the army corps engineerstepped in and said if we build
a floor that doesn't flood, willyou stay?
They were, like you know, kindof like yeah sure.
So they came in and dug outunderneath and they put 250
(32:13):
pontoons in their barrels andthey built the skate floor on
top and they made everything inthe rink as portable.
So if it starts to flood and itgets to a certain level, they
go in, they cut this floor looseand they put everything in the
rink on the floor and then thefloor floats up with the water
and then when the water recedes,it goes back down.
(32:33):
And then when the water recedes, it goes back down, and then
they just scrape all the mud andeverything out of the rink and
clean the carpets and puteverything back and the rink's
back in operation.
The floor's not ruined.
Oh, wow.
And so when you skate on thisfloor, if you're a true skater,
the first time you skate on thefloor you'll skate out and
you'll go wait.
What is that?
(32:55):
And you could feel the musiccoming from under the floor,
because it is.
It can go all the way around.
Nice, feel the floor just ahair.
You're like what?
What you got to ask somebody.
You're like what's up with thisfloor?
But yeah, and then they got awavy practice floor in the back,
you know.
So you go through like this.
They have another practicefloor and then they have another
(33:16):
practice floor for the kidswith little railings.
They're not allowed on thefloor.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
They have to be able to skate in there first before
they can come out on the mainfloor okay kind of makes it
safer for people instead ofhaving kids cut in front of you,
and that's why, if I go to thekids session, I just take my
time, my time skating.
I don't skate like I do inadult state.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
No, you can't, because the kids are
unpredictable and most of thetimes these rinks don't have
good floor guards to handle it.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, exactly.
So what is the biggest floor inthe US?
Speaker 3 (33:50):
That would be Guptill's Arena in Latham, New
York.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
It's up by Albany and that floor is 99 by 213 feet.
Wow.
It's a big floor too, andthey've got a couple practice
floors as well.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Okay, and now?
When did the one in Antiochopen?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Antioch's been there a long time.
I'm not sure I have when itopened, you know.
I should know that I work forthe rink, right yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Cause I think I have skated there a long time ago, If
it's been open for a while it'sat the fairgrounds in Antioch.
I have skated there yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
It used to be roller Haven.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Okay, yeah, it used to be.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Roller Haven.
Okay, yeah, and now it's calledParadise.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Because it would have been the early 90s when I
skated there.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So, One more fact about theOaks they're the last remaining
roller rink with a live pipeorgan.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, so you go there and theygot all the pipes in the ceiling
and they play the organ onSundays and Thursday nights.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Do we have like a legend of the phantom of the
roller rink or they can playthat if you want it.
That'd just be kind of coolwhen you're like going by it at
night.
You hear the organ playing, butnobody's there.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
They've done a lot of movies there.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Oh nice, yeah, so.
So next question is is what isyour skate of choice?
Like?
What do you roll on?
Wheels, bearings, boots.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Oh my.
So currently I'm on a goldenhorse boot because I used to
work for golden horse for theartistic side.
Before that, I rolled for many,many years on a 336 Tribute
from Rydell.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
And I'm currently shopping for a new boot, and I
know Jason at Harlech would justlove for me to get a boot from
him.
We've had many conversations,including one a couple of weeks
ago.
Boot from him.
We've had many conversations,including one a couple of weeks
ago.
So my favorite plate in thepast was a Snyder Royale
titanium plate.
I love the crap out of thatplate.
(36:07):
Currently I'm on a Rolline GAuto NTS and back in the day I
rolled on All-Americans foreverwith I don't even remember what
kind of bearings I had back thenUh.
But for the last 20 years maybeI've been rolling on um the
(36:33):
elite roll line, uh art wheels,the red ones, one of three A's.
Swiss uh ceramic bearings frombones.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
those are my favorite , yeah and do you properly
maintain your bearings?
Speaker 3 (36:53):
of course I do, because I wouldn't be able to
get online and chew everybodyelse out for not take care of
the bearings if I didn't exactly.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
It's like one of the most important things and it's
like people don't realize howimportant skate maintenance is.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Now I see people all the time.
I coach adults on sunday nightsbefore the adult skate and when
I get somebody who comes in andthey're like yeah, I haven't
skated in 20 years but I stillgot my skates, and I'm like
that's wonderful, I'm glad youcame.
Did you take those apart andclean them and re-oil the
bearings?
(37:27):
people coming in here andthey're like, oh, do I need to
do that?
I said yeah, they haven't beenskating on 20 years.
They're all dried up and what'sgoing to happen is you're going
to get out there thinking youknow how to skate again and get
cocky and they're either notgoing to roll or you're going to
push them to the limit andthey're going to break and
you're going to fall and bustsomething and then you're never
(37:49):
coming back skating again.
And they always look at you likewhat?
Like, yes, let's look at yourskates, and not to mention even
the bearings, but the bushingsit's like you know you haven't
rolled on them in 20 years.
Yeah, you, you have to maintainthem.
You, especially if you're goingto come back out and rejoin the
(38:10):
skate world, you want to makesure you have the right
equipment, and it's all you know.
Sometimes I have to explain topeople about their skates, like
a car, and I'll say would youtake your car out of the barn
after 20 years, start it up andtake it down the freeway at a
hundred miles an hour?
And they go oh no, I wouldn't.
(38:32):
I would take it to the shop andget an oil change and make sure
everything's working right.
I say exactly.
Transmission fluid, get it allworking right and then the other
thing I always tell them is isI know you can skate, I know you
used to skate.
I said but you haven't been in20 years.
So I want you to take itcompletely easy and don't get
(38:54):
cocky.
You need to come at least threetimes over the next three weeks
.
Get your balance back yeah andthen you can start trying to see
if you can do other things.
And and always and when peopledon't listen to me, it's like
you know they break an ankle orthey break their wrist and it's
(39:16):
like tried to warn you, I triedto stop you yeah, it's funny
because, like in some of thegroups, I'll see like how do you
get better at skating backwards?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
keep skating, right.
It's.
There's no shortcut, there's nomagic formula.
It's it's kind of like how muchwork are you willing to put in?
And that's because I've hadpeople on here that have been
skating like, uh, one of myprevious guests, robbie.
He's been skating only for liketwo and a half years and he's
like a phenomenal skater forfreestyle and inline.
(39:49):
So it's it's, but he skatesevery day.
So it just depends upon.
If you're like once a week,you'll be okay, but it's getting
out there and and just skating.
And I even tell people, takelessons.
If you're not sure, takelessons, get a foundation.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yeah, I hear people all the time Like I'll be in the
middle skating.
It doesn't matter where I am inthe country.
I just seem to attract peopleand they'll come up to me and be
like, oh my God, can you teachme how to skate backwards?
And I'll look at them and I'llgo.
(40:32):
As soon as you learn how to goforwards, I will teach you.
Yeah, it's like you can't justjump to backwards, or I get
people in my class, they'll takemy class and they'll be like
you know, I can't get theseskates to do what I want and I
go first off.
Those are what we callthrowaway skates in the roller
rink industry.
They're only meant to last 30days.
Yeah.
You need to get a real pair ofskates and they'll be like but
these are real.
I bought them from Amazon andI'm like.
(40:54):
They're not real.
They're throwaway skates.
They're meant for kids.
Yeah.
Because kids grow through themfaster than they use them, so
they're not meant for an adult.
And then, when people don'tstart getting it sunk into their
head, I'll look at them andI'll go so what is your ankle
worth?
Yeah.
And they go my ankle and I'll belike, yeah, because you're
(41:16):
going to break your ankle onthose If you fall.
There's nothing holding yourankle in there because there's
nothing there.
I said if you have a goodstarter pair of skates, let
alone, you'll be able to skate alittle better, I says but if
you fall, it's going to holdyour ankle in place.
Yeah, and I go, you have goodmedical and they'll be like well
, what it's like you gotta.
(41:39):
You know, anything you going todo that you're going to put
your heart and soul into or thatcan affect your body?
Make sure you have the rightparts to start with.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
You know, like I tell people all the time, they
always think I'm crazy.
I go, I will spend an assloadof money on three things People
always go.
What three things I go myskatesates, my bed and my car.
Why?
Because that's the place Ispend the most time yeah so the
rest doesn't matter, who cares?
Speaker 2 (42:12):
exactly.
Yeah, it's.
I think I've got three pairs ofinlines, I got a three wheel
speed, a four wheel speed andthen, like my rink skates and
think combination, we're lookingalmost two grand for everything
.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
I got you beat, so I have my my inside skates, I have
my outside skates.
My outside skates are about 500, but my inside skates are two
grand.
Nice.
And I get people all the time.
They're like, oh, your skatesare so pretty Nice.
And I get people all the timethey're like, oh, your skates
are so pretty, I want a pairlike that.
How much does this cost?
I'll be like you don't want toknow.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Down payment of a car .
Speaker 3 (42:53):
They'll be like no, seriously, I want to know.
I'm like you, don't want toknow how much these cost.
You just want a good starterpair of skates and if they ask a
third time, then I'll just letthem have it.
And the third time they'll belike no, seriously, I want to
know how much those are.
I want skates just like yours,I go 2000.
They'll be like did you say2000 with all the zeros?
(43:15):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, it's funny because it's like I even tell
people I had a.
It's a funny story becauseFriday night he wanted to fight
me because he thought I wasstaring at him but I was
watching the TV behind him andevery time he moved I had to
move to.
Then Saturday night heapologized and then told me he
wanted to get into skating.
So I sent him some skaterecommendations and I found out
tonight he ordered some inlineskates.
(43:39):
So I'm going to be teaching himhow to skate here.
Nice inline skates.
So I'm going to be teaching himhow to skate here.
I it's.
I pick skates that I'mcomfortable with.
That I know have a good trackrecord, even if I haven't used
it before, because I've used K2sand roller blade and then speed
skate setups are a wholedifferent story.
But so and I always tell peopleI roll on a hundred millimeter
(44:01):
wheels.
It's kind of like findsomething that's comfortable and
I go, if you're going to skateoutside, make sure a hundred
millimeter wheels.
It's kind of like findsomething that's comfortable and
I go, if you're going to skateoutside, make sure you have
outdoor wheels.
If you're going to skate inside, make sure you have indoor
wheels.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
So all the time I go, you need a pair of skates for
outside and one for inside.
Don't take your inside skatesoutside, don't take your outside
skates inside, and they go.
Well, I can't afford all that.
You get a pair of outsidewheels, pair inside wheels.
Make sure you change them.
Two reasons One outside malewheels are made for outside.
Yeah, inside wheels are madefor inside too.
(44:31):
If you have them outside, youtake them inside.
You're tracking shit fromoutside inside onto the floor.
You're going to get it dirtyand you're going to damage it.
I know and then the rink owneris really not going to
appreciate you Exactly.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Like for speed skating, I have three-wheel
which is marathon and outdoor,and then four-wheel frame is my
indoor frame.
I just switch the boot on top.
Nice.
So now, who is?
Since you come from a family ofroller skaters, it might be an
easy question for you, but someof your biggest influences in
(45:06):
skating that would have to be myparents and then my aunt and
uncle.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
So my short story.
My mom was an art skater atValley Vista in Hayward and my
father was a rink rat.
So my father had come down therink and he tried to talk to my
mom and my mom looked him up anddown.
One day she said if you'retrying to get me to go out with
(45:37):
you, you're going to have tolearn how to skate.
So he got pissed off and heleft.
He told my joe he goes.
I don't care if I ever see thatwoman again.
I am done with her, forget it.
And he came back the followingfriday to his entire paycheck
and learned how to skate.
So I am a product of a artisticskater and a rink rat there you
(45:58):
go, yeah and then my aunt anduncle.
They're both art skaters andthey had their own rink in
Pleasanton.
Did you ever skate there at thefairgrounds?
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, my mom actually has worked at the fairgrounds
since 76.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
Well, she retired now .
So in the Hall of.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Commerce.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Yeah, my aunt and uncle used to own the rink at
the fairgrounds.
Oh wow, Nice and so they've beenrink owners, they've been
partners in other rinks.
They were heavily involved inroller hockey for a long time.
They've got their name onplaques and stuff at the museum
(46:41):
in Nebraska.
Then they got involved inroller derby and my uncle wrote
the rules for roller derby.
Okay, their list of accoladesis just forever.
So I look up at them and I justadmire them for all that.
And then, of course, my aunt.
(47:04):
That's the one that pushed meinto the road of skate critic
and he actually told me at onetime.
He said you know you'd be thebest person for that job and I
said why?
And he goes.
You know just enough aboutevery avenue of skating he goes.
(47:24):
You know just enough aboutevery avenue of skating.
You know about derby and youknow about roller hockey and you
know about owning a rink andyou know about the adult skate
world and you know about speed.
And he goes.
You know enough about everyavenue of skating and most
people don't know that to makeyou dangerous.
Yeah, like, oh, yeah, I do, huh.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Nice.
So now, what is advice that youwould have to give to up and
coming skaters and people thatare interested in becoming rink
owners?
Speaker 3 (48:10):
owners.
So my advice to up-and-comingskate skaters is to learn from
your elders and the number onething you need to respect the
rink rules.
No matter what you think, youneed to respect the rink rules,
and I mean regular rules andadult skate rules, because it's
two different things yeah andthere's a little word out there
called the adult skate worldetiquette.
You need to know that whenyou're skating on the floor you
(48:32):
need to know everything that'sgoing around you in a three foot
radius, and if you're a badjudge of distance, don't do them
damn tricks, because you're notthe only one on the floor yeah,
and there's some people whowill take you out.
I happen to be one of them, soI happen to be another one of
them.
Yeah, if you're going to, you'regoing to come at me.
Stupid, I'm going to push youout the way.
(48:54):
I'm going to do whatever.
You can scream and yell andholler all you want in my floor.
Guard.
I kick you out the rink for it.
But, yeah, are to probably kickyou out the rink for it, but
yeah, so that would be my, mything for them.
Uh, up and coming rink owners,don't be afraid, make that jump,
man.
There's so many people say theywant to be a rink owner and then
(49:16):
they, they come at you and theyyou know, they got these
half-assed crazy ideas.
They're gonna do a.
Go fund meFundMe.
The community is going tosupport them.
No, that's not how this works.
You know, if you're going to bea rink owner, jump off that
hill.
Do whatever you got to do tobecome a rink owner.
Go join the RSA.
(49:37):
They'll help you with abusiness plan.
They have lots of great thingsthrough the rsa that'll get you
going on your rink.
Be prepared to be married tothe rink for five years at least
, till you find mini me to helpyou out and, um, you build it.
(49:58):
They will come.
It's not, they come and thenyou'll build it.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
Yeah, and a lot of the times it's like finding the
area because I saw in the bayarea like a it's not, they come
and then you'll build it yeah,and a lot of the times it's like
finding the area Cause I saw inthe Bay area like a huge
resurgence of skating during thepandemic, because one of the
few things you can actually doand all by yourself.
Yeah, and outrun the cops,because we can take the pass and
they would have to get offtheir car.
So just yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
I don't know anything about that.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
It's the Bay area.
You know it's, it's, it's there.
So now, how can my listenersfind you?
Speaker 3 (50:33):
And I am on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram.
Most of my action is in mygroup on Facebook called Skate
Critic.
I'm actually listed SkateCritic everywhere except
Instagram.
I am the Skate Critic.
Somebody took Skate Critic like10 years ago and they never
(50:56):
done anything with it.
I don't even think they haveaccess to the account.
Some people, I swear I thinkinstagram should disconnect her
account, so I could steal thatname.
But there you go but yeah, mostof the stuff's in.
In my group I do questions aweek.
Every week I post all kinds ofstuff where you could find skate
(51:19):
merchandise and people posttheir videos in there and all my
reviews are there.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
All my ranks and you can read up about them and see
the photos of the ranks.
I get people all the time Hitme up hey, where's what's a good
rank in this state?
And I'll let them know.
And, like I said, I keep trackof all the live ranks in the U?
S.
I personally call them everyother year.
I keep track of all the deadrinks.
I keep track of all the skateparties, all the adult skates.
(51:47):
I keep track of top 10 smallestrinks in the US, top 10 largest
rinks and I'm sure there'sabout 10 other lists I can't
remember right now.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
Sexy rinks derby rinks, speed rinks, cosplay
rinks, furry r cosplay rings,furry rings, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
Hey, did you ever skate at Redwood City?
Speaker 2 (52:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Oh, so Redwood City.
Back in the day, I think it wasWednesday night, so you used to
have lingerie night.
It was like anything you dareyou could wear, you could skate
in it.
Damn it.
I remember going in there andI'm like, oh, like saran wrap, a
leaf.
I was like, wow, I thought Ihad a lot of guts when I was
(52:35):
younger, but I had nothing onthese people.
Let me tell you.
But, it was packed, packed allthe time it's because you might
get a chance to see boobies.
Speaker 2 (52:44):
I mean I swear, I'm sorry, I missed that.
Speaker 3 (52:49):
Yeah, I can't believe nobody else in the US has done
that again.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
I know out here we have a nightclub called Trax.
It's the gay nightclub out here, but once a month they do a
skating party.
It's like you have to out here,but once a month they do a
skating party, but it's like youhave to have your own skates,
but they also give you sippycups so you can drink your
alcohol while skating.
Oh Wow, you might have to comeand check that one out one time.
Speaker 3 (53:17):
You know, it's actually on my rink list because
it's not a rink, it's.
It's some kind of skating thatcan be done although I don't
believe in skating and alcoholmix.
Speaker 2 (53:28):
But you know, you and me both I I've seen there was
one night at the um golden skate.
These guys came in drunk andthe guy's femur snapped in half
and everybody was trying tostand him up and we're like, no,
let him let him yeah, so youknow, the paramedics came,
rolled him out, but then becauseof that it took up like an hour
(53:49):
, so they kept the rink opentill two for us, so but it was
it was nasty, like you can seehis leg flopping so, but I've
seen a couple of those in my, mypast.
Speaker 3 (54:04):
But what else?
Yeah, I, alcohol and skatingdoesn't mix and people think it
does and you know it may be allright for a while for them and
then somewhere down the roadit's like no, you need to get
sober.
And when they get sober theyhave to learn how to skate all
over again only that, when theykeep falling, when you're drunk,
(54:24):
you don't feel it.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
The next day you're like where the hell did all
these bruises come from?
Speaker 3 (54:30):
I?
I have pushed people off thefloor.
They're drunk and I have, like,insisted they'd be thrown out
the building because they'redangerous.
They're not only going to hurtthemselves, but they're going to
hurt other people yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
So I'm kind of like the honorary security at the
skate city here, the one that Igo to rate frequent, so I kind
of have say in what goes onbecause, like, even when the one
manager she's a female, ifshe's closing I will make sure
everybody's out before I leave.
So she's just there with the,with the crew.
I don't want like anybodylingering around, so but that's
(55:06):
just me.
Speaker 3 (55:07):
That's those adult skaters.
I tell you, they help you out.
Speaker 2 (55:10):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
You could always call an adult skater and go hey, I
need help with this at the rink,and they'd be like I got you.
I'll be right there.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
Yeah, there was one time where she was working and
this guy walks in and we'retalking it's like January and
he's in shorts, a shirt, buthe's got like a ski mask on and
he walks in to use the bathroomand they're all freaking out.
So I went up and talked to himand I'm like, hey, let's like
walk outside, cause they calledthe cops.
So I walked outside to meet thecops with him and everything
(55:39):
like that.
And she's like, thank God youwere here.
Speaker 3 (55:42):
Yeah, yeah, strange, everything like that.
And she's like, thank god youwere here so yeah, uh yeah,
strange people think I'm one ofthose people, those like I won't
tolerate your shit.
It's not better.
It doesn't matter what rink Igo to in the country yeah what?
I'm always a floor guard or I'malways like, hey, don't do that
.
People are like that's not evenyour kid, I go, I don't care.
Speaker 2 (56:06):
You're like, I am a skating expert, okay.
Speaker 3 (56:09):
I went to a rink one time and it was out of control.
I mean out of control.
It was a Saturday, kid you know, evening session.
And I go, is the owner of therink here?
And they're like, yeah, I go upto him and I go, this place is
out of control.
I said there's no visible floorguard.
(56:30):
I said these kids aren'tfollowing rules.
This is a disaster.
And he's like, oh, we have afloor guard.
It's that guy right there and Igo, no offense.
I go, but he's 450 pounds, he'son a pair of rentals and he can
barely stand up.
I said how is he going to catchthe kids?
Speaker 2 (56:48):
Just wait for him to come back around and run into
them.
Speaker 3 (56:51):
Yeah, and I was like.
I was like you need to get thisunder control.
This is dangerous.
Someone's going to get hurt.
And he's like he's like, well,I don't want to hurt their
feelings.
And and he's like he's like,well, I don't want to hurt their
feelings.
And I was like, excuse me.
I said, is this your?
Rank or theirs, because I'mconfused, yeah, and he's like.
(57:12):
He's like well, you know whichkids act in the word.
And I said that one right there.
And so he calls him over, hebends down his level and he's
like can you just you behave?
I'm like is this guy for real?
Is this really happening?
So the kid goes away and I lookto him and I go, you know, I
(57:32):
said you clearly don't know howto run a rink.
I said but let me show you howa rink is run.
And I went out to the middle ofthe floor and I sat there for a
minute.
I was watching all these kidsand so I picked out the worst
one, the punkiest kid there was.
I said hey, come here, comehere, he comes over.
And I said I got this fivedollar bill right here he goes.
(57:55):
I said we're gonna have a raceand I said if you win, you get
the five dollars.
I said but if you win, you getthe $5.
I said but if I win, you needto learn how to Rex.
He goes what's Rexing?
I go what you saw me doing onthe outside of the wall where
you were acting like a fool.
And he goes all right, allright, I got you, we raced, I
(58:18):
kicked his ass so bad I flippedaround backwards and waved
goodbye to him.
So then he came out to themiddle to get his $5.
He said I cheated.
I said how did I cheat?
And he goes?
Well, you turn around backwards.
And I said, well, you obviouslycouldn't turn around backwards.
I said now you need to learnhow to Rex.
He's like fine.
(58:39):
So the next day I know I hadhim and like a dozen of his
friends behind me all learninghow to wrecks by the time I left
they were high-fiving me andlike I've told them all the rank
rules and they were followingall the rules.
I walked out by that owner andI said that's how you run a rank
and I left.
Nice.
(58:59):
Oh my God, yeah, I can't standranks that are out of control
like that.
It's like you know, you have tohave rules and you have to have
them set in place for theirsafety and for yours.
You don't want catastrophes tohappen and then they come back.
A lawyer comes back and saysyou know, hey, you don't have
(59:21):
any rules in place, you don'thave any floor guards.
You know that's an appetite fordestruction right there.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Exactly no waiver signed, no.
Speaker 3 (59:30):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (59:33):
So well.
I appreciate you coming on theshow.
Speaker 3 (59:36):
Absolutely, Isabel.
Speaker 2 (59:37):
And I look forward to meeting up with you at your
rink when I come back to visitmy mother in California.
Speaker 3 (59:42):
Oh, there you go.
We skate and adult skate everysecond Saturday at sunrise,
rolling land citrus sites,California, from 11 PM till 3 AM
.
Speaker 2 (59:52):
Okay, I will make it 11 AM to 3 PM 3 AM 3 AM Nice.
Speaker 3 (59:58):
Yeah, I'll send you a flyer when we're done.
Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Cool Well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Thank you, thank you.
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