i cannot and have never been able to skate. be it on ice or with rollerskates or… rollerblades *cringe* i am so bad at it in fact that i have actually had skating dreams – much like normal people might have flying dreams. i’ve had flying dreams too, sure, but the skating dreams are far more exciting. whizzing past people in the street, using it as my main form of transport – these are all things i would love to be able to do.
right now i’m going through a bit of a disco obsession (more on that later) and nothing goes with disco quite like rollerskating. MAN ALIVE. check out swayze in this little number…
right? right. i would have liked to see john travolta partaking in a bit of roller action. other celebs did too though, check out dustin hoffman, andy warhol and cher below
as well as hef rolling with one of his ladies (nice denim suit)
it was a big enough deal that there was a magazine dedicated to it. bring back roller disco.
When my mom was a kid there used to be a little boy who had to promote the skating rink, and he’d stand on the street corner shouting “Kom kyk how skate die mense!”, which is so very very funny out loud. But it might be an Afrikaans thing.
hahaaaa, i love that.
Roller skates! Of course.
One of my most memorable experiences from my recent trip to New York was walking through Central Park and stumbling across a makeshift rink filled with literally hundreds of roller skaters dancing/raving/skating around a DJ (turntables and all) in the centre. Apparently they’re there every Saturday afternoon in summer, raving on roller skates.
What made it even more incredible was the cross-section of people – grannies in sequined hot pants, super-ripped black guys, people in fancy dress… Everyone was dancing and smiling and it was all so beautiful and unselfconscious. I’m not ashamed to say that I shed a little tear of happiness at that moment.
So err, yeah. Nice one.
i can picture it in my mind, awesome. did you go to LA, too? i totally associate those california beach fronts with rollerskating (even though i have never been)
you see quite a lot of rollerbladers in europe too, i saw many in paris recently – just in the middle of a square somewhere break…dancing-blading to a beatbox. rad.
sweet post! I yearn for such a time! In Long Beach, CA, there are lots of gals on roller skates during the summer time. Goodness, now I want summer to return.
I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m old enough that I can remember going to roller-disco parties as a child. They were a lot of fun!
that’s Hugh Hefner in pic #2 right?
yes yes, the hef!
in the hef pic, that is not just any girl but Dorothy Stratten the 1980 playmate of the year.
Her life and tragic death was later explored in the film “Star 80”
Her original name was Dorothy Hoogstratten.