Retro Halloween Roller Skating
July 16th, 2010 by John WolfeToday’s clips combine two favorite past-times from my youth: getting all “Halloweenie” and hangin’ at the roller rink. During the early ’80s, most of us kids from my elementary school gathered at the local rink every Friday night. However, I never attended on Halloween, since that would have made me miss out on being home to see the trick-or-treaters’ reactions to my makeshift home haunts.
When I was six, seven and eight-years old, my Halloween time was divvied up between gathering my own candy and then rushing back to the house to scare the trick-or-treaters who were younger than me… aah, the Halloween circle of life! 
This first vid is from 1976:
Up next is another Halloween party at the same location, this time from 1984. Checkout the Gremlins’ costumes, Stripe and Gizmo, around 0:17.
Source for both retro Halloween skate party vids: YT user, CVRRsk8tr
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July 16th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Oh my gosh….ROLLERSKATING!!! Wow, haven’t thought of that in ages John. Bro and I would skate all day every Saturday, hanging out with friends without any parents around, play Pac-Man/Joust/Galaga/Donkey Kong when we needed the breaks. Ahhhh, youth. I used to go that fast and be that good. The last time I sent rollerskating was in 1998 and it didn’t go well for my lower back. Hmmm, I remember it being easier that than
What astonishes me dear friend is how video from the 70′s and 80′s is actually LOOKING vintage now. That was my childhood and it doesn’t seem that long ago, ya know? I saw the movie “Weird Science” on Tivo the other day and tripped out BIG TIME over the clothes, HAIR, make-up and accessories from then. I was surrounded by teens who dressed exactly like that! It looked like ages have gone by from that time and yet feels much less than that. Circle of Life……..being human is fascinating, is it not
Nice find sweetie, as always~*~
July 17th, 2010 at 4:11 am
That is some awesome footage. I remember going to the roller ring when I was very young, but never had that world collide with Halloween. I would have loved it if it had. I did try to use skates to try and make myself appear to float. It didn’t work out.
July 17th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Goldie,
Oh yeah, the video games were a big part of that experience for us, too! At the rink we used to frequent, I always gravitated to Donkey Kong Jr. But the most exciting part for us was when they installed a huge television projector that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the place. They used it to project music videos on a screen at the far end of the rink.
This was when MTV had been around for about two or three years, but cable was still a luxury to many of us. So, the first time we got to see music videos was at the roller rink. I especially remember how they played Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” and “Thriller” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” over and over!
I totally understand where you’re coming from about how dated the footage/movies look from the ’70s and ’80s. It amazes me too, since I lived it and don’t remember it looking that way when it was actually happening! I guess it’s all relative though, because while we are in the present moment everything is as new and fresh as it could possibly be, whether that present moment’s in the ’80s or 1920s.
Just as “Weird Science” did it for you, “Back to the Future” does the same thing for me. Just think, in twenty years we’ll be saying how dated footage from 2010 appears to be! Strange how it works that way and you’re right–it’s fascinating at the same time.
Speaking of Back to the Future, I have to quote my favorite part — remember when the 1950′s boy convinces his father that Marty’s an alien and then Marty races out of the barn, running over the man’s tree in the process. The farmer then shoots his shotgun at the car: “Take that you mutated sum-bitch!” “You killed my pine you space bastard!”
That part cracks me up every time! The farmer reminds me of my grandpa and probably reminds you of someone you know, too!
Ethan,
Hey, that’s a good idea for a young kid to try out: using skates to give the appearance of floating… very imaginative. Were you trying to be a ghost or something?
July 17th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
As was often the case I was Dracula. He was my childhood hero, Him and Spider-man. lol (Both of them, still kind of are.)
July 17th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Very cool! I was a Spider-Man nut as well, but when it came to horror stuff, I usually leaned more towards werewolves… that may have had something to do with my last name.
July 17th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
LoL, LoL, John…I could totally hear your grandpa saying something like that as well as good ‘ol MD
MD would probably love the shooting practice! Sorry to double comment but I just had to come back with that. Also, you know dear friend, I’m ALREADY hearing young adults and kids these days saying, “like……that’s sooooo 90′s!” LoL, as if the 90′s was the 50′s and that long ago. Though I’m aware, and proud, of my age I never once “feel” my age. Seems like I just now walked out of my late 20′s and that we just cleared the 90′s. LoL yet it’s 2010!!! As I’ve shared so many times before, WHERE did this last decade go??? Ya’ll had a projector?? Wow, that was some skating rink.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
OMGosh- that first video made me laugh so hard!! In 1975 my best friend and I went trick or treating as a pair of dice! Ours were white with black spots- the girls in the video were black with white spots but I’ve never in my life seen anyone else in that costume! LOLOL!! I just sent it to my friend who was the other half of our dice pair and I know she’s going to laugh! Thank you so much, John, you really made my day and brought back some great trick or treat memories!!! You rule the school (and the rink!)
July 18th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Goldie,
I bet MD would put that farmer’s cursing to shame, too! No worries on double commenting–in fact, I encourage you (or anyone else that visits) to comment as much as you like. I hear you about the whole “that’s so ’90s” thing. I see vids on You Tube all the time where people are fighting over the ’90s compared to now and one of the favorite comments is talking about how old anything is from the ’90s. I even see some people (I’m assuming they’re kids or very young adults) talking about how old things are from 2004!
Yeah, we had a huge screen that went from the floor to the ceiling. It almost touched the hardwood of the rink and people would often skate/dance in front of it while the videos were playing. I especially remember people imitating Michael Jackson during the Billy Jean video where he would dance on those tiles that lit up.
Camile,
Awesome! Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone wearing dice costumes either. Thanks for sharing how the vid brought back fond Halloween memories of you and your friend. I love knowing about stuff like that, because I’m such a Halloween nostalgia junkie!