What You Missed When You Didn't Exist
Corbett (age 54) and Lucy (age 24) discuss events in pop culture, history, and anything that happened between 1971 and 2001.
What You Missed When You Didn't Exist
Roller Rinks
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Lucy and Corbett are talking about the roller skating and falling down. A little of one and a whole lot of the other.
Welcome to What You Missed When You Didn't Exist. I am Corbett and I am 55.
SPEAKER_01Had to think about that one for a second, didn't you?
SPEAKER_02A little bit.
SPEAKER_01I'm Lucy and I'm 25.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, young and sharp. Wait until you're in your wheelchair.
SPEAKER_01What do you mean? I'm in my quarter life crisis, dude.
SPEAKER_02Quarter life?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Quarter life crisis.
SPEAKER_02You're definitely going for a hundred then. Good for you. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01You're halfway there.
SPEAKER_02I'm more than halfway there. That's fine. So what we talk about on the show is things that happened between 1970 and the year 2000, the time when I existed and Lucy did not. So she wasn't. Yeah, because you didn't exist yet. That's how that works. Uh this time I'm actually talking about something that you kind of it's still around, but it is different. It's definitely changed. And actually, it's over a hundred years old. I didn't even realize it was so old. But roller rinks. Roller rinks, roller skating specifically, but place where you go to roller skate. These were actually invented like in the 1800s. The the 19th. Yeah, the 19th century.
SPEAKER_01So this is when you didn't exist.
SPEAKER_02I didn't exist. Nobody existed. There weren't even people, just skates.
SPEAKER_01Yep, skates. No people. They were just sitting on.
SPEAKER_02It was an invention that everybody was excited about because it was a roller skate. The thing is, in 18 the 1800s, there wasn't a lot of flat, open, paved area anywhere. So somebody had to figure that out. I think it was invented.
SPEAKER_01Gravel and grass, I would imagine.
SPEAKER_0218 1863 in Massachusetts. There you go.
SPEAKER_00Huh. He made American pastime.
SPEAKER_02Yep. That is 100% American pastime. Back then, roller skates were probably the ones that I always saw as a kid. Like, oh, these are, you know, your grandfather's skates or something. The ones that were like a platform you strap onto your shoes with just four metal round wheel things that work. Oh by the time in the 70s, they had hit their resurgence, which is probably what I'm more familiar with myself. And they hit their resurgence because of disco. That's right. Disco, which was dead practically through most of the 70s, after almost a year after it was born. I think you're like, it's dead. Like, well, I guess. But disco went and added itself into roller rinks, and they became sort of this disco roller rink.
SPEAKER_01Disco 10.
SPEAKER_02That's why if you see a lot of disco movies or disco shows, there'll be people in roller skates because it was a thing. You go to the the roller disco because you're you're dancing on your skates, I guess.
SPEAKER_01I think I only saw reference to that in Austin Powers Gold Member.
SPEAKER_02You never watched like Xanadu?
SPEAKER_01No, you never showed me Xanadu.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we gotta show you Xanadu, girl. That's some Olivia Newton John magic right there.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's another show we can talk about.
SPEAKER_02It's almost literary.
SPEAKER_01Mm. Roller Disco.
SPEAKER_02Roller Disco. Roller Disco popped up in the 70s and kind of went into the 80s. Now the funny thing is, and uh I was wondering why it felt like old people places. Because every time I went, young kids were there, but like every time I went was usually at a birthday party, and typically the parents are the ones out there riding the skates and they're doing like backwards tricks and stuff like that. And it's cool, but you're like, wait a minute, they're old.
SPEAKER_01Old people can't do young people things.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they can't do a young people thing, but that that at that point roller discos or roller rinks were still popular in the 50s. And why were they popular in the fifties? Because it was a new cool hangout. Ironically so. But that's also when skates became better made. They were the the wider rubbery type sole that allowed to well, they became a shoe, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_01And not shooting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they became a full shoe. You would go rent those shoes just like at a at a bowling alley. Apparently, bowling alleys and roller rinks were the thing.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, you gotta keep yourself out of trouble.
SPEAKER_02But uh looking back through it, they they would have like organ music or a band. So you'd have a band organ music, because it was usually also an ice rink in the winter. So you'd have like hockey games and you want organ music and hockey rings.
SPEAKER_01Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Yeah, it's a northern thing.
SPEAKER_02In the south, it was different, but in the north it was kind of normal. So organ music was kind of more the common. So you'd be skating along and like going on.
SPEAKER_01Terrible.
SPEAKER_02Well, disco definitely made it more of a party because they put in the disco balls, the lighting effects, everything was exciting. Personally, I was always nervous about it because I for one thing, when I I first went skating, I didn't know how to skate.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't think anyone knows how to skate.
SPEAKER_02You yeah, you kind of fall all over the place. It's just a good way to learn to fall down a lot. But you know, it got there. And um, but it's all dark and flashy because of the disco thing going on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it just seems like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna get you on something unstable and then turn off the lights. It'll be great.
SPEAKER_01It's a great learning experience.
SPEAKER_02Not that I hated the disco roller disco or anything, it's just like, okay. And it seemed very confusing to me.
SPEAKER_01You just hate disco.
SPEAKER_02I I don't know. I wasn't a super big fan. I know I kind of like disco. Don't give me that. But it was more the fact that, like, you know, get on this unicycle and just go across the tightrope. You'll be fine. Will you turn off the lights to help you? Like, that does not.
SPEAKER_01Hey, actually, then you would focus on your other senses, which would probably help you a lot.
SPEAKER_02Well, the other thing that pulled me into Rollerinx was they usually had arcades. And in the 80s, arcades were a quick pull-in. We don't think we've talked about arcades yet, so we probably need to talk about them at some point.
SPEAKER_01Probably.
SPEAKER_02But you had sort of games to play and things to do. Even before there was video games, they had like skee ball and stuff like that in there. So you could usually go roller skate and have fun. I think a lot of places would have like a bowling alley right next to it. So you would go, parents would go bowl and you would go skate or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Ah, or reverse, because apparently skating is an old people thing.
SPEAKER_02That's kind of what it felt like to me. But it just felt like an old people thing because I guess generationally it kept moving along. It's been around for years. I mean, literally a century.
SPEAKER_01Hundreds of years.
SPEAKER_02Well, hundred.
SPEAKER_01Hundred years.
SPEAKER_02It's still around now. There's still some roller inks. I wouldn't say they're as easy to get to as a lot of them, though. It's definitely a lot like the movie when we talked about drive-ins, and there's like just a few left. So it's really kind of a rare thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I think there's some people that still go for the nostalgia feel. I mean, it's like bowling alleys. Not a lot of people go bowling anymore. I feel like it's a last resort for parents, like, all right, we're gonna go out and get into the world. Let's let's go bowling. Like, just different ways for parents to manage their kids, I guess.
SPEAKER_02No, that's what we did. We did that. Bowling is actually a pretty well, I mean, it's on ESPN. I don't know how, but it is.
SPEAKER_01It's a sport, but like our I feel like our family bowled and that was a normal thing. But I feel like I talk to my friends or other people and like, yeah, my family went bowling all the time. They're like, You went bowling? What? Or like your family likes each other? What? Like, no other no people do that. We're weird.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if we like each other, but we give each other a little space.
SPEAKER_01Oh, thanks.
SPEAKER_02No, but it's something to go do, and it's i it could be fun. I don't I don't hate roller skating or bowling. Somehow that became a thing now, but but roller skating, I wouldn't say we ever went roller skating very much. And we there was an ice rink in our the city you were we all you were growing up in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I went to the roller rink maybe three or four times growing up. Not a lot. It was always somebody's birthday party whenever we went there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And asphalt is not as good a roller skating practice thing as you might think. That is true. By the 90s, the inline skates appeared. And that changed the way you could go skating on blades. Yeah, the blades. And you could go skating on sidewalks and this, that, and the other, and they would just skate. You didn't have the same like if you if you were using the regular skates and you were on a sidewalk and you hit like just the wrong type of crack or something, you'd just flip right over.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02Because they're they're way too balanced for perfectly smooth surfaces. Whereas the rollerblades you could almost go off-road on. And they did make some that are designed for that, actually. And so I think I think that led to like the downslide of roller skating in general, because you could go roller skating anywhere. You don't have to go to the rink.
SPEAKER_01True. That is true. I don't know. I do still see a lot of roller rinks. I actually live down the street from one. And I know I actually am friends with a lot of people that get into roller derby. So much that I considered getting into roller derby myself, but I just know I would be a beaten, battered pulp because bruises show up on me way too easy. But I think I don't know, you'd be a good blocker. I mean, it's just I'm big and tall. That's the thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but all the other girls are small. You just smoosh them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but it makes me slow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I think especially with when COVID happened, a lot of people were getting back into some old ha habits and hobbies that just made people get out more. And I think even though maybe people don't go to roller rinks necessarily anymore, roller skating and rollerblading is still a thing. People have their hobbies and their groups that they go and hang out with.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, everybody should have a hobby. You want to be able to do something outside of what you do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think.
SPEAKER_01I don't think anything ever really dies, I guess, in the sense of disco's dead. There's still disco's.
SPEAKER_02I know. I it's just funny that it was so pronounced, like, it's dead. Just give it up. Disco's dead. Like, I guess. But I don't think it's going away. People still listen to disco now, and there's still new songs coming out that are disco related.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. I love some funk. Funk is back. It's fun.
SPEAKER_02But I will say, roller skating or going to the roller rink is probably dying more than it should be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_02I think it's a cool way to get out and have some fun, but you also have to live near one, so there's not a lot of them.
SPEAKER_01True, you have to live near one. I don't know that they teach it regularly, because I know in school they taught us to rollerblade. That was part of our like PE curriculum. And I don't know if many kids learn that now. Because I know they taught us to rollerblade, and then in the winter we had the option to ice skate if we wanted to. So we kind of developed that skill of if we wanted to. But I will say, as someone who tried getting into roller skating, it is so different from rollerblading. So so different. And I tried it and I totally biffed it. And then we had a roller skating party at the cemetery that that I worked at, and my boss was so freaky good at roller skates, she could do like all these tricks and things. It was so fun. I was really jealous. It's a good thing.
SPEAKER_02I figured it'd be tough because you'd be dodging the holes all the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's really the graveyard. Yeah, she could do some sick tricks. No, it was fun though. But it it is in awe of people that can do tricks on roller skates, because it is hard to do tricks on roller skates.
SPEAKER_02Well, if you're on uh a roller rink, that's the thing, a roller rink is perfectly it's like a basketball court. It's perfectly smooth. There's no imperfections in the ground, it is well laid out and polished and everything. And you have that's why if you have roller skates and you're on a sidewalk, you're probably going to hit a s hit a crack and really hurt yourself or learn to do a lot of jumps.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Whereas rollerblades, yeah, they're they're kind of the ATV of uh roller skating. And it it those are really different too. Because you you kind of have to learn uh different skills, different muscles. I feel like you hurt yourself a lot easier on rollerblades than you would on roller skates. All you have to do in roller skating is learn to fall. If you learn to fall, the rest of it's just like, okay, then I'll I'll just when I when I fall, I'll make a little bit of a twist so I land in the right way. But otherwise, it's just balance. Whereas with roller blading, like, oh, I you know, hit the edge of the sidewalk and that pulled my boot, which twisted my leg, which snapped my knee off, and like, oh my god. Like anytime you hear somebody in a rollerblading accident, it's usually horrific.
SPEAKER_01Well, I feel like you're also going a lot faster, probably.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think because of the wide open, yeah. With nothing to stop you.
SPEAKER_01So scary scariness.
SPEAKER_02And their you know, protective equipment is basically a helmet, which is a little cap on your head and some elbow and knee pads, and that's it.
SPEAKER_01They make wrist wrist pads.
SPEAKER_02Do they?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're um wrist guards, that's what they're called. They make those. I think they've changed up roller skates though, because I did get a pair of roller skates and they make them kind of like longboarding wheels. They're that like bigger kind of cushion.
SPEAKER_00Extra wider. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so they make them safer for the road. Because I feel like people are like, Oh, I love skateboarding everywhere. And I'm like, dude, you skateboard everywhere? How do you do that? Because the skateboard wheels are so stupid. Because skateboard wheels are made perfectly for skate park only, they are not made for distance. But they've adapted roller skates now where you can put like long board wheels on them and you can go everywhere and you can go over these bumps and stuff. It's just you have to learn to brake differently because obviously roller skates, the brake is on the front.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when you were up here uh uh when you were up here and we went to that pizza place. I think you went with me, didn't you?
SPEAKER_01Which pizza place?
SPEAKER_02Or is it George? May have been George. The pizza place way out in the middle of nowhere in uh oh, where was it? Star Valley.
SPEAKER_01Oh, probably George then.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, when we were we were driving in the back backwoods and there was some kids on longboards that were just going down the road.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02In in like the backwoods nowhere. And that's some rough road. But they were just longboarding away, like crazy. Sorry, out in the middle of nowhere. In a city, you can see it. Like, okay, there's sidewalks, there's pavement, it's kind of designed for some of that, but out in the middle of nowhere, oof.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02That that is scary stuff, but everybody does what they want to do.
SPEAKER_01You just have to be built differently if you're willing to do any kind of vehicling, like scootering, skating, long any kind of boarding. I feel like you just have to be prepared to brutally damage your body.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, like I said, with skating, you pretty much just have to learn the fall. As long as you learn the fall, you'll be fine. If you if you cannot handle the fall, do not skate.
SPEAKER_01That is not a skill that they teach you growing up. They're like, all right, here's how to stand up, here's how to keep walking and going forward. They never give you a lesson on, like, okay, we're falling.
SPEAKER_02I'm just gonna push you over and figure it out.
SPEAKER_01Which is important because then you get old and old people fall and they don't know how to fall because they don't teach you how to fall. That should be a thing. Teach yourself to fall.
SPEAKER_02Well, there's there's our lesson today.
SPEAKER_01Learn to roller skate and then learn to fall.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. For what you missed when you didn't exist. Practice falling.
SPEAKER_01Learn to fall for your safety. It could save your life.
SPEAKER_02It sadly really could. It's a danger.