JOHNSTOWN MAGAZINE APRIL 2023: For Goodness Skate

For Goodness Skate

Roller Boogie Memories of Roseland and Skateland

Every time I hear the song, "I Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, I am back at Skateland.

The voice over the loudspeaker has announced it's time for a "couple's skate." The house lights are dimmed and the large disco light in the center sets the "mood." I huddle with my friends outside the wall surrounding the rink waiting with anticipation to see if my current crush would ask me to skate. When I wasn't skating, I was perfecting my ricochet move at the air hockey table in the arcade, eating pizza from the snack bar and if I had any extra money left over, I would buy a pack of Lemonheads for the ride home. I don't remember much about my first skating lesson but I have the pictures to prove it!

With a new roller-skating rink, The Glow Roller, now open on the first floor of the Galleria Mall in the old Glow Golf location, I know I wasn't the only person who experienced waves of nostalgia and excitement about the idea of a roller-skating rink coming back to town.

"When I was about 10 years old, I was allowed to strike out on my own to go roller skating at Roseland on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. I didn't have my own roller skates, but I used my mother's skates. I would tie the laces together, sling them over my shoulder and take off for the rink," remembers Barbara Antinora. "My mother's skates were old and the wooden wheels were packed with ball bearings. I would be skating around and all of a sudden, the bearings would go flying!"

Roseland was a popular place and the line to get in would often be long. Inside Roseland was a large circular wooden floor. In front of the rink were wooden benches and there was a wooden railing that separated the rink from the benches.

"Many skating speedsters rammed into that wooden railing," Barbara remembers. "At the end of the skating session, we did the whip. Mr. Torak was the leader and each skater held on tight to the person in front of them. He went slow at first until everyone was attached then he skated faster and faster tightening the circle. The skater on the end really got a ride!"

"I really wasn't allowed to go many places, but my dad had no problem with me going skating. It was such a magical time with wonderful memories of skating at Roseland," reminisces Sandy Andolina Huelsenbeck. "Every Saturday I went skating, because every Saturday I'd win a free pass for the following Saturday's admission for making it under the Limbo bar!"

Skating was also a popular activity to meet members of the opposite sex.

"My friends started going to Roseland in the early 60s, when I was in the 7th grade, but I had no clue on how to roller skate. They kept saying how much fun it was, so I became determined to learn," remembers John "J.J." Martin. "I went to the rink soaked in my Dad's Old Spice because I heard there were girls there. I rented a pair of skates, puffed out my chest, and proceeded to the floor where I immediately fell on my butt to the rounding applause of my friends"

And even friendships were made. Some that last to this day.

"If I was not working at the Dairy Dell on Friday after school, I was at Roseland. It was my haven, and I loved every minute spent there," says Ann Gracik. "I made lifelong friendships but one in particular, my friend Gloria. After sixty-five years, she is still my friend and we talk or see each other at least once a week."

And from Roseland to Skateland, the memories keep coming.

"Jim and Dick Strayer owned Skateland but my parents - Phyllis and the late Wilfred "Pro" Frombach- worked there on evenings and weekends," remembers Kathy (Frombach) Miller. "They coached skaters and helped with skating lessons at Skateland and so, skating was my life. I just liked being at the rink, it was in my blood. I was at the rink seven days a week. I practically grew up there."

Read the entire story and see more photos in the April 2023 print version of Johnstown Magazine -- available everywhere now!

Photography for this feature courtesy of Phyllis Becker Terek, Thomas Terek, Raymond Lorditch, and Emilie Lorditch.

Johnstown Magazine is a positive and forward-thinking monthly publication for the people of our region. Focusing on lifestyle pieces, biographies, food and drink and more, we cover the Greater Johnstown area and the residents that make it unique. A publication of The Tribune-Democrat.

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