Nov. 22, 2025

From Victorian Party Tricks To Disco To Derby: How Roller Rinks Shaped Gen X

From Victorian Party Tricks To Disco To Derby: How Roller Rinks Shaped Gen X

Want to weigh in? Send us a text! A dark afternoon, a good cider, and one glittering memory: the roller rink. We follow that spark into a full ride through roller skating’s wild history and why it mattered so much to Gen X. From a violin-playing inventor crashing into a mirror to James Plimpton’s quad revolution, we connect the dots between Victorian spectacle, postwar neon boxes, and the utilitarian warehouses that became our weekend temples. We talk about what those rinks gave us as kids: ...

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Season 2

Want to weigh in? Send us a text!

A dark afternoon, a good cider, and one glittering memory: the roller rink. We follow that spark into a full ride through roller skating’s wild history and why it mattered so much to Gen X. From a violin-playing inventor crashing into a mirror to James Plimpton’s quad revolution, we connect the dots between Victorian spectacle, postwar neon boxes, and the utilitarian warehouses that became our weekend temples.

We talk about what those rinks gave us as kids: a semi-supervised freedom loop, a place to test courage on turns, and our first real music community. The DJ calls. The panic of couple skate. The pride when Another One Bites the Dust hit and you didn’t wipe out. Then we pull back the curtain on the deeper story—rinks as battlegrounds and sanctuaries. Black skaters staged skate-ins, built iconic styles like JB and Philly backwards, and turned rinks into essential venues for funk, disco, and early hip hop. Flippers in West Hollywood mixed drag, punk, and pop royalty; roller derby revived the punk-feminist spirit with women taking up blistering speed and space.

We track the shift to rollerblades, the tug of cable TV and video games, and why so many rinks closed or morphed into birthday factories. And just when it felt like the music faded, the pandemic sent wheels flying again: pastel quads on boardwalks, jam lines in parking lots, adult skate nights with old-school grooves. The recipe still works—smooth floor, lights overhead, music that moves your feet, and a little bravery to let go of the wall.

Got a rink story, your anthem, or a legendary wipeout? We want to hear it. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with the friend who always yelled “reverse skate.” Your turn: what song instantly drops you back onto that maple floor?

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00:00 - A Weird Day And Pre-Winter Blues

03:05 - Small Joys: Cider, Soup, And Lights

07:30 - Travel Plans And Family Logistics

11:50 - Cat Stories And Generations 101

16:40 - Pivot To Roller Skating Memories

18:35 - Origins: 18th‑Century Skates To Quads

23:15 - Rinks, Architecture, And Suburbia

28:20 - What Rinks Meant For 70s–80s Kids

33:40 - Music, DJ Calls, And Awkward Romance

38:10 - Jam Skating And Skill Bragging Rights

41:20 - Segregation, Skate‑Ins, And Culture

46:10 - Derby, Queer Spaces, And Flippers

49:40 - Rollerblades, Home Entertainment Shift

54:15 - Closures, Reinvention, And Nostalgia

58:40 - Pandemic Comeback And Outdoor Skates

01:02:40 - Adult Fears, Gear, And Parent Skater Tales

01:07:00 - Reagan’s Roller Month And Lasting Magic

01:09:30 - Listener Prompts And How To Connect

WEBVTT

00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.679
I'm Megan Bennett.

00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:02.720
I'm Leslie Meyer.

00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:06.320
And this is Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit.

00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:14.000
Hey Megan.

00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:15.119
Hi Lesley.

00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:17.280
I was wettin' my whistle.

00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:19.600
You were wet and you're whi- Where's your whistle?

00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:20.559
Wet and my whistle.

00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:21.280
I was parched.

00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:22.559
That's hard to say.

00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:23.679
How are you?

00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:24.559
I am okay.

00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:25.120
How are you?

00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:26.640
I'm also okay.

00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:27.039
Yeah.

00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:27.440
Yeah.

00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:27.920
Mostly.

00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:29.199
Mostly okay.

00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:29.600
Yeah.

00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:33.280
It was a quirky, it was a strangely shaped day.

00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:34.320
I understand.

00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:34.880
I hear that.

00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:36.079
Out of my work days.

00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:39.920
And so it was just like it feels very just out of time.

00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.039
Like I was like, I don't know.

00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:44.159
And then I had some appointments online.

00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:46.799
And I went into my little office and closed my little door.

00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:49.119
And then I come out and it's like a different color outside.

00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:50.320
And it's like midnight.

00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:50.719
Yeah.

00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:52.320
So it's a little disconcerting.

00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:55.679
It is, it's weird when it gets dark at like 3:30.

00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:57.439
We're getting so close to it.

00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:58.799
Yeah.

00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.920
So if we can get to December, what is it, 201st?

00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.359
Then I feel like that's the longest night of the year.

00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:05.519
Yeah.

00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:06.560
The solstice.

00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:08.879
I like that because then I know it's only gonna get better.

00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:09.840
Or brighter.

00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.840
We invite back the light.

00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.200
That is a critical differentiation right now.

00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:15.680
Right.

00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.120
It's gonna get better.

00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:18.239
No.

00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:19.439
But it just brighter.

00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:24.719
And I love that we each said that the opposite way.

00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:25.439
That sounds bad.

00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:26.000
At the same time.

00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:26.959
That seems right.

00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:28.400
It feels good.

00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:32.239
Because you are the yin to my yay.

00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:35.599
The left brain to my brain, no.

00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:36.640
I don't have one of those.

00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:37.920
I was just a right brain.

00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:40.159
Left brain to your left brain.

00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:43.599
Yes, we're just two left-brained weirdos that there you go.

00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.480
It makes up enough of a brain that we can do this.

00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.439
We have no memory, but that's fine.

00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:59.599
Has anything happened since we seen each seen saw since we saw each other last that has delighted you?

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:00.799
Oh god no.

00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:05.439
Or brought a little bit of joy to your just like moment.

00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:09.039
Like personal.

00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:12.319
This is what we would call a very pregnant pause.

00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:16.240
I'm just gonna like shift the attention.

00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.879
I'm thinking that makes you feel good.

00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.439
This is when Leslie starts shrinking my head.

00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:28.639
I haven't I don't know that I've got anything other than I'm re-watching Stranger Things.

00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:36.719
That's that's a tiny joyful, except then except then I get bummed out because I'm like then the final season's coming and then it's gone forever, and then I'll be sad.

00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:38.639
Oh god.

00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.680
You have a beautiful sweet dog?

00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:42.319
I do.

00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:43.680
I have a fabulous puppy.

00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:45.120
She is an emotional support puppy.

00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:46.080
Yeah, there is no doubt.

00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.599
Have you eaten anything delicious recently?

00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.479
Or had like a unique cocktail experience?

00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:55.599
No.

00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:57.280
This is terrible.

00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:58.719
No, so we let's see.

00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:06.080
Drink wise, my current uh drink flavor is I like a really dry hard cider.

00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:06.879
I love it.

00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:10.000
There's a company called Ash and Elm that's local to India.

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:11.840
But I think you can get other places now.

00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:12.639
I think it's expanding.

00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:13.840
Yeah, they're expanding.

00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:21.039
They've got a flavor called Landstone, which is like they're not their driest of the dry, but it's pretty dry.

00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:22.560
And so I like that.

00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.199
And then I add a little bit of black currant juice.

00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:25.840
Oh, yes.

00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:29.280
And then you get what is beloved in England.

00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:35.120
You can set me straight if I am wrong, ladies who are of British, British nationality.

00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.319
You can tell me if I'm wrong.

00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:43.199
But then you get a fabulous mix of the hard cider and the black currant juice.

00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:45.199
So that sounds delush.

00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:46.159
It is delush.

00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:47.360
See, that's a little messy.

00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:48.159
So that's good.

00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:48.719
Yeah.

00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:49.199
It is.

00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.199
And it's soup season.

00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:51.840
Oh.

00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.840
So are you a soup maker?

00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:54.400
Soup.

00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:54.960
Yes.

00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:59.840
So I will make a leek potato leek soup that I love.

00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:04.560
And I will make a soup that we call the complicated soup.

00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.479
Because it is.

00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.520
But it's it's basically it's a pot pie soup.

00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:14.479
So there's chicken and ham and and you make your obase and okay.

00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.160
You know, it's there's a lot to it.

00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:17.199
It's complicated.

00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:18.240
But it's delicious.

00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:19.120
But it's delicious.

00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:20.240
So it's worthwhile.

00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:20.879
Oh, yes.

00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:27.600
And that takes like time and intention, and you can just like it's a Sunday afternoon kind of thing.

00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:28.879
So understand.

00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:29.279
Yeah.

00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:29.759
Okay.

00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:30.639
So how about you?

00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.639
Good things recently.

00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:37.839
Wow, I asked the question, but didn't consider that it might be asked also to me.

00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.199
Yes, I know exactly what's fucking brought me joy.

00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:46.000
We spent all of last weekend putting up all of our goddamn Christmas lights.

00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.879
Oh, and they look great.

00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:49.600
Awesome.

00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:50.879
And I am thrilled.

00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:51.680
Good.

00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.439
See, and that's why you do it.

00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:54.319
Absolutely.

00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:55.279
It's for the joy.

00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:58.160
It goes back to the like, we're bringing back the light.

00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.439
Like the Christmas lights are like getting us through the dark times.

00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:02.879
I think that's why it comes back.

00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:14.319
So I've determined that it's all going to be done before Thanksgiving because this will be the first Thanksgiving where my kid is like coming back from her home away.

00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.879
And I'm like, I don't want to be doing this.

00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:18.480
No, I want to just hang out.

00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.639
That'll be it's gonna get done.

00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:23.199
So that brought me good joy.

00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:25.120
And you have a trip coming up.

00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.600
So you're gonna do a little Mexico jaunt.

00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.240
Yep, do a little, it's it's a little work trip.

00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:34.639
But I will be there for like 48 hours basically.

00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:38.720
Four days total, but 48 hours in one place, and then I'll that's four Markets.

00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:42.720
And then I'll be back, but it's a different temperature, and that'll be nice.

00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:48.560
And then I'll come back and it'll be like the holiday open house situation, and then I'm pretty much it at St.

00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:49.759
Patrick's Day.

00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:51.040
That's what it feels like.

00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.000
And boom, it's from December 7th on.

00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:57.279
I will just be like pulling together, gosh, our St.

00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:59.360
Patrick's Day event and doing all that fun stuff.

00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:00.160
That's cool.

00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:03.519
We planned a we did plan a trip for September.

00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:09.680
So we're doing a we're doing four days in London, and then we're hopping on a boat and going to Norway.

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:10.480
Amazing.

00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:10.800
Yeah.

00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:12.160
Have you ever been to Norway?

00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:13.360
I have not been to Norway.

00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.480
So I'm really excited about that.

00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.079
And then we end in Rotterdam and we're gonna spend the night in Amsterdam.

00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:18.560
Perfect.

00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.839
So we'll do, you know, a little bit of tulip looking.

00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.480
Are you gonna I would do a lot of drugs?

00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:26.079
I probably will not.

00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:26.800
Damn.

00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:28.399
Because I'll be with the in-laws.

00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:30.079
Uh so that would be a little awkward.

00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:32.720
That does like I don't want to be that person.

00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:33.680
Like, hey, daughter.

00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:35.120
You all are old enough.

00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:37.680
She's not gonna go scope around a little bit.

00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:38.639
I'd be like, what?

00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.240
I would at least want to go hang out and like check something out.

00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.160
Where I don't know that we have enough time though.

00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:44.319
Yeah.

00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:45.920
No, absolutely.

00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:46.720
And you're interested in that.

00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:47.600
I want to see.

00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:48.240
And yeah.

00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:49.360
I've got to play.

00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:54.160
In some ways, it's frustrating because I have to be the tour guide kind of.

00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:54.720
Oh, okay.

00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:54.879
Yeah.

00:06:54.879 --> 00:07:02.959
So it's it's the in-laws, it's our daughter and her boyfriend, plus two different couples.

00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:03.600
Oh wow.

00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.360
Friend couples that are coming too.

00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:05.759
Okay.

00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:13.519
So it's and none of them have our family has been to England before, but none of the others have been to London before.

00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:13.839
Okay.

00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:18.000
So it'll be me going, okay, everybody come on, little chickies.

00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:19.600
We're gonna go look at the Tower of London.

00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:24.319
You're doing like the um the Griswold's trip to London kind of vibe.

00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:24.959
Kind of, yes.

00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.639
You're like, I have to lead everybody, and yeah.

00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.000
So oh, but Norway.

00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:33.120
Sounds amazing.

00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:34.480
Norway will be very cool.

00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.079
We get to float on the boat through the fjords.

00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:39.519
I love fjords.

00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:40.879
I I like to say fjords.

00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:45.439
I also love my cat who's I can hear your kiddie meowing in sadness.

00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:47.360
Oh, she's very distraught.

00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:50.240
It's I promise listening audience, she's fine.

00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:54.560
Are you gonna take that out and post, or should I keep justifying why the cat is okay?

00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:55.519
Okay, brilliant.

00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.199
You can just add it around that.

00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:05.839
Otherwise, they're gonna be a lot of women who are like freaking out about the hell's wrong with your cat.

00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:08.720
The cat has kiddie dementia.

00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.839
We we think that's our best guess.

00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:12.959
She's lost.

00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:16.319
She's forgotten she's with another cat, she's not alone.

00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.959
She just needs to be reminded that she's a cat.

00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:21.839
We all need to be reminded that we're cats or people.

00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:22.639
But they were people.

00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:23.920
How about human beings?

00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:24.879
Everyone's talking about it.

00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:29.360
Everybody should be reminded that they are a human being, and I feel like that's getting missed sometimes now.

00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:30.319
Good golly.

00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:37.679
So we talked about doing what should are we sick of this week, and then it that just got depressing.

00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:38.320
It did.

00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:42.559
So I'd like I appreciated your like trying to focus on something that's positive.

00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:47.200
Just anything that just was the opposite of miserable.

00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:49.279
No, I think that's good.

00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:50.399
I think that's good.

00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:51.840
I'm gonna cling to my puppy.

00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:52.399
There you go.

00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:53.200
That's that's my thing.

00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:58.960
And future plans, that's I I did get, I did talk to my doctor about hormones.

00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.039
So that was fun.

00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:02.480
Isn't it funny?

00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:03.120
Hormones.

00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.360
That word, hormones.

00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:10.480
I mean, when you break it up like that, it is all I ever hear.

00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.879
Okay, I have never heard it before until right now.

00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:15.600
So now I'm like, now I'll never not unhear.

00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:24.000
And then you're gonna say it to your doctor, and you're gonna be like, you know, what happens when a hormones she gets a hot flash.

00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:25.360
Hoy.

00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:27.279
Yeah, no, okay.

00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:32.320
Well, so I started waking up at like three o'clock in the morning on fire again.

00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:33.679
And I'm like, what the fuck?

00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:38.799
I am like multiple months, years into this bullshit now.

00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:40.480
So why is this happening?

00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:48.320
So I thought I probably need touch-up, a touch-up, like give me a little bit more, like refresher, a top off.

00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:50.000
Top off my moanin.

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.639
I need better symptom management, is what she's saying.

00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:54.799
Top off my moanin' whore.

00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:55.759
There you go.

00:09:55.759 --> 00:10:01.919
And so she's going to send me a kit in the mail, I guess, that's like a hormone testing kit.

00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:08.720
And I have to, it's a saliva kit, so I have to spit in a tube multiple times a day to measure like the joke.

00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:09.600
Just keeps going.

00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.320
Hormones spitting in a tube.

00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:12.639
Yep.

00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:12.960
Okay.

00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:16.320
I it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense.

00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:17.600
It's just funny.

00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:18.799
No, that's yeah.

00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:19.279
Yeah.

00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:20.000
It's just funny.

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:21.279
You're gonna spit in the tube.

00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:25.919
I'm gonna spit a tube, and I'm gonna see if my hormones fluctuate.

00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:29.200
Yes, certainly over the course of a day.

00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:29.840
Okay.

00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:34.080
So and then she'll get the data and then she'll say, Yes, at noon.

00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:36.000
At noon, your peak hormone.

00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:36.799
An injection.

00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:38.240
Your moans are horning.

00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:39.600
Your moans are horning?

00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:41.600
Your hores are moaning.

00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.519
Or horning.

00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:47.519
I mean, horns are horning extra loud at noon.

00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:52.080
By about 7 p.m., they're plum tuckered out.

00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:55.360
I mean, it's been a long day at work, honestly.

00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:56.799
You gotta be done.

00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.440
Okay, so then they'll glean from that.

00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:01.039
Do you need to make some increases?

00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:05.279
Yes, whether they need to increase my yeah, my levels of some sort.

00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.000
Gotcha.

00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:07.440
And then you'll stop sweating.

00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.159
So are you back to like having a fan in the room?

00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.600
No, no, because it's like it's just like three o'clock in the morning.

00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.240
Wake up, sheets are hot.

00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:16.720
Okay.

00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:21.600
I'm not you know, sweaty gross or anything, but the sheets are like on fire hot.

00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:22.000
Okay.

00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.279
So I get up, go to the bathroom, let them cool down.

00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.200
Gotta let the sheets cool down.

00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:27.440
Yeah.

00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:28.480
And then can crawl back in.

00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:29.759
And then you get back in bed.

00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.480
And sometimes it's with or without clothes because I'm like, now I'm hot.

00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:33.120
Right.

00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:34.480
So you had to take everything off.

00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.279
Which the husband thinks is an invitation.

00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:38.159
You're like, no.

00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:39.759
But it's three o'clock in the morning.

00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.200
It is not an invitation.

00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.519
It's just me literally being on fire.

00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:45.360
So please husband.

00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:46.799
Please, husband.

00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:49.279
As much as I love you, not an invitation.

00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:50.960
Don't fucking tag me.

00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.279
Also, if you do, you're liable to get burned because I am hot.

00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.679
I mean, that's what he's probably thinking.

00:11:57.679 --> 00:11:58.320
I yeah.

00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.039
Either way.

00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:02.720
Not the way that yeah, he's gonna be grossly disappointed.

00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:04.639
Okay, alternative theory.

00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:05.200
Yes.

00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:16.159
What if you're actually becoming a superhero because of all of the shit that we ate as Gen Xers, which is what got us to lawn darts.

00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:16.799
Yeah.

00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:17.360
Earlier.

00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.559
Earlier when we were chatting.

00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.320
But what if there's like a nuclear option and you're like, hmm, that DT.

00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:27.440
It was all the things that we that could have killed us got us to lawn darts before.

00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:28.960
Yep, it did a while ago.

00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:31.440
It was a long time ago, but it always comes back around.

00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:38.720
But just regardless, what if like, you know, some Gen X fission process process is turning you into the I mean that could be that could be the case.

00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.200
I think that would be it's the mosquito spray.

00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:41.679
Yeah.

00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:43.120
It's red number five.

00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:43.840
Absolutely.

00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:45.279
It's creepy crawlies.

00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:46.240
Creepy crawlies.

00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:47.679
All the bubblegum you ate.

00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:49.360
All the bubblegum that's still there.

00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:50.639
Probably wasn't good.

00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:51.919
Yeah, because you swallowed it.

00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:54.240
So it's back for seven years.

00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.279
Well, presumably it's it's probably gone now, right?

00:12:57.600 --> 00:12:58.240
Oh, absolutely.

00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:58.720
It didn't.

00:12:58.720 --> 00:12:59.519
That was actually a myth.

00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:03.759
That was on the list of things that were myths that we believed from our childhood.

00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.879
I was so disappointed to find out that gum did not actually say.

00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:08.159
What were some others?

00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.039
I don't ask me directly because I'll never remember them.

00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:13.200
They just have to weave their way in through our conversation.

00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.080
Okay, okay.

00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:14.559
All right.

00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:15.039
Okay.

00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:15.440
Yeah.

00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:18.399
Oh, but you we're gonna talk about memories tonight.

00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.600
We're gonna talk about memories.

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:21.120
Yeah, because you had one.

00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:22.320
Yeah, so here's why.

00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.919
Like I I was watching season four of Stranger Things.

00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:26.559
Yes.

00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:31.519
And in season four, which is fabulous, there is a roller rank.

00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:47.279
There's a whole thing where L is at the roller rank and she takes a skate and she wonks her bully in the head with a with a skate, which who among us hasn't wanted to take care of their bully absolutely upside the head with a skate.

00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.759
And for some reason, now she's in trouble.

00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:51.039
That's a bunch of bullshit.

00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:51.440
Right.

00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.120
Now bully, bully, bully.

00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.559
She got what she had coming to her.

00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.360
So uh Angela was the bully's name.

00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.080
That bitch.

00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.240
If your name is Angela and we don't think so, you're probably fine.

00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:02.879
Yeah.

00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.159
You're probably fine.

00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:06.399
We don't want to promise.

00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:08.320
Don't take this as proof.

00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:18.879
So anyway, watching that whole episode, I was like, God, I'm so crazy nostalgic for roller rinks and roller skating.

00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:19.360
Okay.

00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:24.000
And, you know, I played roller derby for four or five years.

00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.720
And that sort of, you know, I don't know, made me happy to be able to do that.

00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:39.120
But but God, that whole like getting up, going roller skating on a Friday or Saturday night, you know, the skating parties that you would have in elementary school, stuff like that.

00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:50.960
So I thought well, we thought it'd be kind of fun to do a little deep dive on the history of roller skating and of you know roller ranks.

00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:52.159
So that's where we are.

00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:56.480
We're going roller skating.

00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.720
I just made that upright now.

00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:02.240
Because that song is in my head.

00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:04.159
You know, yeah.

00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:06.720
You could do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around.

00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:07.679
I can.

00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:08.879
That is.

00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:10.320
But which direction?

00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:11.679
What it's all about.

00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:13.840
But you rip it in.

00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:15.600
But you ripe it out.

00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:17.200
Oh, that wasn't the roller ring.

00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.600
I took me a minute to catch up.

00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:20.559
I do remember that now.

00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:22.960
Shake it all about.

00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:26.480
You do have you begin to turn yourself around.

00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.480
That's what it's all about.

00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.879
Okay.

00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:31.679
Yeah.

00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:33.039
So yes.

00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.200
So I am curious.

00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:35.519
Yeah.

00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:36.559
You remember.

00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.960
And by you, I mean the royal you, right?

00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:39.919
Like everybody who's listening to.

00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:41.120
Me and all of the me's inside.

00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.200
Oh, and the people listening, yes.

00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:44.080
Sure, sure, sure.

00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:51.120
So, like the first time that you let go of the wall at the roller rink, probably like 12 years old.

00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.200
You've got rented skates.

00:15:53.200 --> 00:16:00.080
They smell like always, you know, Lysol and feet, sweat.

00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.120
Yeah, right.

00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:02.960
Your jeans are probably too tight.

00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:03.279
Yes.

00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.679
If you fall down, good luck getting back up, you know.

00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:06.080
Yeah.

00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:08.320
Tricky Jordan Ash are probably a little too snug.

00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:08.879
There.

00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.600
Your whole goal in life is to not wipe out.

00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.399
Right.

00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.120
And not look like a like a doofist or a couple sets.

00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.000
Just don't let me fall.

00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:16.799
Or whatever.

00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:17.600
Yeah.

00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.759
I don't you don't want to do that.

00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:25.200
And and like the whole, like, your whole like self-image.

00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:37.200
I mean, just everything that is most important in your life, your reputation is hinging on whether or not you like collapse or you can keep yourself upright.

00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:44.240
And when you have to like go around the like corners and you're like, you're not very good, and you're sort of like trying to like get your, you know, you can't.

00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:45.600
You can get that do the crossover.

00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:47.840
Crossover with it.

00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:53.679
Falling on your ass in front of, you know, your crush or your buddies or whatever.

00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:54.320
Whatever.

00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:54.720
Yeah.

00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:56.720
So that's what we're doing.

00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:00.240
So tonight we're gonna roll back and yeah.

00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:00.960
I'm gonna do it.

00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:02.399
I'm probably gonna have some skate puns.

00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:02.960
Do it, do it.

00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:03.600
Whatever.

00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:11.839
You know, we're gonna talk about the history of the roller rink, why it was such a huge deal for kids like us growing up in the 70s and the 80s.

00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.400
We're gonna go from fancy 18th century party tricks.

00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:16.960
Nice.

00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:21.920
They did.

00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:26.000
To Victorian immortality to disco balls.

00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:26.880
Oh my gosh.

00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:34.880
Black skate nights, like black light skate nights, roller dewear, roller blades, TikTok, which you know, I don't tick tock.

00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:39.920
And of course, TikTok a little bit our deeply awkward roller skate memories.

00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:41.119
Yep, awesome.

00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:42.559
So that's what we're gonna do tonight.

00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:43.599
I think that's kind of fun.

00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:45.039
I think people will love that.

00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:46.160
I think so too.

00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.279
So before we do that, should we do a quick break?

00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:50.160
Yes.

00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:53.759
Oh, we should acknowledge people may have died this week.

00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:55.920
Yeah, but we didn't track that, did we?

00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.519
We they weren't important enough for us to remember.

00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:01.279
No one that we knew personally.

00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.519
That's what we said died this week.

00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.000
No one that we knew personally died this week that I can recall right now.

00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.039
That may not be true.

00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:14.240
How crazy is that if we got through an entire two weeks without any big names?

00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:15.440
I don't know if that's true.

00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.039
I'm just too fucking busy to notice.

00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:21.200
He's alive.

00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:23.200
As of this recording, he is alive.

00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:26.480
Uh, but he is getting ready to celebrate his 100th birthday.

00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.160
I love him.

00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:29.119
Yeah, same.

00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:29.839
That's wonderful.

00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:35.279
So, I mean, we obviously are not gonna have him around too much longer, but it's nice that we still have him.

00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.119
It's like, oh I don't know, he can live forever.

00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:41.680
I don't know.

00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:43.920
How long is for 100 years?

00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.200
100 years.

00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.480
I'm tired just thinking about it.

00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:47.680
125.

00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:48.720
Yeah.

00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.440
Oh, he's born the same year that my grandmother was born.

00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:52.880
You know what I found out?

00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:53.680
What's that?

00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.880
That they are actually the what did I find out?

00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.720
My grandmother, that's actually silent gen.

00:18:58.720 --> 00:18:59.519
Yes.

00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:00.640
1925.

00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:01.359
Yes.

00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:02.000
Is that right?

00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:02.640
Oh no.

00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:02.960
No.

00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:04.079
Lost Jen.

00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:05.200
Lost Jen.

00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.160
Yes, and then boomer, and then silent is somehow.

00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.160
No, silence before boomer.

00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.200
No, so the lost generation, silent generation, and then boomers.

00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:13.759
Okay.

00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:14.400
Boomers.

00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.000
Why were they silent?

00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:18.559
Do we know?

00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.440
I'm not allowed to ask questions.

00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.599
We'll be right back and we'll answer that question.

00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:24.880
Okay, that's good.

00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:29.200
Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit is supported by Lilas.

00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:31.920
Love You Like a Sis, a Gen X women's social club.

00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:33.680
What's Lilass, Megan?

00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:42.480
Lilas is our uh off platform, off uh the Books of Faces, off all of the other traditional social media.

00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:49.200
Uh, it is our space and place for Gen X women to come together, have conversations, meet each other.

00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:50.319
It's a social club.

00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:51.359
It is a social club.

00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:52.960
It's a membership-based club.

00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.680
Memberships are $10 a month.

00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:00.240
Um, that does help support us in growing the platform.

00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:09.599
We purchased a platform that would host a network of women so that you could come together and meet each other in real time.

00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:17.599
In a safer space, right, than a traditional social media platform and a much more personal space.

00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:19.920
So what do we do there, Leslie?

00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:32.799
We host movie nights where we live stream some of our favorites as they are available to us for group watches of films from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.000
We host a space for a monthly book club.

00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.480
We host trivia nights.

00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:40.720
Trivia nights once a month.

00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:42.720
We have a live text chat.

00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:43.839
Four prizes, even.

00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:44.960
Four prizes.

00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:45.920
That's true.

00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:53.519
Um, we the space is able to host like weekly text chats so that you can kind of check in in real time with people.

00:20:53.519 --> 00:21:04.960
I would say the critical difference between kind of what this space is and any other social media space that I've experienced is that it is active.

00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:09.839
You will have to engage in it or be engaged in it by other people.

00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:12.640
So it's not like a passive consumption thing.

00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:14.720
It's like making connections.

00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:15.039
Yep.

00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:22.559
And if that's what you're looking for, the opportunity to meet other people, to find people who are maybe in the same similar spaces as you are.

00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:31.039
Like-minded, same time phase of life, navigating all of those transitions, then this might be the right place for you.

00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:32.559
So check out Laddie Last.

00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:36.480
You can learn more about it at GenXwomenpod.com.

00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:41.680
And we're back.

00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:43.039
We are so back.

00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.839
Okay, so the question was the silent generation?

00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.319
Why was the silent generation called the silent generation?

00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:58.720
And my theory is that the greatest generation, which was my grandmother, yes, told her younger sibling to shut the fuck up.

00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:00.160
And she did.

00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.400
And that's why she was the silent generation.

00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:03.920
It's the only way to get quiet.

00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.720
I mean that is so close.

00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:07.599
Oh, good.

00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:10.720
In that contextual, cultural way.

00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:11.839
You're so close.

00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:12.960
I'm close, I'm close.

00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:15.759
We had to like give this the Googles.

00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.240
And wait, you just said the other generation that was before it.

00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:18.960
Greatest generation.

00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:19.680
Greatest generation.

00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:23.920
What we realized is that Dick Van Dyke is actually in the greatest generation.

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:24.400
Okay.

00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.000
Which makes sense because he was born in 1925.

00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.759
And that is how we even got to this damn conversation to begin with.

00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:33.440
Because he's not dead.

00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:33.920
Right.

00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:34.160
Yes.

00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:35.200
As then recording.

00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:48.640
Because they were very eager to kind of like have some life stability post-World War II and post the Great Depression and the stock market.

00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:50.000
Nobody told him to shut up.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:50.880
They may have.

00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:51.920
I mean, the world did.

00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:53.200
The world told him to shut up.

00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:58.880
The pressures of survival said you just be fucking happy when you get a job and you have a dollar.

00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:00.079
They were all like, you know what?

00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:01.200
We're good.

00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.000
We're like, we don't need to rebel.

00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:05.759
You all have been a hot mess.

00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:08.559
I was born into catastrophe.

00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:10.079
I need some, I need some chill.

00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:12.799
I think I'm just gonna want like a nice little house.

00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:24.400
And so that it was popularized by a 1951 Time magazine article, which described the youth of the time as being quiet, conforming, and somewhat fatalistic.

00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:28.400
I think that these are also going to be gen alphas.

00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:29.440
You think so?

00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:30.799
Are they alphas right now?

00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:31.119
Yeah.

00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:32.799
That's the young, that's the youngest.

00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:36.240
Because they've been born into the fucking pandemic.

00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:36.559
Yeah.

00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:37.519
And whatever this is.

00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:40.240
And they all went through whatever the fuck's going on.

00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:41.359
You know what I mean?

00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:41.839
Right.

00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:43.680
You're gonna want like stability.

00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.160
The next generation after them will probably even be more fucked up.

00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:54.880
Yeah, or like it'll get, yeah, because they'll be suffering the after effects of all of this shenanigans.

00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:58.000
And then like their kids will be like, holy Jesus, get it together.

00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:58.240
Right.

00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.519
Let's just and then we'll start this whole damn cycle again.

00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:03.440
But we will have slowly progressed.

00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.079
Second greatest generation.

00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.720
Isn't time a wonky weird thing?

00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:09.440
It is.

00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:11.279
Let's time travel, shall we?

00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:11.920
Okay, okay.

00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.799
Because we're gonna talk about roller skating and stuff, right?

00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:16.559
Uh yeah, I think so.

00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:20.000
As best as I can recall from a couple minutes ago.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:21.599
From way back a couple minutes ago.

00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:22.960
Okay, all right.

00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:30.240
So we're gonna start back before your local roller rink where your mom dropped you off.

00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:39.279
Yes, you know, handed you five bucks and a roll of quarters for the tiny little arcade and said, you know, good luck.

00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:41.200
We are before that freewheeler.

00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.160
So we're going all the way back, all the way back to the 18th century.

00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:45.759
What all the way back.

00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:47.440
We're going back in time.

00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:57.359
The first recorded use of roller skates is in 1743 in London on a stage, which feels like a foolish thing to do.

00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:59.680
But why wouldn't we do that?

00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:05.759
We don't even know who invented that thing, the wheels on the shoes kind of thing.

00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:09.680
Some mystery theater kid just rolled out on boots with wheels.

00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:10.079
Okay.

00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:11.039
Seems valid.

00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:12.720
And everyone's like, what the hell?

00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:14.160
Well, exactly.

00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:18.640
So my favorite origin story is 1760.

00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:22.400
So a few years later than that, there's a Belgian inventor.

00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.880
His name is John Joseph Merlin.

00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:26.000
Nice name.

00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:26.720
Uh-huh.

00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:32.000
And he decides to introduce his new inline skates at a fancy party in London.

00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:32.480
Okay.

00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:35.039
So this Belgian guy shows up, puts on these skates.

00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:35.599
Party.

00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:43.920
Comes to this party, 18th century drag, like all dressed up, playing a violin on metal-wheeled skates.

00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:44.559
Brilliant.

00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:45.759
Just as one does.

00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:46.240
Yes.

00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:47.440
He has no way to stop.

00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:48.079
Sure.

00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:51.200
He crashes right into a giant mirror.

00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:52.000
Holy shit.

00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:52.640
Okay.

00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:58.880
So he shatters the mirror, shatters the violin, probably shatters his dignity at some level.

00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:03.519
And roller skating then is born into chaos.

00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:04.160
People really.

00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:05.920
People are just like, what the hell?

00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:07.920
Let's do that some more.

00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:14.960
And for a long time, that's all there are, are just these like inline skates with metal wheels.

00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:16.559
You can roll forward.

00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:24.559
I mean, I remember I think some of like the very earliest skates that I was ever on were the kind that you could just like clip onto your shoes and strap on.

00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:25.839
And that's pretty much that.

00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:26.720
You're not turning.

00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.400
No, you're just doing much of anything.

00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:30.240
You're going forward.

00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:36.640
So in 1819, somebody finally patents a roller skate in France.

00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:38.240
It's still in line.

00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:42.319
Um, and it's so it's still not that Friday night at the roller rink kind of skates.

00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:44.720
They were like cornering really hard.

00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:45.279
Right.

00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:47.200
Jam skating and all that.

00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:52.319
But the and the big change doesn't actually come until the about the 1860s.

00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:53.759
Enter the stage.

00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:59.039
James Leonard Plimpton, New York inventor, and low-key.

00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:01.759
Is that like a skate joke?

00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:06.480
Because there were like skis keys that you would use to like tighten it.

00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:07.759
That's funny.

00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:09.839
Marketing genius.

00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:12.480
In 1863, he invents the quad skate.

00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:17.359
Four wheels in a two by two setup with little pivoting trucks.

00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:24.000
So suddenly when you lean, your skates turn instead of just like launching you into furniture tree, another person, whatever.

00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:25.839
A giant glass mirror.

00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:26.880
Which can happen.

00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:27.680
Exactly.

00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:31.599
So that's when you get the first actual roller skating craze.

00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:34.799
People aren't laughing at the guy crashing into mirrors.

00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:36.720
They're like, hey, you know what?

00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:40.160
This is something I could do, and I might not even die doing it.

00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:44.160
Um, Plumpton, he was smart about it, the low-key marketing genius.

00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:51.920
In 1866, right after the Civil War, he rents out the dining room of this fancy hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, the Atlantic House.

00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:58.240
So the wild part is that during the Civil War, that same building had been used as a temporary campus for the U.S.

00:27:58.240 --> 00:27:59.279
Naval Academy.

00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:05.440
So one year you've got midshipmen doing naval tactics, and the next year you've got rich people learning how to roller skate in the dining room.

00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:07.119
Rich people are so fucking weird.

00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:08.079
Yeah, I mean, right?

00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:17.119
He fills it with rental skates, invites the public in, and bam, you've got like the first American roller rank.

00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:17.920
Love it.

00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:19.359
It totally works.

00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:26.319
So, like through the 1800s, especially in New England, purpose-built ranks start popping up all over the place.

00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:30.880
And they are these, they're these big multi-purpose halls.

00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:46.319
So they're skating halls, they're dance halls, they're community meeting halls, they've got big chandeliers, they've got grandstands, they've got, you know, couples in top hats and bustles all circling the floor, maybe on skates, maybe dancing, right?

00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:48.079
Oh, so everybody's having fun.

00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:49.839
And you know what happens when people have fun?

00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:50.640
Nothing good.

00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:54.319
Other people freak out because fuck your fun.

00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:56.640
And there's like a moral panic.

00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:59.359
My lord, what will happen if we're all on wheels?

00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:03.440
Can you imagine everybody being like, oh my God, they did you see that?

00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:05.279
They're gliding across the floor.

00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:12.880
There's this paper in Lowell, Massachusetts that complains the local rink is the cause of more and worse.

00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:21.759
So there already was immorality, but more and worse immorality in the city than the music halls, which is saying a lot.

00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:28.960
You're more immoral than the local orchestra, the local cellist.

00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:30.480
Like, yeah, I guess.

00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:35.839
And all of that's kind of funny when you think about it, because that's totally what people said about MTV in the 80s, right?

00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:39.920
Like it's and they say that now about TikTok and about all that.

00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:42.720
I mean, functionally more and worse with our friends.

00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:43.440
Which is true.

00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:44.079
Of course.

00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:45.680
Not untrue, right?

00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:50.240
But the truth, the thing that is problematic is not the thing that people are screaming about.

00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:50.799
Of course.

00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:51.119
Right.

00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:51.519
No.

00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:56.960
So new technology, dancing, young people, it's like the fucking end of civilization.

00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:57.920
As always.

00:29:57.920 --> 00:29:59.839
So we roll forward to the early.

00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:02.640
Early 1900s skating is pretty well established.

00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:08.559
There are mass-produced skates, they're big rinks like the Chicago Coliseum, drawing thousands of people.

00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:11.680
Roller Derby starts up in the 1930s.

00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:12.720
Did you know that?

00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:13.279
I did.

00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:16.640
Did you do you had to do like your roller derby history class, I'm assuming?

00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:21.200
So, no, we had no roller derby history class, but I do know that it started that way.

00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:22.240
That's awesome.

00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:26.000
It was more entertainment, less sport.

00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:26.480
Okay.

00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:32.000
So it was more like watching, you know, these women just kind of go at it on the on the rink.

00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:34.799
And most of the time they were like a banked rink.

00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:35.440
Okay.

00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:35.839
Yeah.

00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.359
I skated flat rank, flat flat rink.

00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:47.519
But the bank skating was like the 30s all the way up through like, you know, mid-70s when you would watch it on TV.

00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:48.720
Do you remember watching it on TV?

00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:49.359
Did you ever see it?

00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.519
I remember the movies about roller derby in the 70s.

00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:54.079
Okay.

00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:00.880
I mean, they were like ultra spandexy, sexy ladies, but they were also then like busting the shit out of each other.

00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:07.599
It was sort of like a full contact, aggressive yet sexy totally like fake, like wrestling.

00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:08.319
Yeah.

00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:14.480
And I'm probably gonna get in trouble with somebody for calling wrestling fake, but they know it's not staged.

00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:15.599
I hope they do.

00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:20.000
I mean, they're surely I'm assuming that we have critical thinking.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:20.640
It's fine.

00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:22.079
That's a silly thing.

00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:24.640
Okay, please continue with your story.

00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:25.440
What happens?

00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:30.559
Real Dory starts in the 30s is more of like a like they called a contact endurance rare.

00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:30.960
Yep.

00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:32.079
Okay.

00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:34.160
Hit each other and keep going.

00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:34.720
Keep going.

00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:36.000
Try to stay up.

00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:39.119
So that sets us up for the mid-20th century boom.

00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:43.359
So you've got organ music, you've got drive-in waitresses on skates.

00:31:43.359 --> 00:31:46.319
Think of your happy days and stuff like that.

00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:46.799
Yeah, yeah.

00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:55.119
And then eventually we get into kind of our hot era, which would be like the roller disco era.

00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:55.920
Yes.

00:31:55.920 --> 00:32:03.599
And but really before we get to that, before we have mirror balls and we've got Xanadu, which we've talked about Xanadu before.

00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:05.039
So brilliant.

00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:15.200
We should probably talk about the actual buildings themselves that roller skating is happening in because it kind of tells the story about America.

00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:17.200
So fascinating.

00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:19.599
I have a little bit of information about that.

00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:20.240
Please do test.

00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:25.279
So then we found this article that traces 150 years of roller rinks through architecture.

00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:30.880
And once you kind of like get that information, you can't unsee it the way rinks.

00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:37.839
I mean, I guess that makes so much sense because they're social centers and they just like reflect what's happening in the country.

00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:40.640
And they're also pop culture social centers.

00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:41.920
Absolutely.

00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:50.160
So the 19th century, the early New England ranks are basically ballrooms, they're big high ceilings, they've got chandeliers, multi-use spaces.

00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:54.240
It's skating, but it's also where you had all your meeting halls and all that stuff, right?

00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:56.880
An immorality.

00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:09.039
And then you fast forward to like after World War II when America's heading to the suburbs, people are leaving cities, they're buying cars, they're living off the highways, and then the roller rink just like follows them there.

00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:09.440
Yeah.

00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:11.279
Not in a sprouty leg way.

00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:12.960
Not in a stranger thing.

00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:17.759
But this is where we get that archetype, the Levyton Arena.

00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:24.480
So it's on Long Island, and it is this huge utilitarian brick box, and it's right off the road.

00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:26.160
Oh, got you.

00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:35.599
But it had a giant neon sign and basically was like shouting to the world get in here, start skating, come like bring the family and come skate.

00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.519
So it was the big box roller skating rink.

00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:40.640
Exactly.

00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:51.039
Inside there was like a 200-foot maple floor of fluorescent lights and a live organ player in the corner, which like here we had Paramount Music Palace.

00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:55.680
There was like the no, there was not skating, but it was like the live organ music was a big draw.

00:33:55.680 --> 00:33:58.720
And on weekends, about 1700 skaters packed in.

00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:01.519
It's like a roller skating mall with organ music.

00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:06.559
So that's kind of the image that a lot of us have as Gen X kids.

00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:16.239
We've got this big box in a parking lot with an neon sign and has a name like Skate World or Rolling Thunder or whatever, right?

00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:20.719
Well, for us here locally, like it was USA skates.

00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:21.199
Okay.

00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:22.800
So that was your that was your bring.

00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:29.920
And we would actually go on Fridays during school.

00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:32.400
Like I went to a Montessori school.

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:34.480
I already told you about McCrazy's Montessori school.

00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:34.639
Yes.

00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:37.360
And so there were like 12 of us.

00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:40.159
No, there's probably like 20 of us on a bus.

00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:41.599
That's not a very big skating party.

00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:42.559
Small bus.

00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:44.480
Well, it's, I mean, it's open to the public.

00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:46.880
So there's like kids from other schools.

00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:50.639
We kind of went like from, I don't know, one to three or something like that.

00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:53.679
And it was red, white, and blue.

00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.239
I think it's now like pink, yellow, and blue or something like that.

00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:57.199
It's still standing though.

00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:00.320
There is, I don't know if the location still exists.

00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:04.079
I don't know if it's still open, but it was there for a long time.

00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:08.559
And we would like get dropped off and we would go in, and there were like the big round seats.

00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:08.800
Yeah.

00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:10.239
And they're carpeted.

00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:13.119
And we would have enough for like our skate rental.

00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:22.000
We get our like rental tan skates with like the orange toe things and the like weird toe protectors that definitely made it look like you had rental skates on.

00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:22.400
Yes.

00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:27.280
And we would get those and then like we would get out on the rink and how were you?

00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:28.079
Were you pretty good?

00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:28.559
Yeah.

00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:29.199
I was okay.

00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:30.079
I was an ice skater.

00:35:30.079 --> 00:35:30.800
Oh, that's good.

00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:32.480
So now they're not the same.

00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:32.800
No.

00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:34.320
And I had ice skated for the sky.

00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:39.119
But if your ankles are used to ice skating, then it makes it a little easier.

00:35:39.119 --> 00:35:41.920
For me, like ice was infinitely simpler.

00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:42.960
You're just gliding.

00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:43.440
Yeah.

00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:44.719
And it's all like control.

00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:47.679
So roller skates were a little bit more challenging.

00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:54.880
So I didn't, I didn't like totally die, but I could not skate backwards very well or do that like shoot the duck thing.

00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:58.960
Oh, I could never with roller skates because could you do it with ice skating?

00:35:58.960 --> 00:35:59.599
So heavy.

00:35:59.599 --> 00:35:59.840
Yeah.

00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:01.599
Ice skating way easier.

00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:04.480
The wheels on roller skates were so heavy.

00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:07.679
And I was like eight, nine, ten, to be able to lift that front leg.

00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:09.440
I gotcha.

00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:12.559
I could never get down low enough to be able to do shoot the duck.

00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:18.960
Like I was, I mean, I'm not a tall person, but it was like, I just, I don't think my body bends that way.

00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:19.679
I heard.

00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:21.519
I understand it was so funny.

00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:27.519
Is one of the gals that I've skated roller derby with, her derby name was Fire Ann Brimstone.

00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:28.239
Amazing.

00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:29.119
Pretty great.

00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:31.039
She's really tall.

00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:31.599
Uh-huh.

00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:34.320
And she was fucking awesome at Shoot the Duck.

00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:36.079
I was like, how do you do that?

00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:38.480
I wonder if it's called the same thing everywhere.

00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:39.679
I I don't know.

00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:40.559
That's a good question.

00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:44.639
Are we saying something that's like maybe I feel like people know that?

00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:45.280
Tell us.

00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:46.000
Yeah, we needed to.

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.679
Did you call it something else?

00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:57.039
But if you're squatting down, you got one leg underneath you, like your butt is sort of over one leg and your other leg is straight out and the skate is over.

00:36:57.360 --> 00:36:58.239
And you're moving.

00:36:58.239 --> 00:36:58.639
Yeah.

00:36:58.639 --> 00:36:59.840
And you're yes.

00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:00.159
Yeah.

00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:01.360
So she could do it.

00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:02.320
She could do it.

00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:07.440
And in fact, I she would she would get so low doing it that she could skate in between people's legs.

00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:08.079
That's amazing.

00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:08.800
Which is really cool.

00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:10.559
Not mine, because again, I'm really short.

00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:12.480
But like that doesn't work.

00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:13.199
That's gonna work.

00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:14.159
We're in the short club.

00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:14.400
Yeah.

00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:15.119
Super short.

00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:16.400
That's amazing.

00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:20.719
So my my rink is still around.

00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:23.119
Oh on the east side of Indianapolis.

00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:25.039
There's a place called the Roller Cave.

00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:25.760
Oh, yeah.

00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:26.320
Yes.

00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:27.119
I know of this.

00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:29.039
Yeah, the Roller Cave is awesome.

00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:32.559
It has not changed very much in 40 plus years.

00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:33.199
Amazing.

00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:34.400
That was my curiosity.

00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:41.119
It's got at least the last time I was in there, it still has the same paintings on the wall.

00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:43.679
It still has the same furniture.

00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:45.519
I think it's different carpet.

00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:47.440
Please God, I hope it's different carpet.

00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:50.880
But it had we had lockers in there so you could lock up your stuff.

00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:51.280
Yeah.

00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:54.880
It had big round like tables.

00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:57.119
It had a little snack bar.

00:37:57.119 --> 00:38:02.400
It had an arcade that went along one end of the rink.

00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:06.880
And on the other end of the rink was like where the slow skaters were.

00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:13.760
So if you were brand new to it and you needed like a safe space, you could go over there and skate and like hug the wall and stuff.

00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:14.639
Oh, that's awesome.

00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:24.559
And then it had these little like nooks kind of on another corner that had a bench and and it was a little dark in there, and that's where you could go and neck.

00:38:24.559 --> 00:38:26.079
So it was.

00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:30.639
I bet nobody was watching those corners.

00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:32.800
Like probably everybody.

00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:34.000
They're all spying on them.

00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:35.039
Who's going in?

00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:36.079
Who's going in there?

00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:42.800
But in elementary school, so our schools, we had a we had a obviously it was a big school district.

00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:50.159
So it would be like the sixth grade skating party, and it would be sixth grades from multiple schools.

00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:53.679
So you would have all these schools that would get together and go to their skating party.

00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:56.079
You know, at one time, which was pretty fun.

00:38:56.320 --> 00:38:59.199
Oh no, we were like separated from the rest of the public.

00:38:59.199 --> 00:38:59.840
Yeah.

00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:01.119
It was just our scene.

00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:07.599
I mean, there were other schools there during the day, but like you didn't mingle with others.

00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:08.880
We we didn't.

00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:14.000
And that I'm not saying that that means anything one way or the other, but it was probably for the best.

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:15.599
We were feral.

00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:16.880
It was fine.

00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:18.079
It was not appropriate.

00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:18.880
God.

00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:19.679
Oh my god.

00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:26.480
So anyway, like the the the Levington skating rink, it eventually gets demolished in the 80s.

00:39:26.480 --> 00:39:30.000
And that's like a lot of those post-war kind of places.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:35.039
There's a whole bunch of tear down the old stuff, build something new, you know, kind of thing.

00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:41.760
And well, on the West Coast, contrary to the Leviton situation, on the West Coast, the story is a little different.

00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:49.679
In California, you've got car culture and lots of weird like semi-industrial spaces.

00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:54.079
So while some rinks are built from scratch, others are just like reuses.

00:39:54.079 --> 00:39:55.199
Yeah.

00:39:55.440 --> 00:40:00.719
So the the Moonlight Rollerway is in uh was in Glendale, California.

00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:04.719
And it originally started out as an aircraft parts foundry.

00:40:04.719 --> 00:40:06.880
So a big industrial space.

00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:07.199
Okay.

00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:14.880
And then in the 1950s, somebody slaps on in a maple floor, you know, put a nice floor down, throw a snack bar in there, put an organ in.

00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:16.960
We need organs.

00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:19.039
And then boom, you've got an instant roller ring.

00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:21.360
And it still looks so mid-century.

00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:26.239
The entry with the old fluorescent lights, a snack bar, the popcorn machine, the molded plastic chairs.

00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:29.760
It's like walking into your grandma's photo album, but on skates.

00:40:30.079 --> 00:40:32.159
So just sliding into grandma's room.

00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:38.239
So then we jump again, right, to now where we've got brand new rinks.

00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:47.119
Doesn't happen very often, but when they do get built, there's often some part of like an urban park or a redevelopment of some sort.

00:40:47.119 --> 00:40:58.800
And we've got a like a bike track, the velodrome on the yeah, in Indy.

00:40:58.800 --> 00:41:09.360
And they've put in they put in a skate park for like skateboards, but there's also a space where kind of like a half type of half pipe.

00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:09.679
Yeah.

00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:10.639
Kind of half pipe.

00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:11.440
Half bowl.

00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:16.559
And I have seen people on quad skates doing some tricks and stuff in here.

00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:17.679
So that's awesome.

00:41:17.679 --> 00:41:22.079
So that's kind of what I think is sort of kind of replace those roller ranks.

00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:26.239
Uh there's a great example of the roller rink at the at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:27.679
Oh on Pier Two.

00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:30.000
It's got like skyline views.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.800
It's one piece of a multi-use recreation area with like body courts and shuffleboard and playgrounds.

00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:38.079
Shuffleboard, we need to fucking bring back competitive shuffleboard.

00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:45.760
So what's fun about that is I think, I think I have seen that recreation park.

00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:49.119
The last time we were in New York, we took the train.

00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:52.880
There's a couple different ways to get front to Manhattan from Brooklyn.

00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:58.960
One is underground, underwater, and then the other one is to go on basically on one of the bridges.

00:41:58.960 --> 00:41:59.440
Yes.

00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:11.119
And I remember going over and looking down, and there was like this really cool on in Manhattan, like this really cool recreation place that had pickleball, tennis.

00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:14.000
Oh I bet you anything that's where that is.

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:16.000
That's and now I need to know.

00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:18.000
And next time I go, I'm gonna have to take my skates.

00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:19.280
Inquiring minds.

00:42:19.280 --> 00:42:20.800
That's amazing.

00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:21.599
Yep.

00:42:21.599 --> 00:42:29.760
Those are very different from the like gilded ballroom or a big neon box in Levit Town, but the core recipe hasn't changed.

00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:36.000
There's a smooth floor, something over your head, some music, and some wheels and yeah, questionable nachos.

00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:40.480
Probably super questionable nachos, which are the best kind of nachos.

00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:52.320
All right, so now we need to get into our era, and that's where everything, where those neon boxes and those converted warehouses were the place to be on a Friday night when we were kids.

00:42:52.719 --> 00:42:57.360
What did the rank actually mean to us as 70s and 80s kids?

00:42:57.360 --> 00:43:02.719
I'm sure everybody has a different story because it was more than just a place to like get embarrassed and fall down in public.

00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:12.320
I mean, I think besides the shopping mall, which was super important, this was kind of a place for our first social network.

00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:18.639
So, you know, by the late 1940s, roller skating was America's biggest participation sport.

00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:19.920
Oh, that's crazy.

00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:20.800
I know it's cool.

00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:24.880
18 million skaters, there were 5,000 rinks.

00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:25.440
Wow.

00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:32.559
And so by the time that this gets to us, it's totally normalized weekly ritual to go and hang out at a roller cave.

00:43:32.880 --> 00:43:34.159
Your parents just like roller rink.

00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:41.840
Drop you off at seven if they did, if they cared, if somebody else's parents didn't drop you off.

00:43:41.840 --> 00:43:49.760
They would pick you up at 10, they knew where you were, inside you have just enough freedom to like feel wild, but there are still adults kind of like technically in charge.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.880
Technically, mostly it was just like an older teenager that really didn't give two shits.

00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:56.239
Renting you the skates.

00:43:56.239 --> 00:43:56.800
Right.

00:43:56.800 --> 00:43:58.239
Like, there you go, kid.

00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:03.920
So you get the rental cake, you get the rental skate counter, you know, where you have to like get your skates.

00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:05.280
Yeah, hope they have my size.

00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:06.880
Hope they have hope they have your size.

00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:11.280
I hope you don't get some that are like look like they've like old shitty bowling shoes, right?

00:44:11.280 --> 00:44:13.760
Like that are super broken in.

00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:18.320
You've got a weird kind of sticky carpet with the neon squiggles on it.

00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:21.360
Like I can picture the rollercade carpet still.

00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:30.079
You get the arcade, you get a snack bar, and it's got pizzas, it's got sodas, hot dogs, popcorn, that kind of crap.

00:44:30.079 --> 00:44:36.960
Although, although I want to say, I want to say we didn't have popcorn because I don't think they wanted it on the floor.

00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:38.400
I mean, that makes sense.

00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:40.880
That seems like a reasonable adult decision.

00:44:41.119 --> 00:44:42.000
Yeah, like, right?

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:45.519
Like, don't put something like, I could be wrong, but I feel like that was a thing.

00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:49.280
Because why would you want to be roller skating over popcorn all the time?

00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:53.119
I mean, inevitably, some kids can go out there with a mouthful of popcorn and spit it everywhere.

00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:55.519
Like let's fall and like sleep here.

00:44:55.519 --> 00:44:58.159
And there were rules at the skating rink.

00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:02.159
There was a fast lane on the outside, there's a wall hugger lane on the inside.

00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:03.920
Actually, that was reverse the reverse, yes.

00:45:03.920 --> 00:45:06.559
The wall huggers were on the far.

00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:13.840
But there was like a space more in the middle where like if you could get off the wall, yes, and you could get to the center, right?

00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:15.280
You were a little bit safer.

00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:16.800
It was like Frogger.

00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:21.599
Like, good luck getting from there over there because you were gonna get run over.

00:45:21.840 --> 00:45:26.239
And you don't skate the wrong way, they'll tell you when you're gonna like switch directions.

00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:30.559
You don't cut through the middle, and if you fall, you get up as fast as you can.

00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:35.199
But also as a skater, you crawl off, you should, you know, be mindful, don't worry.

00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:36.639
Right with the children.

00:45:36.960 --> 00:45:39.360
Well, so then you also didn't have organs anymore.

00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:41.280
Like we had DJs.

00:45:41.280 --> 00:45:43.119
No organs at my skating rink.

00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:47.280
Yeah, we didn't have like a true traditional like DJ DJ.

00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:49.360
It was just some well, I know I take that back.

00:45:49.360 --> 00:45:50.239
There was a DJ.

00:45:50.239 --> 00:45:51.039
Yeah, somebody was.

00:45:51.039 --> 00:45:53.519
But it was just kind of a dorky kid playing music.

00:45:53.519 --> 00:46:00.880
It wasn't like it wasn't like when you think of DJs now, you think of like somebody who's curated DJ then and DJ now.

00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:14.320
Well, we had like sort of even and this we went during the day, like there would be somebody there that would call out like reverse skate, slow skate, like we're gonna do a dark skate, we're gonna do a so there was like an MC.

00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:18.320
I would think of them more as like an MC of the skating experience.

00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:18.719
Right.

00:46:18.719 --> 00:46:31.840
They weren't curating the music, like yeah, sometimes because sometimes they would give like intros to some of the songs, like it was a little bit of a like radio DJ MC vibe on the on the west side.

00:46:31.840 --> 00:46:39.599
Yep, but they weren't like the theme is, you know, or like trying to like I don't know, my son was ridiculous.

00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:46.320
You wouldn't have like mixing your depeche mode that would then go into your erasure song on the beat.

00:46:46.320 --> 00:46:49.440
Absolutely like it was not that yeah, pre that.

00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:55.840
There would be what you just said, like there would be somebody going couple skate, and then you had to figure out if anybody's gonna skate with you.

00:46:55.840 --> 00:46:56.639
Oh god.

00:46:56.639 --> 00:47:03.360
The snowball where a couple skate starts with just a few people and then they pull people in.

00:47:03.360 --> 00:47:06.400
So you're kind of like waiting to get like picked.

00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:07.440
Thank you.

00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:10.480
And that was like a like a snake, right?

00:47:10.480 --> 00:47:11.679
Yeah.

00:47:11.679 --> 00:47:12.559
Oh yeah.

00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:13.599
Oh, the music.

00:47:13.599 --> 00:47:18.960
So for a lot of us, the rink was where we first heard certain songs too.

00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:19.920
Oh, for sure.

00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:27.119
You know, because you just didn't have you didn't have satellite radio, you didn't have, you know, whatever, and we didn't have MTV back then either.

00:47:27.119 --> 00:47:38.159
So it was sort of like where we've heard those first songs, and you heard disco and you heard funk and you heard like early hip hop, you know, the first time you hear prints and stuff like that.

00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:41.440
Raspberry Beret was one of my favorite songs at the skating room.

00:47:41.440 --> 00:47:42.159
That was a big time.

00:47:42.159 --> 00:47:44.239
Absolutely remember that.

00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:44.880
Yep.

00:47:44.880 --> 00:47:47.840
You already said this, but I'm gonna ask you really quickly.

00:47:47.840 --> 00:47:49.760
Your home rink, what was it called?

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:51.679
That was the roller cave.

00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:53.519
Okay, what did it smell like?

00:47:54.400 --> 00:47:59.920
Oh my god, I couldn't tell you exactly what it smells like, but I could tell you that it still smells the same.

00:47:59.920 --> 00:48:07.679
So, like, literally, the last time I went in there, it it like hit me like I just this wave of nostalgia, really wild.

00:48:07.679 --> 00:48:09.360
We should make it make it a can.

00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:14.880
What was the song where you knew you were cool if you skated to it?

00:48:14.880 --> 00:48:16.880
Like where you felt awesome.

00:48:17.199 --> 00:48:21.280
So I was a weird alternative kid.

00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:30.719
So if they ever played anything that was not something that was on the radio, it was like an alternative of something and I knew it.

00:48:31.199 --> 00:48:31.920
Yeah, that's it.

00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:34.719
So how old were you when you went to skating rink?

00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:46.559
Oh, so probably I mean it started in elementary school, so probably like fifth and sixth grade, and then it's like 10, 11.

00:48:46.559 --> 00:48:49.599
Yeah, and then all the way through high school.

00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:50.559
Oh, okay.

00:48:50.559 --> 00:48:51.760
Yeah, okay, yeah.

00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:53.440
Okay, that gives that gives us some cards.

00:48:53.440 --> 00:48:54.639
How about you guys to that?

00:48:56.159 --> 00:48:57.280
Do you know what it smelled like?

00:48:57.280 --> 00:48:58.800
Your USA skates.

00:48:59.119 --> 00:49:06.400
You know, I I have more visuals, like it was it was carpety, it was red, white, and blue.

00:49:06.400 --> 00:49:06.880
Okay.

00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:13.519
I don't remember so much a smell of it, but the song was another one bites the dust.

00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:14.960
Oh, that is a good way.

00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:20.880
And because when it would start, there was just something about it, and then inevitably somebody would fall and it was funny as book.

00:49:20.880 --> 00:49:25.599
And I just thought it was like boom, I do remember that.

00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:28.800
It was it was my favorite.

00:49:28.800 --> 00:49:30.239
That's awesome.

00:49:30.239 --> 00:49:31.039
Yeah, Queen.

00:49:31.039 --> 00:49:32.800
Yes, Queen's a solid choice.

00:49:32.800 --> 00:49:33.599
It was great.

00:49:33.599 --> 00:49:34.559
We loved that.

00:49:34.559 --> 00:49:40.320
Never ever did a couple skate with someone that I liked.

00:49:40.559 --> 00:49:42.239
Did you I don't remember?

00:49:42.239 --> 00:49:43.280
I really don't remember.

00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:45.039
I don't have a memory of that.

00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:46.719
Yeah, I don't feel like that.

00:49:46.719 --> 00:49:50.400
I think I I mean I remember seeing that happening for sure.

00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:53.760
I remember people, you know, couple skating, it was all the thing.

00:49:53.760 --> 00:49:54.320
Okay.

00:49:54.320 --> 00:49:55.440
I don't think so.

00:49:55.440 --> 00:49:57.440
I mean, I was just skating with my girlfriend.

00:49:57.440 --> 00:50:03.679
I might have had a you know boyfriend or something, maybe the I don't know.

00:50:04.239 --> 00:50:06.800
We were we were we're at school and we were the weird kids.

00:50:06.800 --> 00:50:09.360
So the selection was very limited.

00:50:09.360 --> 00:50:13.440
So I was just hanging out with my friends.

00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:13.920
Okay.

00:50:13.920 --> 00:50:15.920
We would just skate together.

00:50:15.920 --> 00:50:18.719
What would you wear to skate?

00:50:18.719 --> 00:50:20.800
Oh, we were just nerds.

00:50:20.800 --> 00:50:21.679
We didn't dress up.

00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:23.519
No, I think we were just in our school clothes.

00:50:23.519 --> 00:50:23.760
Yeah.

00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:29.119
So it was just like whatever my parents, we had no uniforms, we just wore whatever.

00:50:29.119 --> 00:50:36.719
So I do remember like the era of kind of like Olivia Newton John kind of satin shorts and a little crappie tap.

00:50:36.719 --> 00:50:45.440
And then the this is so telling the Olivia Newton John braided terry cloth like headband with like the strings on it.

00:50:45.440 --> 00:50:46.159
Physical.

00:50:46.159 --> 00:50:48.320
Yeah, yeah, those were kind of cool.

00:50:48.320 --> 00:50:52.960
And I'd clips, yeah, with none of us were really allowed to have those.

00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:53.920
We didn't know why.

00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:57.280
We just weren't allowed to have them because they were so cool.

00:50:57.280 --> 00:50:58.320
Why would you not want me to?

00:50:58.639 --> 00:51:02.320
See, and I don't remember like anybody telling me that I couldn't have one of those.

00:51:02.320 --> 00:51:04.639
I never, I had no idea what it was for.

00:51:04.639 --> 00:51:05.920
No, absolutely not.

00:51:05.920 --> 00:51:07.199
I just thought they were beautiful.

00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:07.679
Yeah.

00:51:07.679 --> 00:51:12.159
Like I remember I remember knowing that it was called a roach clip, but not knowing what the fuck that was.

00:51:12.159 --> 00:51:12.719
What is that?

00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:13.599
What is a rope?

00:51:13.840 --> 00:51:15.119
Like, ooh, like a cockrape.

00:51:15.119 --> 00:51:16.559
Like a clip a roach.

00:51:16.559 --> 00:51:20.079
Can tell you this is a really specific memory.

00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:27.360
Out of the group of girls that I would skate with, we did have an idea for skate club jackets.

00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:28.639
Yes.

00:51:29.199 --> 00:51:31.199
And matching berets.

00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:36.800
And they were going to be purple sequined jackets.

00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:40.159
This all went with like Raspberry Beret being on the lake.

00:51:40.159 --> 00:51:45.679
And then we were going to have purple berets, and we would be like a skate squad.

00:51:45.679 --> 00:51:47.760
This was our fantasy.

00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:52.639
So in our imaginations, that is what we thought we were.

00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:55.760
And so we were probably like nine or ten.

00:51:55.760 --> 00:51:56.639
Nice.

00:51:56.639 --> 00:51:58.480
This was a very highly developed.

00:51:58.480 --> 00:51:59.360
Yes.

00:51:59.360 --> 00:51:59.920
I love that.

00:51:59.920 --> 00:52:01.360
You've got a girl gang.

00:52:01.360 --> 00:52:03.119
It was in our imaginations.

00:52:03.119 --> 00:52:04.480
We were going to do that.

00:52:04.480 --> 00:52:05.679
It was pretty awesome.

00:52:05.679 --> 00:52:14.480
But one of the fucking coolest things, if you did you ever go skating when there were like professional skaters there also at an open skate?

00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:15.039
Yes.

00:52:15.039 --> 00:52:16.960
Do you remember like yes?

00:52:17.280 --> 00:52:30.400
So they're at Roller Cave still, still and now and then there is there's a group of African American skaters and they jam skate.

00:52:30.400 --> 00:52:33.280
And I couldn't tell you what day of the week they do that.

00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:34.239
It might be a Saturday.

00:52:34.239 --> 00:52:35.519
I I don't know.

00:52:35.519 --> 00:52:42.079
But they come in and the music is for them and it is fucking amazing.

00:52:42.079 --> 00:52:43.199
Oh, that's so cool.

00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:44.320
So much fun.

00:52:44.320 --> 00:52:49.440
And I, you know, I was actually talking to my mom on the way over here about what we were going to talk about today.

00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:51.760
And I was, she was like, oh yeah, jam skating.

00:52:51.760 --> 00:53:07.360
And I said, well, when I played roller derby, there was a gal, I mean, she's she's still a gal and she's still a friend of mine, but um her derby name was Shady Lane and her her number was 317, which is our area code here, which I think is pretty cute.

00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:08.320
Yes, funny.

00:53:08.320 --> 00:53:09.440
Is that right, 317?

00:53:09.440 --> 00:53:10.400
Or was it a zip code?

00:53:10.400 --> 00:53:11.360
Maybe it was a zip code.

00:53:11.360 --> 00:53:21.039
Anyway, Shady was, and I'm sure still is just the coolest jam skater I have.

00:53:21.039 --> 00:53:23.920
I don't know how she learned, I don't know where she learned.

00:53:23.920 --> 00:53:29.920
But damn, it was always fun to come out when we would skate out before Derby.

00:53:29.920 --> 00:53:34.480
They would play like ACDZ or something like that to get us wound up.

00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:38.559
Or I can't remember, like a bunch of other like cool songs.

00:53:38.559 --> 00:53:44.719
And she was so good at like just going to the beat and getting that like crisscrossing over.

00:53:44.719 --> 00:53:45.920
And that's awesome.

00:53:45.920 --> 00:53:46.559
So fun.

00:53:46.559 --> 00:53:47.360
I love that.

00:53:47.519 --> 00:53:47.920
Yep.

00:53:47.920 --> 00:53:53.280
So skating was not only a place where like we built our very complex social lives, right?

00:53:53.280 --> 00:54:05.760
Uh your girl gang was also like incredibly political, which I did not realize this when you talked to me until you were like talking through it and we were looking at the research.

00:54:05.760 --> 00:54:11.119
And it was especially political in minority communities for a long time.

00:54:11.119 --> 00:54:14.000
Rinks were segregated, unsurprisingly.

00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:28.559
Even without official Jim Crow laws, you had ranks that were just straight up segregated, like no black skaters allowed, or only allowed on certain nights for like soul night or family night or gospel night.

00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:32.000
And people didn't like that.

00:54:32.559 --> 00:54:33.599
Well, good.

00:54:33.599 --> 00:54:35.039
There were skate ins.

00:54:35.039 --> 00:54:39.280
So, like the roller rink, think of the roller rink version kind of of a sit-in.

00:54:39.280 --> 00:54:46.719
So starting in the 40s and the 50s, black skaters would show up, they would demand a skate, and they would refuse to leave when they were turned away.

00:54:46.719 --> 00:54:52.559
So, in a lot of ways, it's part of that broader civil rights movement that was happening at the same time.

00:54:52.960 --> 00:55:02.400
Even official after segregation, officially, not officially, but officially ends, you still sell rings like using dress codes and music rolls.

00:55:02.400 --> 00:55:07.519
I mean, all the very like coded ways in which we keep segregation going.

00:55:07.519 --> 00:55:07.920
Right.

00:55:07.920 --> 00:55:09.599
We still see it today, right?

00:55:09.599 --> 00:55:14.320
Like no baggy clothes, no hip hop nights, shutting down urban skating.

00:55:14.320 --> 00:55:16.800
You know, there's a lot of coded language in that.

00:55:17.039 --> 00:55:17.360
Yeah.

00:55:17.360 --> 00:55:27.440
So what's extra wild is that while that is happening, black skaters are also literally inventing styles that define roller disco and modern jam skating.

00:55:27.440 --> 00:55:35.440
So the stuff that we can see now and like yeah at roller at roller cave all came from that, you know, that generation.

00:55:36.079 --> 00:55:46.719
There were places like the Empire Skate Center in Brooklyn, for black skate culture DJs, mixing funk, soul, and disco, skaters inventing beautiful new, super technical dance styles.

00:55:47.119 --> 00:55:52.159
In Chicago, there was a place called JB Skating, which was named for James Brown.

00:55:52.159 --> 00:55:58.639
So all funky footwork, deep knee bends, Detroit had its own soul style.

00:55:58.639 --> 00:56:03.760
Philly has kind of a fast backwards thing that happens.

00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:06.079
Atlanta has its own flair.

00:56:06.079 --> 00:56:15.760
And so city by city rinks kind of become cultural hubs, and you could sort of identify where people were from based on their skate style.

00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:16.800
Oh, that's amazing.

00:56:16.800 --> 00:56:19.840
And those rinks double, they were like early music venues.

00:56:19.840 --> 00:56:23.920
So a lot of hip hop and RB acts played roller rinks long before they were doing arenas.

00:56:23.920 --> 00:56:29.679
You've got artists like Queen Latifah, NWA, Salt Peppa rinks were a key stop for them.

00:56:29.920 --> 00:56:30.559
That is cool.

00:56:30.559 --> 00:56:39.039
So there's a great modern documentary called United Skates, and that follows black skate communities that are fighting to keep their ranks open.

00:56:39.039 --> 00:56:42.320
And that really shows how crucial those spaces are.

00:56:42.320 --> 00:56:45.679
And they weren't just for fun, but they were there for community.

00:56:45.679 --> 00:56:48.239
They were there for culture, they were there for joy.

00:56:48.239 --> 00:56:52.320
And, you know, so, so important to those communities.

00:56:52.639 --> 00:56:58.880
And unsurprisingly, there's a whole other strand of skates, ranks as spaces for queer and gender-bending folks.

00:56:59.519 --> 00:56:59.679
Yeah.

00:56:59.679 --> 00:57:03.519
There was a place called Flippers Roller Boogie Palace in West Hollywood.

00:57:03.519 --> 00:57:04.559
I know, right?

00:57:04.559 --> 00:57:07.840
So that was in the late 70s into the early 80s.

00:57:07.840 --> 00:57:16.639
It was a wild mix of drag queens, punk kids, Hollywood celebrities, musicians, prints performed there in stockings and heels.

00:57:16.639 --> 00:57:17.519
Thank you very much.

00:57:17.519 --> 00:57:19.360
The go-go's played.

00:57:19.360 --> 00:57:23.119
So very glitter, queer rock and roll energy.

00:57:23.360 --> 00:57:27.760
And in a different way, roller derby becomes this big feminist, often queer-centered place.

00:57:27.760 --> 00:57:32.719
Women on skates, hitting each other, taking up space, being loud.

00:57:32.719 --> 00:57:35.840
That's been happening since the mid-20th century.

00:57:35.840 --> 00:57:41.199
And then things get this huge DIY revival in the 2000s.

00:57:41.199 --> 00:57:41.840
I love it.

00:57:41.840 --> 00:57:43.199
Of like derby.

00:57:43.360 --> 00:57:43.840
Uh-huh.

00:57:43.840 --> 00:57:55.599
So when we think back on our rink memories, especially as girls, that feeling of freedom and power and being in your body, which you kind of had to do, right?

00:57:55.599 --> 00:57:59.039
Like you had to do in order to be able to skate.

00:57:59.039 --> 00:58:09.440
So that's part of kind of a much longer story of people using these spaces to really claim dignity and joy, even when all of the rules were were kind of set up against them.

00:58:09.920 --> 00:58:14.320
Let's talk about what happened when the disco ball era started to fade.

00:58:14.320 --> 00:58:22.159
The skates got skinny again, and everything became like extreme sports.

00:58:22.639 --> 00:58:22.880
Yeah.

00:58:22.880 --> 00:58:25.920
Then you get into the whole rollerblade thing, right?

00:58:25.920 --> 00:58:36.960
So late 70s, early 80s, we've got roller discos, we've got movies like Roller Boogie, we've got Skate Town USA, we have your favorite movie of all time, Santa Dude.

00:58:37.360 --> 00:58:38.719
It's just fucking unpack Santa.

00:58:38.719 --> 00:58:42.480
It deserves its own podcast episode.

00:58:42.480 --> 00:58:45.199
And we'll just leave it at that.

00:58:45.199 --> 00:58:46.000
I love it.

00:58:46.000 --> 00:58:50.000
But I mean, The Daughters of Zeus, roller skating.

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:51.280
This makes so much sense.

00:58:51.280 --> 00:58:54.719
Could Olivia Newton John have looked any more gorgeous?

00:58:54.719 --> 00:58:56.559
Sonny, hello.

00:58:56.559 --> 00:58:57.599
Oh, he was pretty.

00:58:57.599 --> 00:58:59.760
He painted album covers.

00:58:59.760 --> 00:59:05.119
All everything about this movie is like romance and lost art.

00:59:05.119 --> 00:59:08.400
But we're gonna transition and talk about other things.

00:59:08.400 --> 00:59:11.119
I know we can totally get something.

00:59:11.119 --> 00:59:13.199
And inline skating, that's what we were talking about.

00:59:13.199 --> 00:59:14.719
I was like, what the fuck is happening?

00:59:14.719 --> 00:59:21.360
So we move from the roller skating that you and I grew up with to modern inline skates.

00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:35.280
The Olson brothers in Minnesota, they take this old inline concept, they use modern plastics, they use regular like skate bearings, and then they market that whole thing as the rollerblade.

00:59:35.280 --> 00:59:38.079
So that was where that name came from, rollerblade.

00:59:38.079 --> 00:59:44.960
At first, it's really more for hockey players to kind of learn to train off season.

00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:45.599
So do you remember?

00:59:45.599 --> 00:59:47.440
I I remember that was reasonable.

00:59:47.440 --> 00:59:53.519
Yeah, and I remember when I first saw rollerblades, and you'd see people that would like they it would look like they were icing, right?

00:59:53.519 --> 00:59:55.920
Like where they do the yeah, yeah, you know, like for sure.

00:59:55.920 --> 01:00:01.440
Like to stop, you either like pointed your toes together or Or whatever.

01:00:01.440 --> 01:00:05.360
Anyway, so then it becomes a full-blown fitness fad.

01:00:05.360 --> 01:00:12.239
Like everybody is rollerblading in two tight bike shorts, right?

01:00:12.239 --> 01:00:14.559
Like it's not that great.

01:00:14.960 --> 01:00:18.239
And then at the same time, like home entertainment explodes.

01:00:18.239 --> 01:00:20.880
Cable TV, VCRs, video games, malls.

01:00:20.880 --> 01:00:26.000
If you're a suburban teen, suddenly you have a lot more options than just going to like skate in circles.

01:00:26.320 --> 01:00:29.119
I mean, once your friends, once you get the car, right?

01:00:29.119 --> 01:00:29.440
Yeah.

01:00:29.440 --> 01:00:33.280
You didn't really have to go skating to hang out with your friends anymore.

01:00:33.519 --> 01:00:33.840
Yeah.

01:00:33.840 --> 01:00:40.800
And you can like stay home and watch a movie or like go to your friends, or you're playing your Atari.

01:00:40.800 --> 01:00:41.360
Right.

01:00:41.360 --> 01:00:45.199
So you don't have to like pump all your quarters into the arcade.

01:00:45.199 --> 01:00:45.599
Yeah.

01:00:45.599 --> 01:00:48.880
If only we'd known, we would have never done that and saved all the arcade.

01:00:48.880 --> 01:00:52.000
But what was the consequence of it?

01:00:52.320 --> 01:00:59.599
Well, so rink owners started dealing with rising real estate prices, insurance costs, because I'm positive.

01:00:59.599 --> 01:01:04.719
Like you know, a bunch of kids on wheels, probably not super cheap for insurance.

01:01:04.719 --> 01:01:07.199
Maintenance on those big buildings.

01:01:07.199 --> 01:01:12.800
So think about those big giant buildings and how much it must cost to, like, I don't know, put a roof on that thing.

01:01:12.800 --> 01:01:13.920
Perfect, sure.

01:01:13.920 --> 01:01:15.039
Some of them pivot.

01:01:15.039 --> 01:01:22.960
So they add in things like roller hockey leagues, they add in speed skating, they turn into kind of those birthday party machines.

01:01:22.960 --> 01:01:26.000
That's where you would go for, you know, Sally's birthday party.

01:01:26.239 --> 01:01:26.880
Here we're gonna go.

01:01:26.880 --> 01:01:27.679
We're gonna go skate.

01:01:27.679 --> 01:01:29.519
Keeps the kids busy and sweaty.

01:01:29.519 --> 01:01:29.840
Yep.

01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:31.920
And other ranks just like fade away.

01:01:31.920 --> 01:01:38.480
From the mid-2000s to the late 2010s, the number of roller skaters in the US drops a lot and a ton of rinks close.

01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:42.800
Some of our childhood rinks are now like churches, warehouses, big box stores.

01:01:43.440 --> 01:01:45.039
Yours, we're not sure if it's still around.

01:01:45.119 --> 01:01:47.519
I know my still there's physically there.

01:01:47.519 --> 01:01:48.079
I can't remember.

01:01:48.079 --> 01:01:58.639
I do remember its transition from it, it was like off of oh gosh, my school was over by like the museum, the art museum, and like Hold Springs Ground and that kind of thing.

01:01:58.639 --> 01:02:02.320
So it was like 38th Street and 465.

01:02:02.320 --> 01:02:03.280
On the west side?

01:02:03.280 --> 01:02:04.079
On the west side.

01:02:04.079 --> 01:02:04.719
Oh, it's gone.

01:02:04.719 --> 01:02:04.960
Yeah.

01:02:04.960 --> 01:02:05.920
I'm pretty sure it's gone.

01:02:06.079 --> 01:02:07.760
But I think it hung on there for a really long time.

01:02:08.079 --> 01:02:10.639
It was, I remember it going pink and yellow.

01:02:10.639 --> 01:02:12.400
And I was like, well, that's weird.

01:02:12.400 --> 01:02:13.760
It's USA skates.

01:02:13.760 --> 01:02:14.320
Hello.

01:02:14.480 --> 01:02:20.800
And I think when I played roller derby, it was still sort of around, and then it kind of pooped out.

01:02:20.880 --> 01:02:22.719
So I'm peeking.

01:02:22.719 --> 01:02:24.159
I'm looking.

01:02:24.159 --> 01:02:27.199
There are still United Skates.

01:02:27.199 --> 01:02:28.639
Oh, maybe that's what it became.

01:02:28.639 --> 01:02:30.880
United Sates of America, Skate Lands.

01:02:30.880 --> 01:02:35.039
In my brain, it was just like, yeah, it was at 38th and 465.

01:02:35.039 --> 01:02:36.559
That's definitely where it was.

01:02:36.559 --> 01:02:37.599
That's so funny.

01:02:37.599 --> 01:02:40.880
Yeah, there's like a memory page, like a nostalgia page.

01:02:40.880 --> 01:02:42.960
We're not gonna mention that word.

01:02:42.960 --> 01:02:43.920
But that's okay.

01:02:43.920 --> 01:02:47.039
So it's it's probably not there anymore, but that's where I was.

01:02:47.039 --> 01:02:47.440
Yeah.

01:02:47.599 --> 01:02:50.079
Well, we should go skate at Roller Roller Cave.

01:02:50.239 --> 01:02:50.480
Oh.

01:02:50.719 --> 01:02:52.880
And you could smell the smell I'm talking about.

01:02:53.280 --> 01:02:56.239
My kids have been to a party there, but I don't know if I ever walked in.

01:02:56.480 --> 01:03:00.800
I was just like just it really is like amazing wild.

01:03:00.800 --> 01:03:06.800
So in the 2020s, the most 2020 twist happened, right?

01:03:06.800 --> 01:03:10.000
You had uh you had a stupid global pandemic.

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:10.960
Very stupid.

01:03:10.960 --> 01:03:15.840
But what that does is it actually brings roller skating back to some level.

01:03:15.840 --> 01:03:16.480
Why?

01:03:16.719 --> 01:03:19.280
Well, oh I mean why don't I tell you?

01:03:19.280 --> 01:03:20.800
I have it written down here.

01:03:20.800 --> 01:03:21.440
Why?

01:03:21.440 --> 01:03:22.880
That was my spontaneous question.

01:03:22.880 --> 01:03:23.360
Why?

01:03:23.360 --> 01:03:28.239
Because people are stuck at home and they need something to do outside by themselves.

01:03:28.239 --> 01:03:29.119
That's right.

01:03:29.119 --> 01:03:33.280
Bike shops and skate shops suddenly can't keep inline skates and quads in stock.

01:03:33.280 --> 01:03:36.079
Some companies report their biggest sales in decades.

01:03:36.320 --> 01:03:43.119
So I will say that I, after I finished roller derby, I was like, I'm packing my skates away.

01:03:43.119 --> 01:03:50.320
So I've got this fabulous pair of pretty expensive Rydell skates that are packed away in a suitcase.

01:03:50.320 --> 01:03:58.559
I'm a little nervous to ever open it again because there is a smell that comes with roller derby that is something I cannot even describe.

01:03:58.559 --> 01:04:04.480
I do think I could package it, send it to Russia, and probably like, you know.

01:04:04.480 --> 01:04:05.599
A couple bucks.

01:04:05.599 --> 01:04:09.360
Well, probably just get rid of like America's enemies, you know.

01:04:09.360 --> 01:04:11.440
Like I could probably just knock them out.

01:04:11.440 --> 01:04:13.280
This is gonna be the new propaganda.

01:04:13.280 --> 01:04:14.159
So bad.

01:04:14.159 --> 01:04:16.400
So yeah, somebody don't open that box.

01:04:16.400 --> 01:04:22.320
But I did buy myself, there's a there's a company called Moxie skates, and they're beautiful.

01:04:22.320 --> 01:04:28.000
They're like the ones I have are purple and they're like a purple velvet, and they're gorgeous.

01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:32.480
So I bought those and I bought outdoor wheels to go with those.

01:04:32.480 --> 01:04:37.440
And I for I I took took them out for a couple spins.

01:04:37.440 --> 01:04:46.239
There's just no place near me that have like decent, like a I mean, I'd have to go to like the Monad or something, like a bike trail or something and do it.

01:04:46.239 --> 01:04:50.800
But I would love to put those on and just go back to the go back to the rank.

01:04:50.800 --> 01:04:58.480
But on TikTok and Instagram, you go, you know, you see like all of these gorgeous kind of retro-looking skate videos.

01:04:58.480 --> 01:04:58.800
Yes.

01:04:58.800 --> 01:05:07.760
There are people out in pastel outfits, they're doing smooth dance moves, they're doing the turns and the twists, and they're on empty parking lots, they're on boardwalks.

01:05:07.760 --> 01:05:09.440
We just need to be somewhere.

01:05:09.440 --> 01:05:10.079
Oh my god.

01:05:10.079 --> 01:05:19.360
Some of them, some like a lot of those videos are like gals in gals and guys in California, just out, you know, by the beach and super jelly.

01:05:19.599 --> 01:05:20.639
That's amazing.

01:05:20.639 --> 01:05:28.960
So now we've got this like interesting mix of old school rinks that are kind of lingering, sometimes with adult skate nights.

01:05:28.960 --> 01:05:31.360
That could mean a lot of things, actually.

01:05:31.360 --> 01:05:38.079
New urban park rinks like the Brooklyn Bridge Park or like the park that's on the west side of Indianapolis.

01:05:38.079 --> 01:05:42.639
And then this outdoor social media skating scene that's like half fur back, half new.

01:05:42.639 --> 01:05:45.039
Everything old is new again.

01:05:45.360 --> 01:05:48.079
And you know, and these Gen X women who were like me.

01:05:48.079 --> 01:05:50.719
Like you were like, okay, it's in lockdown.

01:05:50.719 --> 01:05:52.079
I'm gonna go buy myself some skates.

01:05:52.079 --> 01:05:52.800
Uh-huh.

01:05:52.800 --> 01:05:57.119
And then I remember that you know my needs are no longer under warranty.

01:05:57.440 --> 01:06:00.719
Was it a little I mean, you just went a couple times?

01:06:01.119 --> 01:06:01.440
Yeah.

01:06:01.760 --> 01:06:02.639
How was it?

01:06:02.960 --> 01:06:04.000
It's a little scary.

01:06:04.000 --> 01:06:05.920
And that's crazy because I like it.

01:06:05.920 --> 01:06:09.360
I played roller derby in my 40s.

01:06:09.519 --> 01:06:09.679
Yes.

01:06:09.679 --> 01:06:11.039
You threw yourself around.

01:06:11.039 --> 01:06:12.079
It's aggressive.

01:06:12.079 --> 01:06:14.400
And then like now I'm kind of like, oh, I don't know.

01:06:14.559 --> 01:06:15.440
I might do that.

01:06:15.599 --> 01:06:16.639
I might break a hip.

01:06:16.639 --> 01:06:17.440
I yeah.

01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:19.119
Like I'd have to be really careful.

01:06:19.119 --> 01:06:24.239
I'd have to make sure that my trucks are like in really good shape, and there's all kinds of lane in there that I can tell you about.

01:06:24.239 --> 01:06:32.400
I mean, I used to go when Gillian was a kid, when she was little, little, she would go to the roller cave and she would, you know, be at a skating party.

01:06:32.400 --> 01:06:39.280
And I would show up and I would strap my skates on, and like literally, if a kid would fall down, I would jump over them.

01:06:39.280 --> 01:06:52.719
I would I am pretty sure there were some parents who didn't like me, but they were perfect for training because you could like skate around them and like over them.

01:06:53.280 --> 01:06:54.559
I fucking love it.

01:06:55.440 --> 01:06:56.719
Get some good air and just get it.

01:06:56.719 --> 01:06:58.400
Mommy dearest at this point.

01:06:58.559 --> 01:07:00.320
My daughter thought it was badass.

01:07:00.320 --> 01:07:02.079
That's amazing.

01:07:02.079 --> 01:07:05.920
I have not been on roller skates in 47 billion years.

01:07:05.920 --> 01:07:07.280
I've done ice skating.

01:07:07.280 --> 01:07:11.039
Oh my god, as an adult, but not roller skating.

01:07:11.039 --> 01:07:12.639
I don't for any yeah, I don't think so.

01:07:12.639 --> 01:07:13.119
We should go.

01:07:13.119 --> 01:07:16.000
I think I really should bowled more than I've done roller skating.

01:07:16.000 --> 01:07:20.320
I will roll a I think bowling alleys are similar vibes.

01:07:20.320 --> 01:07:21.119
Yes.

01:07:21.119 --> 01:07:26.320
They are similar vibes, and there's less like falling.

01:07:26.880 --> 01:07:28.079
So I there we go.

01:07:28.079 --> 01:07:31.840
And thankfully, not you don't have the cigarette smoke that you used to in bowling alleys.

01:07:31.840 --> 01:07:34.000
Like I could I could bowl now because it would be a big one.

01:07:34.159 --> 01:07:35.920
Do you want to know like a weird little fun fact?

01:07:35.920 --> 01:07:36.480
Sure, yeah.

01:07:36.480 --> 01:07:39.119
We just we're in November now, we just got through October.

01:07:39.119 --> 01:07:43.920
In the 80s, Ronald Reagan declared October national roller skating month.

01:07:43.920 --> 01:07:44.800
Really?

01:07:44.800 --> 01:07:47.679
So he was good for something for minute there.

01:07:47.679 --> 01:07:50.000
I guess skating was patriotic.

01:07:50.159 --> 01:07:52.800
But there was the United Skates land too.

01:07:52.800 --> 01:08:03.679
I would like to point out that producer Tim just put his hands directly in his head or his head directly in his hands when I said he's like, my god lady.

01:08:03.679 --> 01:08:09.360
So through all of everything, you know, that magic hasn't changed.

01:08:09.360 --> 01:08:11.840
Like roller skating is still roller skating.

01:08:11.840 --> 01:08:24.159
The you've got the smooth floor, you have, you know, something over your head with some lights and some disco balls, you've got music that's pumping, and you've got wheels on your feet.

01:08:24.159 --> 01:08:25.600
And that's pretty, pretty sweet.

01:08:25.600 --> 01:08:26.640
That's amazing.

01:08:26.640 --> 01:08:27.680
Pretty sweet.

01:08:27.840 --> 01:08:31.840
So do you have any skating stories, dear listeners?

01:08:32.239 --> 01:08:33.920
Please send them our way.

01:08:33.920 --> 01:08:34.880
Are you, yeah.

01:08:34.880 --> 01:08:39.920
If you are like us and remember fondly that strapping on your skates.

01:08:39.920 --> 01:08:42.000
Maybe you skated at our ranks.

01:08:42.000 --> 01:08:42.560
Oh, yeah.

01:08:42.800 --> 01:08:43.199
Who knows?

01:08:43.199 --> 01:08:43.520
Yeah.

01:08:43.520 --> 01:08:46.079
Like, oh god.

01:08:46.079 --> 01:08:47.359
Sounds familiar to you.

01:08:47.359 --> 01:08:47.760
Yeah.

01:08:47.760 --> 01:08:48.000
Yeah.

01:08:48.000 --> 01:08:49.039
Send us those.

01:08:49.039 --> 01:08:50.880
Tell us about your favorite song.

01:08:50.880 --> 01:08:52.239
Where did you get away?

01:08:52.239 --> 01:08:55.279
Did you get in at the skating rink?

01:08:55.279 --> 01:08:55.840
Sure.

01:08:55.840 --> 01:08:56.960
Other people have to do that.

01:08:57.199 --> 01:08:58.079
Did you have a nook?

01:08:58.079 --> 01:08:59.359
Did you have a little nook?

01:08:59.359 --> 01:09:00.079
Like the roller coaster.

01:09:00.079 --> 01:09:01.039
A makeout nook.

01:09:01.039 --> 01:09:04.000
I don't I do remember that.

01:09:04.000 --> 01:09:05.840
That was a wall too, come to think of it.

01:09:05.840 --> 01:09:06.159
Yeah.

01:09:06.159 --> 01:09:07.439
Like sit down behind the wall.

01:09:07.760 --> 01:09:09.520
Well, if it wasn't really no.

01:09:09.520 --> 01:09:11.199
Oh, we didn't Yeah, we do.

01:09:11.199 --> 01:09:12.560
We have roller hockey.

01:09:12.560 --> 01:09:19.600
I was like, if it's anything like ice hockey, there was like the box where all the hockey players would sit, and we could get in and out of that.

01:09:19.600 --> 01:09:22.319
That was at the old Coliseum downtown.

01:09:22.319 --> 01:09:23.760
And it definitely had a wall.

01:09:23.760 --> 01:09:28.960
And you could definitely sit by a cute person if there were any, which there weren't very often.

01:09:28.960 --> 01:09:31.680
I mean, if they were playing hockey, they probably didn't have a lot of teeth.

01:09:31.680 --> 01:09:32.640
Fair point.

01:09:32.640 --> 01:09:34.479
This was a figure skating class.

01:09:34.479 --> 01:09:34.800
Oh.

01:09:34.800 --> 01:09:38.720
You could go like, you know, kind of check out.

01:09:38.720 --> 01:09:40.960
Well, that was a good time.

01:09:41.199 --> 01:09:42.000
That was fun.

01:09:42.560 --> 01:09:43.520
See, that was fun.

01:09:43.520 --> 01:09:44.399
This was joy.

01:09:44.399 --> 01:09:45.439
It was joy.

01:09:45.680 --> 01:09:46.079
It was joy.

01:09:46.079 --> 01:09:49.840
It was a good memory of where all of this came from.

01:09:49.840 --> 01:09:50.960
And I love the history of it.

01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:51.840
It's so fun.

01:09:51.840 --> 01:09:52.560
Interesting.

01:09:52.560 --> 01:09:53.600
And it's high level.

01:09:54.159 --> 01:09:55.199
Way older than I thought.

01:09:55.199 --> 01:09:55.840
Absolutely.

01:09:55.840 --> 01:09:56.880
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:09:56.880 --> 01:10:01.680
But like, you know, those Victorian England people, they were fucking nuts.

01:10:01.680 --> 01:10:02.640
They'd do whatever.

01:10:02.640 --> 01:10:04.319
It's like, sure, that's fine.

01:10:04.319 --> 01:10:06.159
I have on more clothes than God.

01:10:06.159 --> 01:10:08.319
It's I mean, that's where the unicycle came from.

01:10:08.319 --> 01:10:10.239
Yes, like unhinged.

01:10:10.239 --> 01:10:10.720
Right.

01:10:10.720 --> 01:10:12.560
Okay, but you didn't know any better.

01:10:12.560 --> 01:10:14.079
So you're like, this seems safe.

01:10:14.079 --> 01:10:15.279
Let's do it.

01:10:15.279 --> 01:10:18.159
Because nobody unionized yet.

01:10:18.159 --> 01:10:21.439
Well no, and we had children in factories where they belonged.

01:10:21.439 --> 01:10:21.920
That's right.

01:10:21.920 --> 01:10:22.560
Get in there.

01:10:22.560 --> 01:10:24.079
That is all sarcasm.

01:10:24.079 --> 01:10:26.479
Sarcasm, just to be clear.

01:10:26.479 --> 01:10:29.119
And don't get us started on lawn darts.

01:10:29.119 --> 01:10:34.319
You have been listening to Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit.

01:10:34.319 --> 01:10:35.760
Hey Megan.

01:10:35.760 --> 01:10:36.960
Hey Leslie.

01:10:36.960 --> 01:10:39.199
What do people do if they want to find us?

01:10:39.439 --> 01:10:46.880
Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and that is GenXwomenpod.com.

01:10:46.880 --> 01:10:50.000
We also have a Facebook page.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:52.720
We have an Instagram account as well.

01:10:52.720 --> 01:10:58.960
We have a YouTube account where we put YouTube shorts and other little tidbits up there.

01:10:58.960 --> 01:11:00.479
We have a TikTok account.

01:11:00.800 --> 01:11:01.920
I don't talk the tick.

01:11:02.880 --> 01:11:03.680
You don't tick the talk?

01:11:03.680 --> 01:11:08.800
I I barely talk the tick, but I did put a TikTok or explain.

01:11:08.800 --> 01:11:11.520
That's okay though.

01:11:11.520 --> 01:11:12.079
That's great.

01:11:12.239 --> 01:11:13.680
We need to know how the TikTok works.

01:11:14.399 --> 01:11:15.760
Can people buy merch?

01:11:15.760 --> 01:11:16.800
They absolutely can.

01:11:16.800 --> 01:11:20.399
We have a merch store on the website itself.

01:11:20.399 --> 01:11:22.720
And we also have an Etsy store too.

01:11:22.720 --> 01:11:24.159
So they're just pretty easy to find.

01:11:24.159 --> 01:11:27.520
It's just Gen X Women on Etsy.

01:11:28.079 --> 01:11:32.880
And if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you found it somewhere.

01:11:32.880 --> 01:11:35.520
And while you're there, give us a review.

01:11:35.520 --> 01:11:36.079
Yeah.

01:11:36.079 --> 01:11:37.680
Let us know what you think.

01:11:37.680 --> 01:11:39.039
Throw some stars at us.

01:11:39.039 --> 01:11:39.760
That'd be great.

01:11:39.760 --> 01:11:42.560
We'll take one, two, three, four, or five.

01:11:42.560 --> 01:11:43.520
Ooh, five.

01:11:43.520 --> 01:11:43.840
Maybe.

01:11:44.159 --> 01:11:50.319
And and also make sure that you are hitting subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new episode drives.

01:11:50.319 --> 01:11:51.520
Most important.

01:11:51.520 --> 01:11:55.439
We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we should tell people about it too.

01:11:55.680 --> 01:11:56.319
Hell yes.

01:11:56.319 --> 01:11:59.199
We want to know your stories, your five minutes of fame stories.

01:11:59.199 --> 01:12:01.840
You can send those stories in on the website.

01:12:01.840 --> 01:12:12.000
Or you can call 1888 Gen X COD and leave your story for us, and we will play it live in our next episode.

01:12:12.239 --> 01:12:12.399
Yep.

01:12:12.399 --> 01:12:16.399
We'll listen to it on a little red phone just like Batman.

01:12:16.399 --> 01:12:21.119
That'd be a Batbone.

01:12:21.119 --> 01:12:23.279
I think that's it.

01:12:23.279 --> 01:12:24.560
I think we're right.