When’s the last time you saw a kid on roller skates? We Boomers can’t imagine a childhood without a good pair of skates and a skate key near at hand.
I believe my first roller skate encounter was as a 10-year-old in Beckley, WV. A group of school mates decided to head for the nearby skating rink and I signed up – but I was petrified. I wasn’t the most coordinated kid, but I slipped on a pair of rental roller skates and shoved off. Went about 30 feet and busted my ass. The first of many tumbles that evening. But it was fun, so much so that I asked for a brand-new pair of roller skates for my birthday.
Roller skates were the forerunners of modern skateboards, but I would challenge any skateboarder to a race with a top-notch roller skater and the skates would win, hands down. You could fly with roller skates, though the landings were not always congenial.
I had bumps and bruises on most every part of my body. If a kid went to school like that today they would call the authorities to investigate for child abuse.
The vintage roller skates had adjustable metal slides with a skate key to help fit to the shoe and leather straps to secure the skates to the shoe. They were the devil to adjust and keep on, but we managed
I think roller skates began to die when tennis shoes became popular. There was simply no way to attach a pair of roller skates to shoes without soles. Couldn’t be done.
But it was fun while it lasted. Bumps and all.
