I spent half of my teenage life at this rink. I met my husband there when I was 15 and he even purposed there. That was 26 years ago. The owner Bruce was one of the coolest adults we knew then and most of the kids there respected him. I think it was a fact he allowed us to goof off and do our thing as long as we were safe and respectful to him.
I roller skated 3 times a week here. My dad helped Bruce build it. My dad did the floor in the disco room. My 2 brother in laws also helped in the building of it. Many great memories.
Also hats off to the eighty year old man who showed you the place and built it forty plus years ago. That is something you don't see today, people building their own businesses or houses.
My husband used to go there. His whole childhood....every Friday and Saturday they were there. If we could, we would restore this to its former glory. Thanks for sharing!
It was reopened briefly in the late 2000's but the cost to replace the old furnace in the place prevented the peole who took interest in it from being able to keep it open.
Actually I went there in 2010 when I was 14. I can't remember how much longer after that it was open but I made some pretty good and pretty bad memories here. From what I can recall it ended up closing because young teens kept getting into too many fights
It closed in like 2013. I was about 14 or 13 when it closed. It was the best thing around the area I grew up. I loved it. My friends and family use to go every other weekend.
I learned to roller skate in this building! I was 6 when it opened and skated there for many many years. When I was a teen, a rink in Franklinville, NY opened and it was closer to our house so we went there and stopped going to High Roller. I can’t believe how it didn’t change tho! Everything in there in 2017 is the same as it was back in the 70’s! Thank you for the video! It took me back to my childhood!
Nice that he showed the place to you, for him it is free advertisement or opportunity to sell the place. Who knows someone here on YT might find this and have some use for it ? Some of that vintage stuff is worth a lot of money. Collectors items. This also shows that it could be worth trying to get into places by calling someone or going through official channels to get in. Not that hard and you never know, just like in this case. A bit dark, the video, but still real nice.
My favorite place to go as kid most my childhoods memeories were here the peolpe that owned this place made a great environment for all ages i was only 5 minutes away from home so i went most weekends this rink is where i first learned to skate so thanks for showing nostalgia
Every Friday and Saturday night. I still dream about the place and talk about it. Was a mainstay of my life. I knew someone who got married there as well. Often wanted to go back.
Thanks for the video. The roller rink, Skate Ranch, that we used to go to in the late 70's to early 80's, was closed down for good about 10 years ago. It's now an oil change shop. Anyway, thanks for the memories.
Man,if someone had money to fix that place up. Or build a new one . Man someone would make so much money. So many people miss this place . Need to re open soon
ohh wow...this brings back so many memories for me as well. being at the local skating rink during the good times of the late 80s early 90s..I myself am 35 and I Clearly remember visit the skating ring and couple skating with a few of the girls that I liked back then lol...good times.
I grew up about 10 minutes from here. Had my first cigarette at this place as a child. They would let the older kids hang out on a back porch type area, and they'd always be smoking. I remember mainly just playing arcade games, and getting stickers from the vending machines. They still used 8tracks for audio because during the Village People's YMCA the song would always fade out, and in. I was born in 1987. Thanks for the memories.
Was a great place to go and meet new friends. I have met many there and had a blast there. So sad we do not have more of these open for the new generation to enjoy. Bruce was a great guy who loved his business.
Amazing, I moved to Arcade, NY in the late 80s if I wasn't skating in Franklinville (which is still open) I was here on a Friday night. I haven't seen the inside of that place in 26 years.
Someone please save this place. You never see skating rinks with wooden floors anymore. I'm amazed we have two fully functioning rinks here (albeit with concrete floors) and they are usually busy despite the waning popularity of the sport. Then again, we've got several old school bowling alleys that are doing well and those seem to be vanishing in other parts of the country.
I'm amazed he opened up the place, for you to look around and take pics! I always have that weird fear of abandoned or closed places that if I try to call the building owner, that they'll deny my request. I guess not always, does that happen! I suppose you just googled the phone number of this skating rink, and got his permission to go inside? Great job on doing that!
Such a gem! Thanks for sharing. One thing I wish you would've included is footage of the DJ booth. Many times those are a easy to spot the era (due to the equipment), and I always find it fascinating what some of these places had (or didn't have!) for sound systems.
Awesome video. This makes me happier than most would understand. I’m only 19 years old and obviously way younger than when roller rinks were ‘the thing’, but I can tell you right now from about the age of 6 I played hockey in THIS rink, and from probably the age of 10 I’d be hauling ass around that rink every single weekend until it closed. The dance floor was one of the biggest hits
Ace's Adventures it was just shared by a friend on my Facebook. I’ve grown up in pike and this was a huge hit for everyone around. And you’re ver right about Bruce. He is a very nice gentleman
I really hope this place finds new life as *something*. It's a great spot- hopefully dancers or someone who appreciates those floors can bring this to life. :)
Kimberly Hittle I was not in the roller skating era but i am from the skateboarding era I had a skate park when I was a teen that I loved going to it opened in 2002 an sadly closed in 2008 now I’m in my late 20s an I still love skating
Great video !!! I spent my share of time in my local roller skating rink in the early 70's and into the early 80's. This video makes me really wish I would hit the lottery so I could buy the place and restore it to it's former glory days. It's really sad to see places like this dying out.
Man!!!! I lived in Pike. This is home. We went every weekend! Skating, dancing. It was the closest thing for a lot of us to do. Great memories! Thanks for sharing. Sad it wasn't rolled down as a family business. I don't know if it would thrive now.... kids now a days have so much more to do.
Even if he can't sell the place, I'm sure that the owner can get some decent money for those arcades games (at least X-Men and Mr. Do, not so sure about that Driver's Edge though), plus I bet there would be interest for a lot of the retro signage and fixtures.
If you're ever in NW Illinois, there's a tiny town called La Fayette that has several places to do urban exploring including a former school and former main street shops. Blink and you'll miss it!
georgef551 That was a reference to an old commercial that was around in the 60s and 70s. It was for (Enco in the west, Esso in the east) gasoline. They would say to use their gas so you can “put a tiger in your tank”-thus Roger Miller’s reference in the song.
I live close to this and I would go here alot. I used to go to birthday parties here. This was the spot to go with family and friends. Cool place. Sad that its closed now and it's been closed for awhile
it’s not gonna open no more because it’s all filled up can’t walk around or move around in there no more because i’m the owners son of the building so i know lots about it
I used to love this place and used to go there a lot and so did my Mother when she was growing up. I was so sad to see it close down I wish someone would buy it and fix it up and open it back up.
Drove past this place on our way through and took a couple photos from the outside, but didn’t have time to poke around and try to look inside. Sadly, it’s still abandoned, 7 years after this video. Thanks for the peek inside!
I hope someone buys this roller skating rink and fixes it up! I live near the Oaks Roller Rink in Portland Oregon. I have a huge passion for roller skating. I can't get to the rink anymore to due Lymes Disease and brain tumor (two years cancer free!)
Im from the UK and that is such an amazing find. All that history might go and yes requires a lot of work. Maybe a group of people could do a crowd fund it, to restore it so as near original format ?
This would have to come down to the outside shell. Save and clean up all the vintage wall hangings. If it was affordable, tear the whole thing down and build to structurly more sound.
It would be really interesting to hear an explanation as to why they went out of business. It seems like from the comments this place used to be really busy, just trying to understand what happened
I remember going there as a kid back in the late seventies all the way up into the late 80s my mom and dad used to make my older brother and his girlfriend take me and one of my friends on Friday nights just to make sure they behaved
I used to go to this roller rink as a child. I lived just outside of Pike and my grandmother would take us every Sunday afternoon. I had a few birthday parties here as well. If I had the time and money, I would most certainly invest in this place. I loved it so much
as someone who is 20, i must have been on the tail end of the roller rink days. but the fondest memories of my child hood were at the roller rink. there actually is a rink 10 minutes from my house still in operation, and it probably looks on the inside the same way it did in 1996.
Had many great hours of skating at this rink. Even worked there for some years. Would be great if someone would purchase this and make it a great place to skate again.
This was my Friday and Saturday night hangout from age 13 to 18. So many memories, I'm so sad to see it like this and I wonder if Bruce still owns it? Thank for the walk through....brought back so much 😭
Hey! I just happened upon this video which was posted by my cousin on Facebook and this was my hangout on Friday and Saturday nights for most of my teenage years. I lived in the nearby town of Castile, NY and this place holds a lot of memories. It's sad to see it abandoned and in such a sad state of disrepair :(
I used to roller skate here when I was a kid!! It was such a fun place and very popular for birthday parties! So many memories with this video. I live about five minutes from it. It’s sad that it closed and that no one is able to buy it and fix it up! So many memories and I would love to be able to take my kids here. Thank you for the video!
I grew up in this rink. My grandma and mother used to take me all the time. Hits me right in the feels ❤️. Such a shame to see such a place that holds so many great memories go to waste.
This was really awesome. I'm about 10 years younger than you and I used to go to the roller rink all the time as a kid -- I took lessons and was pretty serious about it until I got older and just didn't have as much time. The place I went to was a little more modern than this, although I do remember those round tables! But this is seriously awesome. The newport advertisement on the game was also incredible. He could probably get some decent cash for that on ebay or somewhere.
It's not abandoned if someone owns it and it's up for sale just means it's closed down until it is sold and the new owner does whatever with the building
I grew up in this town / area its easy too say you would do something if you had this rink yourself but it's in a spot where many would not travel ! This is literally 60 miles from Buffalo and Rochester and too add as an edit this town is very small plus the areas nearby , it's a great peice of history as many of my childhood memories were built here ! Probably the best attraction too pike new york besides the fair and the food lol
