Best place for skaters to live?

[Banzai]

Winters killing me and I'm terminally bored with my one local rink so I'm looking for a nice, skater friendly, place to move to.
So here's your chance to tell everyone how great your favorite skate city is!!!

Please include any reasons why you feel yours is the ultimate skater nirvana.
Some categories to think about.


Rinks and parks nearby?

Outdoor skate-friendly trails and other terrain?

Typical weather?

Skater friendly laws?

Skate clubs/races and other events?

Local economy?

Local music/art scene?

Public transportation?
(for those of us who despise being reliant on automobiles)

Fun things to do other than skating?

Any other great selling points?

Thanks for the info!!! Be seeing you SOON!!

[snyder-dude]

Sacramento Calif has about 6 rinks still. One has been open since 1947 in Franklin Calif outside Sacramento a ways.I will add to this post later at work now.......Chuck

[Banzai]

hmmm.... sactown spent the day there otw back from Hawaii one day.

anyone else like where they live?

[BWI-Sheldon]

I was lucky until this winter. Have the clubs, trails, indoor rinks, speed teams, derby teams, artistic, and all.

But truth be told, S. Florida is a nice place to skate, with a heck of a lot of nice skaters.

[slhallford]

Sacramento is a great place to live. The summers are hot which I love. I know, I've lived quite a bit of my life here but also Georgia, Oregon, Utah, and Washington state.

S

[pavement]

Ya skating is definitely alive in SacTown. A great place to live, you have the ocean an hour west, and the mountains an hour east. Cost of living is a bit high, but not as high as some places.

[Jessica]

Tampa Three indoor teams and LOTS of trails with different types of terrain! Best beaches in the country, year round skating, great cities within driving distance to skate in (Orlando, Miami).
Oh, and it's legal to skate on the street here

[Bill in Houston]

Originally Posted by Jessica

Tampa Three indoor teams and LOTS of trails with different types of terrain! Best beaches in the country, year round skating, great cities within driving distance to skate in (Orlando, Miami).
Oh, and it's legal to skate on the street here

+1
Plus you can get an awesome Cuban sandwich for your "recovery meal".

[Poobah]

Originally Posted by Banzai

Rinks and parks nearby?

Outdoor skate-friendly trails and other terrain?

Two indoor roller skating rings. One polished concrete outdoor hockey rink with a derby track painted down, in a public park. A LOT of outdoor skate parks.

An outdoor banked track that the owner would almost certainly let you skate on with a phone call and a vague suggestion that you're at least thinking about joining their "pro team."

Originally Posted by Banzai

Typical weather?

It snows maybe once every five years. It's rainy maybe five days a year. It gets a bit balmy in the summer (everyone has AC, so who cares unless you work outside). In the winter it's generally quite nice, sometimes you'll want to layer at night.

Originally Posted by Banzai

Skater friendly laws?

If there are any anti-skating laws, the police have better things to do than enforce them. I have never heard of any such laws though.

Originally Posted by Banzai

Skate clubs/races and other events?

The local WFTDA league is always recruiting skaters and skating referees (dues are cheap because they practice in a park). There's a local co-ed banked track group. RollerCon, the annual RSA convention and I think the USARS meeting are held there. Las Vegas Roller Hockey has some inline hockey leagues.

Originally Posted by Banzai

Local economy?

It's been better. It WILL BE better once the economy recovers. Right now there are some great deals on real-estate there. Lots of foreclosures on the market. If you're not after a McMansion you can get a nice deal there nowadays. And it will likely appreciate in value once the economy picks back up and bartenders can afford to get mortgages again. Californians who sell their million dollar homes either move here, or Phoenix, or to Texas. Vegas is far more fun.

Originally Posted by Banzai

Local music/art scene?

First Friday is fun, and there's an arts district near downtown. Locals who are in the know (and/or well-connected) can score good deals on tix to shows on The Strip. I took my mom to see "Producers" for free a year or two ago.

In one year I managed to see Frank Sinatra Jr, Social Distortion (twice?), the Smothers Brothers, the Buzzcocks, a 300lb naked Elvis impersonator and a midget porn star fronting a metal band. I probably could have seen every band that should have died off in the 80s/90s AND Tony Orlando and Dawn and Peter Frampton, had the desire to do so ever gripped me.

Originally Posted by Banzai

Public transportation?
(for those of us who despise being reliant on automobiles)

CAT buses run pretty frequently, but people will think you're a bit strange for wanting to ride the things if you don't have to. They're actually pretty clean.

Originally Posted by Banzai

Fun things to do other than skating?

Any other great selling points?[/QUOTE]

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

[ncsk8rgirl]

I am within an hours drive of at least 12 rinks & we have dedicated bike/skate (road) lanes all over Greensboro. We also have an extensive paved trail system. Our typically mild climate makes for some great outdoor skating as well.

[Brandon26pdx]

Originally Posted by Banzai

Winters killing me and I'm terminally bored with my one local rink so I'm looking for a nice, skater friendly, place to move to.
So here's your chance to tell everyone how great your favorite skate city is!!!

Please include any reasons why you feel yours is the ultimate skater nirvana.
Some categories to think about.


Rinks and parks nearby?

Outdoor skate-friendly trails and other terrain?

Typical weather?

Skater friendly laws?

Skate clubs/races and other events?

Local economy?

Local music/art scene?

Public transportation?
(for those of us who despise being reliant on automobiles)

Fun things to do other than skating?

Any other great selling points?

Thanks for the info!!! Be seeing you SOON!!

It would be hard not to recommend New York City. It's off the charts on just about all of those except for maybe the weather during winter, which most agree stinks.

Search Youtube for "disco skating in central park" or something along those lines.

[eighteen_psi]

East SF Bay, CA wasn't too bad - fair number of trails, SF Friday Night skate, couple good events not too far away. Good speed club in Milpitas.

Burbank/SFV, CA area I'm not too happy with. Gotta drive hundreds of miles a week to train with a team, virtually nobody to skate with outdoors on a regular basis
Beaches are within striking distance, though I almost always end up with some cyclists since skaters are relatively uncommon.

[rufusprime99]

Venice Beach California. It has a great boardwalk, plus a variety of skating rinks around LA and OC I used to skate in Venice in the mid 80's. Now I rink skate. This offer valid only if you are serious about public transportation. We got WAY too many cars already.

[Banzai]

+1 LOL '

Originally Posted by rufusprime99

Venice Beach California. It has a great boardwalk, plus a variety of skating rinks around LA and OC I used to skate in Venice in the mid 80's. Now I rink skate. This offer valid only if you are serious about public transportation. We got WAY too many cars already.

[markthetrucker]

You live in "Hell" wouldn't anything be an improvement?

[Art G]

Austin, TX. is pretty good.

Only one roller rink worth mentioning (imho), but it's not bad.
We have the Veloway which totally rocks for outdoor speed training.
Lots of hills in the area make both cycling and skating a lot more fun than flatland.
Skate scene is good. We have a great indoor speed club(Texas Speed Club), excellent derby program(Texas Roller Girls), a great outdoor inline club (Hill Country Inline Club), and a great skate marathon (Texas Road Rash Skate).
The road and mountain bike scene are both off the charts excellent here.
Lots of rowing, and river activities.
Two Ice rinks.
Big hiking, adventure race, and triathlon followings as well.
Music, art, and theatre scenes are fantastic.
And it's a really clean city, at least as far as Texas cities go.
Great public bus system, or so I've been told.
Whenever I don't drive, I ride my bike, as do many Austinites.

The only place in Texas I ever want to live from now on.
Wouldn't mind a move myself though, but if I have to stay in Texas a while longer, let it be Austin.

[Edward Williams]

Looks like Houston has just over 35 skating rinks in and around the city. Not to mention all of the trails and other places to roll like the seawall in Galveston.

http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=C...ting%2520rinks

I should get out more.

[Mystic]

Always wished I lived in San Diego. One rink, two clubs and miles of beach trails.

[motosk8ter]

I live about 500 feet from a 15 mile trail that connects to other trails that lead throughout Albuquerque. It is a matter of waking up, putting on the gear and slipping out the door for a car free 15 mile skate. Sunday nights are adult nights at our one and only rink so I get to work out the quads. Inline Hockey rocks here and the Derby is active. Its my guess this is the best it has been in many years. Temps and rainfall/snow can be tricky during the cold months. Daytime temps are in the 40's and can climb to the 90's during the summer. There is a movement to establish a speed team. I am not sure how it is going to turn out. Many of our cyclists use mind control and do not announce themselves when passing, perhaps rural inbreeding.

[Beth S]

It's definitely not Jacksonville, North Carolina, I can tell you that!