Riverdale Roller Rink, Rhode Island

[gaveitaway]

Riverdale Roller Rink

First it’s great to find this forum. It’s very nice to see the Young family posing on this site and still have interest in skating after all these years, seems once in your blood it’s very hard to shake.

I drove by the “New Riverdale” recently and was very sad to see it became a warehouse. I have very nice memories of the rink and as a member of the “club” was able to skate in the rink before it was open to the public. I remember Ted leaking the news to a skating class that his dad had just purchased the land next door that had been owned by the railroad, and a new rink was going to be built. Well that was it the rumors went everywhere & when Ted’s dad found out he was in big trouble for opening his big mouth!

I believe it was about 1969 or 1970 when the “New Riverdale” opened. Pete Peterson, who was a speed coach & great guy (what happened to him?) would let us in to see the construction. I watched the crew install that floor, they said they were from down south & were skilled floor builders. Each board was laid down and nailed by hand with a floor nail driver, as a young kid I was amazed.

The floor was nice but didn’t compete with the “old rink” floor which was also maple and floated about 1 foot over the sub-floor. It was a forgiving floor when you fell as it had a little give, not true for those 10 giant poles though. Does anyone remember those “ramps” that would be created when the leaky roof would pour on the floor & cause huge bumps? We would all think the floor was ruined but to everyone’s surprise it would be totally fixed by the next week (still don’t know how they fixed the curved floorboards so perfectly).

Many that skated at Riverdale at that time missed the “old rink” as we called it. The new rink was OK but that special magic touch of the old building was lost forever. It was small & quirkey & everyone knew each other, the new rink was big & stark & had none of the character of the old Riverdale.

I spent about 12 years skating, from about age 4 to 16. My mother started me skating as it was a great past time and loads of fun. You pulled into the gravel parking lot toward an old red brick factory building and was lured in by the colorful Giant Girl painted on the building with the works “Riverdale Roller Rink”. We walked the railroad tracks back then & I remember asking my mother what that building with the girl was! She told me she would show me the following week. As a child I would get a “rush” as soon as I opened that big door and heard that buzzer which told Mr. Young a customer had arrived. The “smell” of the rink was in the air and the sounds of the skaters on the floor three stories up were hypnotic. I would run up the stairs (skipping every other step) and would stop briefly at the display case at the first floor and take in the sights of that huge trophy and other award stuff. Run past the “event room” and fly up the next flight to be greeted by Mr. Young or on special days by Mrs. Young who sold me a ticket and then walked through the narrow passage to the end where Mr. Young would again take my ticket and tear it in half.

At this point I would ask for my “badge” which was my special access to the “middle” of the rink where most of the fun stuff was happening. You would meet your friends and talk and skate free style for hours at a time. You were OK as long as Mr. Young didn’t shine that light on you, we all tried to press the limits and sooner or later we all got the light…

What a great quirky place, I think it was all customized by Mr. Young and his father (who lived in the rear of the second floor). I believe Mr. Young was an electrician and developed many of the lighting effects and games for the rink. Many of them were used on special nights, like the skate to the “light that stays on game”, or the “horse rides” from Saturday sessions. And oh those summer nights when all those big windows were cranked open and the breeze flowed through the rink…I miss those days.

A little fun stuff… I can remember Mr. Young leaving the building and letting Dick look over things. Well as soon as Mr. Young passed the parking lot Dick would dump the organ music and blast the speaker system with the latest 60’s music, which also included an analysis of the new Kingston version of “Louie Louie” so we could all hear the “good words” over and over again. We all laughed so hard & if Mr. Young every knew….everyone promised not to tell.

I would like to hear more of the history Riverdale & the Young’s.…Does your family still own the old rink building? I still think today that Riverdale was the best rink in New England we would travel to all the other local rinks and none compared to Riverdale. The only time I got close was many years later a “disco rink” opened on Landsdown Street a few blocks from the Club 15 Landsdown Street in Boston, it was very similar about the same size, great lights and on the third floor of an old factory building almost a duplicate of Riverdale but with great music. I don’t know if it’s still there.

I have to run now but will post more latter…..

[brikkee]

Originally Posted by gaveitaway

Riverdale Roller Rink

First it’s great to find this forum. It’s very nice to see the Young family posing on this site and still have interest in skating after all these years, seems once in your blood it’s very hard to shake.

I drove by the “New Riverdale” recently and was very sad to see it became a warehouse. I have very nice memories of the rink and as a member of the “club” was able to skate in the rink before it was open to the public. I remember Ted leaking the news to a skating class that his dad had just purchased the land next door that had been owned by the railroad, and a new rink was going to be built. Well that was it the rumors went everywhere & when Ted’s dad found out he was in big trouble for opening his big mouth!

I believe it was about 1969 or 1970 when the “New Riverdale” opened. Pete Peterson, who was a speed coach & great guy (what happened to him?) would let us in to see the construction. I watched the crew install that floor, they said they were from down south & were skilled floor builders. Each board was laid down and nailed by hand with a floor nail driver, as a young kid I was amazed.

The floor was nice but didn’t compete with the “old rink” floor which was also maple and floated about 1 foot over the sub-floor. It was a forgiving floor when you fell as it had a little give, not true for those 10 giant poles though. Does anyone remember those “ramps” that would be created when the leaky roof would pour on the floor & cause huge bumps? We would all think the floor was ruined but to everyone’s surprise it would be totally fixed by the next week (still don’t know how they fixed the curved floorboards so perfectly).

Many that skated at Riverdale at that time missed the “old rink” as we called it. The new rink was OK but that special magic touch of the old building was lost forever. It was small & quirkey & everyone knew each other, the new rink was big & stark & had none of the character of the old Riverdale.

I spent about 12 years skating, from about age 4 to 16. My mother started me skating as it was a great past time and loads of fun. You pulled into the gravel parking lot toward an old red brick factory building and was lured in by the colorful Giant Girl painted on the building with the works “Riverdale Roller Rink”. We walked the railroad tracks back then & I remember asking my mother what that building with the girl was! She told me she would show me the following week. As a child I would get a “rush” as soon as I opened that big door and heard that buzzer which told Mr. Young a customer had arrived. The “smell” of the rink was in the air and the sounds of the skaters on the floor three stories up were hypnotic. I would run up the stairs (skipping every other step) and would stop briefly at the display case at the first floor and take in the sights of that huge trophy and other award stuff. Run past the “event room” and fly up the next flight to be greeted by Mr. Young or on special days by Mrs. Young who sold me a ticket and then walked through the narrow passage to the end where Mr. Young would again take my ticket and tear it in half.

At this point I would ask for my “badge” which was my special access to the “middle” of the rink where most of the fun stuff was happening. You would meet your friends and talk and skate free style for hours at a time. You were OK as long as Mr. Young didn’t shine that light on you, we all tried to press the limits and sooner or later we all got the light…

What a great quirky place, I think it was all customized by Mr. Young and his father (who lived in the rear of the second floor). I believe Mr. Young was an electrician and developed many of the lighting effects and games for the rink. Many of them were used on special nights, like the skate to the “light that stays on game”, or the “horse rides” from Saturday sessions. And oh those summer nights when all those big windows were cranked open and the breeze flowed through the rink…I miss those days.

A little fun stuff… I can remember Mr. Young leaving the building and letting Dick look over things. Well as soon as Mr. Young passed the parking lot Dick would dump the organ music and blast the speaker system with the latest 60’s music, which also included an analysis of the new Kingston version of “Louie Louie” so we could all hear the “good words” over and over again. We all laughed so hard & if Mr. Young every knew….everyone promised not to tell.

I would like to hear more of the history Riverdale & the Young’s.…Does your family still own the old rink building? I still think today that Riverdale was the best rink in New England we would travel to all the other local rinks and none compared to Riverdale. The only time I got close was many years later a “disco rink” opened on Landsdown Street a few blocks from the Club 15 Landsdown Street in Boston, it was very similar about the same size, great lights and on the third floor of an old factory building almost a duplicate of Riverdale but with great music. I don’t know if it’s still there.

I have to run now but will post more latter…..

haha this was way before my time but i do remember the old rink and did skate in it around the late 70's because my great grand dad still lived in it.The new rink open in 1968 to be exact i took out the old marble stone in the left Conner of the lobby and gave it to my dad(Dick)None of them have any thing to do with skating any more but me.But my dad still has a lot of the old pictures from the time your talking about.As for my uncle Ted blah he took all the money my great grand dad left to his 4 kids and my dads 3 kids (there are 7 of us) and all 7 of us are now fighting to get it back and its not small change he stole from us.my great grand dad passed and lived to 103 i think god bless him and my granddad and mom passed also.yes he was an electric engineer and luck me i have all his old books from school.My dad(Dick) has started his own business doing embroidery, heat transfers,etc... and will be mine someday Rhode Island Threads is the name and he is always looking to hear from old skaters.

[rwsz]

Originally Posted by gaveitaway

Riverdale Roller Rink

First it’s great to find this forum. It’s very nice to see the Young family posing on this site and still have interest in skating after all these years, seems once in your blood it’s very hard to shake.

I drove by the “New Riverdale” recently and was very sad to see it became a warehouse. I have very nice memories of the rink and as a member of the “club” was able to skate in the rink before it was open to the public. I remember Ted leaking the news to a skating class that his dad had just purchased the land next door that had been owned by the railroad, and a new rink was going to be built. Well that was it the rumors went everywhere & when Ted’s dad found out he was in big trouble for opening his big mouth!

I believe it was about 1969 or 1970 when the “New Riverdale” opened. Pete Peterson, who was a speed coach & great guy (what happened to him?) would let us in to see the construction. I watched the crew install that floor, they said they were from down south & were skilled floor builders. Each board was laid down and nailed by hand with a floor nail driver, as a young kid I was amazed.

The floor was nice but didn’t compete with the “old rink” floor which was also maple and floated about 1 foot over the sub-floor. It was a forgiving floor when you fell as it had a little give, not true for those 10 giant poles though. Does anyone remember those “ramps” that would be created when the leaky roof would pour on the floor & cause huge bumps? We would all think the floor was ruined but to everyone’s surprise it would be totally fixed by the next week (still don’t know how they fixed the curved floorboards so perfectly).

Many that skated at Riverdale at that time missed the “old rink” as we called it. The new rink was OK but that special magic touch of the old building was lost forever. It was small & quirkey & everyone knew each other, the new rink was big & stark & had none of the character of the old Riverdale.

I spent about 12 years skating, from about age 4 to 16. My mother started me skating as it was a great past time and loads of fun. You pulled into the gravel parking lot toward an old red brick factory building and was lured in by the colorful Giant Girl painted on the building with the works “Riverdale Roller Rink”. We walked the railroad tracks back then & I remember asking my mother what that building with the girl was! She told me she would show me the following week. As a child I would get a “rush” as soon as I opened that big door and heard that buzzer which told Mr. Young a customer had arrived. The “smell” of the rink was in the air and the sounds of the skaters on the floor three stories up were hypnotic. I would run up the stairs (skipping every other step) and would stop briefly at the display case at the first floor and take in the sights of that huge trophy and other award stuff. Run past the “event room” and fly up the next flight to be greeted by Mr. Young or on special days by Mrs. Young who sold me a ticket and then walked through the narrow passage to the end where Mr. Young would again take my ticket and tear it in half.

At this point I would ask for my “badge” which was my special access to the “middle” of the rink where most of the fun stuff was happening. You would meet your friends and talk and skate free style for hours at a time. You were OK as long as Mr. Young didn’t shine that light on you, we all tried to press the limits and sooner or later we all got the light…

What a great quirky place, I think it was all customized by Mr. Young and his father (who lived in the rear of the second floor). I believe Mr. Young was an electrician and developed many of the lighting effects and games for the rink. Many of them were used on special nights, like the skate to the “light that stays on game”, or the “horse rides” from Saturday sessions. And oh those summer nights when all those big windows were cranked open and the breeze flowed through the rink…I miss those days.

A little fun stuff… I can remember Mr. Young leaving the building and letting Dick look over things. Well as soon as Mr. Young passed the parking lot Dick would dump the organ music and blast the speaker system with the latest 60’s music, which also included an analysis of the new Kingston version of “Louie Louie” so we could all hear the “good words” over and over again. We all laughed so hard & if Mr. Young every knew….everyone promised not to tell.

I would like to hear more of the history Riverdale & the Young’s.…Does your family still own the old rink building? I still think today that Riverdale was the best rink in New England we would travel to all the other local rinks and none compared to Riverdale. The only time I got close was many years later a “disco rink” opened on Landsdown Street a few blocks from the Club 15 Landsdown Street in Boston, it was very similar about the same size, great lights and on the third floor of an old factory building almost a duplicate of Riverdale but with great music. I don’t know if it’s still there.

I have to run now but will post more latter…..

hi the riverdales were good and warwick had the best floor for sure.

i think the rink you are thinking about in boston was Spinoffs, which was my favorite rink and i skated there till they closed. loved that place, being close to fenway and all it was great.