Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry.

Speaker 2: 0:39

So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating. Welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate. I am your host, sean Egan. My guest tonight or today is Ginger Matthews. So how are you doing?

Speaker 3: 0:52

I am excellent. How are you?

Speaker 2: 0:54

I'm doing good. So first question is is we're going to go back to the beginning? When did you start skating?

Speaker 3: 1:01

When I was four years old.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Okay, and how did it progress from there?

Speaker 3: 1:09

So I was four years old and my step-mom took me to Valley Vista in Hayward, right there on mission.

Speaker 3: 1:18

Yep, my parents met there and married and then my dad married my step-mom from there and my aunt and uncle got married from there, and it just kept going, but anyway. So she took me when I was four and, you know, saturday afternoons they put all the little kitties in the middle of the rink and they have a little class. And I was in the class and and me, being the cocky person that I am, I pretty much could figure out how to skate already in my head didn't need to be there and my stepmom would come out of nowhere because the session was going on around you. My stepmom would come out of nowhere as fast as she could and she'd fly by and like, pop me in the head and tell me to pay attention and all I could do was just go. That's what I want to do.

Speaker 2: 2:12

I want to skate fast like her Nice.

Speaker 3: 2:13

It just kept going from there.

Speaker 2: 2:16

And you skated all through high school and all that kind of stuff too All through high school, I never really took a break. Okay.

Speaker 3: 2:25

You know there was, there was parts where it's like, you know, you had little kids and stuff and so you weren't skating as much yeah or you know, as soon as I could put them in skates and drag them to the rink, it was game on nice.

Speaker 2: 2:39

Oh now. Did you ever do any kind of competitions or like? Would you consider your style of skating?

Speaker 3: 2:47

I never did any competitions. I come from a real strong background of artistic skaters. Okay.

Speaker 3: 2:52

Artistic roller, derby, roller, hockey, speed skaters. And then I come along and I'm like I'm not doing that, I just want to go skate with the adult skaters and be a freestyle skater in the adult skate world and do rexing. And you know they were all like what is she doing? And I just did my thing. But, like my uncle and my aunt have said to me, they said if you didn't do what you did, you wouldn't be who you are today.

Speaker 2: 3:20

So yeah, and it's funny that you use the term Rexing, because I mentioned that out here and nobody knows what I'm talking about and I'm like dude, Rexing is kind of like kind of freestyle jam skating, Like what you guys are doing now. A lot of it's Rexing and that's just what we called it back in the day.

Speaker 3: 3:39

So you want to know some facts.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Okay.

Speaker 3: 3:42

Facts are that Rexing started here in California. It started like before I was born and as it migrated eastward and people started picking it up at their rinks, it couldn't remember what it was called, so they started calling it shuffle skating and trucking and all this other stuff. So when I was on the the ours board for when they were introducing our world to you know competitions and they were talking about shuffle skating I said let's just be clear here. I said it started as rexing and y'all changed the name of it, so you need to pay homage to where homage is due. Yeah, I said it started as Rexing and y'all changed the name of it, so you need to pay homage to where homage is due yeah.

Speaker 3: 4:29

I said we started that.

Speaker 2: 4:32

Yep, and I just remember that because you and I being pretty much from the same area and growing up in the same area, and I think you mentioned briefly before that you have skated at the Golden Skate- yes, so that was my home rink.

Speaker 3: 4:45

I used to go there on Sunday nights, when they had adult night, and then they had it on Tuesdays, and now it's on Wednesdays.

Speaker 2: 4:54

I just remember going from like 90 to like 93, and the DJ was Simon and I think Gina was the manager. Dave was her husband.

Speaker 3: 5:05

I don't know why I remember all these, dave, was the cap, boy boots and the belt buckle.

Speaker 2: 5:10

Yeah, the big tall guy.

Speaker 3: 5:11

Yeah, he was there for like 26, 27 years and.

Speaker 2: 5:16

Gina. His wife was the manager there, so they all worked together every weekend and it was just.

Speaker 3: 5:21

He only stood at the door and he just scared the shit out of people looking at him we were like in.

Speaker 2: 5:27

So when you were there, this we used to do this because I think the session was from like we started skating at like six and went all the way to the 12 30 yeah like 12 to 12 30. We pulled all the balls out that were hiding in the corner and just had like a free for all.

Speaker 2: 5:45

It was we would go home with welts the balls I remember those that was like so much fun and it's just, I think it would be fun and like at that time saturday and wasn't an adult night, neither was friday, but it was like high school, because I was transitioning from high school into adulthood. I'm still transitioning from high school to adulthood it hasn't fully kicked in yet, but so now you're also known as the skate critic. How did that come about?

Speaker 3: 6:18

So that in reality, that started a long time ago, and so I kept every time like every time I take the kids on vacation, I would like miraculously plan it around where there were roller rinks, we could go roller skating while we were there too. Just because we came to go disneyland don't mean we can't go roller skating too. And so at one point in time I was was like you know, I got quite a few rinks under my belt, so I got this crazy idea that I wanted to skate every rink in California. And so.

Speaker 3: 6:52

I started going to all the rinks in California and I got irritated at the lists that were online because they were outdated, but at that point it was like 10 plus years. It's now like 15 or 16 plus years, something like that. So I put together a correct list of ranks. I actually physically combined all those, all those lists, and then called every rank, see which ones were still in business. And I still do that to this day. I call every other year and make sure they're still in business, so, anyways.

Speaker 3: 7:26

So while I'm traveling to do all these rinks, so I could claim the title of being the person that skated every rink in California. My, every time I saw my aunt and uncle at a roller derby game, because my uncle's was, you know, the head coach, he wrote the rules for roller derby, and my aunt was, you know, in the scorebox and my cousin was coach, anyways. So every time I saw them, my aunt would say you need to write this down, you need to take pictures, people want to know. And I'd be like yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. So probably about the, I'd say, fourth or fifth time she said that to me, I thought I'm sick of hearing this, and so when she came at me and said you need to write this down, you need to take pictures, people want to know. I said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be the skate critic, whatever. So at that point people were asking me lots of questions about rinks because I'd been to so many rinks. So then I had lost my title of skating all the rinks in California because a new one had opened down south. So I was like, okay, I gotta go down south and reclaim my title. So I go down south with no plan other than to skate this one rink.

Speaker 3: 8:41

And then it was happened to be New Year's Eve and I thought, well, just go skate in one of my other rinks, you know no big deal. And I get down there and I'm like I started, you know, googling the rinks and and they were saying lockdown. They were locked down, so it was 15 and under, but you had to have a parent with you and if you were adult, you couldn't get in without a child. Well, I didn't have a child with me, so I couldn't go skating and I was pissed.

Speaker 3: 9:10

I was in the hotel on New Year's Eve and I'm like bored out of my skull and I was like, you know, let's look up this skate critic thing. So I started doing some research on it. I'm pretty good at research, so I started researching, you know, and I couldn't find anyone doing skate critic nothing. I did find there was an old man which I knew about who did kind of a skate critic thing and he released articles through the rsa and somebody else, and it was like every month and then it went to every other month and then it went to like every six months and it was like once a year and then he just fell off the planet, yeah. So I was like, okay, all right.

Speaker 3: 9:53

So I said, well, let me grab, you know, skate critics. So I grabbed instagram, facebook, youtube, I grabbed a Tumblr, all of them. I was like, okay, let's do this. And I put 33 friends in the group that night. And then during the night I kept noticing the ceiling was flashing light. So I was like what the hell is going on with my phone? Why does everybody want to talk to me? I was like whatever, I just kept sleeping and ignored them. In the morning I rolled over and there was like eight or nine hundred people in skate critic. I was like, oh shit, what did I do? And then, when I came back for the trip I went to. I went to golden skate to, and my friends were like, what did you do? And I go? I have no idea, but we're rolling with it.

Speaker 2: 10:51

Exactly.

Speaker 3: 10:54

And it's been a crazy ride. I've been to 443 rinks. As of today, In the country. In the country and Canada.

Speaker 2: 11:04

Okay, have you skated in colorado yet?

Speaker 3: 11:08

I have skated colorado. I've been to uh the wagon wheel good one.

Speaker 2: 12:02

They have adult skate night on monday nights, but I think it's coming to an end. But that's, that's like wooden floor, it's, it's cool I love the wagon wheel.

Speaker 3: 12:11

It's got big tree trucks in the middle.

Speaker 2: 12:13

Exactly I actually spent. I want to say my first. Was it my first New Year's or my second New Year's? Here at the wagon wheel they had a party. I think it was my second. Lucky it was an adult skate, so it made it fun. California how many rinks are there in california?

Speaker 3: 12:36

let's look.

Speaker 2: 12:39

We are currently sitting at 66 rinks in california okay, because there's not that many in the bay area, right, or is there? There's two left in the bay area, two official rinks, and then there's church shape wheels yeah, and then so is that other rink in san jose, because someone was mentioning that to me so the rink in san jose closed a couple weeks ago but, she's looking for a new location, so I've been trying to help her out to find a new location so she could put her rank back up, and there's currently a pop-up rink in san jose, but it ends in may okay.

Speaker 2: 13:17

So because my first rink that I skated at livermore used to have a roller rink called roller odyssey on first street on first street yeah yeah, it was also called.

Speaker 3: 13:29

I'll try something. Try tri-state roller rink or something like that.

Speaker 2: 13:35

It was called yeah, in the 70s, when I skated there, it was okay. Now I'm dating myself you are it was called roller odyssey and like we would get free tickets from school because I went to st michael's so we would get free tickets and we would go skating after school. So it it's like Kelly Moore paints now and there's like a. Rc track behind it for remote control cars.

Speaker 3: 14:00

Yes, there is. Livermore. It was also called Tri-Valley Roller Rink.

Speaker 2: 14:08

Okay.

Speaker 3: 14:10

But yeah, it was both.

Speaker 2: 14:13

Nice. Now what is one of your favorite rinks in California? And then we'll move to the rest of the country.

Speaker 3: 14:22

That could take all day. I have favorite rinks in every state, so California, I mean, when I'm home, I I, of course I work for Paradise Skate in Antioch. Okay. On the skate sales side, so that's one of my favorite rinks. They're all kind of my favorite rinks, but if anyone says there's a skate party at Sunrise Roller Land in Citrus Heights, california, I am there. Okay, because that's the fifth largest skate floor in the US.

Speaker 2: 14:53

Okay.

Speaker 3: 14:54

And it's a rotunda floor. It's gorgeous and it's up for sale, so somebody buy it, so I can get you a rink.

Speaker 2: 15:02

I sent the thing to my friend because she said she wanted to open a roller rink but she's not ready to buy. And I think she lives. She's either in Stockton or she's in Sacramento, but she's not ready to buy. She's in Sacramento but she's not ready to buy.

Speaker 3: 15:13

So when, when she's ready, tell her I do consulting and I'm the only one in the U S it has the all the roller rinks on one for sale rate list.

Speaker 2: 15:24

Okay, are there a lot of rinks up for sale right now, or?

Speaker 3: 15:28

right now I have like three pages of rinks for sale. Let's see, I never thought about counting them, but I'm always looking for the list to get smaller. Like three pages of rinks for sale.

Speaker 2: 15:40

Let's see, I never thought about counting them, but I'm always looking for the list to get smaller, but it doesn't seem to get that way. Well, it depends, like, what's the asking price?

Speaker 3: 15:49

Like what's the cost of some of these rinks? Sunrise is going for 5.37 million.

Speaker 2: 15:52

That's probably why she doesn't have enough.

Speaker 3: 15:55

Yeah, like some ranks on here. You know they're like 350,000 and includes a three bedroom, two bath house. Oh, that's in Georgia and China, let's see. I mean, some ranks are dividable property. Here's one for 70,000. It's in Parsons, kansas. You know we have another one for $8 million in.

Speaker 2: 16:24

Louisiana. That just does not seem like a, because when you're buying a rink you want to know what their gross profit and net profit is for the year, and then how much everything costs. So do you think some of these might be not priced properly?

Speaker 3: 16:43

So maybe a couple are not. However, people need to stop and think about where it is, what the profit margin is, what comes with the rink besides the rink. Some people go, oh it's, it's this amount of money. And I go, yeah, but there's three properties there. There's a house, a trailer and a roller rink and an apartment inside. You know. So you buy the rink, you lease out the trailer or you lease out the apartment, you lease out the other properties or sell them. Yeah. You know you got to think long term about it.

Speaker 2: 17:22

Yeah, that's what I would look at is like what's all included? It's like do you lease the building or do you actually own the building? Because if you're asking $8 million and you lease the building, it's. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 17:34

If you're not getting the property with it.

Speaker 3: 17:37

Right. Here's my advice on if you're going to buy a rink and I always tell people this If it scares the hell out of them. I know that the conversation's over, they're not going to do anything. Yeah, first thing I'll say is I want you to realize you're going to be married to the rink for at least the first five years until you find someone that is a little mini me version of yourself that you can trust to leave the rink to run it to. Second off, you want to buy the property regardless.

Speaker 3: 18:12

If you have to sign a lease, make sure it's a lease for 99 years. You never know what's going to happen. Or you have the option to purchase it because you know you could lease it for 35 years and people go. 35 years, that's a long time. Yeah, so you have it for 35 years at x amount of dollars and when 35 years comes up, the owner of the property goes hey, you've been making a lot of money on that, I'm gonna triple that rent. And then you're screwed. You can't make the rent payment or they go. You know what? I just want to sell this place. So you're out and they give you literally 30 days to get. But if you have it for 99 years. You're going to most likely outlive them. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 19:01

And then that will go into a trust and gets renegotiated. Or if you have the option to buy, you can keep it. But if you buy the property, it's yours and you don't have to worry about that.

Speaker 2: 19:11

Exactly. And then you set up an LLC and property management company and rent it to yourself.

Speaker 3: 19:16

Correct, Correct. I see a lot of rinks over you know, rinks that I've researched because I keep track of all the live rinks in the US.

Speaker 3: 19:25

I also keep track of all the dead rinks and so I've seen a lot of rink stories over the years of fantastic rinks just making money hand over fist and they're dumbasses and never bought the property they didn't leave and they lost, you know, somewhere down the road, 20 years down the road or 25 or whatever, and the owner of the property is like I'm triple, quadruply, I've seen it where they've went like 10 times the amount of the rent, you know. Yeah. Or Walgreens, walks in and goes hey, I'm going to give you $5 million If you walk away. I want you out in 30 days. What's the owner going to do? He's going to give up the property.

Speaker 2: 20:12

Like the owner or the rink itself, like the rink itself, like the rink people.

Speaker 3: 20:15

Both. I've seen it done on leases and I've seen it done on property owners of people who bought the property. So say a lot of times they'll buy the property and then it's time for the kids to run the rink or the grandkids to run the rink, and a lot of times it's grandkids and the grandkids all they see is dollar signs, yeah, and so you know they're running the rink.

Speaker 3: 20:40

And walgreens comes along and says hey, here's six million dollars. Walk and they go. Oh, six million dollars, woohoo. And then they don't realize they gotta split it between three other grandkids. And once you buy a house and you buy a brand new car and you pay off your debt, you're broke now. And guess what? The best thing next? You don't know how to do anything else but run a roller rink.

Speaker 2: 21:04

Exactly.

Speaker 3: 21:05

So what are you going to do for a job? It's like you know, some people make it, some don't.

Speaker 2: 21:11

What? What makes a successful roller rink Like what's?

Speaker 3: 21:16

What makes a successful roller rink. So I always tell people you need five things. So you need public parties, you need birthday parties and adult skate and two of whatever you want Artistic roller, derby, roller hockey, slalom, whatever you want to do but if you have those five things, you're usually an average rink. Okay. Usually make over half a million dollars.

Speaker 3: 21:45

And then the other theory behind that is also if you take the city that the rink is going into, or that city plus three surrounding cities, and see what the population of the kids are, so if it's like 20, 25 000, then that'll help support the rink yeah, and people usually come back to me and they go well, you don't really make any money at adult skates, and I go that's correct, you don't I said, however, you can usually run an adult skate by yourself or maybe with one other person, and the thing is is those skaters become loyal to you and then they bring other people to the rink, they convince people have their birthday parties there and they bring their friends and they go skating. And then if shit hits the fan on something you know, like during COVID yeah, you know us regulars we'd go down the rink. Hey, what do you need, what? What can I help you with? I mean, during.

Speaker 3: 22:46

COVID, I was painting walls at the rink. Never thought I'd do that, but it was. It was kind of fun. The whole time I was like, oh my God, don't let the paint fall on the floor. That's all I could think of. Oh no.

Speaker 2: 23:00

Yeah, now did any rinks uh close during COVID because because they were leasing and they kind of got screwed on that part.

Speaker 3: 23:08

There wasn't too many of those stories, but it was about 100 rinks closed during COVID. But, we did have a bunch that opened as well.

Speaker 2: 23:19

Nice.

Speaker 3: 23:20

And then we got some back. The average is like you usually lose about three rinks a month, oh wow. And then we got some. But the average is like usually lose about three rigs a month, oh wow, um one usually reopens and you usually get a new one.

Speaker 2: 23:38

So you know it's, it's not. It's maybe a dozen a year total. Okay, because I was actually surprised to hear that golden skate was still open, because just a couple of years ago I was hearing how they were finally closing the doors and so, and even when I skated there in like 1990, 91, 92, 93, it was up for sale then.

Speaker 3: 23:54

Right. So, that was when the Hoopers owned it and the Hooper's son. He works for our rink in Antioch now. Okay. But the current owner. He's tried to sell it like five times and nothing's ever come completely through. So who knows?

Speaker 2: 24:13

Now, does he own the building then, or is like so if you bought it?

Speaker 3: 24:17

He's a big real estate guy. He owns the whole thing.

Speaker 2: 24:20

Nice Is there still a, because there was a daycare in it too, in part of the building.

Speaker 3: 24:26

Daycare is not there anymore.

Speaker 2: 24:28

Okay, yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 3: 24:30

I remember the daycare days. Hey, that you were asking me a question earlier. I didn't answer. So, there's 82 rinks up for sale on my list at the moment.

Speaker 2: 24:40

Oh wow, that's a lot. Yeah, but nothing in Colorado right Cause we got skate city rolls.

Speaker 3: 24:45

Oh wow, that's a lot, but nothing in Colorado, right? Nothing in Colorado, let me see.

Speaker 2: 24:48

Because we got Skate City Rollers.

Speaker 3: 24:50

We have none in Colorado and I suspect, if there was any for sale in Colorado, that the Ingrams would buy it.

Speaker 2: 24:56

Probably Open up another Skate City.

Speaker 3: 24:59

Right, they own all of them. I'd say they own close to three quarters of all the rinks in the state.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Yeah, because there's they have like five or six skate cities and I've skated at.

Speaker 3: 25:13

I've skated more than that. Let me see Rinklist Colorado, colorado, because I know we got colorado springs one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and skate cities, and then they also have some skate cities in other states too.

Speaker 2: 25:35

Yeah, because I don't think. I don't think um oh sorry, that's eight.

Speaker 3: 25:40

I forgot about the, the pepsi Sports Arena. They own that too.

Speaker 2: 25:44

Oh, wow.

Speaker 3: 25:45

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:46

Nice, yeah, I've skated at four of them so far, and also Roller City. The thing I like about Roller City is we don't have the walls around the rink, it's just the back wall, but it's like you can jump on or off at any point.

Speaker 3: 26:02

It's not like you have to wait until you get to an opening. Yeah, step down, step up, ledge.

Speaker 2: 26:06

And it's a very small step down, step up.

Speaker 3: 26:10

Well, that's good Cause. Most of them are huge, which is great when you're younger, because when I was younger, it was like, oh yeah, you go as fast as you can, you jump out on the floor, or vice versa. Yeah. When I'm older it's like oh, I got to step down on that man, so make my knee hurt.

Speaker 2: 26:26

You're like, I can't get my knee up that high.

Speaker 3: 26:28

Right, right. So, like, as you get older, you're like step down, step up, ledge. You see them and you're like Ooh, no, thank you.

Speaker 2: 26:38

So now do you have a grading system for the, for the roller rinks that you go to, or how does that work?

Speaker 3: 26:46

So I grade for the roller rinks that you go to, or how does that work? So I grade with rinks on wheels and toe stops. So, example, if you have eight wheels and two toe stops, you're at the top of the list okay got like one wheel or two, you got some work to do like what do you mean like on the skates? For people that bring the skates in no, no, like when I write a review on the right at the bottom I'll say this rink gets six wheels which means you have some work to do to get up to eight wheels, and then you got to be over the top to start getting toe stops.

Speaker 2: 27:17

Okay, so that's your grading system. I'm like thinking like on the skate rack, like if you pull a skate off and they give you one with one wheel, they really need to take care of their skates. So what is it you're looking for when you're critiquing a roller rink?

Speaker 3: 27:33

So, first off, when I walk in the door, in my head every rink has eight wheels, and then you possibly go down from there. But what I'm looking at mainly, I am looking at your floor, your employees, your bathroom, your snack bar and your dj, because in reality, us skaters, that's all we care about. The rest doesn't matter. So that that's where I start and then, once I'm done with that, I will measure the floor to see how big it is, because readers like to see how big the floor is or how small it is. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 28:10

And once I'm done with that, then I'll go around the rink and look for historical things on it or things that make that rink different from other rinks. Okay.

Speaker 3: 28:21

And then I'll go back and I'll find the owner hopefully the owner or, you know, the general manager, somebody that knows some history and I'll start asking them historical questions about the rink. So I try to include, like the year it opened, who started it, who's running it now any interesting historical facts that you wouldn't know by walking through the door, you know yeah you know, some people tell me some crazy stories.

Speaker 2: 28:49

There's some stories I just can't put in a review, so I just chuckle with the owner it's not like the motown, where it's like you hear someone dying in the background and of the record, or oh yeah, I've heard some crazy stories, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 29:05

I did post one one time that I heard about how it was in an amusement park and the roller coaster went over the top of the rink and then a kid fell out, landed on the rink and he died. And I was like, is this facts? And they were like you know, we just heard that story over and over again and I go, I can't put that in if it's not facts. And I researched and researched, and researched. I found nothing on it. But there was so many people that said this story was real so I did put it in the review but I said I cannot factually say that this happened. But if you can find something, let me know, you know, let me know.

Speaker 2: 29:49

But it's the ranks urban legend it's an urban legend exactly so what are some other crazy stories you've heard that you haven't been able to put in, but it just would be fun right now oh yeah, I don't.

Speaker 3: 30:04

I most crazy stories seem to make it into my reviews. This is the horrible ones that I leave out, and I was like I don't think people should know that.

Speaker 3: 30:15

So, I've heard one crazy story was there was there were two ranks and they got a divorce and I guess the judge gave one ring to one spouse and one to the other and so they started, like you know, calling the city on each other for certain stuff. And then I guess the one spouse, he was really really good at it and so he was calling on this other rink owner over and over and over again, I mean to the point to where her rink was really hurting. And when I came I just said, you know, pray for this rink, and there it was sad. And then later I heard that his rink got shut down and she had nothing to do with it. So it's like karma. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 31:08

They should have just ran their rinks and headed on their merry way.

Speaker 2: 31:12

Exactly.

Speaker 3: 31:13

Yeah so hopefully they didn't outlasted his by about 18 months or so.

Speaker 2: 31:21

Okay.

Speaker 3: 31:22

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:23

And so what's one of your favorite rinks in the country?

Speaker 3: 31:27

So my favorite rink would be the Oaks in Portland Oregon.

Speaker 2: 31:31

Okay.

Speaker 3: 31:32

It is the second largest skate floor in the U S. It's 100 by 200 feet. It's a rotunda floor. It's the last remaining rink in an operational amusement park. It's also the oldest rink in the us.

Speaker 3: 31:52

It's probably the oldest one in the world actually at this point okay um it, it's a fantastic story if you, if you go there, you can't see them anymore because the lockers are in the way, but it's on the shore of the willamette river and so the willamette floods, and so I forget what years it was, but like the first time it flooded, I think it was in the 40s or something and so it flooded, it ruined the floor, and so they rebuilt it and that floor ended up in the dance pavilion, so they they, you know use it as a practice floor and then weddings and stuff. And then it was, you know, not so many years later. The rink flooded again and they were like we can't just keep putting a floor in here, right?

Speaker 3: 32:45

yeah so the army corps engineer stepped in and said if we build a floor that doesn't flood, will you stay? They were, like you know, kind of like yeah sure. So they came in and dug out underneath and they put 250 pontoons in their barrels and they built the skate floor on top and they made everything in the rink as portable. So if it starts to flood and it gets to a certain level, they go in, they cut this floor loose and they put everything in the rink on the floor and then the floor floats up with the water and then when the water recedes, it goes back down. And then when the water recedes, it goes back down, and then they just scrape all the mud and everything out of the rink and clean the carpets and put everything back and the rink's back in operation. The floor's not ruined. Oh, wow.

Speaker 3: 33:33

And so when you skate on this floor, if you're a true skater, the first time you skate on the floor you'll skate out and you'll go wait. What is that?

Speaker 3: 33:44

And you could feel the music coming from under the floor, because it is. It can go all the way around. Nice, feel the floor just a hair. You're like what? What you got to ask somebody. You're like what's up with this floor? But yeah, and then they got a wavy practice floor in the back, you know. So you go through like this. They have another practice floor and then they have another practice floor for the kids with little railings. They're not allowed on the floor.

Speaker 2: 34:09

They have to be able to skate in there first before they can come out on the main floor okay kind of makes it safer for people instead of having kids cut in front of you, and that's why, if I go to the kids session, I just take my time, my time skating. I don't skate like I do in adult state.

Speaker 3: 34:26

No, you can't, because the kids are unpredictable and most of the times these rinks don't have good floor guards to handle it.

Speaker 2: 34:34

Yeah, exactly. So what is the biggest floor in the US?

Speaker 3: 34:39

That would be Guptill's Arena in Latham, New York.

Speaker 2: 34:44

Okay.

Speaker 3: 34:45

It's up by Albany and that floor is 99 by 213 feet. Wow. It's a big floor too, and they've got a couple practice floors as well.

Speaker 2: 34:56

Okay, and now? When did the one in Antioch open?

Speaker 3: 35:02

Antioch's been there a long time. I'm not sure I have when it opened, you know. I should know that I work for the rink, right yeah?

Speaker 2: 35:15

Cause I think I have skated there a long time ago, If it's been open for a while it's at the fairgrounds in Antioch. I have skated there yeah.

Speaker 3: 35:24

It used to be roller Haven.

Speaker 2: 35:25

Okay, yeah, it used to be.

Speaker 3: 35:26

Roller Haven. Okay, yeah, and now it's called Paradise.

Speaker 2: 35:28

Because it would have been the early 90s when I skated there.

Speaker 3: 35:31

Oh, yeah, yeah. So, One more fact about the Oaks they're the last remaining roller rink with a live pipe organ. Oh, wow. Yeah, so you go there and they got all the pipes in the ceiling and they play the organ on Sundays and Thursday nights.

Speaker 2: 35:49

Do we have like a legend of the phantom of the roller rink or they can play that if you want it. That'd just be kind of cool when you're like going by it at night. You hear the organ playing, but nobody's there.

Speaker 3: 36:01

They've done a lot of movies there.

Speaker 2: 36:03

Oh nice, yeah, so. So next question is is what is your skate of choice? Like? What do you roll on? Wheels, bearings, boots.

Speaker 3: 36:15

Oh my. So currently I'm on a golden horse boot because I used to work for golden horse for the artistic side. Before that, I rolled for many, many years on a 336 Tribute from Rydell.

Speaker 2: 36:33

Okay.

Speaker 3: 36:34

And I'm currently shopping for a new boot, and I know Jason at Harlech would just love for me to get a boot from him. We've had many conversations, including one a couple of weeks ago. Boot from him. We've had many conversations, including one a couple of weeks ago. So my favorite plate in the past was a Snyder Royale titanium plate.

Speaker 3: 36:54

I love the crap out of that plate. Currently I'm on a Rolline G Auto NTS and back in the day I rolled on All-Americans forever with I don't even remember what kind of bearings I had back then Uh. But for the last 20 years maybe I've been rolling on um the elite roll line, uh art wheels, the red ones, one of three A's. Swiss uh ceramic bearings from bones.

Speaker 2: 37:36

those are my favorite, yeah and do you properly maintain your bearings?

Speaker 3: 37:42

of course I do, because I wouldn't be able to get online and chew everybody else out for not take care of the bearings if I didn't exactly.

Speaker 2: 37:49

It's like one of the most important things and it's like people don't realize how important skate maintenance is.

Speaker 3: 37:55

Now I see people all the time. I coach adults on sunday nights before the adult skate and when I get somebody who comes in and they're like yeah, I haven't skated in 20 years but I still got my skates, and I'm like that's wonderful, I'm glad you came. Did you take those apart and clean them and re-oil the bearings?

Speaker 3: 38:16

people coming in here and they're like, oh, do I need to do that? I said yeah, they haven't been skating on 20 years. They're all dried up and what's going to happen is you're going to get out there thinking you know how to skate again and get cocky and they're either not going to roll or you're going to push them to the limit and they're going to break and you're going to fall and bust something and then you're never coming back skating again.

Speaker 3: 38:39

And they always look at you like what? Like, yes, let's look at your skates, and not to mention even the bearings, but the bushings it's like you know you haven't rolled on them in 20 years. Yeah, you, you have to maintain them. You, especially if you're going to come back out and rejoin the skate world, you want to make sure you have the right equipment, and it's all you know. Sometimes I have to explain to people about their skates, like a car, and I'll say would you take your car out of the barn after 20 years, start it up and take it down the freeway at a hundred miles an hour? And they go oh no, I wouldn't. I would take it to the shop and get an oil change and make sure everything's working right. I say exactly.

Speaker 3: 39:27

Transmission fluid, get it all working right and then the other thing I always tell them is is I know you can skate, I know you used to skate. I said but you haven't been in 20 years. So I want you to take it completely easy and don't get cocky. You need to come at least three times over the next three weeks.

Speaker 3: 39:47

Get your balance back yeah and then you can start trying to see if you can do other things. And and always and when people don't listen to me, it's like you know they break an ankle or they break their wrist and it's like tried to warn you, I tried to stop you yeah, it's funny because, like in some of the groups, I'll see like how do you get better at skating backwards?

Speaker 2: 40:15

keep skating, right. It's. There's no shortcut, there's no magic formula. It's it's kind of like how much work are you willing to put in? And that's because I've had people on here that have been skating like, uh, one of my previous guests, robbie. He's been skating only for like two and a half years and he's like a phenomenal skater for freestyle and inline. So it's it's, but he skates every day. So it just depends upon. If you're like once a week, you'll be okay, but it's getting out there and and just skating. And I even tell people, take lessons. If you're not sure, take lessons, get a foundation.

Speaker 3: 40:56

Yeah, I hear people all the time Like I'll be in the middle skating. It doesn't matter where I am in the country. I just seem to attract people and they'll come up to me and be like, oh my God, can you teach me how to skate backwards? And I'll look at them and I'll go. As soon as you learn how to go forwards, I will teach you. Yeah, it's like you can't just jump to backwards, or I get people in my class, they'll take my class and they'll be like you know, I can't get these skates to do what I want and I go first off. Those are what we call throwaway skates in the roller rink industry.

Speaker 3: 41:33

They're only meant to last 30 days. Yeah. You need to get a real pair of skates and they'll be like but these are real. I bought them from Amazon and I'm like. They're not real. They're throwaway skates. They're meant for kids. Yeah. Because kids grow through them faster than they use them, so they're not meant for an adult. And then, when people don't start getting it sunk into their head, I'll look at them and I'll go so what is your ankle worth? Yeah.

Speaker 3: 42:03

And they go my ankle and I'll be like, yeah, because you're going to break your ankle on those If you fall. There's nothing holding your ankle in there because there's nothing there. I said if you have a good starter pair of skates, let alone, you'll be able to skate a little better, I says but if you fall, it's going to hold your ankle in place.

Speaker 3: 42:23

Yeah, and I go, you have good medical and they'll be like well, what it's like you gotta. You know, anything you going to do that you're going to put your heart and soul into or that can affect your body? Make sure you have the right parts to start with.

Speaker 2: 42:39

Exactly.

Speaker 3: 42:41

You know, like I tell people all the time, they always think I'm crazy. I go, I will spend an assload of money on three things People always go. What three things I go my skatesates, my bed and my car. Why? Because that's the place I spend the most time yeah so the rest doesn't matter, who cares?

Speaker 2: 43:01

exactly. Yeah, it's. I think I've got three pairs of inlines, I got a three wheel speed, a four wheel speed and then, like my rink skates and think combination, we're looking almost two grand for everything.

Speaker 3: 43:19

I got you beat, so I have my my inside skates, I have my outside skates. My outside skates are about 500, but my inside skates are two grand. Nice. And I get people all the time. They're like, oh, your skates are so pretty Nice. And I get people all the time they're like, oh, your skates are so pretty, I want a pair like that. How much does this cost? I'll be like you don't want to know.

Speaker 2: 43:40

Down payment of a car.

Speaker 3: 43:42

They'll be like no, seriously, I want to know. I'm like you, don't want to know how much these cost. You just want a good starter pair of skates and if they ask a third time, then I'll just let them have it. And the third time they'll be like no, seriously, I want to know how much those are. I want skates just like yours, I go 2000. They'll be like did you say 2000 with all the zeros? Yeah, I did.

Speaker 2: 44:07

Yeah, it's funny because it's like I even tell people I had a. It's a funny story because Friday night he wanted to fight me because he thought I was staring at him but I was watching the TV behind him and every time he moved I had to move to. Then Saturday night he apologized and then told me he wanted to get into skating. So I sent him some skate recommendations and I found out tonight he ordered some inline skates. So I'm going to be teaching him how to skate here. Nice inline skates. So I'm going to be teaching him how to skate here.

Speaker 2: 44:36

I it's. I pick skates that I'm comfortable with. That I know have a good track record, even if I haven't used it before, because I've used K2s and roller blade and then speed skate setups are a whole different story. But so and I always tell people I roll on a hundred millimeter wheels. It's kind of like find something that's comfortable and I go, if you're going to skate outside, make sure a hundred millimeter wheels. It's kind of like find something that's comfortable and I go, if you're going to skate outside, make sure you have outdoor wheels. If you're going to skate inside, make sure you have indoor wheels.

Speaker 3: 44:58

So all the time I go, you need a pair of skates for outside and one for inside. Don't take your inside skates outside, don't take your outside skates inside, and they go. Well, I can't afford all that. You get a pair of outside wheels, pair inside wheels. Make sure you change them. Two reasons One outside male wheels are made for outside. Yeah, inside wheels are made for inside too. If you have them outside, you take them inside. You're tracking shit from outside inside onto the floor. You're going to get it dirty and you're going to damage it.

Speaker 3: 45:30

I know and then the rink owner is really not going to appreciate you Exactly.

Speaker 2: 45:35

Like for speed skating, I have three-wheel which is marathon and outdoor, and then four-wheel frame is my indoor frame. I just switch the boot on top. Nice. So now, who is? Since you come from a family of roller skaters, it might be an easy question for you, but some of your biggest influences in skating that would have to be my parents and then my aunt and uncle.

Speaker 3: 46:03

So my short story. My mom was an art skater at Valley Vista in Hayward and my father was a rink rat. So my father had come down the rink and he tried to talk to my mom and my mom looked him up and down. One day she said if you're trying to get me to go out with you, you're going to have to learn how to skate. So he got pissed off and he left. He told my joe he goes. I don't care if I ever see that woman again. I am done with her, forget it. And he came back the following friday to his entire paycheck and learned how to skate. So I am a product of a artistic skater and a rink rat there you go, yeah and then my aunt and uncle.

Speaker 3: 46:51

They're both art skaters and they had their own rink in Pleasanton. Did you ever skate there at the fairgrounds?

Speaker 2: 46:59

Yeah, my mom actually has worked at the fairgrounds since 76.

Speaker 3: 47:04

Well, she retired now. So in the Hall of.

Speaker 2: 47:06

Commerce.

Speaker 3: 47:07

Yeah, my aunt and uncle used to own the rink at the fairgrounds.

Speaker 3: 47:11

Oh wow, Nice and so they've been rink owners, they've been partners in other rinks. They were heavily involved in roller hockey for a long time. They've got their name on plaques and stuff at the museum in Nebraska. Then they got involved in roller derby and my uncle wrote the rules for roller derby. Okay, their list of accolades is just forever. So I look up at them and I just admire them for all that. And then, of course, my aunt.

Speaker 3: 47:53

That's the one that pushed me into the road of skate critic and he actually told me at one time. He said you know you'd be the best person for that job and I said why? And he goes. You know just enough about every avenue of skating he goes. You know just enough about every avenue of skating. You know about derby and you know about roller hockey and you know about owning a rink and you know about the adult skate world and you know about speed. And he goes. You know enough about every avenue of skating and most people don't know that to make you dangerous. Yeah, like, oh, yeah, I do, huh.

Speaker 2: 48:36

Nice. So now, what is advice that you would have to give to up and coming skaters and people that are interested in becoming rink owners?

Speaker 3: 48:59

owners. So my advice to up-and-coming skate skaters is to learn from your elders and the number one thing you need to respect the rink rules. No matter what you think, you need to respect the rink rules, and I mean regular rules and adult skate rules, because it's two different things yeah and there's a little word out there called the adult skate world etiquette.

Speaker 3: 49:17

You need to know that when you're skating on the floor you need to know everything that's going around you in a three foot radius, and if you're a bad judge of distance, don't do them damn tricks, because you're not the only one on the floor yeah, and there's some people who will take you out. I happen to be one of them, so I happen to be another one of them.

Speaker 3: 49:39

Yeah, if you're going to, you're going to come at me. Stupid, I'm going to push you out the way. I'm going to do whatever. You can scream and yell and holler all you want in my floor. Guard. I kick you out the rink for it. But, yeah, are to probably kick you out the rink for it, but yeah, so that would be my, my thing for them. Uh, up and coming rink owners, don't be afraid, make that jump, man.

Speaker 3: 50:02

There's so many people say they want to be a rink owner and then they, they come at you and they you know, they got these half-assed crazy ideas. They're gonna do a. Go fund meFundMe. The community is going to support them. No, that's not how this works. You know, if you're going to be a rink owner, jump off that hill. Do whatever you got to do to become a rink owner. Go join the RSA. They'll help you with a business plan. They have lots of great things through the rsa that'll get you going on your rink. Be prepared to be married to the rink for five years at least, till you find mini me to help you out and, um, you build it. They will come. It's not, they come and then you'll build it.

Speaker 2: 50:51

Yeah, and a lot of the times it's like finding the area because I saw in the bay area like a it's not, they come and then you'll build it yeah, and a lot of the times it's like finding the area Cause I saw in the Bay area like a huge resurgence of skating during the pandemic, because one of the few things you can actually do and all by yourself. Yeah, and outrun the cops, because we can take the pass and they would have to get off their car. So just yeah.

Speaker 3: 51:12

I don't know anything about that.

Speaker 2: 51:15

It's the Bay area. You know it's, it's, it's there. So now, how can my listeners find you?

Speaker 3: 51:22

And I am on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram. Most of my action is in my group on Facebook called Skate Critic. I'm actually listed Skate Critic everywhere except Instagram. I am the Skate Critic. Somebody took Skate Critic like 10 years ago and they never done anything with it. I don't even think they have access to the account. Some people, I swear I think instagram should disconnect her account, so I could steal that name.

Speaker 3: 51:57

But there you go but yeah, most of the stuff's in. In my group I do questions a week. Every week I post all kinds of stuff where you could find skate merchandise and people post their videos in there and all my reviews are there.

Speaker 2: 52:14

Okay.

Speaker 3: 52:15

All my ranks and you can read up about them and see the photos of the ranks. I get people all the time Hit me up hey, where's what's a good rank in this state? And I'll let them know. And, like I said, I keep track of all the live ranks in the U? S. I personally call them every other year. I keep track of all the dead rinks. I keep track of all the skate parties, all the adult skates. I keep track of top 10 smallest rinks in the US, top 10 largest rinks and I'm sure there's about 10 other lists I can't remember right now.

Speaker 2: 52:48

Sexy rinks derby rinks, speed rinks, cosplay rinks, furry r cosplay rings, furry rings, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3: 52:57

Hey, did you ever skate at Redwood City?

Speaker 2: 53:00

No.

Speaker 3: 53:01

Oh, so Redwood City. Back in the day, I think it was Wednesday night, so you used to have lingerie night. It was like anything you dare you could wear, you could skate in it. Damn it. I remember going in there and I'm like, oh, like saran wrap, a leaf. I was like, wow, I thought I had a lot of guts when I was younger, but I had nothing on these people. Let me tell you. But, it was packed, packed all the time it's because you might get a chance to see boobies.

Speaker 2: 53:33

I mean I swear, I'm sorry, I missed that.

Speaker 3: 53:38

Yeah, I can't believe nobody else in the US has done that again.

Speaker 2: 53:45

I know out here we have a nightclub called Trax. It's the gay nightclub out here, but once a month they do a skating party. It's like you have to out here, but once a month they do a skating party, but it's like you have to have your own skates, but they also give you sippy cups so you can drink your alcohol while skating. Oh Wow, you might have to come and check that one out one time.

Speaker 3: 54:06

You know, it's actually on my rink list because it's not a rink, it's. It's some kind of skating that can be done although I don't believe in skating and alcohol mix.

Speaker 2: 54:17

But you know, you and me both I I've seen there was one night at the um golden skate. These guys came in drunk and the guy's femur snapped in half and everybody was trying to stand him up and we're like, no, let him let him yeah, so you know, the paramedics came, rolled him out, but then because of that it took up like an hour, so they kept the rink open till two for us, so but it was it was nasty, like you can see his leg flopping so, but I've seen a couple of those in my, my past.

Speaker 3: 54:53

But what else? Yeah, I, alcohol and skating doesn't mix and people think it does and you know it may be all right for a while for them and then somewhere down the road it's like no, you need to get sober. And when they get sober they have to learn how to skate all over again only that, when they keep falling, when you're drunk, you don't feel it.

Speaker 2: 55:14

The next day you're like where the hell did all these bruises come from?

Speaker 3: 55:19

I? I have pushed people off the floor. They're drunk and I have, like, insisted they'd be thrown out the building because they're dangerous. They're not only going to hurt themselves, but they're going to hurt other people yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 55:31

So I'm kind of like the honorary security at the skate city here, the one that I go to rate frequent, so I kind of have say in what goes on because, like, even when the one manager she's a female, if she's closing I will make sure everybody's out before I leave. So she's just there with the, with the crew. I don't want like anybody lingering around, so but that's just me.

Speaker 3: 55:56

That's those adult skaters. I tell you, they help you out.

Speaker 2: 55:59

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3: 56:00

You could always call an adult skater and go hey, I need help with this at the rink, and they'd be like I got you. I'll be right there.

Speaker 2: 56:07

Yeah, there was one time where she was working and this guy walks in and we're talking it's like January and he's in shorts, a shirt, but he's got like a ski mask on and he walks in to use the bathroom and they're all freaking out. So I went up and talked to him and I'm like, hey, let's like walk outside, cause they called the cops. So I walked outside to meet the cops with him and everything like that. And she's like, thank God you were here.

Speaker 3: 56:31

Yeah, yeah, strange, everything like that. And she's like, thank god you were here so yeah, uh yeah, strange people think I'm one of those people, those like I won't tolerate your shit. It's not better. It doesn't matter what rink I go to in the country yeah what? I'm always a floor guard or I'm always like, hey, don't do that. People are like that's not even your kid, I go, I don't care.

Speaker 2: 56:55

You're like, I am a skating expert, okay.

Speaker 3: 56:58

I went to a rink one time and it was out of control. I mean out of control. It was a Saturday, kid you know, evening session. And I go, is the owner of the rink here? And they're like, yeah, I go up to him and I go, this place is out of control. I said there's no visible floor guard. I said these kids aren't following rules. This is a disaster. And he's like, oh, we have a floor guard. It's that guy right there and I go, no offense. I go, but he's 450 pounds, he's on a pair of rentals and he can barely stand up. I said how is he going to catch the kids?

Speaker 2: 57:38

Just wait for him to come back around and run into them.

Speaker 3: 57:40

Yeah, and I was like. I was like you need to get this under control. This is dangerous. Someone's going to get hurt. And he's like he's like, well, I don't want to hurt their feelings. And and he's like he's like, well, I don't want to hurt their feelings. And I was like, excuse me. I said, is this your? Rank or theirs, because I'm confused, yeah, and he's like.

Speaker 3: 58:01

He's like well, you know which kids act in the word. And I said that one right there. And so he calls him over, he bends down his level and he's like can you just you behave? I'm like is this guy for real? Is this really happening? So the kid goes away and I look to him and I go, you know, I said you clearly don't know how to run a rink. I said but let me show you how a rink is run.

Speaker 3: 58:27

And I went out to the middle of the floor and I sat there for a minute. I was watching all these kids and so I picked out the worst one, the punkiest kid there was. I said hey, come here, come here, he comes over. And I said I got this five dollar bill right here he goes. I said we're gonna have a race and I said if you win, you get the five dollars. I said but if you win, you get the $5. I said but if I win, you need to learn how to Rex.

Speaker 3: 58:57

He goes what's Rexing? I go what you saw me doing on the outside of the wall where you were acting like a fool. And he goes all right, all right, I got you, we raced, I kicked his ass so bad I flipped around backwards and waved goodbye to him. So then he came out to the middle to get his $5. He said I cheated. I said how did I cheat? And he goes? Well, you turn around backwards. And I said, well, you obviously couldn't turn around backwards. I said now you need to learn how to Rex. He's like fine. So the next day I know I had him and like a dozen of his friends behind me all learning how to wrecks by the time I left they were high-fiving me and like I've told them all the rank rules and they were following all the rules. I walked out by that owner and I said that's how you run a rank and I left. Nice.

Speaker 3: 59:49

Oh my God, yeah, I can't stand ranks that are out of control like that. It's like you know, you have to have rules and you have to have them set in place for their safety and for yours. You don't want catastrophes to happen and then they come back. A lawyer comes back and says you know, hey, you don't have any rules in place, you don't have any floor guards. You know that's an appetite for destruction right there.

Speaker 2: 1:00:16

Exactly no waiver signed, no.

Speaker 3: 1:00:19

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 1:00:22

So well. I appreciate you coming on the show.

Speaker 3: 1:00:25

Absolutely, Isabel.

Speaker 2: 1:00:26

And I look forward to meeting up with you at your rink when I come back to visit my mother in California.

Speaker 3: 1:00:31

Oh, there you go. We skate and adult skate every second Saturday at sunrise, rolling land citrus sites, California, from 11 PM till 3 AM.

Speaker 2: 1:00:41

Okay, I will make it 11 AM to 3 PM 3 AM 3 AM Nice.

Speaker 3: 1:00:47

Yeah, I'll send you a flyer when we're done.

Speaker 2: 1:00:50

Cool Well, thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:00:52

Thank you, thank you.