WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024

DANIEL BRENNAN; INSET: NEWSDAY / KEN SAWCHUK

CREATURES FEATURED New animals you can check out this summer newsday.com/family
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Remembering Nathan’s in Oceanside
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BY FRANK LOVECE
Explore LI

Special to Newsday

L
et the good times roll? Long
Islanders have done exactly that
for well over a century at roller-
skating rinks, those all-ages
emporiums of fun and the not-
so-occasional fall.
Roller rinks first opened on Long
Island during the worldwide skating
craze of the 1880s, both in converted
music halls, as in Riverhead, and dedi-
cated structures, as in Babylon. When
the Great Depression shuttered many
rinks, the Roller Skating Rink Operators
Association — now the national govern-
ing body USA Roller Sports — formed
in 1937 to revive the industry. A postwar
“Golden Age of Roller Skating” fol-
lowed through about 1959. At its peak of
18 million skaters and 5,000 rinks, roller
skating, said National Geographic, was
America’s “biggest participation sport.”
And Long Island had its share of
champions. Mineola in particular was a
hotbed of great skaters who took first
place in multiple categories at the U.S.
Amateur Roller Skating Association’s
inaugural national championships in
1942, held in New Jersey. The Mineola
Skating Rink would host the 1949 and
1955 championships. The Levittown
Arena / Levittown Roller Rink did so in
1960 and 1966.
But indoor rink skating by then had
become a niche recreation; there were
just four rinks left on Long Island in
1974, in Bay Shore, Elmont, Hampton
Bays and Levittown. Then roller disco,
with music by live DJs replacing the
traditional organ, ignited a pop-culture
juggernaut: Linda Blair in “Roller Boo-
gie!” Patrick Swayze in “Skatetown
USA!” By 1979, the year of those films,
there were a baker’s dozen rinks on the
HOWARD SIMMONS Island.
After this boom, another bust. Some
rinks survived for a while by turning to
roller hockey, which had first emerged
in the early 1960s. Today there appear
to be four dedicated indoor rinks left —
United Skates of America, which still operates in Seaford, had a Centereach location that was the site of a Twisted Sister concert. in Greenport, Old Bethpage, Seaford
and Shirley.

Rolling back
But the multitude that came before
roll on in memory.
newsday.com

Levittown Roller Rink

Hempstead Turnpike and Wantagh Parkway, East
Meadow
Touted as “The Rink of World Cham-
pions,” where top skaters trained and
NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024

two national championships were held,

the years on LI
the Levittown Roller Rink lasted 31
years before closing in 1986 — a blow
that one patron told Newsday then was
“like closing Ebbets Field and the Polo
Grounds.” That the “Levittown” rink
was actually in East Meadow bothered
no one any more than baseball being
played at a field named for polo.
It opened April 9, 1955, as the Levit-
town Arena, a newly built franchise of
A look at the skating rinks that once dotted the Island the company America on Wheels. With
a 20,000-square-foot skate floor, a
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GUIDE THINGS TO DO

DANIEL BRENNAN
Hot Skates in Lynbrook served as a
go-to place for fun from 1980 until
2019 for locals, including “Real
Housewives of New York” star
Bethenny Frankel. At left, a 1981 ad
in Newsday for Hot Skates.

were used interchangeably for a

while.
“I spent the majority of the ’80s
hanging out at Levittown Roller
Rink,” said Holtsville’s Natalie
Krempa, 53, a fiscal intermediary
coordinator raised in East Meadow.
“That’s where I learned to roller
skate and went to many Girl Scout
events and birthday parties, includ-
ing my own 9th birthday party in
1980.”
NEWSDAY

The late George Petrone was

manager from 1957 until the rink

Credit: John Paraskevas

closed. “George was loved by every-
body,” recalled Massapequa’s Char-
NEWSDAY / ALEJANDRA VILLA LOARCA

lie Steinert, 69, a retired TV-news

camera operator. When Petrone
underwent heart surgery in 1985,
reported The New York Times, “50
regulars of all ages from the rink
showed up at the hospital to cheer
him up.”
But Petrone was straitlaced.
Very. While Levittown and a cou-
ple other Long Island rinks disal-
SUNFLOWER FIELDS & MAZES

newsday.com
lowed “blue denims, hot pants,
T-shirts or bare midriffs,” reported Immerse yourself in a sea of sunflowers on
NOW ONLINE
Elisa DiStefano skates Newsday in 1972, “Levittown goes Long Island! Explore sprawling fields, snap Insta-worthy
one step beyond — banning long
into the past hair” on men. pics amidst the towering blooms, and maybe even pick

NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024

newday.tv As Hicksville’s Gary Koslosky, 63, your own. It’s a perfect escape for all ages.
who worked for Petrone at both
Levittown and at the manager’s next
raised stage with an organ, a pro rink, recalled, “In the ’60s and early
shop and more, it was billed as Long ’70s, if your hair touched the collar, newsday.com/sunflowers
Island’s largest rink. Within two he was there with a pair of scissors
years it was renamed the Levittown
Roller Rink, though both names See ROLLER SKATES on B4

ON THE COVER Carlos Jaramillo, of Valley Stream, zips around the floor at
Hot Skates in Lynbrook in 2013. Inset: Michael Meier, of East Islip, skates with
his daughter, Aileen, at the Bay Shore Roller Rink.
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Beat the summer heat at these LI public pools
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Rolling into LI’s

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skating rink past

ROLLER SKATES from B3 Supervisor, attracted a reported crowd
of thousands and featured a concert by
to cut it off,” with permission, or else big-band leader Woody Herman.
you had to leave. The bluejeans rule Ironically, the rink’s America on
applied only to men, remembered Wheels franchise-owner was Harry J.
Karen Levine Volk, 68, of Palm Coast, Kangieser — the Democratic-Conserva-
Florida. tive candidate for the post, who won
For Krempa as a teen, the rink pro- and served from 1968-69.
vided a place to be with her boyfriend As the years went on, the rink eventu-
“who lived in a different town. On Friday ally became unprofitable, and on March
and Saturday nights we used to go for a 25, 2001, Roller Rink Associates closed
couple years. We could skate together what was then the Bay Shore Roller
and hang out without parental supervi- Skating Center. The abandoned rink fell
sion,” she said, adding that parents felt into disrepair and was demolished in
their children were safe at the rink. 2007. A new building, completed in
For many skaters, outings often ended 2010, housed a Lucille Roberts Health
at the adjacent ice-cream parlor and Club for several years. An urgent-care
restaurant Jahn’s, part of a now-defunct facility and a physical therapy group
chain that featured one particular, enor- are the current tenants.
mous dessert with an evocative name. “If
there were more than six of us, we would Hot Skates
order the Kitchen Sink,” Krempa said. 14 Merrick Rd., Lynbrook
At least one concert was held at the From third to seventh grades in
rink: Canned Heat on March 16, 1972, Rockville Centre, where she then lived,
with opening acts the Edgar Winter Skinnygirl founder and former “The Real
Group and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Housewives of New York City” star
Wheels. Bethenny Frankel “spent every single
Levittown was America on Wheels’ weekend from morning until probably 9
most profitable rink in 1986 when the o’clock at night” at Hot Skates, which
corporation closed it. The real estate opened in early 1980 and closed on
value of the 3.7-acre lot, the company March 24, 2019. “My childhood was
chief explained, had become too great there,” reminisced Frankel, 53.
to ignore. The property, at 2575 Hemp- Hot Skates became something of a
stead Tpke., was sold to a now-defunct TV star itself, with shot-on-location
pharmacy chain and has since housed appearances on series including CBS’
businesses including Deck & Den and “Kevin Can Wait,” starring native Long
Staples. A Sherwin-Williams paint-sup- Islander Kevin James, Netflix’s “Un-
ply store is the current anchor. breakable Kimmy Schmidt” and ABC’s
“The Bachelorette” — where Roslyn-
Bay Shore Roller Rink raised J.P. Rosenbaum took Ashley
1850 Sunrise Hwy., Bay Shore Hebert on a hometown date on the
After closing Levittown, America on show in 2011.
Wheels sold its other Long Island Back in the day, “We were all very

NEWSDAY / MILLIE ROSE MADRICK

outlet, in Bay Shore, to the Manhattan- into Sergio Valente jeans. I had the
based Roller Rink Associates. Former comb in the back pocket” in the style of
Levittown manager Petrone and a the times, said Frankel, who had remi-
partner leased it from the new owners nisced about the rink on her 2010-12
newsday.com

— taking over a rink that had opened Bravo series “Bethenny Ever After.”
on Nov. 16, 1960, and was well-enough “You had to pay for each session — I
regarded that it hosted the New York think they were 12 to 2:30, 3 to 5:30, 7 to
State Championships in 1975. 9:30 — and every day they would do a
There, Koslosky was a rink guard, race around the rink. And I was fast so
NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024

one of that cadre who kept order and I would always win, which is how I Break-dancers compete in a contest at Bay Shore Roller Rink in 1984.
helped in case of accidents. He wore a would get free tickets to come back and
uniform of “black pants, a white shirt, a stay multiple sessions.” jukebox musical “Beatlemania.” An ad for equipment. Mequity Acquisitions LLC
maroon-ish red vest, a tie with a skate It was also a place of puppy love. a music-themed event held three days bought the facility, tore it down, and
and a maroon hat,” he recalled. “My first real kiss was in that roller later invited patrons to “[d]ress in your replaced it with a location of
Among events held at Bay Shore rink,” Frankel said fondly. “There were most outrageous ‘New-Wave’ fashions” CubeSmart self-storage, which is still
were a May 24, 1963, benefit to buy CB boys from Whitestone and Bayside” in and skate to the music of groups includ- there today.
radio equipment for bedridden polio Queens. “They used to come with their ing Split Enz, Blondie and “The Klash”
sufferer Al Kaufman, “who has been hockey jerseys. We had long-distance, [sic]. United Skates of America
using borrowed radio apparatus to help roller-rink boyfriends.” After it was announced in October 21 Hammond Rd., Centereach
pass the time,” Newsday reported. A And the place embraced the times. On 2018 that it would be closing, the own- No one ever called it “United
rally on Oct. 30, 1967, for John P. Fay, the Nov. 16, 1980, said an ad, you could skate ers shuttered it in March of the next Skates of America,” say former pa-
Republican contender for Islip Town with the cast of the seminal Broadway year and held an online auction for its trons — it was just “USA.” A national
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Skaters were off to the races at rinks
such as Bay Shore Roller Rink. Long
Island was home to multiple
roller-skating champions.

Hampton Bays Roller Rink

225 W. Montauk Hwy., Hampton Bays
A 1980 item in Newsday asked,
“What can explain Gin Lane’s artist-
in-residence Roy Lichtenstein sneak-
ing off to the Hampton Bays Roller
Rink?” The answer: The late pop-art
star was taking lessons from Chris
Calagan, the resident pro and son of
the late owners John and Frances
Calagan.
“I had a friend who was an artist,”
reminisced the 71-year-old retired
minister, now living in Keyser, West
Virginia. “His name was Roy Lichten-
stein and he was a real big modern
artist” whose controversial appropria-
tions of other artists’ comic-book
panels have sold at auction for more
than $93 million. “I had absolutely no
interest in it,” Calagan continued,
“and that’s one of the reasons we
were such good friends. I taught him
how to roller skate and he got to be
pretty good, but he had to be really

NEWSDAY / JOHN KEATING

careful because of his hands and his
arms, of course.”
The rink had opened in the sum-
mer of 1965, following a near tragedy
during construction the previous
Oct. 12, when the partially completed
roof caved in. Two workers escaped
unhurt; one had been able “to ‘ride’ a
chain, it still has an outpost on used to let us in for free in-between brothers Milton and Wilbert Hinch- collapsing section of the roof safely
Hicksville Road in Seaford. But it sessions and give us dust pans and cliffe, the “Wal” from a partner to the ground,” Newsday reported.
was the Centereach location, which brooms and we’d clean up and then whose last name in different Steinert, who grew up in Queens in
opened circa January 1977, that go behind the skate counter and hand sources is Waldren or Waldron. the 1960s, spent childhood summers
hosted the one-and-only rink con- out skates as the new session Wal-Cliffe would go on to produce with the family of his cousin, the late
cert by the soon-to-be iconic Long opened,” Daleo recalled wistfully. In numerous skating champions, ac- Victor Nolan, who lived in East
Island band Twisted Sister. return, “We could keep skating and cording to Skate, the official maga- Quogue and was a rink guard at
Music producer-manager and not have to pay to get in three times zine of the Roller Skating Opera- Hampton Bays. “Victor took me
former Twisted Sister guitarist Jay a day.” tors Association of America. roller skating every night,” Steinert
Jay French confirmed to Newsday, “It By October 1983, it was no longer And it would endure nearly 50 said. “It was the best time ever.”
was United Skates . . . April 13, 1982,” USA but Great Skates. By September years. Even an April 16, 1959, fire that Part of what made it so was the
adding, “I doubt I can confirm that 1984, the discount liquidator Sands destroyed the rink didn’t deter the small-town ambience where it felt
Cintron opened but they very well Salvage had taken over the space. owners — by then, the Sylvell Cin- safe for him and Nolan to “hitchhike
could have.” Frontman George Cin- Skating returned briefly there in the ema Corp., leasing it to operator Bill from East Quogue to Hampton Bays
tron did not respond to a request for mid-1990s with A-Maze-N-Skates Kaster — from rebuilding as the New all the time. Here I am, 12, 13 years
confirmation. Family Amusement Center. Today? Wal-Cliffe. old, hitchhiking. All the locals knew
Twisted Sister “was probably the Another self-storage facility. It eventually returned to its origi- us, so they picked us up.”
biggest name there,” recalled Cathy nal name, and in 1981 changed hands The Calagans, with whom he and

newsday.com
Kadlec Daleo, 56, of Shirley, a self-de- Wal-Cliffe again. New proprietor Anthony Fil- Nolan were friends, sold the place in
scribed USA “rink rat” who added it Belmont Boulevard and Johnson Avenue, Elmont ippi redubbed it Roller Castle and 1979 to the late Allen I. and Katherine
was a hot spot for high school bands Opened in 1937 as an adjunct to made $700,000 in improvements and Schiffman, who operated it through
to play. the previously built Wal-Cliffe modernizations, he told Newsday 1984, with Chris Calagan staying on
And while “rink rat” is a generic, Swimming Pool — and variously three years later. At some point, as skating pro through 1981.

NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024

generally endearing term, USA had known as the Wal-Cliffe Roller- developer Andrew Zucaro owned At least one event was held there
the Rink Rats — a proper noun, to drome and Wal-Cliffe Roller Skat- Roller Castle, or at least the building, afterward — a March 14, 1985, family
hear them tell it. ing Rink — this was among the according to Long Island Business skating party sponsored by the Home
“I started noticing these shirts all first of a new breed that emerged News. School Association of Our Lady of
over the rink that said ‘Rink Rats,’ ” after the Great Depression had Whatever the owner/manager the Hamptons Regional Catholic
Daleo said. “They were the old- devastated the industry. Many of lineage, the property sat vacant from School — which may have been a
school black tees with the white the few remaining rinks had be- mid-1986, when Filippi said he sold it, one-off rental of an otherwise closed
lettering. On the back it said ‘We Are come disreputable hangouts, like and once again burned down on Jan. space. By September 1987, the build-
Family’ from Sister Sledge. And I juke joints and pool halls. But Wal- 16, 1988. Developers Maxwell Krieger ing had been converted to offices
decided, ‘Well, I’m a rink rat.’ So I Cliffe, directly across Johnson Av- and his sons Robert and Steven soon housing the local school district and,
made a shirt like that.” enue from an elementary school, afterward built today’s Carriage for a short time, a weight-loss com-
Despite corporate ownership, there would be family-friendly. Town Houses on the rink and pool’s pany before its now decadeslong use
was a “Brady Bunch” feel. “They The “Cliffe” part came from 3-acre site. as medical offices.