Director: April Wright

Coming Soon!

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In Post-Production

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ALL SKATE is the full history of roller rinks and roller skating as told by a diverse group of people who are currently involved with roller skating and rinks, and through my point of view having grown up in a roller rink built by my grandfather.

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We cover everything from the early inline skating inventions, the patented Plimpton four-wheel design which prevailed, and then go though multiple phases of popularity including 1920s skaters including vaudeville performers and silent films, professional roller sports, the Skating Vanities, the 40s/50s during and post WWII when we expanded to over 5000 mostly family-owned roller rinks in the US, to the huge 1970s roller disco era, the return of roller blades in the 80s.

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We also visit the times of decline over the years, especially since the 2000s, and the reasons many rinks couldn't survive, visiting many former roller rinks to see what the buildings hold today, including retail stores, homeless shelters, and a sad return to my family’s rink which is now an indoor shooting range. But we end on a high note, with the amazing roller skating resurgence brought on by Covid, including skating in the Super Bowl for the first time ever in 2024.

 

Included in the film:

The Oaks Roller Rink in Portland, OR the oldest rink in operation since 1906. It's part of an Amusement Park as many rinks were in that era. The Oaks also hosts a Roller Derby championship team.

Guptill's Arena, the world's largest roller rink (in the Guiness Book of World Records) located near Albany, NY, built in 1951 and operated by the same family since opening, they have many eras of skating under one roof as we explore layers of skating history.

Jim Turner, a 77 year old US Champion skater and skating coach, who is still actively competing and skating! He literally wrote the book "The History of Roller Skating" and his research helped him to found the National Museum of Roller Skating in Lincoln, NE.

The Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, CA owned by renowned roller skating organist Dominic Cangelosi who traveled with his organ to play for skating competitions all over the country and owns the last rink operating in Los Angeles county.

Harry Martin who brought a skating rink back to NYC in 2023 - the last two rinks closed in 2006/7, including Empire Rollerdrome in Brooklyn which was the birthplace of Roller Disco, and was Harry's rink growing up, where his parents met on skates.