Newsgroups: rec.sport.skating.roller,rec.sport.skating.inline Subject: Roller Skating Rinks Overview List FAQ Summary: Roller Rinks List Overview References: Sender: Followup-To: poster Reply-To: grr@tharsis.com Distribution: Organization: George's Pet Unix System Keywords: skating,roller,in-line,FAQ Expires: Tue Oct 31 00:02:43 EST 1995 Archive-Name: roller-skating/rinks-overview Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-Modified: Tue Dec 17 14:29:17 EST 1996 *** Copyright 1994-1998 by George Robbins - see detailed note at end *** This is the overview posting for the Roller Rink List. This document is posted periodically to the rec.sport.skating.roller usenet newsgroup, and can also be accessed via the world wide web (www) using the following URL: http://www.netaxs.com/people/grr/Roller Comments, corrections or additions are welcome - e-mail grr@tharsis.com Contents: Introduction Purpose What's A Rink? Regions Acknowledgments Attributions Work in Progess Editorial Policy Copyright Policy Inclusivity Description of List Entries Neighborhood/Rink Safety Notes General Safety Advice Submitting Entries Introduction: This posting provides an overview for the lists of roller skating rinks that appear in subsequent postings. These lists are based on my own travels and research, and on contributions from other roller skaters on the net. Such contributions are most welcome, see below for instructions. At this point, the list is broken up into nine sections corresponding to the USAC/RS Artistic Skating regions, one section for Canada and one for the rest of the world. Admittedly, not every state or province has equal coverage or even entries, but then this is an ongoing effort. The list is getting a little bit big to post in its entirety every month, so the plan is to post this document, and index and two or three of the detail listings each month, working through the entire cycle on a quarterly basis. Purpose: The purpose of the list is to provide a directory for *skaters* who want to find places to skate, either while traveling in distant places or in their own home area. I assume that most rinks have no major objection to having their existance globally visible, but since it is a directory for *skaters* I include both objective information about the rinks and comments submitted by skaters. I don't have any profit motive in preparing this material, nor has anyone offered me so much as discouted admission to their rink. I has turned out to be a rather expensive project in terms of time, computer software/databases and telephone bills, I reserve the right try to figure out some way of defraying some of this expense, such as selling hard-copy editions of the list. What's a Rink? For the purposes of the effort, a rink is a facility where you go to skate. The primary emphasis is on conventional indoor roller skating rinks, however outdoor rinks, a few outdoor skating scenes and hockey-only rinks are also included. I'm more intersted in rinks that have organized skating sessions or have a prepared skating surface and try draw the line at hockey "rinks" that are just tennis courts or playgrounds used for league play. I also don't currently include skate/skateboard parks or general outdoor skating trails and locations - there are other, more specific, lists that address these. Regions: Eastern Delaware - New Jersey - Pennsylvania Great Lakes Illinois - Indiana - Michigan - Ohio - Wisconsin North Central Colorado - Iowa - Kansas - Oklahoma - Minnesota - Missouri Nebraska - North Dakota - South Dakota - Wyoming Northeast Connecticut - New Hampshire - New York - Massachusetts Maine - Rhode Island - Vermont Northwest Alaska - Hawaii - Idaho - Montana - Oregon - Washington Utah Southeast Maryland - North Carolina - Virginia - West Virginia Southern Alabama - Florida - Georgia - Kentucky - Mississippi South Carolina - Tennessee South Central Arkansas - Louisiana - New Mexico - Texas Southwest Arizona - California - Nevada Canada Alberta - British Columbia - Manitoba - New Brunswick Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Ontario - Prince Edward Island Quebec - Saskatchewan World Australia (reference) - Holland - Japan - United Kingdom... Acknowledgments: Some of the entries in the list were based on material in the "Where to Skate Indoors" section of Tony Chen's (adched@cs.fsu.edu) In-line skating FAQ. Most of that information was later deleted from the In-line FAQ as being old and marginally relevant. While I appreciate the efforts of everyone who has provided entries for the list, special thanks are due to the following persons, who forwarded their own lists, archives or multiple entries for inclusion: Albert Boulanger Charlie Brett Scott Cohan John Fulton Robert Greene Susan Harbour Vito Labella Gaetano Lavigne RJ Marquette Dave Snowden Sonya Beckstom Scott Coopwood Kevin Williams Marlene Bruland "Hack" Some raw data was extracted from various web pages related to roller skating, skating spots and hockey rinks, including the following: Robert Schmunk's - Skating the Infobahn: http://www.panix.com/~rbs/Skate Larry Lawson's - Artistic Roller Skating: http://www.europa.com/~llawson/roller.htm Jacquie Owens's - Roller Skating Pages: http://www.nysernet.org/staff/jowens/Skating/roller.html In-line Magazine's - List of "In-line Hockey" rinks: http://s2.com/inline/inline95/rinks.htm Several CD-ROM based Street Atlas and Phone Directory products have been used in researching and validating some of the data in the list. Generally each product has similar data, but differing strengths and weaknesses in their indexing and searching provisions. The most useful of these are: PhoneDisc Business American Yellow Pages DeLorme Street Atlas USA I've also made about a million phone calls to information for current phone numbers and better addresses, and made fairly extensive use of the following web-based services: Nynex On-Line Yellow Pages web service: http://www.nyip.com Maaznet Directy Service Area Code Lookup: http://www.555-1212.com/aclookup.html Bellcore's NANP (area code) change information: http://www.bellcore.com/NANP/index.html Digitial's "Alta Vista" web/usenet search engine: http://www.altavista.digital/com Attributions: Descriptions or opinions originally submitted by others are prefaced by [person@site] tags - in some cases, these have been considerably edited to remove contextual or marginally relevant information, and to conform to my format. This editing may or may not be explicitly noted. Items with no attribution indicated, prefaced with [grr] and bracketed editorial interjections may be assumed to be mine. If an attribution is incorrect or the text does not reflect your current position, please e-mail a correction or update to me. Work in Progress: The list is very much a work in progress. I am always looking for additional entries and additional detail and comments for the existing entries. See the Submitting entries for details. There are several priorities currently in effect: Reorganizing the list by region and state (complete!) Reorganizing the list by area code within state (complete!) Providing access to the list via the web (complete!) Creating/Posting a combined index posting (complete!) Including all data from previous FAQ's and archives (complete!) Cross-checking against USAC/RS and/or RSA directories (complete!) Providing minimal listings for the "missing states" (complete!) Automating sequential postings of the detail posting (deferred) Creating an HTML version of the list to provide indexing and searching on the web (some day) Verifying name, address and phone number data in existing entries, and filling in missing data (on-going) Fleshing out minimal entries with directions, descriptions, schedules and comments (on-going) The general status is that the directory is now "complete" in the sense that it contains all the rinks in the United States based on the information that is available to me, most of the additions from this point will be individual discoveries or updates. The information provided for each rink varies considerably, there is room for the rote addition of directions and verifying the phone numbers and business status of the rinks. I expect to continue this over time, though the total number of rinks listed makes the task more daunting than it was early in the project. It would also be really nice to have schedule information, basic facts and descriptions for nearly every rink, but unless someone feels like funding this effort, I plan to rely mostly on your submissions. Ideally, someone "local" would volunteer to take on each "area code" and call each rink to gather information. Volunteers are encouraged to step forward and I won't even tell you how much work it is... Editorial Policy: As mentioned above, the purpose of the list is to provide a directory for skaters. The focus is on adult recreational and artistic skating, those who are interested in family or competitive skating may have to do some calling to fill in the blanks. Skaters who are primarily interested in roller hockey or outdoor skating will find the In-line Skating FAQ or "Skating the Infobahn" web-page mentioned above to be more useful. Ideally, each entry in the list provides enough information to allow a skater to find a rink and a session compatible with their location and preferences. This means that I value entries giving schedules, descriptions and opinions over simple rink name and address entries. Not that I throw away any relevant data, but I'm not motivated to type in masses of data from the RSA or USAC/RS directories, nor to do a lot of research to turn minimal entries into more useful ones. The information provided in the entries is *not* warranteed in any way, and reflects no more than the understanding and opinions of the originator. Items attributed to individuals may be deleted, changed or made anonymous at that individual's request. Other individuals are free to submit contrary or supporting information. I may also delete items that seem dubious or no longer relevant. Some entries may make references to the racial/ethnic makeup of the patrons of a rink or it's urban vs. suburban vs. rural location. This isn't intended to reinforce any racial or other prejudices, but simply to to provide the reader with a reasonable expectation of the situation at that rink. See also the section on rink/neighborhood safety notes. Copyright Policy: The lists are copyrighted by me, to prevent their unauthorized use in commercial publications or advertising. I don't want to find someone publishing or selling a "Roller Rink" directory, that is based on the lists, without my consent. Various other uses are explicitly permitted by the copyright notice, or may be authorized by applying to me. In case of doubt, read the copyright notice carefully or ask. Inclusivity and Timeliness: Ideally the list would include every rink, at least in the United States and Canada. Unfortunately, there is no single up to date source that list all rinks, the current RSA and USAC/RS directories include less than half the known rinks, and I don't currently have access to any archival materials. Beyond those orginally submitted, the bulk of the entries are based on telephone directory entries, both hard copies and CD-ROM editions. There are several difficulties with this approach. First, only a very few directories make a categorical distinction between ice and roller rink. Second, there is no requirement that a rink be "listed" or that it be listed under the "skating rink" yellow pages heading. Finally, listings give inconsistant names and incomplete addresses and there is often confusion between mailing addresses and the actual rink location. There are a variety of reasons why a rink might be missing from the list. The most common would be that the rink isn't listed as such in either the business listings or yellow pages, is in a location ignored by the database compilers or is a relatively new operation. The next group would be those that are listed, but not under the skating rink classification and not including the keywords such as "skating" or "rink" in their name. Another group would be rinks that are imbedded in some other operation and not separately listed, such as rinks municipal parks, recreation centers or schools; and rinks in commercial arcades, amusement parks or sports complexes. A final group would be transient or marginally commerical operations such as skating at the local Moose Lodge, a park pavilion or in the concourse of a stadium I've also made it a policy to include rinks that are closed, partly because they might reopen or someone might be looking for a rink, but mostly because the same "closed" rinks tend to pop up during subsequent research passes if I simply delete them. Ideally this information would be up-to-date, but short of someone doing an annual phone verification I don't see any way to do this. Most of the rinks are stable businesses, only a small percentage close, change their name or make radical format changes each year. Most directory entries survive at least the year of publication, and then another year of CD-ROM publication. I suspect that the CD-ROM publishers prioritize their efforts on major phone companies including those that provide machine readable data, and not little Podunk paper directories, so I'm not too surprised to hear that a rink has been out of business for 3 or 4 years! Description of List Entries: The following gets a bit tedious, but may provide some assistance in decoding cryptic entries or in preparing your own entries for the list. As far as possible, I convert information I receive into a standardized format. This makes the list neater and easier to index and scan. Each entry tries to present the information in a consistent order as follows. Location The town, state and country of the rink. Where several locations are given, separated by slashes, the first is what the rink itself advertises and any others are the names of nearby towns or areas that may be more generally known or easier to find on your state highway map. Rink Name The name of the rink as currently advertised by the rink. If there are other widely used names, or previous names these may be given in parentheses. Although skaters frequently reference a rink by the town or an abbreviated form of the name, this usually isn't explicitly noted. Names typically include some variation on "Roller Skating Rink", or "Skating Center" in their names, getting this right is helpful when calling directory assistance, but even the rinks tend to be inconsistant in what they use. Street Address The street address advertised by the rink, possibly with brief directions, details or qualifiers. Detailed Directions (optional) Directions on how to get to the rink from somewhere obvious - a town or a main road visible on a road atlas. Also, where to look for the rink once you're there or it's external appearance. The directions come from several sources - memory, careful notes taken by skaters, peering at maps, or using available information to try to pin down the rink location using a CD-ROM street atlas. Directions are no exception to the rule "You get what you pay for". And these were free! Your mileage may vary, the entry may say right when it means left, it may direct you to the wrong street segment or wrong part of town. Sorry about that. If you do find errors, particularly bad directions, or simply a better way, please e-mail corrections to me. Your best bet is to use the directions to help you find the rink on a state or local map, then call the rink if you have further questions or doubts. Phone Number The business number of the rink. If there is a number that is normally a recorded message and a separate number for talking to an person for reservations or questions, this may be noted. In some cases a number may also be given for the skate shop, or other facilities. Please note that some "recording" numbers are answered by people during normal rink hours and some "rink" numbers are forwarded to personal phones after hours. Be considerate and restrict calls to normal operating hours. While many of the telephone numbers in the lists have been used, there hasn't been any systematic checking of the numbers. If you know of a number that is wrong, has the wrong or missing area code, or if you can provide additional numbers for the rink, then please e-mail corrections to me. I've also tried to update area-codes where possible, but there are more area-code splits in progress than every before. Often it's difficult to tell which area code a particular number will be in until the end of the "either way works" period. In any case, most phone companies provide an extended "this number is now area code xyz" message for an extended time after the change. Schedule If there is enough information, I format the schedule into session by session entries, giving the day, starting and ending times and a classification of the session, music, and age restrictions. I am particularly interested in "adult" or "artistic" sessions or those that might have "organ music" or something other than generic rock or Top-40 music. It's also useful to provide a distinction between a session where the rink plays tapes and one run by live organist or DJ. Since there aren't really any universally accepted and consistent musical categories, I'm pretty much stuck with accepting the label that the rink uses. I can't guarantee that "Top-40" won't include a healthy dose of "rap" or sexually explicit lyrics, nor that it is *this* weeks top-40. Likewise "oldies", "dance" and "rap" mean very different things to different groups. If you have strong preferences or aversions, you'd best call and check. When I call a rink, I typically ask about "adult" sessions, and then about "artistic" or "old fashioned organ music" sessions. If they don't have any "adult sessions", I may ask if there is an open session that is more adults and less teens/kids. If I'm working from a submitted entry, taped message or paper schedule, I'll usually include all the information except obvious tiny-tot, kid-oriented sessions or non-weekly sessions like third-Monday Christian Music sessions. Frequently, the schedules are incomplete, out of date or don't give accurate classifications as to the type of session. Still, they provide an indication of the program offered by a give rink and it's up to you to call to confirm there really is a session on a given night and find out more detail about what to expect. Features This includes brief semi-standardized notes about the features of the rink such as the floor material, shape, size and condition. Whether the rink is air-conditioned, whether they permit and/or rent in-lines skates, and so on. The floor material and condition is important, since many skaters will go out of their way for a good floor. Most skaters prefer a hardwood board floor, followed by a coated plywood or masonite floor. Board floors are usually pretty obvious, while sheet based floors usually reveal some 4'x8' joint pattern, even though a blue plastic "roll-on" coating. A concrete or asphalt floor may be covered with a smooth and uniform coating of plastic plastic, or a thinner layer of plastic or paint that reveals evidence of the underlying texture and defects. These floors can provide an excellent skating surface, but I prefer to fall on a wood floor. The floor size may be given as in terms of dimensions - advertised or estimated by counting 2'x4' ceiling tiles, or simply given as small, medium or large relative to other rinks in the area. Most of the 70's-80's boom era rinks seem to come in at about 160'x70' feet, so I take this as medium. The shape is also of interest, especially if it's not the usual oval or rectangle. Obviously, condition counts for a lot. If the floor is nice and smooth or always kept nice and clean, that's worth mention. If it's rough, warped, has cracks, provides a simulation of the craters of the moon, or is usually so filthy your wheels always get sticky or cake up, a warning is indicated. Affiliations Where possible, rink membership in the RSA, as denoted by the rinks listing in the RSA directory is indicated, and the presense of USAC/RS skating clubs or coaches is noted. It's not immediatly obvious whether the RSA directoy includes all rinks that are RSA members, or just those indicated that the wanted to be listed. There are also apparently cases where several rinks under common ownership have only one "official" member rink or where it's difficult to relate the RSA directory information to a specific rink, since the information may refer to the business face of the rink, rather than the public face. While the USAC/RS directry presumably includes all sanctioned clubs, the associated rink name is occasionaly out of date and the address and phone often refer to a club official and not the rink itself. There are also cases were one club represents several area rinks or rinks with common ownership. While the presense of a USAC/RS Artistic, Speed or Hockey club provides an obvious indication of activity at a rink there are a couple problems. One is that many rinks have a JO club, and the JO charter can include one or all of the disciplines. In some cases it's obviously the JO verion of the other clubs at the rink, in other's it's quite ambiguous. The other is that there are four varieties of hockey - soft ball, hard ball, puck and USA Hockey (in-line?). In cases where there is no USAC/RS club, but there is a USAC/RS coach registered with a rink, I note the fact as an indication of some instruction available at the rink, however this is far from complete, since may coaches register as un-affiliated and the USAC/RS registration is only *required* for coaches that might be taking skaters to the national level events, it's the SRSTA that is the general coach/instructor membership organization. In general, these indications should only be taken as indications that the rink supports an organized instructional or competitive program, further research is need to determin how "live" the program is and whether it actually includes adult skaters or is mostly "just for the kids". Description, Comments and Opinion This is essentially a free-form section for you to describe the rink and sessions. You can briefly mention what's good or bad about the rink, or go into some length to describe the rink and put it in context with other rinks in the area. You can go into your pet peeves and frustrations at some length, as long as you're talking about this rink, and not the state of skating in general. Neighborhood/Rink Safety Notes: ************************************************************************* * Neighborhood/Rink Safety Notes * ************************************************************************* * * * Some of the skating rinks in this section are specifically tagged * * as *NOT* being located in in "good neighborhoods" or suffering * * from other potential personal safety problems. * * * * If you choose to visit them, please take appropriate precautions * * for your own safety and peace of mind. See the safety section in * * the overview posting for some specific cautions and suggestions. * * * ************************************************************************* Some of the sections of the list include the above bit of boiler-plate, with specific entries including a tag line like: **** See the neighborhood/rink safety note in the overview posting This isn't intended to condemn a particular rink or neighborhood, but the reality is that some rinks are situated in areas that are not necessarily "safe" for the visiting skater, at least during evening skating hours, and I would be remiss not to provide some warning. That doesn't mean that all the other entries refer to rinks in "safe" areas, nor that the marked ones are all that horrible, but you are advised to consider the matter and take what precautions you deem to be appropriate. There are also rinks where a skater from the "wrong" race, ethnic background or neighborhood won't be made welcome. This is generally less of a problem in the 21 and up "adult only" sessions populated mostly by serious skaters - usually obvious visitors are accorded a "guest" status and treated cordially or perhaps politely ignored. It's when the locals decide that you're "moving in" that you may be harassed or tested to see where you fit (or don't) into the existing order of things. General Safety Advice: Try to avoid walking alone, particularly in areas that you're not familiar with, or outside of the business hours when there is a continual flow of pedestrians. If you drive, try to park in a secure lighted facility close to the rink. When possible, arrange to visit the rink with someone you trust who is familiar with the area and, ideally skates at the rink regularly Try to arrive and leave with the crowd. In many urban situations, taking a cab to the door of the rink is the safest option. If there aren't cabs waiting when you're ready to leave, ask the rink to call one for you. Do this *before* the end of the session, so that you don't find yourself locked out on the street, away from the pay phone, when a cab doesn't show up promptly. Don't carry anything you can't afford to lose. All you really need are your skates, valid ID, perhaps your insurance card, enough money for the evening, and perhaps your favorite credit card. Put an extra bill for cab-fare or whatever in another pocket. Stick with the "adult" only sessions that are mostly populated by serious skaters. This minimizes the problems with people hanging around, fights and the like. You are a guest - act like one and hope to be treated as such. If you see other skaters using lockers for their personal possessions, take a hint and do likewise. When in doubt, call the rink and explain your situation and concerns. Ask for their recommendations as far as sessions and how to travel to/from the rink, and then use your own best judgment - they deal with the situation every day, but you're just visiting. Submitting Entries: To submit entries, just send information to me: grr@tharsis.com I would prefer that you review the "Description of List Entries" section above and then send me fairly complete information, but I'm not that picky and and a "name, location, address, phone" entry may be better than none. You can also use the attached form, either in "fill in the blank" mode, or just to organize your thoughts as you send in something more free form. ======================================================================== To submit an entry: 1) Capture this text file one way or another 2) Edit the form to add information about your rink 3) E-mail the edited form to grr@tharsis.com You can also use the form as a general guide and send something free form! Roller Rink Questionaire ====== ==== ============ 1) Name of the Rink: 2) Street Address: 3) Location - Town or city - also please give the name of a nearby well known city if the actual town isn't easy to find on a state map. 4) State or Province: 5) Phone Number(s) - give "schedule" number first if there are separate numbers for information and talking to someone. Area codes too! 6) Directions - brief summary of how to get to the rink from town or from a main road, also where or what to look for if the rink isn't obvious from the main road. 7) Floor Material / Construction - wood, blue plastic over plywood or masonite sheets, plastic over concrete, painted concrete, etc: 8) Floor Condition - smooth, rough, pockmarked, warped, slippery, clean, dirty, or just good vs. poor. 9) Size and Shape of Skating Floor - dimensions or just small/medium/large. Mention posts or other obstructions such as a fenced center island. 10) Skate Shop? Snack Bar? Smoking Area? Games? Air Conditioning? 11) Are in-line skates permitted? Available for rent? 12) Schedule - list sessions by day, times, music, age restrictions or just something like: "artistic night on wednesday" 13) Are there special "adult only" sessions or, if not, sessions where where there are likely to be more "adults" and fewer "kids"? What kind of music is played for such sessions - Organ? Top-40? 14) Say a few words about the rink - what's it like, what's the crowd like, what are some good points, and any bad points or frustrations... 15) Your name and e-mail address, or mention that you would prefer that your comments remain anonymous: ======================================================================== Copyright Notice: This material is Copyright 1994-1998 by George Robbins. Rights to reproduce or distribute via on-line services offering general usenet or internet access is freely granted, provided that such services do not impose contractual or copyright restrictions upon further free reproduction or re-distribution of the material, and that this copyright notice remains intact and visible. All other rights are reserved, contact George Robbins (grr@tharsis.com) regarding permissions.