The Amazing Era Of Roller Skating

By Toby Tunwase

The ’70s and ’80s were the prime time for roller skating, but it has been around for decades. In those years, though, everyone skated everywhere they went all day and all night.

For some people, roller skates were literally an appendage or as common as regular shoes. Funky yet provocative, the fad had a huge impact on the culture at large. From roller-related adverts to far-out fashion, rad roller-shows, and movies, roller skating was everywhere.

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Skates became the hottest fashion. For the most part, regular ones were just like sneakers with wheels. Rolling sandals, however, were a completely different trend. The shoes were clog-like but had retractable wheels. Laughable today, but in the 1970s, it was classic.

The greatest thing in outdoor recreation became roller skating. Skating festivals were often organized by excited people. A world record was even set at an event in San Francisco for the world’s longest skating serpentine.

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Trust the 1970s to make an activity as pornographic as possible out of otherwise family-friendly activity. Roller skating was influenced by the seventies when it became associated with laxity and overt sensuality. Cher, Hugh Heffner, and even his playboy bunnies espoused that sexuality and could be the reason for the popularity of this fad. Surprisingly it was the eighties that slowed things down and made skating rinks more child-friendly.

All in all, roller skating was childlike fun and indulgence for adults during that period, with skating rinks being a popular destination for teens.