Hisham K.
Yelp
I almost died here last night.
I'm no pro roller skater, but I can hold my own, and so can most of my friends. What lured us here was the fact that this is an old-school good old-fashioned roller rink, with those skates that have FOUR wheels at opposing CORNERS, instead of those stupid roller blades with their in-line gravity-inducing ways. Besides, it was Tia's birthday celebration.
So there we were, 7 girls and one strapping young gentleman (me), stepping out of the cold and into... a metal detector?
Oh right. This is Dorchester. My bad.
The ladies put the majority of their stuff back into the trunk of Mattrell, the Mazda 3 Zipcar that I brought along. We weren't allowed to bring in ANYTHING. No pens, no gum, no cigarettes, no lighters, no bobby pins, and if any of the ladies were wearing wire bras it would set off the metal detector and a thorough search would be initiated by a very daunting (but rather nice) woman.
I got through Boston Logan security easier than I got through this place. And I'm Arab.
The skates are smooth, the lockers work properly (but you need 4 quarters to use them), and the rink itself is a decent size in the shape of a zero. (Not to be confused with an "O.") The part in the middle is where some skaters either practice tricks, or practice skating.
The "snack bar" is dirty and old, but there are some vending machines that dispense soft drinks. I was relieved to see that along with the typical Pepsi, Sprite, and root beer options, there was no button for "Glock."
The kids who come here are hella good. They are awesome. They whiz around that rink at light speed doing all sorts of tricks in time to the music (spun by a live DJ) and I was sure that any air circulation in the place was caused by their collective rotation around the rink. They are fast, balanced, and know what they're doing. Now, this is the part where I almost died.
Tia took an unfortunate spill and ended up on the floor - right in front of a stampede of skaters hurling along at God only knows what speed. I knelt down to help her up, and looked up to see twenty-something skaters suddenly five feet away from me. I must have looked like a deer in headlights.
I blinked once. They were already past me, deftly and perfectly avoiding us. I could swear that I smelled the hot rubber of one of their skates as one guy ACTUALLY JUMPED OVER ME.
Suddenly I was very scared to keep skating. The more we made our way around, the more I realized that these people actually had it in for us. I distinctly noticed a few of them in particular who would skate right past me - and by right past me, I mean just barely brushing my shoulder - doing some sort of trick that was designed to either freak me out or make me lose balance.
Not only that, but I saw a kid lose balance and grab onto Tia's ass to "recover." Now, when you trip and find yourself falling, I understand that you might flail around and grab onto anything to steady yourself, and that thing might be - oh, perhaps someone's shoulder. This kid did not grab onto her shoulder. Or her arm. He grabbed onto her ASS. With BOTH hands. PALM SIDE.
I was peacin' before you know it.
The reason I give this place a low rating is because it is very uninviting, from the security shakedown to the skating experience. As a beginner skater, I was already in slight mental anguish at the possibility of breaking my neck - the fact that my friends and I were harassed did not help at all. Add to it that it's difficult to get to without a car, and the $10 just isn't worth it.
By the way, 15 minutes after we left, about 20 cops in uniform stormed the place and dragged out some "unruly youths" in handcuffs. And this was Kids' Night! Glad I got my ass outta there when I did, and I'm not going back without kevlar and one of those jousting poles like in American Gladiator.