Springtime for Roller Skating in Central Park — This has been a very unusual spring for skating in New York City. After many years, two famous ice skating rinks — the Wollman and Rockefeller Center — have opened for roller skating in the warmer months. Suddenly, there are a number of alternatives to the Skate […]
A banner year for Roller Skating in New York — This is a banner year for Roller Skating in New York, with two high-visibility, well-publicized outdoor rinks opening. “Flipper’s At The Rink” at Rockefeller Center is already open and has featured some of our favorite New York Skate DJs. “The DiscOasis Central Park—A Roller-Disco Paradise” […]
Look Ahead — […] Many people have helped us over the years, starting with the people from the Parks Department and the Conservancy who took a chance on us in the beginning: Doug Blonsky and Neil Calvanese. There were many other Conservancy people who worked with us over the years in a friendly problem solving […]
Where we are coming from — There has been Roller Skating in the area around the Bandshell and Mall for many years. We have a poster from a Parks-Department-sponsored Halloween roller-skating event from 1936 and photos of young kids skating in the area in the 1940s. People have been skating on Dead Road from the […]
Happy Birthday CPDSA! — […] The CPDSA is a large blended family. Many of our original skaters have scattered to the winds; some — too many — are perhaps a part of the wind, now. Our roots go deep into the heart of Central Park. The Skate Circle began with a symbolic action, painting two […]
The Pandemic may have been a boon to rollerskating. During that year of homebound social distancing and lack of exercise, roller skates were a passport out of the house. You could skate on your own or with a friend and feel free. It helped a lot of young people ride out months back in their […]
A Difficult Summer— This summer has been difficult for the Skate Circle. We have suffered uncertainty and disruption after losing our storage space in the park; which makes it a great deal more difficult for us to get our sound equipment into and out of the park every day we skate. Still, with perseverance and […]
A Glimmer of Hope— As we prepare to celebrate the CPDSA’s twenty fourth Birthday on the 4th of July, we find ourselves more in survival mode than in a party spirit. After only three months of trucking our equipment into the park, our volunteers and our bank account are almost exhausted. Of course, we are […]
Looking for a Home— This year the CPDSA is facing a difficult situation. We have lost our long time storage space in the park, due to building renovations. We no longer have a space inside the park where we can keep our audio gear, our infrastructure and — most important — a place where we […]
Our Twenty-Fourth Season— This summer has flown past or perhaps I should say slid by on rain slicked pavement. The wet weather put a damper on our enjoyment of the music and skating; ironically, it also served to make the good days that much more precious. There were many days when we took a chance […]