Memories of Historic New York Roller Rink
The popular Empire Roller
Skating Center - in the past known by various names including:
Empire Roller Rink, Empire Roller Disco, and Empire Rollerdrome - has been
sold and is scheduled to close at a yet to be determined date.
Henry and Hector Abrami are said to have opened the Brooklyn rink in the
1930s but it was not until the 1970s when Bill, the "Godfather of Roller
Disco," rolled through doing the "Brooklyn Bounce," that Empire became
known nationwide. A group of supporters have started an online
petition in the hopes of saving the unique landmark from being torn
down along with all the memories and valuable history that go along with
it. RST recently spoke with Bill (BB) about his memories of coming
to the rink as a young serviceman newly stationed in New York and the working
relationship he developed with Mr. Henry Abrami.
RST - Please comment on the imminent closing of Empire.
BB - From a point of view of individual insight,
I have 27 years invested in that rink, personal investment, and I happen
to be very fortunate. I had a very good experience there so I would
love for everybody to have that same experience.
What do I think about the rink being closed? There would be a
certain amount of sadness and I have to say, "Why close the rink?"
It's a landmark, it's been through many generations of kids and I've known
that place to do a lot for a lot of people and it has a certain amount
of nostalgia, fun times, sad times and unfortunate times. It has
a gamut of things for a lot of different people and different times.
Life has gone on in that rink for sure, from all aspects as we know it.
From the standpoint of what can be done. A lot of things can be
done I'm sure, but I'm not the person to say what they are..... I'm sure
whatever arrangements have been made, that person or persons that are involved
in the purchase of that rink, they're not thinking about any of the
before mentioned things so there's no relevance involved and that's unfortunate.
RST - What is your first memory of Empire, coming there
as a military serviceman? Michael Johnson said you brought the song
"Night Train" by Count Basie to the rink and Empire was never the same
after that.
BB - It all began in Anchorage Alaska. I was stationed
[there] and was fortunate enough to be selected to go to a particular assignment.
Now here's how it happened. I was getting ready to rotate, I spent
2 years in Alaska, so they sent my orders down and they read: Pensacola,
Florida. I said, nooooo, don't do this to me, but I was saved by
the bell because my assistant that was supposed to relieve me, didn't come.
So they extended me for 6 months. My next order came, it was
Brooklyn, New York. Oh man was I happy because I'd always wanted
to go to New York. By this time I was what, 22 years old, so everything
turned out fine. My assistant came, I was officially ready to rotate
out of Alaska and off to Brooklyn I went.
I was gonna be stationed at the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 58th Street
and 1st Avenue. Well, you know, I get my first induction to New York
by getting in one of the cabs and he's taking me all over the place and
beating me out of all my little money. He finally decided to take
me where I wanted to go which was the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
So I get there and, of course, I packed my skates last to make sure they
were the first thing out the bag, and I got a Yellow Pages and look up
the skating rinks around town and the first one I came across was Empire,
on Empire Boulevard between Bedford and Rogers. I get in a cab and
they take me there and I had the [Count Basie] record with me, at that
time it was a 45, and I walk in and said to a young lady by the name of
Beverly, "Would you play this record for me?" I was in uniform so
I think that's why she did it and Empire hasn't been the same since.
They say I changed the place – I don't know if that's exactly true - but
I can say a percentage of it being the way it is, I had something to do
with that.
RST - Did you skate in your uniform?
BB - Oh absolutely. Yes indeed. I was working
it and that was the beginning of the end. From that day on, I didn't
leave there for 47 years.
I remember Empire as a place where we used to skate 7 days a week, whereas
most rinks never had that situation. What rink do you know of where
you skated on a Monday night? Every night at Empire was like a Friday
at any other rink, i.e. we had 7 Fridays.
RST - Monday and Tuesday weren't reserved for private parties?
BB - It was never like that where you had birthday parties
and stuff like that. That was the one rink that didn't do the birthday
party thing. Never happened. That in itself, because rinks
as we know them, that's the big issue today – birthday parties. Most
rinks survive off of birthday parties. That never happened at Empire.
They had one side of the rink was Bingo and the other side was the skating
rink. You had to go through a door to get to either facility and
they had their own separate doors from the outside and the inner door from
inside to go from the rink to the Bingo side. Then the Bingo thing
went out and it was dormant for a minute.
That's where I come in. When I went away to Germany in 1979, Mr.
Henry Abrami [the rink owner] and I were talking and I said, "Why don't
you open up the other side?" His words were, "are you gonna do a
show?" My words were, "of course." Sure enough, when
I came back that wall was down and I did a show.
RST - You came back in what year?
BB - I don't remember when I came back, it may have been
later in '79 or into the 80s. I just don't remember. I do know
we did the show, the place became one big rink and I remember one time
when we were changing the floor, we used to turn the lights out and we'd
skate in the dark just for the heck of it, to get the feel of what it would
be like to skate with nobody knowing where you were. It was a great
thing, it was wonderful. It was Michael Johnson, myself and Janet
Burrows, 3 of us. That was a great thing, so we christened that side
of the building.
There was the show, of course I fulfilled my obligation and it was wonderful.
I'm the guy who wanted a health food place and Mr. Abrami said, "Are you
gonna run it?" I said, "No, ... I just thought it would be nice to
have it." His thing was, "Bill, they want hamburgers and french fries."
I wanted a health food bar in there, even if they left the french fries
so people would have a choice to eat better food. That never happened
and ... I was way ahead of the game on the health food thing at that time.
It just never happened but I was like an ambassador for the skating rink
people – I guess they call it a pied piper today. I was always trying
to lead the skating rink into a better place.
Mr. Abrami was a character actually. He was a little guy.
His son Ronnie, I knew the family vaguely .... I only knew Mr. Abrami kinda
personal because he would take me to dinner a lot and we would discuss
different possibilities of what would make the rink happen and he was the
first person to tell me, "Bill if everyone in this rink was like you, I
would only come here once a week just to take care of the books."
He also said, "If I would ever consider selling this place to anybody,
it would be you." I thought that was nice but I was never in that
space.
RST - Was he the owner when you first came there?
BB - Right. I don't know who was the owner prior
to him but he was the owner when I came there, I think it was July 7, 1957.
RST - How long did he stay the owner?
BB - All the years I was there – well, not all the years
– because it came under other people after awhile, I just don't know what
the turnover was. Remember, I just left that place [New York] 3 years
ago but I left Empire before that because I moved to Long Island.
RST - Was he still there when you went to Long Island?
BB - No. He passed away just shortly after I came
back from Germany. We were sitting in his office on a Monday talking
about the rink and the possibilities of having other activity, dancing
girls, etc. He and I went shopping to get those palm trees that are
still in that rink today and we were talking about what could be done to
make things better. That was on a Monday. That's when he also
told me he wanted quality in his rink, not quantity. Friday he was
dead, he passed away a week after we had that conversation. [Mr.
Abrami] was like a father to all of us... I had a lot of respect for him
because he was a kind man and wanted the rink run right.
RST - Do you think Empire should be designated as a historic
landmark?
BB - That would be a 'yea' for me. No doubt.
RST - Thank you.
- Posted 02/25/07 -
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