Skateland, San Diego Downtown, 1965 - 1968 Royal and Nomad Rexers

[Nomad 66]

Hi, Just an OLD Rexer who used to skate at the old Skateland rink in San Diego in the early sixties. It's hard to remember ever being that young or in that good of shape.

Just wondering if there is anyone out there who remembers the good times we had there and the parties after the second sessions ended.

My wife brought home a pair of old quads for me the other day. I put them on and almost killed myself. I thought that skating was like riding a bicycle. You know, something you never forget. Trust me....you DO forget. Guess I'll adjust the trucks and try again. I have this GREAT hill right outside my house.Think I should?

My wife says that she will be waiting at the botton of the hill, with an ambulance and EMTs.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Nomad 66

Hi, Just an OLD Rexer who used to skate at the old Skateland rink in San Diego in the early sixties. It's hard to remember ever being that young or in that good of shape.

Just wondering if there is anyone out there who remembers the good times we had there and the parties after the second sessions ended.

My wife brought home a pair of old quads for me the other day. I put them on and almost killed myself. I thought that skating was like riding a bicycle. You know, something you never forget. Trust me....you DO forget. Guess I'll adjust the trucks and try again. I have this GREAT hill right outside my house.Think I should?

My wife says that she will be waiting at the botton of the hill, with an ambulance and EMTs.

Avoid the hills
that's way before my time....but I found a San Diego rexing link on Susan A Miller's links page (http://www.susan-a-miller.com/skate/links.html)
Here's the direct link to the rexing site.
http://www.geocities.com/rexing1949@sbcglobal.net/

They are two great pages....
Bill

[angoraknitter]

Originally Posted by Bill

Avoid the hills
that's way before my time....but I found a San Diego rexing link on Susan A Miller's links page (http://www.susan-a-miller.com/skate/links.html)
Here's the direct link to the rexing site.
http://www.geocities.com/rexing1949@sbcglobal.net/

They are two great pages....
Bill

It makes me so sad that there's not much skating left in San Diego. We used to have a very active local contest circut...and now all that's left is Skateworld. Sweetwater is still open, but the floor has been covered by hockey turf...and it's heartbreaking to skate on. http://www.skatesandiego.net/ There's a pic on this homepage...it almost makes me want to cry, all that beautiful hard wood flooring covered in plastic.

Next time I'm down I'll have to visit Skateworld where some art skating still lives. They've got a real active roller derby club there, I hear. Skip the hill, go back to the rink.

[Nomad 66]

Thanks, Bill. I got some good leads from your info. I'll follow up tomorrow.

[chuck]

We are having our regional event for WSA at skateworld. There was alot of rexers the last few times I skated in San Diego.

[Deb T]

hi. my first time posting here. i skated back in the day at Skyline. Rexxing was frowned upon by Elmer and Gene, so to see real rexxers we'd go to Palisades.
i drove to downtown Chula Vista last week and noticed that Skateworld there is closed, as is the skating rink in Santee. Sweetwater is still open.

[xlracer]

I lived in San Diego back in the 80's. There was no speed skating at all back then at any of the rinks that were open. So I put some outdoor wheels on my speed skates and skated the boardwalk down at misson beach every weekend.

[san diego rexers]

I am so glad I found this site, here is some information on Rexing.
I am a former Ramblin' Rexer and Royal Rexer (Montys Skateland) and co-moderatio of our list. Our list owner is Liz is a former Rebel Rexer, We have a yahoo list 125 members strong, a good part of them are Nomads and Rebel Rexers along with other old clubs. We started this list in march 2006 with 4 members now we are at 125, We are the largest Rexing list around. For
Nomad66, if you are interested, you can renew all your old friendships, so am inviting you to come and join the fun. We are in the process of renting a rink for rexing only with the old time rexing music by Dominic, in fact I have most of it. Also our list has videos of nomads in competition. Here is the list URL

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group...egardens_gang/

there is a link there to join, also here is the link to our web page which also has 1 rexing song on it OPUS8 by Dominic.

http://www.geocities.com/sdrexers@sbcglobal.net/

If anyone has any questions please feel free to E-Mail me at

sdrexers@sbcglobal.net

[Calisk8r]

Hello all,
New to the forum. Been a skater close to 40 years but had'nt skated much in the last 10 to 20 years. My nine year old daughter decided she wanted to learn to roller skate so I dusted off my old skates and got her a used pair of Snyder juniors off of ebay. We skate at SkateWorld located in San Diego. I started skating there in 1975 when it opened but had'nt skated there since 1987 when I graduated from college and went on active duty with the Army. It is a wonderful rink with a traditional hard wood floor. It is unfortunate that so many rinks have closed. I used to skate Palisades, Aquarius, Skate City but they are all gone now. If you are ever in San Diego take in a session at Skate World located on Linda Vista Road.

[william]

san diego skateworld is my "home" rink... adult night we have mainley rexer's skating here... but on a regular session it mainley me and my friends who do that... now its kinda a jamskating rink... some art skaters come out to there own lessons...

you guys should come out here and skate... it wont be hard to find me.... the white kid in the middle with the curly hair... haha...

our floor is still all wood so no need to cry... haha....

[diamondblast]

for rexing only with the old time rexing music by Dominic, in fact I have most of it. Also our list has videos of nomads in competition. Here is the list URL

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group...egardens_gang/

there is a link there to join, also here is the link to our web page which also has 1 rexing song on it OPUS8 by Dominic.

http://www.geocities.com/sdrexers@sbcglobal.net/

If anyone has any questions please feel free to E-Mail me at

sdrexers@sbcglobal.net[/QUOTE]

Hi man I'm kind of new in the skate world and I started late as well
I checked out your sites and thats really cool nice videos
I can learn a lot from that.Iwould like to recommend also this musicfans site ibanez+guitars and this site stony+coral

thnx for sharing

by the way the second site doesn't work

[ezrydn]

I, too, just found the forum. I skated at Palisades from 60 to 65. Was Rebels Jr. Club president and then, joined the Nomads.

Speaking of parties, who could forget "Jimbo's" parties, on Denny's after session? Or those cuddly bus trips to ARC functions and back again?

I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

John

[Dave Rohlf]

Hi there, I use to skate at Monty's skateland in San Diego in the late 60 and early 70. I was a Nomad. Are there any rexer still around.
dave rohlf daverohlf@hotmail.com

[Molliek]

I was with the Detachables of Hollywood, and we belonged to the ARC and met
at all the rinks in Southern California every month, San Diego Imperial Beach, San Bernardino, Oxnard, Pasadena, Glendale, etc. 1960's met a lot of good people, when the other clubs came to Los Angeles, my mother used to cook for everyone in her small apartment, it was wall to wall but a lot of great times.
Mollie

[Taylorh]

Originally Posted by Nomad 66

Hi, Just an OLD Rexer who used to skate at the old Skateland rink in San Diego in the early sixties. It's hard to remember ever being that young or in that good of shape.

Just wondering if there is anyone out there who remembers the good times we had there and the parties after the second sessions ended.

My wife brought home a pair of old quads for me the other day. I put them on and almost killed myself. I thought that skating was like riding a bicycle. You know, something you never forget. Trust me....you DO forget. Guess I'll adjust the trucks and try again. I have this GREAT hill right outside my house.Think I should?

My wife says that she will be waiting at the botton of the hill, with an ambulance and EMTs.
San Diego Downtown Hotel
Downtown San Diego

Hahah I say go for it! As long as you are confident in what you are doing. You only live once!

[Eric.Groves]

I to am a Rexer of old. I was a Senior Mens Spot Rexer at Skateland Downtown San Diego. I started Rexing a the Roller Garden, Wagon Wheel Junction, just North of Oxnard in 1962. I was a Royal Rexer at Skateland Downtown from 1963 to 1965. I had to leave Rexing behind when I joined the Air Force in August of 1965. Throughout the years I Spot Rexed at different rinks around the world. Couples Rexing was done skating backwards with a partner and using the whole rink skating in and around the other people in the rink. Spot Rexing was done while staying inside of the 12 foot figures circles in the middle of the rinks floor. A rough example of this can be watched on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obWMktefpws

A Spot on Excellent Example can be seen at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xml1fhACB4M

A better description of Rexing follows:

Rexing is a style of backwards roller skating that started in California in the 1950’s. Spot rexing is backward skating in a baisic figure 8 pattern within the space of a standard figure circle, with very intricate steps, slides, and turns. It was originally done to the blues/rock music of the time. While the style of rexing has evolved over time, disco, and jive are NOT rexing by any strecth of the imagination.
Rexing can be done on inline skates, but with limitations. There are certain steps such as a flat #8 spin that simply cannot be done on inline skates. The term rexing was around for 35 years before inline skates came on the scene. So it is therefore NOT a term based on inine skating.
My qualification for this statement: I was a Royal Rexer and a Senior Men's Spot Rexer In San Diego, CA in the mid sixties.

After the Air Force (26 years), I started working for the U. S. Customs and Border Protection and retired last year with another 23 years of government work.

My name is Eric Groves and I now live in Moreno Valley, CA. I can be reached at: eric.groves@verizon.net

On my FaceBook page you can view my Royal Rex Shirt Emblem at:

https://www.facebook.com/eric.groves.90

When you reach that page just scroll down and you will see it!

[ducorpstoo]

I was a latecomer to the rexing scene. I'm a former Rainbow Rexer and had joined up after I had come to San Diego after having finished my graduate degree from the University of Wyoming in 1987. I heard so much about how the clubs were during the rexing's heydey. I can only imagine how fun it must have been . When I arrived on the scene, things were starting to slow down. It was sad when the clubs eventually all folded one-by-one in the early 90's. It was such a beautiful artform-but hey, some of us still try to keep it alive by spot rexing on the beach. I usually try catch the adult night at Skatewold and see the occasional former rexer. Other than that when my finances dictate, I'll try to make it to a national skate-jam, which is a whole different animal altogether and topic for discussion..

[Makeminemusic]

I was in the Royal Rexers 67-69 while in junior high in Chula Vista. My friend Gary Terry and I would mow lawns for bus and skating money. We would ride home with Monty who owned Skateland and also live in Chula Vista. Gary's older sister and husband were also in the club. Here husband was a marine and spent most of this time in Viet Nam. I remember them as fantastic spot rexers. Happy days for me. I still try to rex whenever I put on a pair of skates which is not often :-)

Ken Stigen