Let’s roll: Roller rink to open in Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis at end of May
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Roller skating has a long and rich history in the United States, taking off in the 19th century after inventor James Leonard Plimpton made skates that could turn. The first roller skating rinks in the Twin Cities opened in the early 1880s.
It rose again in the 20th century with roots in the civil rights movement, disco and hip hop. The love of skating never really went away, but it surged into the mainstream yet again with the onset of a global pandemic.
The pandemic was also one of the reasons the owners of the Roller Garden in St. Louis Park gave for their decision to close up shop in 2021, leaving just two rinks in the metro area. That is, until now.
James Adams has been building on all the hype with pop-up events around the Twin Cities since 2020 and now is about to open a rink in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, in the former building of the CB2 furniture store.
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He’s the founder of Twin Cities Skaters and joined MPR News Guest Host Nina Moini to talk about his new concept that will be opening at the end of May.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you get into skating?
It’s something that I remember all the way back to my childhood. My mother used to bring me to the roller rink, I remember going to birthday parties there with friends. So it was just kind of part of the culture that we all share together growing up. And I also continued gaining friends in the rinks, and through middle school.
What inspired you to start hosting those pop-up events?
A combination of a few different things. It started, for me at least, when I worked at an elementary school, Richard Green Central. And little to my knowledge and everyone, they had a free open skate night there on Friday nights. I just asked the park manager does anyone know about this? And, you know, she said, maybe one person shows up. But you know, I was a skater there. And I’m like, hey, I think this is something, we should really let people know about.
So I started doing those kinds of events there but that was the year before the pandemic. So right before the pandemic, I sort of established Friday nights as kind of like a skate night. But the pop-ups was just a switch around from the pandemic, once the school and the parks closed and the links closed. So we started doing outdoor pop-up events, but that in itself became a thing.
Do you feel like the interest in skating continues to grow?
I think it’s continuing to grow, but I also have a unique point of view, because my world is all roller skating. But I think really, since the pandemic — it wasn’t just us here in Minnesota — it was all around the country in the world that people were in lockdown. They were bored, and they wanted to get outside, get some fresh air and exercise. So, you know, we’re rolling on that roller skating boom.
And then it kind of got revived again once Usher went on stage and brought roller skating into the largest, you know, nationally televised event. So, to me, real estate is still on the up and up, you know, at least for our end, we’re getting busier each year.
What do you think people get out of it that is so special?
I’ll speak on the nostalgia piece, I feel like as a culture, everyone’s really looking to feel something right now. And during the pandemic, that’s really what it was. It’s really feeling connected and feeling passion. Roller skating is just so liberating for so many people. So I feel like it gravitates so many people towards this, so that’s part of it.
And it’s just really roller skate therapy, a lot of people are really trying to get a piece of that and be part of the community.
This is going to be a boutique rink, what is that?
Yeah, so this is not your traditional rink, in the sense of like a normal circle or oval roller disco, so to speak, because this building wasn’t originally set up to be a rink. I like to call it a boutique rink, because we’re gonna offer pretty much everything that the normal rinks do not offer in the sense that we are kind of specialized.
So for instance, that may be like the roller fitness and the specialized lessons that we have. And the specific parties and themes that we’re going to bring in and caterers and different kinds of businesses we might be tied to. It’s a little bit more specialized in the sense, and that’s kind of why I like the idea of boutique rink.
Who is this for?
Honestly, we try to cater to everyone. We will be doing kid’s birthday parties and whatnot but like I mentioned, we just want to have the option to be able to offer inner city roller skating — that’s really the biggest main thing.
Everything beyond that we can completely customize, depending on the demographic so we serve all corners of different of the metro, all different age groups. And now that we have the studio, I’m thinking we can even go even more specialized with 30 plus groups for adults or even younger kids, toddler roller skating. It definitely gives us that possibility.
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Audio transcript
MELANIE: I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out, you see?
NINA MOINI: Well, the first roller skating rinks in the Twin Cities opened in the early-1880s-- that's right, I said "18." Roller skating has a long and rich history in the United States, taking off in the 19th century after inventor James Leonard Plimpton made skates that could turn. It rose again in the 20th century, with roots in the Civil Rights Movement, disco, and hip hop.
The love of skating never really went away, but it surged into the mainstream yet again with the onset of the global pandemic. The pandemic was also one of the reasons the owners of the Roller Garden in St. Louis Park gave for their decision to close up shop in 2021, leaving just two rinks in the metro area. That is, until now.
James Adams has been building on all the hype with popup events around the Twin Cities since 2020. He's about to open a rink in the uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis in the former building of the CB2 furniture store. He's the founder of Twin Cities Skaters, and he joins me now on the line. Thank you so much for being here, James.
JAMES ADAMS: Hey, thanks for having me, Joy.
NINA MOINI: So, James, tell me, how did you get into roller skating?
JAMES ADAMS: Roller skating is something that I remember all the way back to my childhood. My mother used to bring me to the roller derby. I remember going to birthday parties there with friends.
So it was just kind part of the culture that we all shared together growing up. And I also continued it, gaining friends in the rinks through middle school. So that was kind of the start of my story.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And what inspired you to start hosting those popup events?
JAMES ADAMS: The popup events, the combination of a few different things. It started, for me at least, this side of the story, when I worked at an elementary school at Richard Greene Central. And little to my knowledge, and everyone, they had a free, open skate night there on Friday nights.
And I just asked the park manager, does anyone know about this? And she said maybe one person shows up. But I was a skater there and I'm like, hey, I think this is something, you know, we should really let people know about.
And so I started doing those kind of events there. But that was the year before the pandemic. So right before the pandemic, I sort of established these Friday nights as kind of a skate night. But the popups was just a switch around from the pandemic, once the school, and the parks closed, and the rinks closed. So we started doing outdoor popup events. But that in itself became a thing. Now, we're here.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. So you mentioned popup events during the pandemic. And skating obviously got a boost during the lockdown, like, baking bread, or cycling, or whatever. But do you feel like the interest in skating has fallen off since then? Or is it just continuing to grow?
JAMES ADAMS: I think it's continuing to grow. But I also have a skewed point of view, because my world is all roller skating. But I think, really, since the pandemic 2020, TikTok-- and it wasn't just us here in Minnesota, it was all around the country and the world that people were in lockdowns, and they were bored, and they wanted to get outside, and get some fresh air, and exercise.
So we're rolling on that roller skating boom. And then it kind of got revived again once Usher went on stage and he brought roller skating to the largest nationally televised. So to me, roller skating is still on the up and up, at least for on our end, we're getting busier each year.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Usher at the Super Bowl. Yeah. I think it's also that idea of nostalgia. I grew up in the south Metro And I remember we would do a yearly field trip to Skateville. So that has really stuck out to me over the years. And it just kind of brings you back-- what do you think people get out of it that's so special?
JAMES ADAMS: There's a lot of it. And I'll speak on the nostalgia piece. I feel like as a culture, everyone's really looking to feel something right now. And during the pandemic, that's really what it was.
Not only were people bored, but it's really feeling connected and feeling passion. And roller skating is just so liberating for so many people. So I feel like it gravitates so many people towards this. So that's part of it.
And it's just really roller skate therapy that a lot of people really try to get a piece of that and then be a part of the community. So I think that's kind of why it became so popular recently.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And since the pandemic and in the last handful of years, uptown has changed quite a bit. We've seen businesses come and go, in all neighborhoods, really. Tell me about your space in uptown. You said this is going to be a boutique rink. So how is that different from a standard rink that people might have in mind?
JAMES ADAMS: Yeah. So this is not your traditional rink in the sense of a normal circle or oval roller disco, so to speak, because this building wasn't originally set up to be a rink. But I like to call it "boutique rink" because we're going to offer pretty much everything that the normal rinks do not offer, in the sense that we are kind of specialized.
So, for instance, that may be the roller fitness and the specialized lessons that we have, and the specific parties and themes that we're going to bring in, and the caterers, and different kind of businesses we might be tied to. So it's a little bit more specialized in a sense, and that's kind of why I like the idea of boutique rink.
NINA MOINI: Is this still like kids' birthday parties, and pizza-- who is this for?
JAMES ADAMS: Yeah. Honestly, we try to cater to everyone. And we will be doing kids' birthday parties and whatnot. But like I mentioned, we just wanted to have the option to be able to offer inner city roller skating. That's really the biggest main thing.
Everything beyond that, we can completely customize depending on the demographic. And like I said, we serve all corners of the metro, all different age groups. And now that we have the studio, I'm thinking we can even go more specialized with 30-plus groups for adults, or even younger kids-- toddler roller skating. So that definitely gives us that possibility.
NINA MOINI: I'm always curious-- I think it's such a brave thing when people start a business. I think it's amazing. What are you the most excited for? And then maybe what are you kind of a bit nervous for?
JAMES ADAMS: The most exciting part for me is really seeing the mental creation turn into a physical manifestation. And when people not only seeing that happen, but when others recognize it-- because for so long, I may not have had the best words to articulate what I was after or maybe the best plan to go about it.
I just knew exactly what I wanted to do. And it's really just, essentially, to spread roller skating. But now that it's became a reality, I think that's the funnest part for me is now people, I see what you are after.
So even things that I've been talking about for five or 10 years, I'm bringing back to now because it's still so current. I've been plugging at this a long time, you know?
NINA MOINI: Yeah. You're seeing a dream become a reality. Remind us, too, when are you opening? When can people come in and enjoy this?
JAMES ADAMS: Yeah, we've been getting that question a lot. I really want to zone in on the last week of May.
NINA MOINI: OK.
JAMES ADAMS: I'm really starting to zone in on that Wednesday, the 28th, I believe.
NINA MOINI: OK.
JAMES ADAMS: But yeah, we just got some few things to polish up, few things to get going. And yeah, we just want to make sure to have everything as ready as possible. And, even then, we're not going to be completely done.
We still have so many artists that want to collaborate with us and so many more projects that we're going to be building along the way. But we're just excited to just have this open for the people.
NINA MOINI: Absolutely. James, best of luck to you and thank you so much for being here with us.
JAMES ADAMS: Yes, thank you for having me. It's been great.
NINA MOINI: James Adams is the founder of Twin Cities Skaters. He's opening Twin Cities Studio, a roller rink in the uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis.
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