A Brief History and a few Memories of North Avenue Rollerway
by Jim Norini and Deb Damen
The Chicago years
 

Once again business bounced back the skaters that had left for the new, better rink returned. Tom continued as the manager, Carol took over the teaching of dance lessons and became one of the premier teaching pros in the country, as coach to hundreds of national champions, Carol was sought out by skaters across the country asking for help. Our patrons no longer came from just the neighborhoods around the rink, because of Carol's skill as a teacher they attracted skaters from Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Now that the rink was doing well, Steve and Verlin decided to rebuild the miniature golf course and shooting gallery. In 1961 the work began, remember they were do-it-yourselfers. Steve laid out the plans, Verlin told how it should be done, and they once again built it together.

When we think about it, it has certainly been a success story. Two young people working hard to make their dream come true. I have often thought about it and tried to put my finger on the one or two things that made their dream a success. One of then certainly was hard work and the other I believe to be their dream to provide people with a family environment where they could bring their children and enjoy themselves as a family.

The entire family has certainly worked hard at the business, many times people would say, "You have a gold mine here" and Tom or Steve would respond, "Yea but you sure have to dig to get it out". The credit for the family atmosphere goes to Verlin, she always made a newcomer feel welcome (she never saw a stranger) and before they left she was pairing the kids up with a a partner and arranging lessons for them. Verlin was the matriarch of the Dance Club, she toted kids to meets, set the rules and taught mothers how to sew costumes.

One of my favorite stories is of Verlin hauling a car full of kids to a skating competition. First, for those of you who were not lucky enough to know Verlin, she loved to sing and hum to the music, so here she was driving along singing and swaying to the car radio when a policeman pulled her over for weaving down the road. She was greeted with the usual, "can I see your license, ma'am?". She obliged only to be told that her license had expired, she rummaged through her purse and produced another one, nope, also expired she was told. Exasperated, she looked at the cop and said, "I'm sorry I can't see a darn thing without my glasses" and then let out that laugh of hers. The policeman joined her in her laugh and sent her on her way.

These were just a few of my early memories. I hope these stories remind all of you of some long forgotten memories of your own. If you would like, share them with me, I could never have too many memories of North Avenue Rollerway and the people who skated there. I feel honored to have been a part of this business which was a "home away from home" for people during the last 57 years.

Thanks to all of you, past and present skaters.

We now come to the end of both our story and the roller rink. We hope that your memories are as fond as ours and wish all of you success and happiness.