Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA. This was taken before they closed for good. You can tell with the color photo! Haha. There were changes on the sign. You can see it says TEXAS HOTS. Clearly means Texas sized hot food-- large hotdogs and large hamburgers. This was when the rink was closed for good because of the for lease sign was up. Source: Facebook group Evan's Rollerdrome.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA. This was taken before they closed for good. You can tell with the color photo! Haha. There were changes on the sign. You can see it says TEXAS HOTS. Clearly means Texas sized hot food-- large hotdogs and large hamburgers. Source: Facebook group Evan's Rollerdrome.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA. This was a fire that happened in Fall 1961. This was taken from February 1962 issue of SKATE magazine. Source: Facebook group Evan's Rollerdrome.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA. Someone said this was 1979. But I think it was a little later because of the automobiles. You can even see Ford Escort on the right front of the Chevy station wagon. Noticed they all were boxy cars except for the Cadillac? What are those "flag poles" above the sign there for? Those boxy cars were from 1980s. Yes, you can spot the pay phone outside! Source: Facebook group Evan's Rollerdrome.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA. The interior. That end where you entered ended up being the snack bar. The snack bar is way to the left as were the restrooms. This was early 50s. This was the first Generation building. it was quite modern for its time with popular wood: Pine. You can see pine benches, looked very brand new benches as you can see. Likely this was taken in 1950. There was that area you can see all pine on the wall and counter wall area. Source: Facebook group Evan's Rollerdrome.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA. After hour long research carefully to compare. This was the spot where the 6th photograph from top is to be compared. The reason for this specific spot is you look at the side wall. It matches. Look at the tree lines and the big hill on the left to compare as well. They actually had Foster Brook Boulevard starting right by the rink as you can see the left side of this photo. It is now just back space access. It used to be a narrow road to go about a mile or so but when Walmart wanted their store back there, they wanted to re-route Foster Brook Boulevard by moving the screen to next door to the left of the photo (not seen). USGS photo showed that road right by the rink. To find this, you will need to look at Google Map at 1032 E Main St, Bradford, PA then get to human eye level to see the building and pan around circle and you will see an auto repair shop and Walmart sign on the left. Source: Google.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA and
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA
Evan's Rollerdrome and even Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots were at 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, Pennsylvania. I also found the address to be different. It also stated on Google to be 1020 East Main Street, Bradford, PA. Really is confusing. Anyone can help? For now, I am using the address as 36 Foster Brook Boulevard in Bradford.
Not to be confused with the modern Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots that was opened on or around 21 February 2018 which the grandson of the rink owner opened and named it after their grandparents. It is on 58 West Washington Street. They are operational. Give them support and see if you can spot any thing related to the forme rrink at the tiny restaurant. Very rustic interior. I love it.
Joyce and Robert “Bob” Evan Sr. owned the rink. They opened for business on Saturday, 28 January 1950. Robert “Bob” Evan Sr is not related to the more famous Bob Evans, the chain restaurant. The couple moved to Bradford in 1950 where they built and operated Evan’s Rollerdrome for 56 years. They closed it in 2004. That would be 54 years, not 56 according to an article I found posted on Facebook group for Evan's Rollerdrome.
The couple retired after spending 56 years and relocated to Florida before returning 2017, the same year Bob Evan Sr. passed away. Three years later, Joyce passed away. Both went home to be with the LORD Jesus Christ according to their obituaries (I only have Joyce's and two of her related family members who recently passed away who also were working at the rink). They were Ashley Susan Booth Griffin and Jordan J. Evan. The rink was pretty much entirely family operations.
They still do have the other location at 47 PA-346, Bradford, PA just for food. That is a small restaurant/take out place just burgers and hot dogs in an attach building next to the auto repair shop.
In the fall of 1961, the rink had a fire that totally destroyed the rink as you can see in the February 1962 issue discussing about that Bob Evan and even skaters and parents were helping to rebuilt the rink. It was rebuilt on the same spot I believe. I will need photos for the 1951 to 1961 versions please. Yes plural because they had another fire prior to 1961 fire. And that fire was 1954. They never gave up. So, what skaters actually skated third generation rink if they were too young to know about the first two fires according to comments in Facebook. I was shocked too because I thought the look of that building looked like it was from 1950s or older. But I was wrong. Those photos you saw are based on third generation. Never the first nor the second.
What touched my heart was that three of the Evan family members passed away too young! All obituaries are found toward bottom of page.
First generation (1950 to 1954):
The Interior.
Funny, there are NO photograph of the rink for any generation. All were clearly have Maple floor. Well, the walls and benches were of different wood material. They had Pine which was popular in 1950s as walls or wainscoting. I love this material for walls. The interior looked very modern in the photo above (see photo # 7). I could not believe it burned down 4 years after it opened with that nice interior. I do not know what was the cause of that fire.
The Exterior.
N/A.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: 1950. Renovations: None. Demolished: Fire destroyed (date unknown)
Type of Building: N/A.
Roof: N/A.
Acres: N/A.
Second generation (1954 to 1961):
The Interior.
N/A.
The Exterior.
N/A.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Fire - Fall 1961.
Type of Building: N/A.
Roof: N/A.
Acres: N/A.
Third and final generation (1961 to 2004):
The Interior.
The Exterior.
This building was actually a Hio Roof design low-hung building which was common design of the 1950s-60s like the Howard Johnson's trendy look or the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Houses look or even John Lautner Modernist but they were not. However, they had a huge frontage wall to trick to make it appeared very high ceiling or roof look if you were to stand directly in middle of the front of the building. You can see that in photos. OR could it have been Gabled. hard to tell.
That huge vertical flat was just a façade to show their rink name quite wide and big. It was a billboard atop of the building, literally. It was a billboard in a sense because they then not have to advertise on billboards. I never heard of a roller rink since I started to skate or in my research to have a billboard with such advertisement at any sides of interstate highway or even back roads like Route 20 or Route 66 the Mother Road, or whatever out there. None of that.
This was a genius I have to say. Very basic sign yes but it was functional to them. At least that was better than the fun but disastrous Burma Shave signs. The article on that link does not say the negative part but elsewhere it said that there were lawsuits because signs were small and hard for drivers to see as cars were going faster on the road, they get distractions and crash. There are Burma Shave signs today for any commercial business and I am sure roller rinks do that on their front yard to say, OPEN, M-S, 7 PM. Something like that. So, the billboard like was their pioneer in their way at Evan's Rollerdrome.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: 1962. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Still Standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Storefront - like Building.
Roof: Hip.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1951 to 2007 (Roller Rink)
Evan's Rollerdrome: 1951 to 2007
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots: 36
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA aka
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots 36
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Facebook - Evan's Rollerdrome
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots
The Bradford Era - Opening the Hots restaurant again. (PDF)
Obituaries:
Joyce Evan - co-owner and co-operator.
Joyce Evan - Co-owner and co-operator (from WESB)
Ashley Susan Booth Griffin - Granddaughter of co-owners who worked at the rink.
Jordan Evan - Grandson of co-owners who worked at the rink, well known local chef.
Michael Evan - Grandson of co-owners who worked various of duties at the rink.
I do not have Bob Evan Sr,'s and Bob Evan II's obituaries.
Worth to visit:
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots
Date of issue: 05 January 2022.
For office use only:
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
Not to be confused with the modern Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots that was opened on or around 21 February 2018 which the grandson of the rink owner opened and named it after their grandparents. It is on 58 West Washington Street. They are operational. Give them support and see if you can spot any thing related to the forme rrink at the tiny restaurant. Very rustic interior. I love it.
Joyce and Robert “Bob” Evan Sr. owned the rink. They opened for business on Saturday, 28 January 1950. Robert “Bob” Evan Sr is not related to the more famous Bob Evans, the chain restaurant. The couple moved to Bradford in 1950 where they built and operated Evan’s Rollerdrome for 56 years. They closed it in 2004. That would be 54 years, not 56 according to an article I found posted on Facebook group for Evan's Rollerdrome.
The couple retired after spending 56 years and relocated to Florida before returning 2017, the same year Bob Evan Sr. passed away. Three years later, Joyce passed away. Both went home to be with the LORD Jesus Christ according to their obituaries (I only have Joyce's and two of her related family members who recently passed away who also were working at the rink). They were Ashley Susan Booth Griffin and Jordan J. Evan. The rink was pretty much entirely family operations.
They still do have the other location at 47 PA-346, Bradford, PA just for food. That is a small restaurant/take out place just burgers and hot dogs in an attach building next to the auto repair shop.
In the fall of 1961, the rink had a fire that totally destroyed the rink as you can see in the February 1962 issue discussing about that Bob Evan and even skaters and parents were helping to rebuilt the rink. It was rebuilt on the same spot I believe. I will need photos for the 1951 to 1961 versions please. Yes plural because they had another fire prior to 1961 fire. And that fire was 1954. They never gave up. So, what skaters actually skated third generation rink if they were too young to know about the first two fires according to comments in Facebook. I was shocked too because I thought the look of that building looked like it was from 1950s or older. But I was wrong. Those photos you saw are based on third generation. Never the first nor the second.
What touched my heart was that three of the Evan family members passed away too young! All obituaries are found toward bottom of page.
First generation (1950 to 1954):
The Interior.
Funny, there are NO photograph of the rink for any generation. All were clearly have Maple floor. Well, the walls and benches were of different wood material. They had Pine which was popular in 1950s as walls or wainscoting. I love this material for walls. The interior looked very modern in the photo above (see photo # 7). I could not believe it burned down 4 years after it opened with that nice interior. I do not know what was the cause of that fire.
The Exterior.
N/A.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: 1950. Renovations: None. Demolished: Fire destroyed (date unknown)
Type of Building: N/A.
Roof: N/A.
Acres: N/A.
Second generation (1954 to 1961):
The Interior.
N/A.
The Exterior.
N/A.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: N/A. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Fire - Fall 1961.
Type of Building: N/A.
Roof: N/A.
Acres: N/A.
Third and final generation (1961 to 2004):
The Interior.
The Exterior.
This building was actually a Hio Roof design low-hung building which was common design of the 1950s-60s like the Howard Johnson's trendy look or the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Houses look or even John Lautner Modernist but they were not. However, they had a huge frontage wall to trick to make it appeared very high ceiling or roof look if you were to stand directly in middle of the front of the building. You can see that in photos. OR could it have been Gabled. hard to tell.
That huge vertical flat was just a façade to show their rink name quite wide and big. It was a billboard atop of the building, literally. It was a billboard in a sense because they then not have to advertise on billboards. I never heard of a roller rink since I started to skate or in my research to have a billboard with such advertisement at any sides of interstate highway or even back roads like Route 20 or Route 66 the Mother Road, or whatever out there. None of that.
This was a genius I have to say. Very basic sign yes but it was functional to them. At least that was better than the fun but disastrous Burma Shave signs. The article on that link does not say the negative part but elsewhere it said that there were lawsuits because signs were small and hard for drivers to see as cars were going faster on the road, they get distractions and crash. There are Burma Shave signs today for any commercial business and I am sure roller rinks do that on their front yard to say, OPEN, M-S, 7 PM. Something like that. So, the billboard like was their pioneer in their way at Evan's Rollerdrome.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built: 1962. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Still Standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Cinderblocks - Walled Storefront - like Building.
Roof: Hip.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1951 to 2007 (Roller Rink)
Evan's Rollerdrome: 1951 to 2007
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots: 36
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Evan's Rollerdrome 36 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA aka
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots 36
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Facebook - Evan's Rollerdrome
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots
The Bradford Era - Opening the Hots restaurant again. (PDF)
Obituaries:
Joyce Evan - co-owner and co-operator.
Joyce Evan - Co-owner and co-operator (from WESB)
Ashley Susan Booth Griffin - Granddaughter of co-owners who worked at the rink.
Jordan Evan - Grandson of co-owners who worked at the rink, well known local chef.
Michael Evan - Grandson of co-owners who worked various of duties at the rink.
I do not have Bob Evan Sr,'s and Bob Evan II's obituaries.
Worth to visit:
Evan's Rollerdrome's Famous Texas Hots
Date of issue: 05 January 2022.
For office use only:
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.