Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA. Wow, they even have a school bus there in the picture. I think this is the earliest photo of a rink I ever seen with a school bus on the property. It looked more common from 1960s on as rinks today tend to be more children and family fun centered. But this rink had dances and free skating. Yes, you read that right! Source: Renton Historical Museum, #41.5394.
Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA. Beautiful interior. Hard to see the floor but I can see it is Fan layout. Source: Renton History Museum.
Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA. The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ placed a side of the rink. Source: Puget Sound Pipeline.
Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA. Source: Facebook group.
Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA. 300,000 USD!? That is a lot of money in 1963. That would be 2,513,617 USD in 2020! That is a lot of money! It was huge place, very unique designed, it makes sense if it was built today for that amount of money. Clearly it was entire building burned down. Source: The Bend Bulletin Thursday July 11, 1963, Page 11.
Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA. Today's location of former rink that burned down. It is now a private airport. Exact location is unknown but likely it was on apron part of the airport where planes are. Source: Google.
Rollerland 14265 Rainier Ave, Renton, WA
Rollerland was a rink on 14265 Rainier Avenue in Renton, WA during the Golden Age of Roller Skating. It had real neat unique grand looking interior with a organ in the middle of the rink hanging above the rink. First, Burt Lobberegt constructed this unique rink with its rounded walls and Art Deco theme. Art Deco is all about roundness. Burt opened the rink in 1945 and managed it and owned it. But he sold the rink in 1954 to Dominick and Louis Delaurenti, backed by Wes Stout, whom they managed the rink. Rollerland became locally known for its dances and shows, in addition to free skating hours. This giant rink dubbed itself as “The Nation’s Finest Skating Pavilion.”
Sadly, on July 9, 1963, a spark from it’s incinerator caught the shed on fire and quickly moved to the wooden rink. therefore destroyed Rollerland. Why does a rink have an incinerator? I do not know why. Perhaps to heat the interior from the cold Coastal mornings and winter times. Back the day, some commercial buildings would have such incinerators, boilers, and old fashioned furnace (coal, wood, or any solid fuel).
Perhaps they used the incinerators to burn their trash rather than have trash pickups. This is why you never really seen a modern commercial building with trash incinerators in shopping malls, theme parks, rinks, wedding venues, hotels, resorts, casinos, etc. Not any more. You know the story about the Cocoanut Grove Fire. (Please click to see what that is all about) and much earlier era in 1911 with the New York City Sweatshop Fire. Those fires really destroyed known places. I am sure many regulations were added during 20th Century slowly removing this or that. But with this rink, the fire was much later in 1963 compared to those two fires. 1942 and 1911 respectively. Only the highest fire-related deaths in history is the Iroquois Theatre Fire. (The 9/11 was not fires, it was terrorism).
It is a blessing that no one died from the Rollerland Fire.
It had a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ placed a side of the rink. With the curved walls, I am sure the sound balanced pretty well.
Since they did not have color film that often back the day, I have no idea what colors the place had!
Update! -- 03 June 2022.
I was told in the email from a Mike who went to this rink. This is his brief email regarding the color. Now I can think of the look with seeing that photo. It made sense with this color...
Hi as I recall Rollerland was painted a light green inside. It was the (highlight in) my youth. I was 14 when it burned. I cried, as did many others. It introduced me to clean fun and early dating in a clean environment. The music system was awesome. I still remember dancing to the music of the era, especially a number called "Rinky Dink."
Well, thank you Mike for this great information! This really helps! Sorry about your loss of your favorite place.
Because it was so unusual and unique interior, this could have been preserved as a landmark. Unfortunately, the fire got the best of it. Gone. It is sad because this would have been saved. Only nearby rink it is a landmark, the Oaks which is still operational and experienced another disaster of a kind, flooding. A few times and the floor was preserved because they sandbagged around the rink to preserve it. It works. In fact, the Oaks is the oldest operating rink today.
The snack bar even had burgers and shakes, a true fast food or diner style food served there.
The Interior.
Very modern Art-Deco interior that it had much Arched-Curved walls, ceilings, etc. Very trendy of its day even when it was opened during 1940s. Art-Deco was very popular in 1920s and 30s but 1940s was more modernized or frozen a trend due to the War (World War II).
Because of the roof was Arched-Curved, the interior ceiling was "flat" but actually if you look at the photo, it was like curved M with the center the lowest. Very Art-Deco. Very unusual and unique. Not a rink is preserved like that.
The color was "Light Green" I think he referred to this hue of green that were quite common in 1940s.. It was popular green from 1930s to 50s.. Lettuce Green or Milan Green or even Light Jade or Jade or even Pale Green or Bright Sage. according to this actual 1940s color chart found here. I remember Lettuce Green on the walls at my father's business that was not updated throughout 1960s to 1990s before he sold it to my cousins (why not us, Dad?) Never mind that part. Anyway, it was painted in early 1950s by my grandfather who started that family business. So, I am familiar with those greens. It made sense with this green for this peak Art Deco Moderne. I am sure the exterior was quite Art Deco because the drawing was not good enough as you saw above. It could also be Victoria Green or even more well known-- Pastel Green. The family business had Lettuce Green in the office and receptionist area. That is all.
There were a lot of benches around the rink. The design with the Art-Deco was designed in skaters' mind to soften their injuries so they would not get injured by sharp objects.
Often they had skating shows there. Reminded you of Ice Follies or Capades? Sure you did. But on roller skates.
The Exterior.
The Art-Deco rink building had features that were Art-Deco. Glass block windows even curved in the corner of the building but had a column post to support upper part of the building. Might have been steel structured frame and built the rest with Cinder blocks or bricks. Hard to see. Sadly the architect did not curve the corners as it should have been. But remember this is in 1940s (opened in 1942), that Art-Deco Age was passed. It slowly becoming Googie's and Mid-Century Modernism so corners were squared. However, the Art-Deco were noted because of the décor on the building with stripes horizontally, and the circle window with 3 bars. That would be Airstream Art Deco. This makes this rink very unique. Very rare rinks after 1945 kept their era's trendy look especially 1950s with Googie's/Mid-Century theme (I know there is one in Texas really heavy on Mid-Century with zig-zag roofline, and everything. Sports-O-Rama Plaza had Vegas-style sign, etc.) or any other era. Skate Daze of Omaha, did well.
What I do not understand why they had Segmental roof and the ceiling was flat inside the building! Most rinks (I have done over 1000 rinks and seen pictures) have Arched-Curved roof with either exposed ceiling that is curved or with a ceiling covered the trusses. Must be they had entirely different design for the trusses. it might have been a hybrid of D-shaped with lowercase n-shaped to give extra support not to stretch out when there is much snow. Seattle is not the city to get much snow. The Interstate-90 Corridor in Upstate NY and PA (Erie-Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse region) is.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A (appeared to be about NHL sized) Floor: Non-Painted, Hardwood Maple
Floor Layout: Fan.
Building Size: 150’ x 180’ (27,000 SF) Built: 1945.
Demolished: 9 July 1963 at 2:50 p.m. by accidental fire.
Type of Building: Free Span Steel Truss Art-Deco style Arena Building.
Roof: Mix. Mostly Segmental Arch with some Flat
Acres: N/A.
Organ: Wurlitzer Pipe Organ
Operated: 1945 to July 9, 1963.
Reason for Closure: Fire.
Wanted: Information regarding more photos of interior. Exact date of open.
Anyone has pictures and/or information please let me know at [email protected]. Thank you.
Worth to visit:
None. Its a parking lot and airport! Private property.
Sources:
Renton Historical Museum
Puget Sound Pipeline,
Renton Quarterly,
Email - M.K. (Skater) 03 June 2022.
Date of issue: 2020
Updated: 25 January 2022.
Updated: 03 June 2022.
For Office Only: 6.
Disclaimer: The contents including words and photos above on this page and/or on any pages are purely educational entertainment purposes only. I provide what information from other websites, skaters, and operators and it may end up with differences result between two sources. It is not our responsible for errors we caused. All sources are shown on each page. All opinions and statements of mine are also stated and are for purely educational entertainment only.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved becomes property of Dead-Rinks and are watermarked but they are credited to you (or where the source is from). Thank you for understanding. To understand more about this, please go to this page: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7
Sadly, on July 9, 1963, a spark from it’s incinerator caught the shed on fire and quickly moved to the wooden rink. therefore destroyed Rollerland. Why does a rink have an incinerator? I do not know why. Perhaps to heat the interior from the cold Coastal mornings and winter times. Back the day, some commercial buildings would have such incinerators, boilers, and old fashioned furnace (coal, wood, or any solid fuel).
Perhaps they used the incinerators to burn their trash rather than have trash pickups. This is why you never really seen a modern commercial building with trash incinerators in shopping malls, theme parks, rinks, wedding venues, hotels, resorts, casinos, etc. Not any more. You know the story about the Cocoanut Grove Fire. (Please click to see what that is all about) and much earlier era in 1911 with the New York City Sweatshop Fire. Those fires really destroyed known places. I am sure many regulations were added during 20th Century slowly removing this or that. But with this rink, the fire was much later in 1963 compared to those two fires. 1942 and 1911 respectively. Only the highest fire-related deaths in history is the Iroquois Theatre Fire. (The 9/11 was not fires, it was terrorism).
It is a blessing that no one died from the Rollerland Fire.
It had a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ placed a side of the rink. With the curved walls, I am sure the sound balanced pretty well.
Since they did not have color film that often back the day, I have no idea what colors the place had!
Update! -- 03 June 2022.
I was told in the email from a Mike who went to this rink. This is his brief email regarding the color. Now I can think of the look with seeing that photo. It made sense with this color...
Hi as I recall Rollerland was painted a light green inside. It was the (highlight in) my youth. I was 14 when it burned. I cried, as did many others. It introduced me to clean fun and early dating in a clean environment. The music system was awesome. I still remember dancing to the music of the era, especially a number called "Rinky Dink."
Well, thank you Mike for this great information! This really helps! Sorry about your loss of your favorite place.
Because it was so unusual and unique interior, this could have been preserved as a landmark. Unfortunately, the fire got the best of it. Gone. It is sad because this would have been saved. Only nearby rink it is a landmark, the Oaks which is still operational and experienced another disaster of a kind, flooding. A few times and the floor was preserved because they sandbagged around the rink to preserve it. It works. In fact, the Oaks is the oldest operating rink today.
The snack bar even had burgers and shakes, a true fast food or diner style food served there.
The Interior.
Very modern Art-Deco interior that it had much Arched-Curved walls, ceilings, etc. Very trendy of its day even when it was opened during 1940s. Art-Deco was very popular in 1920s and 30s but 1940s was more modernized or frozen a trend due to the War (World War II).
Because of the roof was Arched-Curved, the interior ceiling was "flat" but actually if you look at the photo, it was like curved M with the center the lowest. Very Art-Deco. Very unusual and unique. Not a rink is preserved like that.
The color was "Light Green" I think he referred to this hue of green that were quite common in 1940s.. It was popular green from 1930s to 50s.. Lettuce Green or Milan Green or even Light Jade or Jade or even Pale Green or Bright Sage. according to this actual 1940s color chart found here. I remember Lettuce Green on the walls at my father's business that was not updated throughout 1960s to 1990s before he sold it to my cousins (why not us, Dad?) Never mind that part. Anyway, it was painted in early 1950s by my grandfather who started that family business. So, I am familiar with those greens. It made sense with this green for this peak Art Deco Moderne. I am sure the exterior was quite Art Deco because the drawing was not good enough as you saw above. It could also be Victoria Green or even more well known-- Pastel Green. The family business had Lettuce Green in the office and receptionist area. That is all.
There were a lot of benches around the rink. The design with the Art-Deco was designed in skaters' mind to soften their injuries so they would not get injured by sharp objects.
Often they had skating shows there. Reminded you of Ice Follies or Capades? Sure you did. But on roller skates.
The Exterior.
The Art-Deco rink building had features that were Art-Deco. Glass block windows even curved in the corner of the building but had a column post to support upper part of the building. Might have been steel structured frame and built the rest with Cinder blocks or bricks. Hard to see. Sadly the architect did not curve the corners as it should have been. But remember this is in 1940s (opened in 1942), that Art-Deco Age was passed. It slowly becoming Googie's and Mid-Century Modernism so corners were squared. However, the Art-Deco were noted because of the décor on the building with stripes horizontally, and the circle window with 3 bars. That would be Airstream Art Deco. This makes this rink very unique. Very rare rinks after 1945 kept their era's trendy look especially 1950s with Googie's/Mid-Century theme (I know there is one in Texas really heavy on Mid-Century with zig-zag roofline, and everything. Sports-O-Rama Plaza had Vegas-style sign, etc.) or any other era. Skate Daze of Omaha, did well.
What I do not understand why they had Segmental roof and the ceiling was flat inside the building! Most rinks (I have done over 1000 rinks and seen pictures) have Arched-Curved roof with either exposed ceiling that is curved or with a ceiling covered the trusses. Must be they had entirely different design for the trusses. it might have been a hybrid of D-shaped with lowercase n-shaped to give extra support not to stretch out when there is much snow. Seattle is not the city to get much snow. The Interstate-90 Corridor in Upstate NY and PA (Erie-Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse region) is.
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A (appeared to be about NHL sized) Floor: Non-Painted, Hardwood Maple
Floor Layout: Fan.
Building Size: 150’ x 180’ (27,000 SF) Built: 1945.
Demolished: 9 July 1963 at 2:50 p.m. by accidental fire.
Type of Building: Free Span Steel Truss Art-Deco style Arena Building.
Roof: Mix. Mostly Segmental Arch with some Flat
Acres: N/A.
Organ: Wurlitzer Pipe Organ
Operated: 1945 to July 9, 1963.
Reason for Closure: Fire.
Wanted: Information regarding more photos of interior. Exact date of open.
Anyone has pictures and/or information please let me know at [email protected]. Thank you.
Worth to visit:
None. Its a parking lot and airport! Private property.
Sources:
Renton Historical Museum
Puget Sound Pipeline,
Renton Quarterly,
Email - M.K. (Skater) 03 June 2022.
Date of issue: 2020
Updated: 25 January 2022.
Updated: 03 June 2022.
For Office Only: 6.
Disclaimer: The contents including words and photos above on this page and/or on any pages are purely educational entertainment purposes only. I provide what information from other websites, skaters, and operators and it may end up with differences result between two sources. It is not our responsible for errors we caused. All sources are shown on each page. All opinions and statements of mine are also stated and are for purely educational entertainment only.
All photos you submitted or we retrieved becomes property of Dead-Rinks and are watermarked but they are credited to you (or where the source is from). Thank you for understanding. To understand more about this, please go to this page: Dead-Rinks List.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 to 16. Deut. 32:7