Before Skylite, it was Metro Bowl--
Ah, I see Worchester had a house on top of a building of their own! Yes, Syracuse has one too! Anyway, This was a Candlestick bowling center. Now Worchester lost it all. Both this one and the other just closed too. The Colonial (Candlestick) Bowling Center closed in 2021. I feel bad for Worchester for not having once popular Candlestick Bowling in town.
Photo courtesy of Skylite Roller Skating Center. Taken c. 1980s. I believe it was 1980s when this was taken. The way people dress, long line waiting to go in. This has to be the year 1980 as roller skating was popular. In fact, this rink was popular for many years.
Courtesy of Facebook Skylite Tribute group. This is an excellent photo of how it was like at the time in color! Before they painted over in next photo below. Does that graphic on the wall reminded you of something? Yes, you may remembered from SHAZAM! A live-action Comic Book starring Michael Grey and Les Tremayne and Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel. The RV that Mentor drove was a 1973 Open Road. RV. I think 24' version. That was a popular graphic at the time. as you can even see part of Roller Skating Rink Operators Association (RSROA) logo at one point.
Wait! Did the Griswolds stopped there!? Clark! You are not supposed to park too close to the fire hydrant! Your Family Truckster will be towed away! Looks like the Griswolds were on a Skating Vacation! Hahaha.
Wait! Did the Griswolds stopped there!? Clark! You are not supposed to park too close to the fire hydrant! Your Family Truckster will be towed away! Looks like the Griswolds were on a Skating Vacation! Hahaha.
All Google Map. Noticed the look has changed? Big time after 1980s into the one shown in first Google Map picture on top. It does look like a Black and White photo but it was not. It is a color picture. The building was pretty much all tones of Gray shown. Then the next one it became more of Miami Vice colors of 1990s look. Purple, Teal, Pink... And look carefully where the doors were. You see the mural of outlines of skaters? The newer version in 2017 photo showed it is all painted colorful with orange, violet, Greens, and a hint of red background with White outlines of skaters. I guess I do not see Bernie sitting outside waiting! haha. He has been moved to his beachside home for his Weekend at Bernie's! Haha.
Above two-- by Skaters of Skylite Roller Skating Center. Noticed the changes of mural by the front doors? Yes, entrance is on one side and exit the other. The art work improved greatly to really impact more and more piazza. But the art form of skaters change too. I am not talking about the skaters themselves. I am talking about it became from Surrealist into Impressionist with a bit of Cartoonism.
The Construction - (all photo courtesy of Facebook Skylite Tribute group).
Before construction began. This was a bowling alley. You can see benches facing lanes and the lanes. Wow, that carpet! Very early 1970s style. Appeared to be 6 lanes but I could be wrong.
Concrete poured.
Sealing the floor.
Early construction, note the old 1970 carpet still on the floor. The construction of the skate rental booth as you can see the wood shelves and the half door would be set up.
Both photos courtesy of Facebook Skylite Tribute group. Ahhh. Love the colors, and yes, they are drapes, folks! You can see that in the background. On the right is snack bar. Yes, you are seeing house plants and flowers in background. There were more... you see the background behind the snack bar in the photo by where this person standing? And more! Not pictured. Its in the right side outside of the photo. Plants were common to be indoors back then just about everywhere. Malls, homes, offices.
Courtesy of Facebook Skylite Tribute group. Ahh, the look! Yes, now you can see a bunch of plants! Beautiful flowers. I love them! This I would have gone skating back in the 1980s! Oh well. Good thing they replaced the carpet! It did look a lot better with that carpet. Not too busy like what the bowling alley had.
All four photos courtesy of Skylite Roller Skating Center. It showed evolution of how the look inside the rink. Top to bottom-- 1980, second photo- taken in 2014, then next taken in 2015 redone by adding urethane coat. Then 2017, they added Roller Court. You can tell with the bottom photo it is Roller Court by seeing the inseams of tongue and grove.
Also it was getting darker too. Nice inside but.. getting too dark! Too.. Holloween-y.
Wall changed too from colorful 1970s colors of Rust, Soft White, Starburst Yellow, and Light Brown stripes. I am not sure if that was carpet or paint. Looked like it was carpet.
Lights change too. Just about everything.
Also it was getting darker too. Nice inside but.. getting too dark! Too.. Holloween-y.
Wall changed too from colorful 1970s colors of Rust, Soft White, Starburst Yellow, and Light Brown stripes. I am not sure if that was carpet or paint. Looked like it was carpet.
Lights change too. Just about everything.
Courtesy of skaters in Google Image.
Courtesy of Skylite Roller Skating Center. Grand opening newspaper ad and announcement.
Ads courtesy by Skylite Tribute group. A few of many they have. Someday will add more.
A June 17, 1981 advertisement from the newspapers. Really good to say it twice about their new air conditioning. A must for any rinks especially in hot region or summer humidity regions.
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Another ad. Very 1970s in early 1980s style ad. I recalled this style of ad in many things. I love that style.
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Courtesy of Skylite Roller Skating Center. And the closing... announced on Facebook.
Skylite Roller Skating Center 648 Park Ave, Worcester, MA
A victim of lockdowns caused by COVID-19 by order of the Liberal Governor of Massachusetts, Skylite Roller Skating Center ran for 40 years though. It was a couple, Richard and MJ Fors who started the rink on Tuesday August 26, 1980
But Richard passed away in 2003 and MJ kept operating the rink till its closure on Monday October 19, 2020.
The COVID lockdowns globally was in March 2020 which eventually 7 months of closure temporally forced the rink out of business because of no financial income from skaters.
They went through a few renovations which is pretty good for such a rink as this one compared to many others which did not upgrade as much as often. This apparently did upgrade at least three to four times.
This rink as I can see on their Facebook group page, they were very close, and very festive people. You see a lot of Christmas, Halloween, and St. Patrick's Day, and many are into music.
The Interior.
The original was a bowling alley for sure because of the way ceiling lights were set like any kind of bowling house would have. But it works for the rink though. I like that they kept the bowling alley ceiling and it shined the area in a certain way.
They originally covered the wood bowling lanes with Poured Cement over bowling lanes, plywood on top of concrete, then possible Styrofoam, then particle board on top to make a floating. Later, in 2010s, they had Roll-On Court then Roller Court particle tiles for indoors.
The roller floor colors changed through the years. First it was Yellow to match the entire place. Yellow rink floor!? First I ever heard of. Interesting for the time. then Baby Blue... then the rest you see in the photos. Apparently to follow the trend of colors like Blue was in during 2000s and early 2010s then the Graying of America with darker colors.
The older photos with skaters I can see background. The shingles were not all gray, it was originally natural wood along with wood tongue and grove wall siding. They painted it gray as well. It was mostly paint job that changed the colors and mood. All are excellent looks. Awesome look really.
What interesting is that on one wall they had a group of colors each section on that wall with curtains/drapes! It was rather very different and creative on their part as they were in vogue at the time. Too rare a skating rink in late 1970s-early 1980s would have drapes. Maybe decades before that they did. Drapes were easy to set up not to worry about painting lead paint on the wall which could contain asbestos. Anyway, the drapes were very common more for television. You seen on The Tonight Show that kept on for many decades. or the Jack Paar Show, or even your local TV Sunday morning church services with that drapes. Or even on the news between 1950s and 1980s.
The theme they began was with very rustic 1970s look for early 1980s. With tones of Red, Orange, Yellow. And the wood was 45 degree diagonal which was very common also at that time. Especially in houses both interior and exterior. I even still have my architectural drafting text book I keep for reference and they are from 1965-1970 era and they got tons of photographs of homes with that look. Groovy! Drafting has not changed, just they use CAD now but that text book is still excellent because of measurements are needed. Or technical needs that remains the same. Anyway, that is how I recalled the style vividly. I love the style. This rink really kept up with trends well.
They renovated heavily there. Original floor appeared to be Tan color. Then painted in Navy Gray color with polyurethane coat on which was done in 2015. In 2017, the floor was once again redone and it was Roller Court. You can tell with the look on the floor with Roller Court that it has 2 different thickness of rectangular frames and it was in Lime Green compared to what it appeared to look Dark Purple but I am not sure because of how light reflex on them.
The Exterior.
In 1980s, they had a very simple cubic style with early 1980s look that was not quite the 1980s look. It had three colors: Red on top followed by Yellow in middle and bottom Green. That combination quickly set my mind off as a set of Jamaican flag colors. Never mind that. I have seen those colors on some products such as a John Deere snowmobile with the similar colors at the time. The stripes goes toward left and curl into a circle. This reminded me and some of you of a certain Saturday Morning live action comic book called SHAZAM! Yes, the motorhome Mentor (Les Tremayne drives with Billy Batson (Michael Gray). It was called Open Road Motorhome. They used a 1973 Open Road.
But the renovation likely happened in 2012-ish that brought Miami Vice colors of MV Pink and Teal colors with much neon lights and colors to really updated the trendy look in the 1990s but the Flors brought that style up a little late. They did bring it in during 2010s.. That got dated real quick as the show was cancelled long before and the trend was on everything everywhere. You remember Taco Bell of 1990s interior and exterior look? Yes, White with Purple, MV Pink, and Off Red, those colors. The motif colors. That was 1990s.
I love both styles architecturally with those colors. The original in 1980s with three color bars with the name on it above the door really had unique style that are more conservative as 1970s and 1980s were before more freestyle in 1990s and beyond. The Browning of America was already departed when the rink opened so that look was very style of early 1980s. This rink was really trendy on the exterior design. Really trendy. Not many rinks have that beauty on the outside as some did like Wal-Lex had with retro 1920s Art Deco look.
They did not update the look on the outside much after early 2010s. Had they kept up, it would have had another change in year 2000 and again 2010 but expenses and insurance and the declining of skaters attending the rinks in past 20 years especially in 2020 the COVID was the nail that drove every sector of industry out of business as matter of fact. Where is Radio Shack, Sears, Lord & Taylor, Kmart, Edwards, Burdines, Kaufmann's. Also American Motors, Packard, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Owens boats, Evinrude and Johnson Outboards, and many more. Dumat TV network, UPN network, PAX network.. I can go on but you get the idea. Well, I kind of exaggerated the list because not all went out because of COVID. A few did.
The Stats:
1980 -
Rink Size: 68' x 90'. Floor: Poured Cement over bowling lanes, plywood on top of concrete, then possible Styrofoam, then particle board on top to make a floating. Floor Layout: Standard.
~2014 -
Rink Size: 68' x 90'. Floor: Gray colored Roll-On Flooring. Floor Layout: Standard.
2017 -
Rink Size: 68' x 90'. Floor: Polyurethane coated Purple with Lime Green frames and lines Roller Courts. Floor Layout: Roller Court style.
Building Size: 12,000 SF. Built: N/A. Demolished: Still standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Cinderblock Night Club - like Building.
Roof: Mansard.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: Tuesday August 26, 1980 to Monday October 19, 2020.
Reason for Closure: Victim of lockdowns by the order of the Liberal Governor in Blue State--the Commonwealth of Massachusetts due to COVID-19. It was temporarily but due to loss of money, had to go out of business thanks to the governor. (Many rinks in 2021 will have same effect).
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Patch - the closing of the rink for good; Facebook - Skylite Roller Skating Center;
Mass Live - Closing; Telegram - Closing; CBS 4 WBZ Boston - Closing. Good article; Yelp;
Facebook - Skylite Tribute group; WCVB 5 -- closing of both Skylite Rink and bowling alley;
Date of issue: 5 January 2021. Update: 20 January 2021, 19 February 2021,
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.
But Richard passed away in 2003 and MJ kept operating the rink till its closure on Monday October 19, 2020.
The COVID lockdowns globally was in March 2020 which eventually 7 months of closure temporally forced the rink out of business because of no financial income from skaters.
They went through a few renovations which is pretty good for such a rink as this one compared to many others which did not upgrade as much as often. This apparently did upgrade at least three to four times.
This rink as I can see on their Facebook group page, they were very close, and very festive people. You see a lot of Christmas, Halloween, and St. Patrick's Day, and many are into music.
The Interior.
The original was a bowling alley for sure because of the way ceiling lights were set like any kind of bowling house would have. But it works for the rink though. I like that they kept the bowling alley ceiling and it shined the area in a certain way.
They originally covered the wood bowling lanes with Poured Cement over bowling lanes, plywood on top of concrete, then possible Styrofoam, then particle board on top to make a floating. Later, in 2010s, they had Roll-On Court then Roller Court particle tiles for indoors.
The roller floor colors changed through the years. First it was Yellow to match the entire place. Yellow rink floor!? First I ever heard of. Interesting for the time. then Baby Blue... then the rest you see in the photos. Apparently to follow the trend of colors like Blue was in during 2000s and early 2010s then the Graying of America with darker colors.
The older photos with skaters I can see background. The shingles were not all gray, it was originally natural wood along with wood tongue and grove wall siding. They painted it gray as well. It was mostly paint job that changed the colors and mood. All are excellent looks. Awesome look really.
What interesting is that on one wall they had a group of colors each section on that wall with curtains/drapes! It was rather very different and creative on their part as they were in vogue at the time. Too rare a skating rink in late 1970s-early 1980s would have drapes. Maybe decades before that they did. Drapes were easy to set up not to worry about painting lead paint on the wall which could contain asbestos. Anyway, the drapes were very common more for television. You seen on The Tonight Show that kept on for many decades. or the Jack Paar Show, or even your local TV Sunday morning church services with that drapes. Or even on the news between 1950s and 1980s.
The theme they began was with very rustic 1970s look for early 1980s. With tones of Red, Orange, Yellow. And the wood was 45 degree diagonal which was very common also at that time. Especially in houses both interior and exterior. I even still have my architectural drafting text book I keep for reference and they are from 1965-1970 era and they got tons of photographs of homes with that look. Groovy! Drafting has not changed, just they use CAD now but that text book is still excellent because of measurements are needed. Or technical needs that remains the same. Anyway, that is how I recalled the style vividly. I love the style. This rink really kept up with trends well.
They renovated heavily there. Original floor appeared to be Tan color. Then painted in Navy Gray color with polyurethane coat on which was done in 2015. In 2017, the floor was once again redone and it was Roller Court. You can tell with the look on the floor with Roller Court that it has 2 different thickness of rectangular frames and it was in Lime Green compared to what it appeared to look Dark Purple but I am not sure because of how light reflex on them.
The Exterior.
In 1980s, they had a very simple cubic style with early 1980s look that was not quite the 1980s look. It had three colors: Red on top followed by Yellow in middle and bottom Green. That combination quickly set my mind off as a set of Jamaican flag colors. Never mind that. I have seen those colors on some products such as a John Deere snowmobile with the similar colors at the time. The stripes goes toward left and curl into a circle. This reminded me and some of you of a certain Saturday Morning live action comic book called SHAZAM! Yes, the motorhome Mentor (Les Tremayne drives with Billy Batson (Michael Gray). It was called Open Road Motorhome. They used a 1973 Open Road.
But the renovation likely happened in 2012-ish that brought Miami Vice colors of MV Pink and Teal colors with much neon lights and colors to really updated the trendy look in the 1990s but the Flors brought that style up a little late. They did bring it in during 2010s.. That got dated real quick as the show was cancelled long before and the trend was on everything everywhere. You remember Taco Bell of 1990s interior and exterior look? Yes, White with Purple, MV Pink, and Off Red, those colors. The motif colors. That was 1990s.
I love both styles architecturally with those colors. The original in 1980s with three color bars with the name on it above the door really had unique style that are more conservative as 1970s and 1980s were before more freestyle in 1990s and beyond. The Browning of America was already departed when the rink opened so that look was very style of early 1980s. This rink was really trendy on the exterior design. Really trendy. Not many rinks have that beauty on the outside as some did like Wal-Lex had with retro 1920s Art Deco look.
They did not update the look on the outside much after early 2010s. Had they kept up, it would have had another change in year 2000 and again 2010 but expenses and insurance and the declining of skaters attending the rinks in past 20 years especially in 2020 the COVID was the nail that drove every sector of industry out of business as matter of fact. Where is Radio Shack, Sears, Lord & Taylor, Kmart, Edwards, Burdines, Kaufmann's. Also American Motors, Packard, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Owens boats, Evinrude and Johnson Outboards, and many more. Dumat TV network, UPN network, PAX network.. I can go on but you get the idea. Well, I kind of exaggerated the list because not all went out because of COVID. A few did.
The Stats:
1980 -
Rink Size: 68' x 90'. Floor: Poured Cement over bowling lanes, plywood on top of concrete, then possible Styrofoam, then particle board on top to make a floating. Floor Layout: Standard.
~2014 -
Rink Size: 68' x 90'. Floor: Gray colored Roll-On Flooring. Floor Layout: Standard.
2017 -
Rink Size: 68' x 90'. Floor: Polyurethane coated Purple with Lime Green frames and lines Roller Courts. Floor Layout: Roller Court style.
Building Size: 12,000 SF. Built: N/A. Demolished: Still standing.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Truss Cinderblock Night Club - like Building.
Roof: Mansard.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: Tuesday August 26, 1980 to Monday October 19, 2020.
Reason for Closure: Victim of lockdowns by the order of the Liberal Governor in Blue State--the Commonwealth of Massachusetts due to COVID-19. It was temporarily but due to loss of money, had to go out of business thanks to the governor. (Many rinks in 2021 will have same effect).
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources: Patch - the closing of the rink for good; Facebook - Skylite Roller Skating Center;
Mass Live - Closing; Telegram - Closing; CBS 4 WBZ Boston - Closing. Good article; Yelp;
Facebook - Skylite Tribute group; WCVB 5 -- closing of both Skylite Rink and bowling alley;
Date of issue: 5 January 2021. Update: 20 January 2021, 19 February 2021,
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:16.