For many who frequented the Glenwood Roller Rink, memories of its heyday are still vivid — skaters of all skill levels gliding across the gleaming maple floor, the roller skate–patterned carpet glowing beneath blacklights and colorful lights bathing the rink in shades of red, blue and green.

Overhead, twin disco balls spun at the center, casting reflections across the crowd.

Longtime Glenwood resident Johnnessa White regularly visited the rink with her family. While the music, energy and atmosphere were a big draw, she remembers it as one of the last community spaces where teens and young people could safely hang out and connect.

“Glenwood does not have many things for children to do, so it’s kind of devastating that they are losing one of the outsourced places for children to escape,” White said.

Owners Ray Quitter and Carey Westberg-Quitter, who also own the Tinley Park Roller Rink, announced this month that the Glenwood rink had closed due to structural damage.

It remains unclear whether the closure is permanent or temporary for repairs. Messages left for Westberg-Quitter were not returned.

Several who frequented the rink said there was a raised section of flooring that skaters had to avoid. Glenwood fire Chief Kevin Welsh said roof repairs were needed in the past, but the village had no role in the rink’s closure.

“It seemed to be occupied 100% of the available time. It was always busy,” Welsh said. I’m sure there’s quite a loss in the skating community.”

Ray Quitter played a key role in shaping the local skating scene, according to a 2015 issue of Glenwood’s newsletter, which featured the rink as a business spotlight.

The family has owned the Tinley Park rink since 1955 and the Glenwood rink since 1975, according to their websites. Quitter, a former competitive skater now in his 80s, once trained national skating competitors at the Tinley location, which he converted from a former square dance hall before purchasing the Glenwood rink.

The rink on Holbrook Road was once a lively hub for community events, hosting birthday parties, family reunions, park district gatherings, church skating nights, youth and adult skating clubs and Gospel skating on Thursdays, according to the newsletter.

White said she used to visit the rink often and noticed attendance starting to drop. That inspired her to host a free community skate night at the rink, part of her ongoing effort to organize free events in Glenwood and bring the community together.

Erika Sandstrom said she grew up ice skating at the Homewood-Flossmoor Ice Arena, but found her skills easily transferred to roller skating. She fondly remembers attending birthday parties at the roller rink.

“If it wasn’t at someone’s house it would be at a place like the Glenwood Roller Rink, and that’s the way it was,” Sandstrom said. “The roller rink gave people something safe to do, whether it was adults or kids. And when I would go there, I mean, I can remember, just the energy was always very positive.”

For Sandstrom, the Glenwood rink was more than just a place to skate, it was a neighborhood staple.

“People took skating very seriously, and and even for like, a novice skater, nobody felt uncomfortable being there,” she said. “People were there to have a good time.”

She remembers the excitement of performances, shows and skating competitions held there, and how it was the go-to spot for kids to meet up. She and her friends would ride their bikes to the rink or the gymnastics gym just across the street.

It wasn’t a destination for people from far away, she said, mostly Glenwood residents and nearby neighbors.

“You would go there and you would see people that you knew,” she said.

After the Glenwood rink closed, several people took to the Tinley Park Roller Rink’s Facebook page to ask whether it would offer similar services, such as adult-only skate nights and daytime lessons.

According to the Glenwood rink’s website, it previously offered adult group lessons from 7-8 p.m. on Mondays, and from 9-10 a.m. Wednesdays, as well as family and adult lessons from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays. While the Tinley rink’s website does not list any lessons, the owners began promoting skate lessons on Facebook following Glenwood’s closure.

Roller rinks decline

Chicago was the epicenter of the roller skating scene in the mid-1900s, according to Tom Russo, author of “Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday.”

For his book, Russo explored the vibrant history of the city’s roller skating culture while also tracing its decline. Today, nearly all of Chicago’s roller rinks have disappeared, with only a few remaining in the surrounding suburbs, he said.

“Back in the ’40s and the ’50s and the ’60s, that was the heyday for roller rinks, and Chicago had like, 18 rinks, and then there was probably another dozen in the surrounding suburbs,” Russo said. “So you’re talking like 30 rinks throughout the Chicagoland area, and you probably got three or four today.”

While many cherish the nostalgia of roller rinks and see them as affordable community hubs where both children and adults can enjoy recreational fun, Russo said rinks in Cook County have struggled to stay afloat amid a shifting economy and rising property taxes.

“It always comes up, well, why?” Russo said. “Well, it’s because the city of Chicago and Cook County tax them out of existence because their tax base is based on amusement and recreation.”

The owners of the Glenwood Roller Rink have appealed their property tax bill eight times since 2011, according to Cook County court records. In their most recent appeal, filed in 2023 for taxes paid in 2021, they argued the county’s assessed value of $145,356 was too high and requested it be lowered to $132,500, based on a market value of $530,000. Following the appeal, the assessment was reduced to $138,928, resulting in a $3,425 refund, records show.

The Glenwood rink’s property taxes have fluctuated over the years, ranging from about $37,000 in 2009 to as high as $58,600 in 2022, according to the Cook County treasurer’s office. In contrast, the Tinley Park rink’s tax bill was significantly lower sitting at just under $5,000 in 2023.

To stay afloat, surviving rinks added amusement features such as arcade games, go-karts and inflatables to make the venue more than just a place to skate, Russo said.

Some of the last remaining in the Chicago area are Fleetwood Roller Rink in Summit, Lynwood Sport Center, The Rink in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood Chatham, Coachlite Skate Center in Roselle and the Tinley Park Roller Rink.

Most rinks are family owned, Russo said, but as they’re passed down through generations, families must decide whether the cost of keeping them open is worth it. It’s a balance between keeping prices affordable for families while remaining competitive in a changing market, he said.

For Nicole Raudry, who grew up in Glenwood, the town’s roller rink was a staple of her youth, a go-to hangout along with a nearby strip mall.

“Everything’s nostalgic, but as we get older, things need to be repaired and the cost of everything is so much more expensive now,” she said.

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com