Where we are coming from —
There has been Roller Skating in the area around the Bandshell and Mall for many years. We have a poster from a Parks-Department-sponsored Halloween roller-skating event from 1936 and photos of young kids skating in the area in the 1940s. People have been skating on Dead Road from the first days it was closed off to traffic in the 60s. It is nothing new and skating is not going to end there anytime soon.
The resurgence in Roller Skating in the late 1970s swelled the park with skaters well into the 90s. The Parks Department and the Police were worried about the large crowds of skaters on Dead Road. In 1994, a group of skaters were asked to cooperate with the Dinkins administration to allow sponsored special events to take place on Dead Road without interference […]
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