Melissa Morgan, a cardiac sonographer from Martinez, adjusted her red Calvin Klein dress, fixed her tiara, draped a white faux fur cloak around her shoulders and laced up her skates.
“I had to dress up,” she said Tuesday. “This is opening night!”
Then Morgan glided off across the 8,000-square-foot pop-up rink in Crissy Field, her cloak shimmering under the disco lights.
Held at the newly ordained Church of Eight Wheels Golden Gate roller rink, the Red and White Ball kicked off Skate Week San Francisco, a rolling festival that includes a goth night, a hip-hop night, a Michael Jackson vs. Prince roll-off and a climactic roller-skating showcase in Golden Gate Park.
“We’re trying to reflect all the diversity of San Francisco,” said David Miles Jr., the city’s beloved Godfather of Skate, who runs the permanent Church of 8 Wheels on Fillmore Street, which recently received landmark status.
The ball, like the majority of the week’s programming, was held inside a former airplane hangar in Crissy Field. From the outside, the building looked dilapidated, but indoors was an explosion of color and lights. The walls were draped in red-and-white fabric and hung with large posters of the “12 Saints of Disco” (among them, Donna Summer and Marvin Gaye).
“These people have a funky good time, and they’re our saints. This is our roll-igion,” Miles quipped.
Skaters showed up in force, from as far afield as Paris, New York, Las Vegas and Chicago. To encourage attendance, Miles negotiated a $159-a-night “skate rate” at the San Francisco Hilton for incoming rollers.
“This will be the biggest thing we’ve ever attempted,” he said.
For Lien Payne, a 40-year-old attorney from Bernal Heights, the ball was maybe the second time she had ever been on roller skates. She gingerly wobbled around the rink, holding the side for balance.
“My boss wanted to come,” she said, pointing to a dapper man in a red-and-white pinstripe shirt, effortlessly performing the “spread eagle” move, with both feet turned out. “I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t know how to stop, but it’s really fun.” (She added that she had never attended a work outing like this before: “I’m seeing a whole new side of my boss, and I’m impressed.”)
Tatania Iskandar, a 33-year-old software engineer at Meta, drove from San Mateo to attend the opening night. She began roller-skating during the pandemic, since “I had a lot more time!” She was excited about the new, if temporary, skating space in the city: “This is so cool,” she said.
Miles, who was resplendent in a red-and-white top hat, furry white jacket and white leg warmers, said the Presidio hangar would be an ideal space for a permanent roller rink.
“The Presidio has a lot of fantastic things,” he said, pointing to the Tunnel Tops, the House of Air trampoline park and the soon-to-open Mess Hall at the Presidio. “Roller-skating is probably the one thing that the Presidio doesn’t have, and it’ll draw the kind of people that they want.”
Kae McCarty, a professor of kinesiology at the University of San Francisco, echoed the Godfather’s sentiments.
“I love this place! It’s awesome, it has tons of space and the ventilation is great,” she said. “I am obsessed.”
Ralph Boethling, 69, a program manager for San Francisco Health Plan, said he roller-skates six days a week.
“The location is so iconic and so convenient,” he said. “My parents met in a roller rink in 1946. … I’ve been skating for over 60 years!”
Near the end of the ball, Mayor London Breed showed up, dressed in glitter-encrusted sneakers, a white shirt printed with hearts and a sleek, red suit. She stood in front of a giant “Thriller” poster and officially declared Skate Week open.
“This is an important institution in our city,” she said. “It needs to be uplifted and celebrated.”
However, she didn’t plan to put on skates, noting, “The press is here … and they want to see me fall on my ass.”
Forty minutes later, Breed had a change of heart. Miles escorted her slowly around the rink.
Miles said he’s hopeful that Skate Week will become a permanent fixture in San Francisco’s jam-packed summer event calendar.
“Roller-skating provides people with positive, fun links to each other,” he said. “There’s real belonging here, and we need more of this. Skating is for everybody.”