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The Empire Roller Rink in 2006. The Empire Roller Disco was a 30,000-square-foot roller rink located at 200 Empire Blvd., in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. [1] The birthplace of roller disco, [2] it was the first venue to showcase jammin', a skate style invented by its attendee and employee Bill "Mr. Charisma" Butler. [3] [1]
In 1979, Cue magazine praised the rink as "a fabulous $2 million roller disco in a former movie theater" and "the front-runner of the roller-disco craze". [5] Similarly, in that year's ranking of various roller discos, Cue described New York's Empire Roller Disco, the birthplace of roller disco, [12] as "not as snazzy as the Roll-A-Palace". [13]
Bill Butler, also known as Mr. Charisma, is a roller skater and choreographer credited with the invention of jam skating. [1] [2]The National Museum of Roller Skating referred to Butler as "an original influencer" in jam skating, stating that "Butler’s iconic moves and styles inspired many of the popular moves and styles of today".
A roller disco is a combined discothèque and skating rink, where attendees are encouraged to participate in roller skating while dancing, or to observe skilled dancers from the sidelines. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Quad skates and (more recently) inline skates may be available for rent, and there is often a snack bar with a seating area.
They reportedly attract more than 28 million young American skaters. According to [Ed] Chalpin, 99.9% of these rinks are already programming disco music either in whole or in part." ALT3: ... that during the roller disco craze of 1979, Mr. Charisma's "stylish tricks" made the Empire Roller Disco "a HOT destination"?
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Tasha Klusmann, curator-historian of the National African American Roller Skating Archive, credited the rink's increase to the era following the COVID-19 pandemic and the "popularity of the skating scene on social media". [3] As of 2024, each Sunday night attracts over 300 roller skaters from across the country. [4]
John Sims, the owner and founder of Jerk Hut, poses for a portrait in his restaurant on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Sims has since closed his campustown location and is working to open Empire Lounge.