Skating Rink At Telephone Rd. And What Is Now Loop 610

[Michelle C]

When I was ten or twelve years old my mother would take me to a roller rink at Telephone road and what would now be called Loop 610. I don't know what that part of Loop 610 was called then but you could turn right off of it into the parking lot of the skating rink. I do not remember the name of the rink either. Hopefully someone here can remember the name of the rink. I do however remember an older man that was always there named Oscar. Oscar was an avid and very professional skater.

[torimask]

Would this be the same rink remembered? Right near Gulfgate, correct?

 

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/2860-skating-rink/?p=158505

[Michelle C]

I checked your link, the rink I went to would have been west of Gulfgate and was probably the Gulfgate Rink. Looking at Google, it appears that the building is still there. I also pulled out an old Houston map from the fifties and the street that is now Loop 610 was then Holmes Road. There was a crossover at Holmes road and Chaffin. The entrance to the rink was at the end of Chaffin.

[FilioScotia]

I remember that rink. I met a lot of girls and had a lot of great fun there in the late 50s.

 

I found an old newspaper article about this rink, dated October 20, 1956. It was the Gulfgate Roller Rink, and the article said it opened in August 1956 at what was then 6839 E. Holmes Road, adjacent to the then new Gulfgate Shopping Center. It was owned by Estes A. Kelly and his wife Connie, and they claimed it had the largest skating floor in the city at that time. The Kellys also owned Skateland at 6610 Capitol.

 

Holmes Road is still there, but not with that name. It is now the S. Loop service road, running west from Gulfgate out to near Cullen, where it dog-legs a little to go under the S. Loop near Scott and becomes Holmes Road again. 

 

Edited January 7, 2015 by FilioScotia

[FilioScotia]

By the way, in case you're interested, that old article was in the national entertainment magazine Billboard, which covers ALL kinds of entertainment, including roller skating. The link I found was to the October 20, 1956 issue, page 57, and a string of short items about roller rinks around the country. Here's the link:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=fAoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=old+skating+rink+on+holmes+road+houston&source=bl&ots=NHTF1qZcEE&sig=r5_hsgUQ3gIU2vBjnucwrlWHOdw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SZGtVPj2FoigNqCegOAJ&sqi=2&ved=0CHcQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=old%20skating%20rink%20on%20holmes%20road%20houston&f=true

 

To see what else was going on in the entertainment world in October of '56, scroll up to Page 1 and read to your heart's content. I promise - it will REALLY take you back to the 50s.. 

 

Edited January 7, 2015 by FilioScotia

[Michelle C]

By the way, in case you're interested, that old article was in the national entertainment magazine Billboard, which covers ALL kinds of entertainment, including roller skating. The link I found was to the October 20, 1956 issue, page 57, and a string of short items about roller rinks around the country. Here's the link:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=fAoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=old+skating+rink+on+holmes+road+houston&source=bl&ots=NHTF1qZcEE&sig=r5_hsgUQ3gIU2vBjnucwrlWHOdw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SZGtVPj2FoigNqCegOAJ&sqi=2&ved=0CHcQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=old%20skating%20rink%20on%20holmes%20road%20houston&f=true

 

To see what else was going on in the entertainment world in October of '56, scroll up to Page 1 and read to your heart's content. I promise - it will REALLY take you back to the 50s.. 

 

Pretty interesting read. Lots of stuff with in the link.

 

[Joe D]

I’m seeking info on skateland in Houston Texas