White Center rolls again

Josh Rhoads knows roller skating. He's been doing it for 27 years.

Now the international competitor wants to share his love of the sport with all Seattle — and return roller skating to the force it was for decades in White Center.

Rhoads recently bought the historic Southgate Roller Rink in White Center with his wife and father-in-law, renovated it and reopened it April 7.

His aim is to draw in skaters from far and near — veterans who bring their own skates, to kids donning wheels for the first time.

"I definitely think that it's going to be a great place for the skating community" — especially in White Center, where "it was before for 74 years," Rhoads said.

Rhoads, who skated for the first time at age 6 and competed at a national level at age 7, noticed the closest rinks to Seattle were in Bellevue and Federal Way, so he reopened the venerable rink in White Center, outside Seattle's city limits.

"We're going back to the adage and motto: 'Seattle's friendly rink,' " Rhoads said. "We have an open door to all different kinds of folks involved in different kinds of roller skating to call Southgate their home."

An evolving building

The Southgate Roller Rink building has a storied past.

Built as a boxing venue in 1920, it served for a time as a dance hall and in 1937 became the Southgate Rollerdrome that, over the decades, became a fixture in White Center.

Gradually it became known as Southgate Roller Rink, and in 2002 it became home to another White Center institution: the Rat City Rollergirls. By 2005, the edgy derby team was drawing crowds too large for the rink and it moved to KeyArena.

That same year, a fire damaged the building and brought roller skating to an end in White Center. When the building reopened in 2008, it housed a regular community swap meet.

Rhoads came along a few months ago and brought wheels back to Southgate.

Much like the building, the neighborhood has been evolving.

Long one of the poorest spots in King County, White Center also had some of the highest rates of crime.

Rhoads, who lives in the Sand Point neighborhood of North Seattle, said people have asked him, "isn't it kind of rough down there?"

To him, though, White Center is no rougher than Capitol Hill or Belltown — more like "a hip offshoot of the city of Seattle," he said. "It's growing. A lot of families are moving in."

In recent years, public and private agencies and groups have teamed up to improve the neighborhood.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore-based charitable organization, entered into a partnership with White Center designed to help residents get jobs and become homeowners, and to prepare kids for kindergarten so they could succeed as students from the start.

Nhan Nguyen is with White Center Community Development Association, created with money from the Casey Foundation.

Nguyen helped connect Rhoads with local elementary and middle schools to get the word out about the resurrected roller rink, and says the neighborhood's business district in general has been improving significantly.

Crowds are back

The roller rink now has five open skating sessions a week and, for those who aren't quite on the same skating level as the Rollergirls — or Rhoads — there's a beginner skate class on Sundays.

Rhoads said almost 1,000 skaters showed up over the rink's opening weekend, and an all-ages session on one of the first Friday nights drew about 120.

Frank Posenke, 43, of Beacon Hill, came with his wife and 8-year-old daughter, who is looking to have her birthday party at the rink. The Posenkes wanted to check out the venue beforehand.

A group of 13-year-old girls from White Center turned out as well, and they offered up a variety of reasons to be there on a Friday night — everything from "you get to have fun with friends," to "I love skating — and slushies."

Rhoads, meanwhile, sat in the DJ booth spinning tunes by artists ranging from Lil Wayne to Michael Jackson and Van Halen.

The activity around him was a familiar sight for the freestyle skater, who has finished between fourth and eighth place in international competitions.

At his own rink, Rhoads especially likes to watch experienced skaters who wheeled around the rink in their younger years return with their own kids in tow.

"We're very excited to be a part of this awesome community and share the sport we love," he said.

David Krueger: 206-464-2212 or dkrueger@seattletimes.com