If you grew up anywhere near central Iowa, your entire middle school social status was decided on Friday nights. There was only one destination that mattered: Skate West in West Des Moines. Walking through those doors wasn't just entering a roller rink. It was stepping into the absolute epicenter of junior high drama, romance, and questionable fashion choices.
The Scent of Bad Decisions
You knew you arrived the exact second you walked through the door and that unmistakable, universal roller rink aroma hit you.
It was a highly specific, slightly awkward cocktail of scents. It smelled like extra-strength floor wax, decades of rental skate funk, scorched concession stand popcorn, and a massive, suffocating cloud of body spray. It was weird, it was pungent, and to this day, if I smell cheap concession pizza, I am instantly transported back to the early '90s.
The Skate West Runway: Early '90s Rink Fashion
You didn’t just show up to Skate West in your everyday school clothes; you wore your absolute best weekend armor. The rink was a high-stakes fashion show where style had to survive a lot of physical movement.
If you were a junior high kid between 1991 and 1993, your rink outfit almost certainly consisted of these essentials:
The Neon Heat Wave: A Hypercolor t-shirt that changed from purple to pink whenever you got too hot from doing a lap. It always resulted in awkward, giant glowing handprints on your back where someone tagged you during a game of wipeout.
The Bottom Half: Overalls with one strap intentionally unbuttoned, or aggressively baggy Z. Cavaricci pants. If you were a guy, you were probably drowning in a pair of oversized, stone-washed denim jeans held up by a tightly cinched belt.
The Footwear Flex: Before you laced up those brown rental skates with the orange wheels, you walked in wearing Eastland leather loafers or Reebok Pump sneakers with the laces untied and tongues sticking out.
The Accessories: Slap bracelets snapped all the way up your forearms, and a giant scrunchie holding up a side-ponytail that defied gravity.
Rolling the Dice on the Hardwood
The ultimate highlight of the night—besides trying to get your crush to notice your fresh outfit during the couples skate—was the legendary giant dice game.
The DJ would blast a hit track, everyone would circle the rink, and then the music would abruptly stop. You would scramble to a numbered section painted on the floor, praying for luck. The DJ would toss those massive, oversized foam dice into the center of the hardwood. If your number came up, you won a free slushie or a handful of arcade tokens. It felt like winning a million bucks in front of your entire class.
Soundtracks of the Skate West DJ Booth
Of course, none of these moments worked without the music blasting through the overhead speakers. The Skate West DJ held all the power, mapping out our prepubescent emotional journeys with a very specific rotation of cassette singles and CDs.
Depending on the vibe of the rink, you were guaranteed to hear these staples echoing off the walls:
The Ultimate Speed Skate: “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C Music Factory or “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. If you wanted to fly around the corners, this was your moment.
The Backward Skating Anthem: “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. The steady, heavy bassline was the perfect rhythm for trying to master those elusive backward crossovers.
The Couples Skate High Noon: “I Do It for You” by Bryan Adams or “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men. The lights would dim, the neon colors would switch to soft reds and purples, and you would nervously look around the carpeted edge of the rink to see if your crush was going to ask you to hold hands.
The All-Skate Party Jam: “Jump” by Kris Kross. Every kid on the floor would literally try to bounce on their wheels, risking total structural failure of their ankles.
The Art of Skating Backwards
We all remember watching the high school kids or the cool eighth graders seamlessly transition from forward gliding to effortless, rhythmic backward crossovers during those songs.
Naturally, the rest of us tried to copy them. This usually resulted in a lot of flailing arms, lost balance, and a spectacular wipeout directly into the carpeted half-walls surrounding the rink. But you just brushed the floor dust off your oversized jeans, pretended it didn't hurt, and kept rolling.
Where the Music Plays On: 2019 Grand Avenue Today
Eventually, the final all-skate was called, and Skate West officially closed its doors. But if you walk past the old building at 2019 Grand Avenue in West Des Moines, you won't find a vacant, crumbling eyesore. Instead, the structure has traded its brown rental skates for theatrical scripts. The 6,500-square-foot facility has been completely transformed and is now the permanent home of the Tallgrass Theatre Company. The space was extensively renovated into a vibrant, air-conditioned community theater that produces live plays, hosts performance workshops, and runs youth theater programs.
While the oversized foam dice and neon lights are a thing of the past, there is something poetic about knowing that the building at 2019 Grand Avenue is still a community hub where local families gather on weekends to be entertained. The skates might be gone, but the spotlight is still shining bright.
 |
| Find him on X @brogan78 | on Instagram | on Facebook | or on Youtube |