On a Roll
If City Manager Pat West gets his way, Long Beach will one day be known as the most bike-friendly city in the nation—this after the city has already been recognized as the home of the upcoming Toyota Grand Prix and, to a lesser extent (okay, a significantly lesser extent), the Aquatic Capital of America. But after chatting with Moxi Roller Skates owner Michelle Steilen, it’s not a stretch to wonder if the city won’t perhaps someday be famed for another outdoor activity: roller-skating.
Taken from The District Weekly.
“I’m trying to recreate lifestyle skating,” says Steilen, whose roller skate boutique joins a number of new additions to Retro Row, including Lil’ Devils (inside which you’ll find Moxi) and Shelter Surf Shop, in introducing new products (and new customers) to the stalwart shopping district.
A former gymnast and aggressive ramp skater and current member of the Angel City Derby Girls league (team: Hollywood Scarlets), Steilen can roller-skate drained swimming pools alongside her skateboarding peers—snapshots of her in the air, helmet-less, dressed in a flannel, short shorts and knee-length tube socks and floating parallel to the pool floor make you feel awfully sorry for concerned relatives—but the essence of her ambition can be found when she’s got all eight wheels on the paved city streets outside her shop.
On the second Friday of every month, Steilen—often better known as her derby alter-ego “Estro Jen,” or simply “Estro” to friends and customers alike—hosts a “roll out,” an open invitation to roller skaters of all skill levels (and skate preference; in-line skaters aren’t turned away) to join in a 75-minute community street skate. Last month’s roll out saw a friendly pack of around 20 women—plus one man—exit the skate shop (some dressed in gold and green, per the holiday) on a path that would take them along Temple and Cherry and up the beach side pedestrian/bike path connecting the two.
If the last time you donned roller skates was sometime in the first decade of your life, the initial minutes out on the pavement can be somewhat daunting. The mechanics of the process—the balance, the flow of movement—feel unnatural, impossible even, until you look ahead to where Steilen skates: It’s like she’s on ice, fearless, flowing and fast. Then, around minute 15 or so, you begin to feel it, too: you remember to stop fearing the fall—as kids, we never worried about falling—and enjoy the thrill. (And if you still find it all a bit too thrilling, Steilen offers free skate lessons at the beach every Saturday morning.)
“I want to start a culture of roller skaters,” says Steilen, who skates to work and most everywhere else. “People come in the shop and say, ‘Oh! It’s been so long since I . . .’—that’s why I have that [phrase] painted on the wall. . . . But it’s good exercise, and it looks cool.” To this end, Moxi is more than just a novel boutique for your perusal. From boots and bearings to wheels, laces, protective gear and other accessories, Steilen caters to both casual skaters—including “moms looking to lose baby weight,” she says—and more devoted types, like derby girls. The shop will open an online store in the near future as well.
For the cash-strapped, skating isn’t a cheap hobby—a new pair runs $100, or $50 for kids’ sizes—though the shop sells used and vintage skates beginning at $25. But Steilen isn’t likely to let you don your skates once and leave them to gather dust in a corner. Join her mailing list and you’ll receive invites to the group skates and skate lessons, as well as weekend maintenance workshops (with mimosas), plus impromptu roll-outs and other gatherings, like a recent kick ball game between Moxi roller skaters and the City Nuisance Bike Club. With any luck, the city’s roller skate renaissance is already under way—maybe we’ll even get a derby league of our own.
Awesome …. you’ve got a lot of fans waiting to root you girls on to victory!
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