After 24 years, SkateTown, a family-owned and -operated roller-skating place in Grapevine, is closing its doors.
Owners Mike and Kathy Vouklizas announced the closure on the facility's Facebook page, stating that they sold the property "to pursue retirement."
The rink will close on August 21.
The couple opened the rink at 2330 William D. Tate Ave. in June 1997.
"Our story begins when our owners were just teenagers," they say on their website. "They both grew up with a love for skating, and competed in speed skating competitions until they were in their mid-twenties. They decided to get married and have children and move to the Grapevine area to pursue their dream of one day opening a skating rink of their own."
The venue was a popular destination for parties, and they also gave skating lessons, at a bargain price of $7 for beginner lessons every Saturday at 12 noon. They also offered private lessons, one-on-one with an instructor, starting at $20 for half an hour.
A spokesperson said that the instructors would be relocating to another rink, still to be announced.
The property had been on the market, but the actual sale was somewhat abrupt. The rink was still advertising lessons on July 30, and after the closure was announced, the owners commented that they were forced to cancel a number of parties scheduled back in May, stating, "There are things that we cannot control when selling real estate and that is basically what happened here."
Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson in Nickel Boys.
Photo courtesy of Orion Pictures
When making movies about the long history of sins visited upon Black people in the United States, a good instinct by filmmakers is to keep the story small. In telling a personal tale, as is done in Nickel Boys, the larger systemic issue can be exposed without getting lost in the enormity of the wrongs done to everyone who’s similar to the central characters.
What makes this film unique, though, is that writer/director RaMell Ross and co-writer Joslyn Barnes adapted Colson Whitehead’s novel in a way that is as personal as you can get: By giving it a first-person perspective. For the first half of the film, the audience sees the world of Elwood (Ethan Cole Sharp as a child, Ethan Herisse as a teenager) through his eyes, with the character only appearing in reflections or photos.
Through this technique, the impact of the turbulent 1960s hits even harder, as - among other things - Elwood sees the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. and becomes a high-achieving student against the odds in Tallahassee, Florida while living with his grandmother, Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). On his way to attend a college that would help him achieve his dreams, he is waylaid in a traffic stop and taken to a reform school against his will.
As he tries to adjust to what amounts to an imprisonment, he makes friends with Turner (Brandon Wilson). From that point on, Ross shifts the perspective back-and-forth between the two boys, as well flash-forwards to an adult Elwood, as each deals with the innumerable injustices that they experience at the school. Their friendship is the thinnest of ropes that keeps them tethered to any hope that they will be able to leave one day.
While the first-person perspective could be viewed as a gimmick, in the case of this film it underscores the bewildering circumstances in which Elwood finds himself. Instead of being privy to information that Elwood or Turner might not know, we can only see what they see, a viewpoint that serves to increase the harrowing nature of their plights. Ross shifts the camera slightly to behind Elwood’s head in future scenes, a subtle move that helps the audience understand where in time they are, and give more information on the man that he has become.
While showing overt racism in films remains a powerful reminder of the evil that can exist in the world, many movies fall into a trap of making the racists one-dimensionally vile. Ross and Barnes make sure to flesh out characters like teacher Spencer (Hamish Linklater) and other adults, making their mistreatment of the Black kids at the school even more horrific.
Although the unusual camera placement prevents them from receiving the full star treatment, both Herisse and Wilson are able to demonstrate their talents well. The fleeting glimpses of their faces helps to understand the strength of the work they do off-screen. Ellis-Taylor puts in another award-worthy performance, projecting heart and desperation in equal measure as Hattie fights to get Elwood back.
While not strictly a historical film (the book is a fictional story that takes inspiration from real events), Nickel Boys holds enough truths in it to be completely gripping. The first-person perspective draws the viewer in, and then the story clobbers them with events that make the central characters indelible.