Empire Roller Skating Center opened in 1941 on Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in a former garage across the street from Ebbets Field. It began as the Swanson family’s rink and was known over the years as the Brooklyn Rollerdome, Empire Rollerdrome and Empire Roller Disco.
Through the 1970s and ’80s Empire rose to fame as the birthplace of roller disco, the skating craze that swept the country. Bill Butler’s “jammin’” style of skating, from the 1960s, is part of that story.
The rink closed in April 2007. The building was sold for $4.5 million and has since become a storage facility.
Sources
- Brooklyn Public Library: “Empire Skate: The Birthplace of Roller Disco,” exhibition page, January to March 2019
- Brooklyn Public Library blog, 2023-06-05: “When Disco Was King”: the 2007 closing, the $4.5 million sale, the storage facility
- Wikipedia: “Empire Roller Disco”: opening, names, April 2007 closing, citing the New York Times (2007-04-22) and the Daily News (2007-03-09)
- Untapped New York: The Legacy of NYC’s Empire Roller Rink: the 1941 start at an old Ebbets Field garage, the names, Bill Butler, the April 2007 closing