Roll With It

Actress Heather Graham may have rekindled America’s roller-skating flame with her performance as a porn-star-on-wheels in “Boogie Nights,� but a gaggle of--who else?--hipster Angelenos beat her to the trend. For the past few months, a sect of the young and the tattooed has faithfully gathered Monday nights at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, where they struggle into camel-colored skates (not blades, skates) with thick orange wheels and spend hours getting acquainted with each other and the gleaming wood floor. Among the film and music notables who have laced up on Mondays are Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato and alterna-queen Melissa auf der Maur, bassist for Courtney Love’s band Hole, whose presence one evening resulted in a flurry of near-collisions among ogling male skaters.

Beneath the twin glittering disco balls and a deejay pumping nostalgia anthems such as Irene Cara’s “Fame,� regulars in cat’s-eye glasses, shaved heads, coats with fur-lined collars and other of-the-moment mufti navigate as best they can (rank beginners tend to shamelessly hug the orange-carpeted walls). Two generations’ worth of hokey skating games are dusted off and lustily pursued; the most popular appears to be Crazy Trios, a lawsuit-waiting to happen in which teams of three hold hands and attempt to quickly reverse direction when a whistle sounds.

Moonlight manager Mike Lunsford began programming Monday adult nights at the rink last year. After a couple months of thin attendance, Lunsford noticed a core of mid-20s returnees and promptly dispensed two-for-one passes. The word-of-mouth circuit took care of the rest, and soon Monday nights were awash in goatees and tattoos.

“It got really Silver Lakey, like people with fake afro wigs,� observes Peata Henrichs, 27, a black-clad Los Feliz filmmaker. “All the old songs make it fun,� says Jennifer Weinberg, who lured about 15 friends to a Monday session to celebrate her 32nd birthday. “You actually get exercise, and it’s an activity at night where you don’t have to drink.�

Mondays exhibit a pickup scene, too, even if it’s difficult to effect nonchalance while frantically windmilling one’s arms to keep from face-planting. One recent night, the boys and girls joined hands while the disco ball scattered jewels of light and Madonna’s plaintive “Crazy for You� swirled around the room. Not even the occasional skate-flailing tumble could break the mood. (Note: All interviews were conducted on skates.)