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Community Corner

It's A Skater's Thing (You Wouldn't Understand)

Crazy Legs underground skate club in Bed-Stuy is an oasis for the skating enthusiast

Every Wednesday night, starting at 8:00 pm, the Salvation Army community center on 110 Kosciuszko Street, between Nostrand and Marcy Avenues, turns into an adults-only, rocking and rolling, underground skating rink called Crazy Legs Skate Club.

And it's all thanks to the vision of Lezly Ziering.

Ziering stumbled upon the basketball court inside the building in 2008, and thought it was a perfect fit for the city's skaters who were suddenly seeking, well, salvation.

Ziering, a roller-skater for most of his 77 years, says that in 2007, every major roller rink in the city shut down within months of each other, forcing skating enthusiasts to scramble to find a place to enjoy their favorite pastime.

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A little-known Salvation Army next to a grammar school is the most unlikeliest of placest for a skate club. But Zeiring says the sense of community between all the skaters has kept them together, and ultimately got them to follow him to Crazy Legs.  

"We didn't have any place to go, but this place was great. We had to do a lot of work on it, but it's good now. I had a giant email list that let everyone know it was open."

That list consists of people from all over the city, one of them being Vera Sinnreich, a teacher who comes to Crazy Legs on Wednesdays all the way from her apartment in Washington Heights. She says, "My friends are all here! Lezly's a friend, a lot of people who come here are friends of mine."

Ziering says that the new location was a hit right away, with over 180 people attending on opening night. Admission is only $10 to skate from 8 pm to midnight, so the weekly skate continues to draw between 80 to 100 people each Wednesday, he adds.  

James Singley, 47, from nearby Marcy Houses, is another skater who has been at Crazy Legs since it opened. He agrees with Ziering that the neighborhood has embraced it.

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He says Crazy Legs has given him the chance to do what he loves. "You get your workout and you get your fun. But the best thing is the freedom of being able to feel like Jesus felt when he walked on water, which is to float. I love floating across this floor."

Ziering says that while Crazy Legs might not be the best place to skate, it's had little impact on the skating community that has evolved over time.

"I like the way skaters live together, how we all know each other’s birthdays, and how it's really like a family. It's like a little speck of what the world should be like. You see black, white, Arab, Jew and whatever else you can think of skating together and getting along."

Or as Leroy James, a skater who has been rolling since 1977, succinctly puts it: "Listen, nevermind where it's at. It's all about skating. It's not about a lounge and some lights. It's about skating. I can't say anything more."

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