Wumpskate: Where all the goth kids go for roller-skating and tacos

Wumpskate: Where all the goth kids go for roller-skating and tacos

Photo Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

by Tatiana Simonian

March 06, 2008

There are combinations in life that make no sense yet seem to work. Chicken and waffles. Run-DMC and Aerosmith. And roller skating and gothic industrial music.

The latter pairing makes for a quite a spectacle at World on Wheels on a recent Monday night. Yes, that's a trauma victim circling the rink, not far from the top hat-wearing Victorian gentleman and other daringly costumed devotees done up as if they take their fashion cues from the Cure's Robert Smith.

The occasion is a monthly skate night called Wumpskate (a play on the name of gothic industrial band Wumpscut). Attracting goth enthusiasts by the hundreds, the alcohol-free themed night lures fans with a dark-edged playlist that includes the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, Ministry and KMFDM. And the hosts don't just do eyeliner well -- they provide snacks such as candy, cookies and even tacos.

"It started out as a joke at first," a woman known simply as DJ Wednesday explains. "Five years ago, [DJ Xian and I] thought, 'Wouldn't it be an interesting idea? Let's just do it!' The first night we had over 250 people show up and we've been doing it ever since. We're all-ages, so it's a nonalcoholic event. Skating and alcohol sounds like a bad idea to me, so we thought, 'What can we do to swing it the other way? Let's make it as G-rated as possible: Sell people energy drinks, have vendors and get people up on sugar.' "

Perfect, apparently, for families, friends . . . and members of the L.A. Derby Dolls.

And maybe anybody else with a sense of humor. Last month's "Valentine Skate Massacre," for instance, attracted 6-foot-4 Damian Stellabott -- who cut a forbidding figure dressed in a white nurse's uniform, striped thigh-highs and a brown wig.

He anticipates a question before it can be asked. "I don't normally dress like this, no," he says, explaining his costume choice thusly: "Valentine's Day is sometimes referred to as open heart surgery, so I borrowed this outfit from a friend."

Stellabott, who works at what he calls "the amusement park in Anaheim," says that Wumpskate is unique. "I don't think there's anything like this anywhere else . . . and it's fun." But goth music and roller skating? He shrugs: "Seems to work."

WUMPSKATE
WHERE: World on Wheels, 4645 1/2 Venice Blvd., L.A.

WHEN: 9 p.m. Monday (and the second Monday of every month)

PRICE: $6

INFO:www.wumpskate.com