RECREATION

Wheeling in the years Low-tech, disco-dusted Atlantis Skateway celebrates 40 years of fun on rollers.

GREENACRES — Time, in a sense, has stood still at Atlantis Skateway, the popular roller rink and community fixture.

While the rest of the world has been modernized, upgraded and gone off in a big hurry, the nondescript green building on Jog Road — and what goes on inside in it — hasn’t changed much at all since opening in 1975, the height of the disco era.

Vintage video games (“Crazy Taxi” and “Terminator 2”) line the wall and still take quarters — not brown gaming coins — like they did in the old days.

Vinyl albums and 45-rpm records, ranging from Elton John to The Fat Boys, are plastered on the rink’s office walls, which serve as something of a shrine to bell-bottom slacks, polyester and the boogie-oogie-oogie.

In a high-tech universe, At- lantis, and all of its old-school charm, remains decidedly low-tech, a welcome throwback in a land now dominated by iPods, PlayStations and Facebook.

On Saturday, the rink celebrates its 40th anniversary with a six-hour party from 5 to 11 p.m. that will feature raffles, prizes and giveaways.

“It’s amazing we’re still here,” said Britni Murphy, the rink’s vice president, who has been part of the family business since her early teens.

Murphy’s grandfather, Morris Hankey, built Atlantis after having completed a series

of roller rinks and bowling alleys up and down the East Coast. Hankey choose Greenacres, Murphy said, because the cit y didn’t have any entertainment for kids and families.

It was a cheap way to offer entertainment,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s parents, Norman and Bonnie Carnell, have been running Atlantis since it opened.

But it hasn’t always been easy. A roller rink is a tricky business. It depends mostly on young people to keep the doors open and most of those young people are in school.

So, since Atlantis opened, it’s operated on the Palm Beach Count y School District schedule, meaning the rink is open during the summer and when kids are out of school on holidays.

During the week, Atlantis is open for fundraisers, skating clubs and private parties, but not much else. The rink has set hours on weekends when kids are home, including old-school skate night from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday.

It’s hard making up for the slow times,” Norman Carnell said. “You just ride those out and enjoy the good times.”

And there have been plenty of those through the years.

Kyndra Messier, a 46-year-old Lantana resident, met her first husband at Atlantis.

“He was the D J, and

PHOTOS BY BRUCE R. BENNETT / THE PALM BEACH POST Britni Murphy (second from left), vice president of Atlantis Skateway in Greenacres, hits the rink with three of her friends Wednesday. The rink will celebrate its 40th anniversary today with a six-hour party from 5 to 11 p.m.

Atlantis Skateway, which opened at the height of the disco era, retains its old-school outlook 40 years later. Patrons can choose from 800 pairs of skates to rent, with the largest size being a 14.

BRUCE R. BENNETT / THE PALM BEACH POST Norman and Bonnie Carnell and their daughter, Britni Murphy, run the Atlantis Skateway, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Murphy’s grandfather opened the Skateway in 1975. “My dad loves to work at the snack bar and cook,” Murphy said. “My mom...