Only in San Francisco
By Aaron Levy-Wolins
Patterned lights grace the old walls and ceiling and elastic-seeming shapes run along stained glass windows. A fairly packed house, people fly along the floor, peeling and stepping their eight wheels along the laminated surface. Everyone can hear funk booming from speakers as their skates light up green, red and blue.
It’s clearly another fun night at the Church of Eight Wheels.
Groups circle the floor, beginners walking cautiously and fastidiously and advanced participants searing around giddy and agile. Abe Gizaw takes small, precise steps in his first-ever skate session. Averaii Dirks, a regular at the Church, zig-zags along the floor, their tank top turning neon colors by the lights, flashes a smile and a wave while zooming past me as I’m snapping photographs.
While the atmosphere may be magical, it’s due to very real work by the Miles family. Patriarch David Miles Jr., the aptly named “Godfather of Skate,” dons full purple regalia including a heavy signature top hat as he sits on a chair at the edge of the skating rink for the interview as his daughter, Tiffany Miles, and I sit on a former church pew. Miles Jr. is clearly passionate about roller skating and his family — and a very voracious talker. He speaks at length, some 26 minutes, when I ask him what roller skating means to him.
“Not many families like us do what we do,” said Miles Jr., “There’s no book to tell you how. We just gotta create it, make it; everybody is into it.”
Miles Jr. said he came to San Francisco in 1979, not knowing a single soul but already knowing how to skate, and saw that people would skate outdoors in Golden Gate Park. He formed the Skate Patrol, a group of roller skaters that at times could number between 500–1,000, in order to save outdoor skating from being banned by the city.
He met his wife Rose in the park some three months after moving to the city. After Miles Jr. married Rose, he said he worked with her at her job at Kentucky Fried Chicken, where they managed a store. He said they were later let go and Miles Jr. said started a business around roller skating, with Rose backing his ambitions.
“We weren’t making big money, but we were all happy,” said Miles Jr. “When you’re young and you’re poor and all that, you don’t really think about that. You’re just having fun and you think everything’s fine.”
After bouncing around at various semi-permanent locations, the family came to the church a decade ago. They renovated it, moving pews, installing lights and fixing the floor.
And business has since boomed.
The duo’s children also run the business now. Tiffany Miles is a friend of mine and longtime co-worker at my local Trader Joe’s, where I’ve worked for half a decade.
“I would say that working with family is one of the strongest things you can ever do in life,” said Tiffany. “From the first moment you even come up those stairs, the first person you see is my older sister Melanie. Then when you get to pay, normally it’s my mom or me working the door. And then on the floor, you have my cousin Rhonda and then my dad of course is there — he’s doing the DJing and MCing.”
“In my family, we all have a certain role and the same goal is roller skating and just spreading that message all around. Even my brother, what he does is bring out the lights and the music in Golden Gate Park for any event that we have and he does that. So all of my family does something revolving around this roller skating business.”
Her childhood was skating. In middle and high school, her father would help her fundraise for her basketball team by throwing afterschool skating events, charging each student five dollars to participate. She remembered her parents working tirelessly and helping the skate community and wanted to get involved to help.
Tiffany connected her family’s business with the Electric Daisy Carnival, the largest electronic dance music festival in North America, held in Las Vegas. The family built a temporary roller skating rink there and has since worked at festivals throughout the state.
“We’re more of a vibe than a rink,” said Miles Jr., explaining that his family business is accepting and that they’re mostly interested in everyone having a good time.
The COVID pandemic forced most non-essential businesses to shut down, including the Church of 8 Wheels. Miles Jr., who was already holding skating sessions in Golden Gate Park, pushed for the successful closure of John F. Kennedy Drive to vehicles.
And today, Miles Jr.’s family business seems to be locally synonymous with San Francisco.
“When I see the joy that both of my parents have, it really brings my heart joy because I know I’m making an impact on helping them in making this business bigger. And then they don’t also have to carry the load so much.”
Added Miles Jr., “I don’t do a whole lot of different things. I don’t fish, fly kites — I don’t know what people do with their time. But skating was always fun, was always cool, and so I just always stuck with it.”
Aaron Levy-Wolins is a San Francisco-based photojournalist and writer.
More photos from Church of 8 Wheels
The Bold Italic is a non-profit media organization that’s brought to you by GrowSF, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. Donate to us today.
