A year ago, another blast from the past marked its arrival, in the form of four wheels and short shorts. I’m talking about roller skating, and, more specifically, Moxi Roller Skates, an approximately 300-squarefoot store located in the back portion of the building that Lil Devils Boutique calls home. Moxi, owned by Michelle Steilen, caters to all things roller skating — new and vintage skates, wheels, bags, clothes and accessories. But, dig a little deeper, and you’ll discover that the store is not only Long Beach’s one-stop shop for all things roller skating, it’s also the nucleus of a burgeoning roller derby scene.

The first reports of humans rolling on wheels trace back to the 1700s, but it wasn’t until the Great Depression when the seeds of roller derby were planted. With a history deeply rooted in staged outcomes, many think of the activity as more entertainment than sport. I counted myself among these people, which accounted for my doubts regarding the legitimacy of roller derby.

As a former Retro Row regular whose closet was comprised almost entirely of clothes purchased from the region, I know a thing or two about living certain elements of my life in the past. Sure, people love to dress like Sinatra, Elvis or Bettie Page, but as I walked past Sneaky Tiki Boutique toward Moxi, I had to ask myself, “are there enough people interested in roller skating to warrant its own store?” Judging by the eight people who patronized Steilen’s tiny store during the lunchtime hour I spent with her one Thursday afternoon, I’d say the answer is yes. Steilen agrees, and says the scene is growing exponentially.

“A year and a half ago,” Steilen says, “people would comment if I was on skates. People don’t comment anymore. I lost track of how many people there are (in the community). A few months ago, it was about 400 Long Beach girls on roller skates, but I can’t keep track of names anymore. And I have almost every female business owner on Fourth Street on skates.”

Steilen has skated with the Los Angeles Derby Dolls and the Angel City Derby Girls under the name Estro Jen, but her involvement in roller skates and roller derby runs much deeper than her store and her team commitments. The 26-year-old Pennsylvania native, who moved to California because she “likes to be outside and active, and you can be active year-round here,” begged her dad for a pair of spring shoes, but wound up with roller skates when the spring shoes became too dangerous. Once on wheels, she did figureeights in her father’s basement every night for three years. Just before moving to Long Beach, Steilen read a newspaper article about a Philadelphia roller derby league and researched the Derby Dolls when she hit the Golden State. The rest, they would say, is history, but Steilen’s involvement in the local skating community isn’t confined to owning a store.

Every Saturday from 9 – 11 a.m. in the parking lot at the bottom of Junipero Avenue, Steilen and members of the newly-formed Long Beach Roller Derby Girls provide free skating and derby lessons, while every second Friday of the month at 8 p.m. is Roll Out, a free public skate throughout the streets of Long Beach. And if owning a store, giving lessons, hosting citywide skates and participating in derby leagues wasn’t enough, Steilen is helping to promote a newly released roller derby workout video in which she co-stars with other women from the Angel City Derby Girls team Heart Attacks.

After browsing a few websites belonging to local roller derby teams and leagues, I realized that it takes a certain type of female to throw on pads and a helmet and risk bodily injury for a sport that isn’t paying them millions of dollars like other professional athletes. What I didn’t know was exactly what the typical roller derby girl was all about. Turns out, there’s nothing typical at all.

“It’s all different types of women,” Steilen says. “Skinny, big, young, old, strong, weak ones. They all like to roller skate and they have some type of aggressive nature. In the past eight years, it’s become very competitive. It used to be anyone and everyone, but now it looks like a professional sporting event with a bit of kitsch on the side.”

My meeting with Steilen inspired me to see roller derby in person, and, to my delight, the Derby Dolls were having a bout (that’s roller-speak for “game”) two days after my visit to Moxi Roller Skates.

I arrived at a warehouse on Temple Street in Los Angeles just before 7 p.m. The summer sun remained high above, and, like an idiot, I wore pants. This, coupled with the fact that I had been soaking some rays for five hours earlier that day, left me feeling like the popcorn kernel that stayed in the microwave for too long. Needless to say, I wasn’t in the best mood.

But once inside the arena, an assortment of aural and visual stimulants took my mind off the heat as a slew of vendors — including drinks provided by local watering hole Alex’s Bar — sold everything from skating gear to locally designed garments, while posters of roller skaters such as Iron Maiven, Janis Choplin and Stiv Skator hung from the rafters. Black haired, tattooed twenty-somethings mingled with even more tattooed thirtysomethings over slices of pizza and discussed their favorite blockers and jammers (derby terms). Near the far corner of the room was a stage with musical equipment, which I later discovered was for the Shakers, a band that played during the half-hour halftime intermission. This evening wasn’t shaping up to be merely girls circling around a track: it was a lifestyle and cultural experience.

My trip to Steilen’s store showed me that roller derby was more than a passing fad, but the estimated 2,000 people in attendance proved that girls on roller skates isn’t just a looky-loo novelty act either.

The bout I attended was between the Fight Crew and Varsity Brawlers. With skaters using stage names such as Eva Destruction, Tara Armov, Lucky D’Irish and Juana Beat’n, I feared the kitsch factor would be so high that actual competition wouldn’t be atop the Derby Dolls’ to-do list. But once a skater face-planted onto the track about a minute in, I knew I wasn’t watching professional wrestling on wheels. This was the real deal, the sort this 175-pound man would never attempt.

Whatever you think of roller derby is probably wrong — and the time to disprove your theories is now — as Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It, is scheduled for an October 9 release. The film follows a small town misfit who finds comfort after joining a roller derby league in Austin, Texas.

I had my doubts about the sport, but one bout later and I’m a believer. With or without the flick, you will be, too.