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INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:00:05.010 --> 00:03:00.590 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Pamela Vaughn on August 24, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Pamela Vaughn talks about her memories of Anacostia Park. SUBJECTS: Late Skate in Anacostia Park; Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative; National Park Service -- Anacostia Park; Anacostia Park Skating Pavilion; Roller skating; Cookouts; Swimming pool; Okay, today's August 24, 2019. We're at Late Skate in the Park. This is Dan Kerr. And this is Pam Vaughn. So why don't we start off. You you grew up in this neighborhood, right?

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Yes, I grew up in Anacostia area [inaudible]. I'm now living in Maryland but I always come to the park as a peace of mind. I've met a lot of friends down here, just people that we see every day. Nobody that I know personally, but is really, really nice to greet the people that you see all the time. And you're just haven't fun. Skating. Music. A lot of free stuff that's going on. I mean, you can come down here anytime on the weekend, there's something's going on. And the people are just so friendly. And met a lot of friends. Learned some tricks skating. Really? Yes. So have you been skating since you were a kid?

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Yes. And this place, you remember when it was built? Yes, I remember when this place was built. I think was back in 79. I'm not sure. I'm not sure when it was built. But I remember when they put it here, the skating rink. My mom used to bring me down here all the time. I hadn't been down here in about... I stayed away for maybe about 5 or 10 years or so. Then I started coming back down here like three years ago. And ever since then, I noticed that more and more people and meeting more and more friends. And this is really nice. It's really nice. A nice place to come. And everything is great. That's the main thing. So when you were a kid, do you have any favorite memories of this place?

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The skating rink. The skating rink. The swimming pool. And we used to just get together and have like a potluck, cookout. Lot of fun. Family. A lot of memories with my family. So a lot of memories here. And so when you brought your family together, who all would come? Oh, pretty much all of my family. Cousins. Uncles. Aunts. We used to come down here. Our aunts and my mom. They always get together and we just come down and have a really great time. We didn't even have to plan it. We'd just say meet up at Anacostia. And whatever happens is there you know. Were they in the same neighborhood or all over the city and here?

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Well, Maryland, Temple Hill, Anacostia, over in [inaudible] Road, and Virginia. Sometimes you'd have family come from North Carolina. It was a lot of things to do here. So we always get together and do some, you know, really nice things here. Did you ever do any skating competitions? I have been asked to do a lot of stuff like that. But the skating I mean, I have fun skating. But I don't get into the competition. I'm not that good. But I have fun. INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:03:19.910 --> 00:05:07.980 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Pamela Vaughn on August 24, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Pamela Vaughn talks about her memories of skating and Go-go. SUBJECTS: Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); Anacostia Park Skating Pavilion; Roller skating; Go-go; Alexandria Roller Rink; Fordsville, MD roller skating rink; Clinton skating rink

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And how did you learn how to skate? Watching others? Ah, there used to be a skating rink out out in Fordsville, Maryland. My parents used to take us out there and have fun. We used to meet out there, my cousins and all. And then when they came, you know, they built this. Oh, man, this is this is really nice. It's a nice skating rink. And the funny part about it, I see a lot of people that I used to see in Fordsville. Fordsville doesn't exist anymore. The skating rink. Clinton skating rink doesn't exist anymore. Alexandria skating rink doesn't exist anymore. So a lot of people that I've seen back in the day, I see them here. So it's a nice place. And what did you like about the skating? I love the music, the DJs. They always have different DJs here. Oh, just love the people that skate down here. Because, if you don't know how to skate and you're out there skating, they're willing to help you. To teach you tricks. Teach you steps... smooth skating. So it's really, really nice. And this is my husband Elward. He loves to skate too.

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So what about the music? Love the music. There's a variety. They have jazz. Right now you got Bella Donna that's getting ready to come on. Getting ready to play. You have live bands. Last year, they had the Chuck Brown Band that was over there. There was a lot of people. They always have a lot of free stuff that's going on. So fans. DJs. There's always something here every weekend. Now and moving forward, if you see this place maybe five years from now, what would you like it to be? What what what would you like this place to be like? You know, I really wouldn't change anything cuz I love it. I just love the way it is. And if they do change, maybe just a little upgrade or something. Maybe change that skating floor in there because it's concrete and it hurts when you do fall on it. But if they can put tar on that skating rink, I would like to see them do that. But other than that, everything else. I love it. I wouldn't even change anything. I wouldn't change anything.

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Any last thoughts you want to leave us with? Well, I am very grateful of all the free stuff because a lot of people take a lot of time out of their family life you know, to do this. They don't get paid to do this. And it's free and I enjoy it. So whenever they have like something out here and they be like donating or asking people to do things, I try to participate, because I know I want to be down here and I want to see the free stuff that's going on. So right now you don't have to pay for anything. A lot of the places you have to pay to just get into the park. You know, here you can just drive up and get in and come anytime and stay as long as you want. And it's really nice. Alright, thank you very much. Thank you.