Living: The New Wheels

Roller-skating takes off

Every weekday morning, Mechanical Engineer John Buchan, 23, dresses neatly in a suit and tie and roller-skates seven miles across San Francisco to his office. He is not alone. The Bay City also boasts a roller-skating messenger service, skating grocery shoppers and skating mothers pushing baby carriages. In Los Angeles, Linda Ronstadt skated to a luncheon date with Governor Jerry Brown. On the boardwalk in Venice, Calif., a thousand skaters may appear on a Sunday, navigating perilously among pedestrians, while rolling guitarists serenade the sunbathers. In Minneapolis, the owner of...

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