Roller rink opens under High Line park

The plaza under High Line park will open as Manhattan's only outdoor roller rink Thursday, becoming the city's only public skating facility outside Staten Island.

The 8,000-square-foot rink at 30th Street and 10th Avenue will be made of white painted asphalt and have an abstract grid design that will be surrounded by orange pylons and benches.

Rotating vendor trucks will offer an array of food for skaters and their families. And a beer and wine bar, The Lot on Tap, will serve the over-21 crowd.

High Line, an elevated stretch of an abandoned Manhattan rail track that has been converted into a lush green park space, has views of the city's skyline and the Hudson River.

"We wanted to create fun activities at the northern end of the park," said Robert Hammond, co-founder of the nonprofit Friends of the High Line. "The High Line Rink is as fun and unusual as the High Line itself."

The open-air rink will offer much-needed recreation to roller skaters, said Natily Blair, 34, of Brooklyn. She is president of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby League, which skates in indoor rinks in the metropolitan area.

"Right now there are no [outdoor] skating rinks except in Staten Island," said Blair. "They all closed down. This is a great opportunity for us to show the public what we are all about, and how much we love the High Line."

The Gotham Girls will scrimmage at High Line as part of a skating theme the rink plans this summer.

Spectators can get a birds-eye view of the roller derby skaters from the High Line's elevated promenade.

"People can expect to see a lot of hockey checks, body blocking and lots of flying off the boards," said Blair, a graphic artist who started roller skating for the derby six years ago.

"This is a team sport with a lot of full body contact and athleticism. Before we used to say 'If you know how to skate, we can teach you to fight.' But it's grown a lot since then."

The rink will be open daily until Sept. 26, with $10 admission for children and $12 tickets for adults.

The first 500 people to show up at the rink the first two days it's open will get free admission.

The High Line is a public park financed primarily by donations to Friends of the High Line.