dalamar

Gary Gloyd took the photograph on the left in 1955, as construction was just completed for the grand opening of Dalamar Bowling & Skating. Dalamar was built by "Pop" and "Junebug" Wilson after selling their farm located north of town (where Lakeforest Mall is today). The upstairs was skating and the downstairs was bowling. The business was eventually sold and became The Golden Ox restaurant, and then The Golden Bull. The building was demolished in 2019.

Name Date Comment
Danny and Suzanne Cissel-Brodt 5/23/10 Many very good times there! Our St. Martins Class of 1961 holds its alumni reunion lunch here every Presidents Day since 2000.
Wilma Hoffman Woodfield 8/4/10 My husband, David, and I met at the roller rink in 1956. He had been downstairs bowling with his friends and they came to the roller rink to check out the girls. February 4, 2011 we will have been married 50 years. David was born and raised at 5 Walker Avenue.
Laura 8/17/10 I well remember the roller rink. I have a scar on my chin from falling down on that wooden floor around 1965.
Laura Farkas Miller 9/25/10 Many of my childhood days were spent at either the bowling alley or the skating rink. We would often celebrate birthdays here. I celebrated my high school graduation with my mother at the Golden Bull Restaurant. A couple of years later, this restaurant hosted my rehearsal dinner!
Mitch Gardner 11/4/10 I have so many great memories from here... I worked for Pop and Junebug and counted John Wilson as a great friend.Worked as a pinsetter mechanic and handed out skates on weekends for a buck-75 an hour. I would then turn around and lose the whole $12.50 in the "after-hours" poker game on Sat. night. Pop was a gruff but happy man and the patriarch of a very fine family. Bless 'em all!
Robin Gardner 11/5/10 The roller rink was my life for a little 'tween country girl who first noticed boys there!! HA HA. My grandma made me a satin brocade black and red reversible skating skirt and I went every weekend. Saved up to buy my own roller skates and pom poms. I remember how you could skate right into the girl's bathroom and how cool that was. Also the music of the mid 60's. It was all about boys. Loved the roller rink, the music, and the prospects of a boy noticing me.
Kathy Snoots Doody 11/7/10 I saved my weekly allowance of 50 cents so I could go roller skating every other week for $1.00. Loved going on the weekends for the boys of course! Lots of fun and lasting memories was had at that roller rink and the bowling alley! I remember Pop Wilson, June Bug and John Wilson, great guys!
Debbie 2/14/11 I just loved the wooden floor at the skating rink! Not too slick and a little bumpy! Just perfect! Those were the days!
Deaner Lawless Jr. 2/23/11 Duck pin bowling and four wheeled skating!!! Red pin at the head pin . . . FREE GAME. Exciting times skating with a girl . . . "COUPLES ONLY"!!! Seem to remember going with the Hardings who lived next door.
Mitch Gardner 4/30/11 When I first started hanging out at Dalamar the skating rink they only played this old 50's Hokey pokey music. I joined the Columbia Record Club out of an ad in the back of the Saturday Evening Post and brought the records to the rink. Temptations Blood sweat and tears, Iron Butterfly Chambers Brothers and Snuck them On when Joann Wilson went away for a break. Caught HELL at first. But she gave way eventually and we played them every night. After the place closed some of us would play Tackle Football on skates and beat ourselves senseless running into the piperails. Pulled 'em out of the floor a couple of times and Pop had a fit. That man could make you feel GOOD about being Bawled out! Good times
Janet 6/9/11 I remember going to the skating rink. My brother had learned to skate while he was in the Army. When he came home we went to the rink and he held our hands and helped us go around.
Nancy Zanner Correll 7/27/11 This roller skating rink/bowling alley was owned by my friend Jackie's family. Jackie and her parents and two brothers lived across Frederick Ave. in a house that was later torn down to make way for a Pizza Hut, which is no longer there. Jackie was, of course, a natural on roller skates. I remember that Jackie used to make me the BEST cheeseburgers for me at the grill on the first floor, where the bowling alley was. This roller rink/bowling alley was the hottest spot to be on a weekend for any young person in Gaithersburg.
Margie Fraley 9/23/11 I went here many night while dating my children's father and then returned with their 4-H club to skate on an outing with the group.
Margie Fraley 9/23/11 My family would travel by entering the Montg. Co. Fair where we had Jersey cows to show and stay with my mother Mabel, who lived next door at Dalamar Apts for her final thirty years. She and I visited the Golden Bull on several occasions.
Mike Ferrell 10/13/11 this is where my sister taught me how to skate I was 4 or 5 years old
Pam & Jim Bullock 3/31/12 We met at the Skating rink and we just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on March 4th.
Wanda 5/27/12 I spent many hours at the bowling alley and skating rink. Who could ever forget Pop and Mom Arundel. I used to babysit for Junebug. I also broke a finger at the rink. Ahhh those wonderful memories.
Richard Frazier 12/18/12 I went to the skating rink. Junebug Wilson drove our schoolbus.
Alicia 1/16/14 Dad would take us kids bowling here every weekend. It was duck pin as i recall. Great memories!
Jeff 4/14/15 Great bowling and skating memories. "Junebug" was also the school bus driver for my friends and me in roughly 1974.
Vickie Buchanan Snider 9/29/15 Many weekends spent at the roller rink upstairs and duck pin bowling down stairs I remember pops.
Sandy Linthicum Schiffer 9/30/15 My brother and I took skating lessons there for years and always skated in the show for MS! Lots of memories here.
Viola Ricketts 10/1/15 Loved dancing on skates on Friday night
Terry Wilson 10/1/15 My first job (while in high school) was at Dalamar. I was a snot nose punk who had a lot to learn back then. Pop and Junebug somehow tolerated me and John introduced me to my first beer.
Donnie Hottinger 2/14/16 This was the place to go in the 1950's and 1060's. Mr. and Mrs. Rundle ran the skating rink upstairs and of course Junebug and Pop Wilson ran the bowling alley.
Jeryll Dorsey 3/29/17 Went to the skating rink but not the bowling alley. I remember the most important thing was not fall. It wasn't to not get hurt; it was not get dirty and look "uncool". That floor could put serious dirt on your clothes.
Kathy Freeman Hensley 9/30/17 I used to go to the roller rink as often as I could, which was never enough! Remember doing the hokey pokey & limbo on skates! It was so much fun! I went to Gaithersburg Elementary for the 1st half of Kindergarten & rode the bus home with John Wilson. They lived next to the Gruver's, who were my parent's best friends, & Mrs Gruver looked after me until my mom picked picked me up.
Stan Watson 4/26/20 I remember the duck pin bowling when I was a kid. Great place!