WSJ.com - The L.A. Noir Tour (Go-go bars, pickup parlors and derby dames)

If your fancy runs more toward girls beating one another insensate for sport, perhaps you'll be lucky enough to find yourself in La-La while roller derby season's hitting the boards. The tough-love L.A. Derby Dolls have built a gritty little mini-empire at The Doll Factory (1910 W. Temple St., derbydolls.com/la) on the east side of town, in a neighborhood where you wouldn't take your grandmother (unless your grandmother already lived there).

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FoxSportsWest.com - LA Derby Dolls

 

With the Lakers out and the local baseball teams hovering around .500, why not try something different to get your So Cal sports fix? The Roller Derby is alive and well here in Los Angeles with the LA Derby Dolls. A photo from the Fight Crew vs. Varsity Brawlers on the banked track of the L.A. Derby Dolls' Doll Factory in Los Angeles, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 13, 2010. (Marc Campos, L.A. Derby Dolls)

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AP.org - The real, roller derby a smash hit with teen girls

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When she looks out across a banked wooden track where a couple dozen girls in crash helmets and roller skates are pushing, shoving, slipping and falling, Rebecca Ninburg sees a lot more than just kids having a raucous good time.

"That's the future right there. That's the next generation," says Ninburg, better known in the roller derby world as Demolicious, co-founder of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls skating league.

As if to make her point, 8-year-old Little RegulateHer, one of the stars of the Junior Derby Dolls, bursts out of the pack and, in a scene worthy of the film "Whip It," goes on to lap every other skater on the track.

After jamming her way past her much bigger opponents for five quick points ("I'm little so they don't see me coming," she explains later), the 4-foot-6-inch whirlwind stumbles, takes a hard face-first fall, gets back up and goes around again.

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thepostgame.com - Tough Cookies: The Rollicking Resurgence Of Roller Derby

Forget everything you thought you knew about roller derby. This is not the sports entertainment version that was televised in the '70s and '80s with predetermined winners. The only proof you need is holding crutches and screaming from the bench on this April Saturday night. A skater named Lace N' Arsenic of the Varsity Brawlers broke her ankle on the track and has four inches of surgical stitches and a walking boot to show for it.

Roller derby leagues played on banked tracks -- as opposed to a more tame version on flat surfaces -- are sprouting up everywhere. Eleven are currently in use nationwide and five more are in development, including one in Brazil. And the crowds are coming out in droves, thrilled by fearless women with clever handles and impressive skills.

These ladies take roller derby very seriously. They practice four or five nights a week. "My life feels like it centers around this sport," says Skatum O'Neal of the Tough Cookies, who just kicked off their title defense in the L.A. Derby Dolls league. More than 150 skaters and volunteers, spread over five teams, make up the league. The only pay is bragging rights. The Dolls do it for the love of the sport. And for the fans.

The L.A. Derby Dolls were founded in 2003 and are currently in their third home, expanding each time to accommodate a quickly growing fan base. They now skate in a 50,000 square foot former ice cream cone factory in Historic Filipinotown, not far from Downtown Los Angeles. It holds nearly 2,000 screaming fans, and it sells out pretty much every game.

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highlandpark-ca.patch.com - Mount Washington's Junior Derby Dolls Will Brawl on Mother's Day

The bucolic Mount Washington neighborhood, with its gracious homes and green hills, might seem an unlikely place to have spawned teens nicknamed “Jackie the Ripper” and “Cleobrattra”.

Then again, the ‘hood, with its steep hills and sidewalks that have surrendered to tree root upheaval, also seems the last place to breed skaters.

 And yet, the serene and lovely Hill is home to Natasha Boyd and Mia Osinski (“Jackie” and “Cleo” respectively) who jam, block and brawl for the Jr. Los Angeles Derby Dolls: the 18-and-under faction of the femmes-on-wheels who tear around a banked track in front of fanatic crowds at the Doll Factory in historic Filipinotown.  This Mother’s Day, both Jackie and Cleo will be skating in a half-time exhibition game during the all-ages Baby Doll Brawl.

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