For Skateland Putty Hill, these are the last days of disco — and pop, rock, rap, Top 40, reggae and those ’80s hair ballads.

The beloved, bedraggled rollerskating rink in Nottingham is closing on Dec. 7 after 48 years in business. That’s nearly five decades of awkward couples skates, birthday parties and high school sports afterparties, of stolen kisses in the hallways and $2.25 pizza slices in the Formica snack bar.

“It’s such a landmark,” said Lauren Grillo, a hairstylist who came to skate on a recent weekend with her husband, Nate Slaysman, and their young daughter. “I wish someone would buy it and keep it open. We don’t want all of these wholesome things just ending.”

It’s easy to understand the nostalgia.

After hearing about the closing, Baltimore Banner visuals director Ariel Zambelich and I went to Skateland on a recent Sunday afternoon to check out the end of the era.

Roller-skate birthday parties were a childhood staple for me. Just walking into Skateland brought back memories of Ardmore Skating Rink in suburban Pittsburgh, which sadly now is also closed. In my head, I kept hearing the Old 97s tune “Roller Skate Skinny.”

Apparently, the song was inspired by a date that the band’s frontman, Rhett Miller, went on with actress Winona Ryder. Her favorite book at the time was The Catcher in the Rye. Its narrator, Holden Caulfield, uses the phrase to describe his sister, Phoebe: “She’s quite skinny, like me, but nice skinny. Roller-skate skinny.”

Kids today know Ryder as Joyce Byers, the mom on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” But if Gen X had royalty, she would be ours. The date didn’t work out, but the song is an earworm for the ages.

Ariel is a former roller derby aficionado. She skated for a women’s flat-track team in Stockton, California, and was still pretty good on wheels despite an injury requiring having a metal plate placed in her ankle. She had her own Riedell skates. I had to rent a pair of men’s 7s since they were out of ladies’ 9s.

No one would mistake me for “roller-skate skinny,” but I’ve lost 53 pounds over the last several months. I can balance a lot better, so getting on skates was not so daunting. Ariel reminded me that the squat would be my friend, so I went low when I felt unsteady. After holding the wall on the first couple spins, I skated on my own without falling for about 20 minutes.

Skateland Putty Hill did not return emails or calls, and management would not make staff available for interviews, but their social media accounts indicated that their lease was not renewed.

Councilman David Marks, who represents the area, said the adjacent car dealership will take over the space.

Marks remembers going to Skateland with his eighth grade class to celebrate honor roll inductees. He said he skated, and fell down, but mostly fell down.

“The closing feels like the end of a chapter, particularly for those of us in our 40s and 50s,” he said. “For Generation X, Skateland was definitely a rite of passage.”

I’m about the same age as Marks — 50-something.

My siblings and I were raised on Little Debbies and soap operas, a sort of don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy about all things. No judgment — all four of us have all reached adulthood middle-class milestones, working, married and each parents of two above-average children.

And we had the good fortune of enjoying activities like skating way before scrolling social media all day.

Slaysman said that’s part of why the closing of Skateland will be such a loss.

“We need a place like this,” he said, “so kids are not on their phone.”

The Sunday I went, we saw no one on their phones, save for a few parents grabbing a video of their kids skating as spider-shaped fixtures blinked colored lights onto the scuffed floor. Instead, people concentrated on their footwork and worked to avoid a cordoned-off area where the wood is pulled up. The rink has definitely seen better days.

A woman in patterned bell-bottoms had my attention until we spotted Gregg Wallace do the Baltimore Snap, a balletic set of movements that require more out of one’s hips than most people would be prepared to give. At 46, the roofing foreman has taught all four of his children how to “snap,” and they come when they’re stressed out or just need a break.

“Some days, they don’t want to talk about what’s going on, and so we come here and we skate it out,” said Wallace, who was skating recently with his 18-year-old daughter, Arian.

Skating was not a staple in my kids’ lives. We’ve attended and hosted bouncy-house-type festivities, swim parties, arcade days, and laser-tag-tire-them-out events. I recall only one roller-skating party, and it was a 15-year-old girl’s event just a few months ago — at Skateland Putty Hill.

Too bad. Kids today may be missing something.

Another song Skateland Putty Hill habitués fondly remember: Rick Dees’ Disco Duck. When the duck starts talking, the skaters were supposed to change directions.

Skateland also was home to the Charm City Roller Girls, a once-top, highly physical roller derby team that disbanded years ago.

Despite all the love for the place, many people are shocked at the shabbiness.

Maybe we can’t go home again.

“When I was growing up, this was the bougie Skateland,” said Donyelle Robinson, who brought her daughter, Shaylah, for the afternoon. ”It’s run down now, but the memories still come."