Hancock Park resident Edie Lundeen hadn’t put on a pair of roller skates in 20 years when she decided to give roller derby a whirl. She was looking for a work out routine to offset the demands of her daytime job. As a record executive – VP of RED Distribution (a division of Sony Music) – she obviously lives by the philosophy work hard, play hard!
When Edie started skating with LA Derby Dolls in 2006, the three year-old league was skating wherever they could find a parking lot to set-up their track. It was a lot of physical work moving around and having to set-up and break-down the track with each skating event. Then for a period of time, the league signed a lease for the top floor of a mall in Little Tokyo. Â Their fan base traveled with them, grew and soon the league was ready for a move to a larger place.
In 2008, LA Derby Dolls moved into a building on West Temple near Alvarado – an abandoned ice cream factory that was embroiled in the permitting process to become a condo project. As luck would have it, the real estate down-turn created an opportunity for the Derby Dolls to make the Doll Factory (their name for their W. Temple home) a more permanent venue.
The Doll Factory is a 50,000 square foot building – big enough for the 100′ x 60′ slant track, risers for fans, a Derby Doll shop and a set-up for food and bars. The league is totally volunteer – skaters pay dues, practice 3-4 times a week and are responsible for all the upgrades done to the building – including the track and murals.
The league’s 4 teams draw more than 2,000 people to their events – LA’s roller derby league makes for a great date night or fun destination for girls’ night out.
Edie (aka Vodka Toxic) handles all the PR for the Derby Dolls…she took me through all of the tools they’ve put to use to make their league most accessible to their fans.
- 5,000 Facebook Fans – www.facebook.com/derbydolls
- 12,000 Facebook Fans –Â www.facebook.com/laderbydolls
- 4,695 Twitter Followers – www.twitter.com/LAderbydolls – they live tweet games and have an amazing number of followers
- All games are produced and streamed live on U-Stream – they’ve got fans from all over the world
- LA Derby Dolls Website – full of information, pictures and video archives of all past games. Rules and other information can be found on the site. Also information about their junior league for girls 8-17.
