Today is not only the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year, but the internationalGo Skateboarding Day. Organized by the International Association of Skateboard Companies, this day was set up to raise awareness about the goodness of skateboarding. It doesn’t matter where you ride, how well your ride, or how nice your board is – the point is to get out and go skateboarding.
New York has a killer route planned and sponsored by local companies starting at the famous Brooklyn Banks and ending with a party at the KCDC Skateshop in Williamsburg. So get out there and skate or at least give a shout out if you see them rolling by…
This Friday marks the opening of Jared Hess’ Nacho Libre starring Jack Black as a priest in training turned Mexican wrestler. I’ve seen these guys in ‘real life’ while flipping through the channels past Telemundo. It’s known as lucha libre (literally “free fight”).
All this hype got me thinking about when the WWF started back in the 80s. Remember Rowdy Roddy Piper, or George “The Animal” Steele? What about “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan? That guy could hardly speak! I was partial to Superfly Jimmy Snuka who wrestled barefoot and was known for soaring through the air and landing on his opponent face-down. I tell you that shit was real!
Check out the footage below of when the “Eighth Wonder of the World” lost to Hulk Hogan in front of 90,000 people at the Silverdome at Wrestlemania III in perhaps the biggest match ever.
Today marks the first day of Spring, but you wouldn’t know it by going outside. I can’t wait until it starts to warm up and actually go out without freezing my arse off. I already looked into this year’s local skatepark scene to see what is new for 2006. You heard about The Banks coming back to life and Hudson River skatepark being temporarily moved this summer, as well as a review of the new-ish Sayresville skatepark in NJ.
I’m not a big fan of the Chelsea Piers Skatepark since they charge a session fee and there isn’t much to write home about in terms of terrain. But after visiting their site, I found that they are currently constructing a wooden bowl, similar to the one at the Hudson River Park. At will be the same fast skatelite material and concrete pool coping in additional to a kidney bean shape. At only 5-ft deep, I’m not sure how much vert you’ll be getting out of this but it looks to be pretty fun. Let’s just hope all the kiddies with their razors will stay in the street course.
If you weren’t outside this past Saturday, we might have to call you a hermit. We finally got a taste of spring with temperatures nearing the 70-degree mark. A couple of us took a road trip to NJ to finally check out the fairly new, 10,000 sq-ft Sayreville Skatepark, located in beautiful Kennedy Park. This all-concrete park was built by the legendary skater-turn-designer Wally Hollyday and California Skateparks
Wally and his crew created a beauty with a mellow but super-fun bowl. The concrete is smooth as silk and the lines are well thought out. The bowl has four clover leaves ranging from 4ft to 6ft and an 11-ft over-vert cradle. Getting speed is a breeze with two roll-ins and several pump-bumps. The metal coping is in perfect condition and is raised just enough to allow lock-in for long grinds. Check out more pics from The Sideways Guide and here. Big ups to NJ skateshop for getting permission for construction of the park.
The best part?…FREE and only 45 minutes from Manhattan. See, Jersey ain’t so bad!
I’ve been waiting for a company to do this and finally found a site that allows you to easily design your own skateboard deck.
You can choose from several different deck sizes from 7-1/2 to 8-inch widths. All decks are 7-Ply Canadian Maple with high resolution graphics and come complete with grip tape for only $50. That’s cheaper than Blades!
Just develop the graphic and paste into the program for your very own personalized deck. You can go nose-to-tip or just bring in a smaller graphic and use one of their many colored backgrounds, like this one-of-a-kind CU deck. Get ‘em while they’re hot!
If you’ve been along the Tribeca segment of Hudson River Park recently, you must have noticed the demolition of Piers 25 and 26. This is the third segment of seven that is under construction for the improvements to the park, spanning from Battery Park to 59th Street.
My daily commute to work from the West Village involves riding a bike along the Hudson River to Wall Street. This is when I noticed the deconstruction of my beloved skatepark, my second home, or as others call it, Hudson River Skatepark. As soon as I arrived at the office, I called the Park to see what its ill-fated future was. But to my suprise, the Director told me that the skatepark will be temporarily moved to a location near the Javit Center while construction is taking place this summer. And thanks to a $70-million grant from the feds, the design for Segment 3 in Tribeca includes a new concrete skatepark!
Now we’re talking. And if local veteran Andy Kessler has a hand in the design, you know it will be good. All I could find were a few renderings of the piers and a crude plan that shows the park. It doesn’t look any bigger than the old one, but I do see a little bowl there in the corner. No word on the completion date yet, but I’m guessing it won’t be open till next summer (2007).
Anyone know more details on the park design and construction?
I just came back from a weekend of snowboarding in Vermont. This was my second outing this season and it’s no surprise that snowboarding is taking over. It’s so big now that there seems to be a resurgence in snow fashion like there was back in the 80s. In the 90s it all went away and gear was just gear…all function. Now it’s taking on more of a street theme and blending the function with form. Burton even has a Paul Smith-designed jacket.
I’ve been riding for a few years now, and don’t get me wrong, I like looking good in the pipe, but I can’t help wonder if we’re going to look back on this 20 years from now and say, “what the fuck was I thinking?!”
Today is not only the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year, but the international Go Skateboarding Day. Organized by the International Association of Skateboard Companies, this day was set up to raise awareness about the goodness of skateboarding. It doesn’t matter where you ride, how well your ride, or how nice your board is – the point is to get out and go skateboarding. 
