POLY-ETHYLENE BUMP.

This bump was across the street from my old pal Ben's apartment in Los Angeles. It's not legit for me to claim the spot in any way, because we never skated it. But I always looked at it from my car door when coming over. Many, many times. There were so many "bumps" in L.A. that were just, well, not bumpish enough, that many got second-guessed and over-looked. L.A. had a lot of "spots" that were just plain fucking hard. You had to earn it. Apparently I underestimated this one. 2 recycling receptacles via Dill, one of my all time favorites, galvanized for me ever since this. This kickflip is the earned last trick in this epic part.

SPOT CHECK: CANON BEACH, OR

First skatepark I ever rode. A real dinosaur (it's still there), this concrete edifice was amazing to us at the time. No coping, one sided, no decks (those were installed a la wood later on)....perfect to learn the feel of a bank and rolling in.

My first move: the tail skid. (a 5-0 in my head movies.)

Get some!

This guy rode his bicycle all the way up from California. He super-stoked up the session with no shoes/shirt and serviced gorilla grip airs right off the cover of T&C Skate.

My old man gets shutter cred.

I ONLY SKATED IN SAN DIEGO ONCE...

Diggin' in the vaults for spare parts, found a clip. It aint a great piece of footage, but it does have 3 nostalgic components:

1. Koston had a manual run there in the 101 promo.
2. I had a long-gone edition of my "Legalize It" T-shirt.
3. I could do nollie flips.

FUCK YOU SKATE BARN!!!!!!!!

Blair and I tried stopping in at the Skate Barn over the holidays. I had some free passes that my lady bought me thru Group-on. I had talked the the owner a week previous to make sure I could redeem my coupons, to which he replied, "no problem....yeah, over a thousand of those were purchased..." He failed to warn me (and I imagine the rest of the 1000+ people who obtained the Group-on) that they would be closing their doors for good within a weeks time. What a god-awful businessman. Not only did they obviously fail to meet their rental requirements, but they failed to let those who invested in their coupons (probably sold knowing they'd cash in on them as their business sunk into the ocean) that they should hurry to redeem them. They didn't change their website, they didn't send out a courtesy e-mail. I hope their debts outweigh what they ripped-off from their coupon constituents. I would hate to think all that money was a scam to help them out of bankruptcy. Shitbirds. 

Speaking of birds, that night, over the Skate Barn, there was an ominous flock of about 2000 crows swooping and screeching and diving around the sky. It was an omen. But for what or whom, we shall never know. 

Oh...really?!?

(NOT) DOWN WITH SKATE BARN!

Where to now? Another hour in the car to Inner Space...

WHAT IF?

SECRET SPOT IS STILL THERE. (I thought it was demolished.) Some ply wood, a machete, lots of wax, and 2 helmets should do it. Frontside and back, curved madness!

SPOT CHECK: PIER 1 CURB

This was the spot to learn feebles and feeble-slide combos. Sherman and Joe Cantu come to mind in this department.

Is it me or should good red curbs be on the national extinction list?

SPOT CHECK: JENNY WRIGHT, IN BACK.

First handrail I ollied onto (back in the day, cave-man's came first....) and slid. No straight runway, 90 degree Tron turn to get on. The motivation was seeing Alex Alvarez front board-sliding it. That was amazing not only for the time, but let alone the small town. (What ever happened to that guy??) We had some serious talent.

Seth took this photo. I'm posting it in lieu of a nice short visit from him, his better half, and brilliant son, Talus tonight.

This spot will come up again....I broke the subtalar part of my talus off kickflipping the little 5 stairs in front, (which I used to skate more than any other spot) then had it razed from its awkward, uncomfortable reposition via surgery. I have the removed bone and ligament scraps in a plastic jar, and showed it to Talus tonight. I wouldn't let him open it, no. Namesake it isn't, but odd it was.

SPOT CHECK: GENERAL SUPPLY

A lot of hours went down at this West Bremerton attraction. The new ledge looks fun, I need to check that out soon, had no time yesterday. It can be seen so far in these previous posts:

FEELING A BIT MELANCHOLY

Skate Rats 101

Props to Seth Book for the updated version. 

 

NEW APPROACH TO RED CURB