AGAINST THE RAIN

Got rained out before even arriving to Jefferson park at 9am. Headed down to Marginal and pretty much had it to myself for a couple hours. Artsy shots ensued.

AND IT WAS GOOD...

(Taken from http://seattleskateparks.org/)

Jefferson park lights will be fixed

Posted by: Matthew Lee Johnston in Jefferson Park, South Seattle

Photo credit: Joel Lee

If you’ve tried to skate the first ever skatepark in Seattle to have lights at nighttime, then you know there is a serious problem: they don’t adequately illuminate the park.  This is in spite of the lighting designer shutting down any questions brought forth during the public meetings with quips like “I am a professional, this is what I do every day.”  There was even a bunch of talk about using LED downlighting that obviously didn’t make it into the final product.  (I almost wonder if this is why the shadows exist…)

It’s great that we finally have a skatepark that is open at night, but it adds a bit of insult to injury to have just enough light to skate, but not enough to actually skate safely.  There are shadows all over the park, and some of them could be dangerous if you weren’t familiar with those areas.  Good luck if it’s your first time skating there.

The good news is that Seattle Parks has gone back to the contractor to get a bid for adding more lights and frankly, for finishing the job they were supposed to do right the first time.  It must be nice to be a contractor with the City of Seattle…if you don’t do it right the first time, they will just pay you again to fix it later.

Anyone want to go in on a contractor’s license?

The schedule for this fix is TBD.  I will post more info as I get it.

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.

CONCRETE IS HARD, VERY HARD!

NOPING

Mr. Weinstock with a proper frontside ollie at the weirdest park we've got, Southpark.

DIY

Ben and Blair started this chicken wire concrete masterpiece in one of the lower parking lots of the East Bremerton YMCA, and Blair and I got a little further the following night via car headlights. The next day we found a large note from the Y insisting we cease and desist any and all building on private property. Now, just 20 or so yards away, is a large, public concrete skatepark...with no transitions.

ROLLING IS KEY.

Regardless of who or what, makes getting this blog going easier. I think early era with no affinities should to the trick*. I'll have a better photo of this day later down the line, but have to go into the Old Man's slide vault to do so. For now, just know that these 2 dudes (first 2 frames) rode bikes (yes, bicycles) from somewhere in Southern California up the coast on HW101, and that day stopped at Cannon Beach OR to do some radical shit. This was the first built-to-skate thing I ever touched down on. It was the Chin Ramp as far as I was concerned. And yes, I brought a freestyle board too, to make up for the fact that I could barely skate the bowl thingy. I think dropping in and kickturning was my whole my bag.

*I'll give a prize to whomever can name the "trick" in frame 2.