Thrasher Land
September 19th, 2007 by kilwag
A comment in yesterday’s post about the Skate-Ball ramps got me thinking about an eBay auction I saw a few years back. The parts for a complete fiberglass skatepark were listed with a $30,000 opening bid, and as I recall, nobody bid the minimum. I saved the images because I thought they were interesting. These were relics of the 70’s rotting away in a desert somewhere, and for some reason I find that stuff fascinating. Someone spent the time and money necessary to make the molds for these giant prefab pieces, and maybe sold a few and then lost a bunch of money. Fiberglass seems like it would be not quite the best surface for a skate park. A little web investigation reveals the park in these pictures was likely Thrasher Land park in Glendale Arizona. At some point in time they tried to incorporate modern street skating elements into the park, and the end result makes Frankenstein look suave. The domain name (thrasherland.com) is parked at a hosting company and the phone number has been reassigned. A web forum reports that the whole facility has recently been razed. It’s amazing that they weren’t demolished in previous decades. So what do you do for the sake of history? Sk8parklist.com appears to be the only skatepark directory with actual pictures of the park, but even then, they barely show the telltale blue ramps. Concrete Disciples has a listing with no pictures. How can you not take pictures of giant prefab blue fiberglass ramps? It’s not like you run across them all the time, or even, ever.
Thrasher Land fiberglass prefab skate park
These are the pics from a failed eBay auction, circa 2004.
OldSchoolSkateboarding.com has a scan from the November 1988 issue of Thrasher that is an article about a contest at Thrasher Land.
Have pieces of Thrasher Land been resurrected? Arizona based AZPX has video on a post called “Thrasherland Lives!” where they appear to be sessioning some sort of blue bowl built in sections, but there are no clues other than the post title.
Anyone else have any Thrasher Land pictures out there? Send them in!
September 19th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
There was a park in Houston in the ’70’s called “Town and Country” that was made from the same fiberglass stuff. Same fullpipe and all. The clamshell/taco portion of it was recycled by the town of Rockdale, TX in 2004 and is used as a skate stucture of sorts…not sure how much action it sees but it’s still around. If I’m not mistaken the fullpipe part was used as the trannies for the “P-ramp” in Pasadena, TX which was in Todd Prince’s backyard in the late ’80’s…local backyard ramp to the “P-Boys” being Todd P., Tex Gibson, Ken Fillion etc. Not sure where any of the rest of it is. Never rode “Town and Country” myself as it was all a bit before my time. I’ll send some pics anyway. - LN
September 19th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
There is a picture of the “wave” looking ramp up on the front page of the skateboard mag’s website right now (http://www.theskateboardmag.com). Claims the location is in glendale, az. Definite plate of shrimp coincidence.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
we had this stuff in New Jersey too. There was a park near the shore as they call it called fyber ryder in the 70’s. There were some pics in Skateboarder Magazine I know one was of a young jeff jones the infamous east coast Varibot. I never skated it then but in the 80’s Tom Groholski had a 4 foot tall mini ramp from the defunct park that he used for 4H demos at county fairs and stuff. Also a skateshop owner in Brick Township had a bunch of sections. He had a 32 foot wide half pipe set up in his yard that he let us skate on Saturdays. I have pics I can send. It was slippery as hell and the seams of the sections were pretty tricky, they could throw you off your board. But grinding the fiberglass edge was cool it was slippery but had a rough texture so it actually grinded. There were some sections in Ocean City MD too never actually skated them. Anyway that’s what I know about the “Blue Ramps”.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:59 am
100% thrasherland. I skated it a few years ago, before it got torn down. The wave was pretty fun. Tubbs lipslide on it, that is the photo on the mag site.
September 20th, 2007 at 4:41 am
Bernie, back in about 1987-1989 you came in to Charleston West Virginia and skated at a demo with Blaize Blouin (RIP) and others. I think you were riding Toxic wheels then. Rad.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:24 am
I rode it once in 1987. I was in AZ for the NSA finals and a few of us including henry hester and I believe mark roach took a road trip from phoenix out to thrasherland..kinky and slick but still fun
September 20th, 2007 at 6:57 am
i’ve ridden thrasherland at least twenty times, the snake run was fun, but once a little dust got it it was slick,(which was unavoidable there was a moto cross track there too) the full pipe had a huge gaps in between panels at 9, 3, 6 and 12, they tried to move the snake run around alot too which which cause these big gaps in between panels, the mini ramps when i first went there both had a metal surface .. there was also trampolines there and a mini race cart course … at the far end where two vert ramps, if i remember right one was from the old barecover(?)contest, and the other which came later from Tower skatepark..when it was at Tower half of it got burned down..
September 20th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I skated the Ocean City, MD park fibreglass skatepark circa ‘76 or ‘77. The wave was fun and ran into a bunch of humps and a huge quarterpipe.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:30 am
that fiberglass cereal bowl thingie is in a backyard in the east valley of Phoenix. I skated the regular mini ramp that was next to it before they had gotten the bowl into a skateable condition. Rob from AZPX would probably be able to give more details…
September 20th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Those photos are great! I had almost forgotten how it looked exactly. I wont say alcohol destroys the memory,just that it illustrates inaccurate ones. I believe jt is correct on everything though,including the origin of ramp from the bearcover contest. Jesus, time has passed. Was suprised to see that bowl in arecent issue of skatebaord mag, with local,”Sidewalk Surfer” rider,Cody Boat. Didnt know Rob Locker of AZPX has it now…interesting….
September 20th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Rob doesn’t have it, but he’s close friends with the person who has the little piece of it in the video.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Yeah Coochmon, we used to call that quarterpipe the “splat wall” as it had about 4′ of tranny to what seemed like 10′ of vert (this was at Newington, NH). Also only about 4′ wide. Burly. The wide mini was a blast to ride. Same 4′ to vert tranny with a slight lip to grind or pop off of. I learned a lot of tricks on that ramp (some of which I can still do…). Newington must have been maintained better (indoors, so that helped) as I don’t remember the gaps between the panels. They had a larger 1/2 pipe which I believe ended up in Rhode Island somewhere. Not sure. The fiberglass wasn’t that bad once you got used to the slip, but it was kind of slow. No worse than some Skatelite ramps. It was always a big road trip to go down there (2 hours from central Maine), and I would be nervous for days before. We’d skate ’till total exhaustion set in. Good times.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Wow. I can never guess which posts are going to get a big reaction.
SEND IN YOUR PICS! I’ll put up a gallery.
Blue fiberglass ramps.
Please send large versions if possible (800 pixels wide or more)
Please Include:
Location
Approximate date
Skater (if known or shown)
Photographer
Any personal recollections
Optional web link you would like to have included.
mail to editor at this website dot com
September 20th, 2007 at 11:38 am
i rode the ones in OC and in roxborough, PA. whats up EC! moved out of OC 5yrs back. tell Messick to calll me when the park is done. Tai-man for President!
September 20th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Randy,
I’ve got Newington prints, but I’ll have to get my scanner software fixed to send. Most are on slides, though (with period captions written on some of them. Hilarious.). Do you have a way to digitize these? Would be great to see them in a gallery for posterity, as that park was lost in time. No mention on the web anywhere that I can find. Thanks.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I used to skate ThrasherLand back in the early Eighties in AZ when there was nothing else. I remember one year they re-assembled it at the AZ State fair. My friends and I would skate the full pipe, then put our helmets out, and people would throw us money! Then we would get someone to buy us beer, and drink in the parking lot, then go back and skate more. Thanks for the photos, good memories…
September 20th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Mac - Let’s talk offline. I’ll contact you.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:01 am
I skated this place maybe 10 times. I grew up on the east side of Phoenix and Thrasherland was waaaaay over there on the west side. It was hard to motivate to drive that far back in high school, especially when so many quality street spots were so much closer.
No doubt those gaps in the full pipe were gnarly.
The snake was my favorite part. Here’s a story that seems so stereotypical Arizona you wouldn’t think it’s true: my buddy, Eric Spitzer, bails in the mini ramp section of the snake, knee-slides down, and ends up face to face with a scorpion. The scorpion had crawled through the joints. One of those things you don’t forget.
Wixon surely has Thrasherland stories for days.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 am
I saw that picture in sbm as well and skated that place in 87 during NSA finals .it was different!the wave and snake were fun.Had to skate the full pipe ,had just went back to Gloryhole w/Malba Katen Cross and other N-Men.Love the scorpion story!
September 24th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Those are indeed the corners from the ’snake run’ in the vid. We have since expanded the contraption into a ‘bowl’ with a tombstone on one side! It’s super hard to skate but fun!
I was a T-land local for sure. Got to skate the full pipe with Brannon. ‘Nuf said.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
I know this is off the wall but i was once friends with Blaize Blouin in south carolina as a kid and i just recently found out he had died. can anyone tell me when and how?
October 18th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I believe Blaize was in a car wreck, but he was also caught up in heavy drugs at the time
October 18th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Blaize was moving back to Charleston and his truck flipped over on hwy 26. I dont know about the drug thing, sounds like BS
March 27th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
We had this blue fiberglass park in Levittown, PA as well back in 1978. It was in “Sports Circus” an old Sears building in the Levittown Shopping Center. A pro from Cali skated there a lot Roy Ritter. We also had “The Concrete Curl” across the parkway that was an outdoor concrete park with bowl and snakerun.
I’ve been looking for pictures of the blue fiberglass for years! Here’s a setup like the one I skated that was in MD.
http://www.poolsnpipes.com/washingtondc.htm
April 25th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I used to go to thrasherland back in the day, these pictures bring up some great childhood memories. This was back in the day when there weren’t any “municipal” skateparks. We quit going here when Tower skatepark opened. Thrasherland and Tower were the shiz back in those days. great post!
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 am
The man you see in the Thrasherland pics ismy dad. He purchased the land in 1983 to build a motocross track. i was bornin 1979 and my older cousins of Phoenix AZ were all skaters. I remember building a ramp in their backyard with Bill Danforth and Jason Jesse. We somehow talked my dad into building a skate park. Before we knew it we had built Arizonas first park including a 10′ vert and a 6′ mini. We even starting stocking decks, trucks, wheels, and so on… Next thing we knew we were holding contests and hosting JFA concerts. I met many pro skaters and tought Tony Mag.’s son how to make the run down the fiberglass snake run you see in the photos. My best memories stem from this skate park located in the middle of BFE. I was there during may shoots from Thrasher Magazine. If you search the archives you will find many cool photos. We proceeded to add the biggest vert in AZ, a 12′ monster called Ocotillo. We then partnered with Matt Hoffman for some freestyle bike contests. I have on video his first attempt ever trying a back flip and landing it.. Pretty cool! Anyway the fiberglass ramps you see we aquired at a government auction. The original owner had them mad and transprted them from state to state to hold skate demos at state fairs. He got in trouble with the government and lost his assets.My dad picked them up at some crazy prices and then added them to our park. Any way just wanted to give you some history and enjoyed telling it.
Q
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 am
I skated 3 blue fiberglass ramps in the Philadelphia suburbs in the 80s. The first at a Mennonite church near Collegeville. The 2nd was in Pottstown in a field. I don’t know if I ever knew how or why it was there. The third was in Pottstown too, i think. It was connected to some other wooden ramps. i may have pictures and I know I have video of the one in the field.
They may all be the same ramp just moved owners over the years…
August 26th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Rolling Surf Skatepark in Ocean City, MD had a very similar setup. Skated there for a few summers around ‘77 - 79. Not bad, but the joints in the fiberglass sections could be rough.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I know where the Newington blue ramp went, I helped put it back together about 12 years ago in a guys back yard in Rhode Island. I am looking for some pictures.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Mac, I used to skate the Newington park. If you have any photos that would be cool. Let Me know. By the way that half pipe had a 4 ft plexiglass extension. I one wheeled it a couple of times and caught my king pin once and landed on my head. Good thing I had my Pro Tec helmet on!
October 25th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Joe, we skated together a few times. My crew was known as “Elm City” after the town in Maine (Waterville) where we lived. Usually about 5 of us in our blue “team” tee shirts. It was a pretty big deal for us to hit the Newington park. I also remember a guy named Dave, who was a manager right? Also a local named Matt? Anyway, yes, I gave quite a few slides to Randy, who promises repeatedly to scan them and post them… I think there are shots of both Matt and yourself in there. There’s also super-8 film somewhere that a friend of ours shot that I’m trying to hunt down. You doing backside airs off the net pole in the bowl, etc. You still skating? Man, you used to absolutely kill that place. Way ahead of your time. Still in New England?
October 25th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Mac, how cool is that! Someone from back in the day. We used to call Dave Captian Dave. I did get a bunch a free boards and stuff from POWERFLEX, HAMMER SKATEBOARDS, and did some stuff with th PEPSI team. Sponsorsip back then was free stuff, your travel and expenses, maybe a little cash, Not like today where cats are getting PAID! buying houses, cars, and all sorts of things. I’m in Utah still skating, only now I skydive and snowboard too!
November 15th, 2008 at 12:19 am
HEll yeah I had 2 blue quarter pipes here in roanoke virginia - moved them to Richmond. Over this past summer the building fell where one qurterpipe was, crushing it to pieces. My friend took the remaining one to gloyester va. Another friend here in roanoke has one. the First time I ever rode these ramps they were up against trailer who everyone was stalling. Super ghetto. Funn tranny.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
piece o’thrasherland
March 6th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
looks like the olympic luge event. cool
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:06 pm
that picture of the bowl is my back yard and yes it is some of Thrasherland- the bowl actually now has a deck around it
May 14th, 2009 at 1:11 am
yeah i rode thrasherland alot like, 2001-2002. id skate w/ a lot of people at the parks that didnt go to my school but when id skate w/ my friends from school that werent as good as all my other friends, we’d go to thrasher land and skate till 1 AM. it was as if, compared to them skating at the skateparks, we would all have fun and it was a go. You know how ramps are, its the fun stuff for skaters of any skill level.. well, when i was there the mini ramp had a spine. one of the blue quarters was on the small side of the 1/4 so youd do like air to axles on it and come back in. Alex brand once dropped into it and i was amazed.. Thered be a box lying around also, we’d use that as a wallride after riggin it w/ other wood or try and put it somewhere, i remember bikes would put that on the 6 foot ramp too. There was also a skate shop and even an arcade as well. The price was like 3 bucks an hour or 5 to skate all night. The reason why the place shut down was partly because the shop got broken into and everything got jacked. the place was sick, it got resurfaced w/ new masonite every now and then. miss that place
May 15th, 2009 at 5:18 am
I used to skate Fyber Ryder in Brick, NJ. Jeff Jones was the local at the park. The place was cool. Slippery and the seems messed you up a bit but you learned to adapt. It had an outdoor and a small indoor section. Outdoors was the Full-Pipe,vert half-pipe, a 4 foot mini-ramp set-up with bowled corners. Indoors was a vert half-pipe and a long mini ramp. I don’t care what you hear about Jeff Jones, he tore that place up.