Bro Bowl recap
The news about the new skatepark design meeting in Tampa got me thinking about the Bro Bowl. Ages ago I posted about a Bro Bowl documentary that was in progress, so I decided to see if anything ever came from it. They finished it, and it’s available for viewing in it’s entirety. The opening sequence starts off a bit rough, but once you get past that, it’s pretty good. Notably missing, however, if an interview with the guy who designed and built the place, Joel Jackson. The Tampa Bay Times interviewed him in conjunction with the Bro Bowl being nominated for the National Register of Historic Places as one of only two 70’s era public skateparks still in existence in the USA. The par was originally surrounded by housing projects, but the whole area is slated for redevelopment. It’s not quite the same situation as Southbank, the redevelopment is in advance of a State of Florida Department of Transportation edict to widen the road adjacent to the skatepark. The city has advised locals to accept a the funding of a replacement park as the best possible outcome, over any temporary reprieve that activism may be able to achieve. The history of the neighborhood is complicated, not everyone (including skaters) want the the bowl saved. The documentary doesn’t really touch on any of this, instead choosing to tell stories about the sessions that went down. So while it’s not super informative, it’s still entertaining. Watch it after the jump.
[Photos: Tampa Bay Times 1, 2 ]
History does not take long to fade. Good intro.
Depending on how weird the public schools you went to got, it did or didn’t seem like a bad neighborhood (and, as such, musta furthered some people’s “public” education). That’s the weird thing about Florida, though… I grew up in an area that had both filthy rich and sketchy communities… and, a classmate wound up later raping our old battle-axe of a first grade teacher, when she was 80 and he was in his teens… so, the neighbors of the Bro Bowl seemed a bit innocent. But a guy I used to know, who had skated there while going to college in Tampa, did tell me a pretty great story about watching a fat BB projects local, on a bicycle, chase after her boyfriend – who was on foot – and concentrate so exclusively on winging her bottle at him that she rode straight into a big ol’ pole.
Lot’s of history with that bowl, but like skateboarding, progression is inevitable. A new free and open skatepark in the core of Tampa will serve the skate community for years to come and inspire a new generation of rippers. The Team Pain design for the new park includes a small piece of the Bro (one of the moguls) and a tribute wall. Cherish the memories, but don’t stand in the way of the future.
I haven’t driven over the bridge to Tampa yet but I pulled up the bowl on google maps for the hell of it. It must be a recent satellite image because it shows all the Central Avenue projects around it demolished and gone with nothing but empty trash strewn lots there now.
Last time I was in Tampa was a few months ago and it looked like the projects were still there when I passed by on the interstate.
The bowl is still showing on google maps but it looks like some of the other concrete items to skate on that were in another playground section are gone.
Now would be a good time to go skate it without having to worry about hassles from the local denizens that used to live nearby.
I think I’m going to drive over and check it out tomorrow one last time before it’s gone.