
There’s a small fortune in skateboards and memories in this shot. Looks like it’s more than a swap meet though:
The 2nd Annual Venice Beach Surf & Skate Fest will be taking place Saturday April 13th from 11a-6pm at the Venice Farmer’s Market Lot on Venice Bl @ Dell Ave. Come see products from your favorite local shops including Maui & Sons, VB Surf & Animal House. See & buy awesome vintage gear from the swap meet. Drink a selection of beers from Stone Brewing and sample cuisine from Farmhouse Kitchen & Poke & Poke while our friends at Whole Foods tantalize you with fresh squeezed juices! Do all of this while rockin’ to tunes by Street Smart, Venice Street Legends & Flyin’ Lion. And don’t forget to dig into your pocket books to win amazing prizes in the charity raffle which benefits Sea Shepherd.

Downhill race in the Portland area on Sunday, part of the Switchback Challenge series from the folks at PDX Downhill. As of the time this posting went live, there is no date or location listed, but it is Sunday, March 17th at SW Madison Street and Court in Portland. Contact Rip City Skates for more info.

Brooklyn Street Skate Spot – Benefit / Contest / BBQ / Meeting of the minds…. on Saturday December 15th. Hope the weather holds out. Sponsored by no less than three local PDX skate shops Cal Skate, Shrunken Head, and Rip City. Maybe there will be a wrestling match in the cage at the top of the stairs too.
EVENT POSTPONED

Jones from Skate Virus sent in this shot of Hosoi form last weekend’s 14th annual Tim Brauch contest. Pretty amazing that it’s still going on. More pictures a nd a shot write up on Skate Virus.

Shred the Lard with Bacon Skateboards at Baconfest in Portland on Saturday, September 8th. It’s an 80′s style “streetstyle” contest with rails and a spine. $5 to enter, winner takes all. Will there be a jalopy as well? I hope so. I think it was actually illegal to hold a street contest without a beat up old car on the course for a year or two there. Remember streetsyle? The layout may not have been “authentic” street, but you can be damned sure the trucks on the trophies weren’t backwards.

RS2 AKA Ray Stevens (Faction, Los Olvidados, Drunk Injuns and Clay Wheels) and Stinkbug at Langano Lounge, 1435 SE Hawthorne Blvd in Portland, OR. On Sunday you can catch Stevens and some other skaterock action (Skate Drunks from PDX and Grindline the Band) at Funhouse in Seattle.

I did not see Tony Hawk’s unannounced stop at Burnside yesterday, but I did make these nifty shelves in my garage instead. It would take me half a day to get this into the form of a cartoon like MC does, so this is what you get instead.
Frame 1: Caption – “1986″ 1st guy speech bubble – “Tony Hawk is at our local skatepark right now!”
Frame 2: 2nd Guy speech bubble – “Oh man, I’m going to blow off finals for this, lets go!”
Frame 3: Caption – “2012″ – 1st guy (looks older) speech bubble – “Tony Hawk is at our local skatepark right now!”
Frame 4: 2nd guy (looks older) speech bubble – “I think I’m going to build shelves in my garage.”
I’m not dissing Tony, I’m sure he was rad. I saw that he even graciously posed for some photos with grooms.
Interesting side note: The story behind why Portland wasn’t an official stop on his tour is a disappointing one.