Etnies Skatepark

The quickest way to get your picture on Skate and Annoy? Wear an S&A shirt like Greg Baller. Of course, frontside double trucking doesn’t hurt either. Photo by Christopher Bright.

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Sponsor Luv: Travis Augustine for Merde

Merde-y Merde merde. Travis Augustine flows on flow in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Holy cow, I guess the skatepark is still open. What’s the sitch, Egbert? “M.” “ake.” “Make.”

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Recreation Management

Outsider trade magazine articles on skateboarding and skateparks can usually be summed up by one or more of the following generalizations: uninformed, boring, misleading, or a steaming pile of excrement. When they aren’t it’s always because they were written by someone in the know, in this case, Portland skateboarding fixture Ben Wixon, who aside from being a teacher is also involved with Skaters for Public Skateparks and something called Drop Into Skateboarding, an organization formed by a few other names you might recognize. Aside from having a stimulating title, Recreation Management published an article titled The Evolution of Public Skateparks, written by Ben. You can read it online, or look for the cover at a very boring and/or thorough newsstand near you. What’s the takeaway? Two things. The push for more integrated spaces as opposed to an isolated facility in the middle of nowhere, and:

The experts surveyed unanimously agreed that concrete surfaces have overwhelmingly become the material of choice for skateboarding performance and durability.

It’s not a fascinating read, but you have to think of the target audience. The only beef I have is that it looks like they used a picture of a Skatepark in Indiana and label it as Phoenix. The second page has a photo of good ole Holly Farm skatespotin Portland. Man, I haven’t been there in ages.

- Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip.

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Christmas Leftovers

Take ingredients (1 Christmas Sweater) and distribute evenly amongst the session.

- Via Frank Shaw

There’s more…

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Spotted at the Goodwill

I spotted this at the Beaverton Goodwill over the weekend. If you’re from the Pacific Northwest you can identify this shirt from across a crowded room, but if you aren’t you may need to see the enlargement.

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Legacy in South Africa

The Maloof Money Cup is leaving permanent skate structures on each stop of their tour. This facility is scheduled to be built in South Africa by California Ramp Works. The mini mega ramp isn’t going to stay, but the vert ramp and street course will remain. Interestingly enough, I recently heard from a contract employee of the Maloof Money Cup that they let a bunch of people go due to an alleged… money shortage. True or not, this is some good news for the South African scene. Between skatepark donations and alternative construction methods, this is like the arms race of arena skatepark extravaganzas.

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The Dalles, Oregon skatepark is open

So I went to the Dalles, Oregon to check out the new Spohn Ranch skatepark about a week ago. I remembered to set the alarm so I could get there before it was overrun with kids. I remembered to set the timer for the coffee maker. I remembered to charge the camera battery. I remembered my tripod. I remembered my sunglasses. I remembered CD’s for the 80 mile car ride. I forgot my wallet. I forgot my skateboard. Super!

There’s more…

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Indy Skatepark Adovcates

Quite possibly, the last time I was skating in Indianapolis was when I took this picture. If I was there now, I would be headed to tonight’s concert and art show to benefit the Indianapolis Skatepark Advocates.

HOW? Come to Earth House on November 5, 2010.
WHAT? 5 Awesome bands, some really cool artists, and lots of support to make our future skatepark happen.
COST: $5–every cent goes to Indy Skatepark Advocates
WHERE? 237 N East St Downtown Indy
WHO? Everyone you know (it’s all ages)
WHEN? November 5 7pm-11pm

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Something else Canadian

Here’s a nicely shot video of a night session at the relatively new Kensington Park, err, uhm, skatepark, in Vancouver, BC..

- Thanks to Dylan Davies for the tip.

There’s more…

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Prefab Concrete in Cuba

Spohn Ranch has put up a detailed video showing the installation of a prefab concrete bowl on the U.S. Millitary base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It’s the first time I’ve seen a prefab concrete installation covered so thoroughly. Regardless of your personal feelings about prefab concrete, it’s really interesting to see it all go down. It’s striking how mechanical the whole operation is. It’s progressed to a point where they almost don’t need more than one guy on the crew who whow skatepark specific concrete finishing, it’s very mechanical. The metal coping is cast into the forms. They lower everything into place, shim it up and then pour the flat and the decks. There’s some patchwork on the seams, then welding and grinding the coping and it’s done. The process seems to work well for non-organic skateparks and single feature bowls. Imagine the equivalent of building a skatepark like you would an HO model train. Pick your pieces and arrange them. Vid after the jump.

There’s more…

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