A reader’s comment on an earlier earlier post led me to check out a site on the history of a skatepark named Solid Surf in Southport England. at first I thought it was just the one (very long) page consisting of some personal recollections and photos as well as a lot of vintage magazine advertisements and feature articles. Worth a post by itself, but the single page was the precursor to a larger site that is still a work in progress. The skatepark was part of an amusement park facility. You can see rollercoasters in the back of some of the photos. It had a long history of ups and downs, finally being completely replaced by a go kart track in 1999. There are some pictures from the early 80′ where the park looks like a ghost town. Check it out.
[Source: Solboy from SNA comments]
1 comment
houseofneil
yup, lots of skateparks in the UK survived in 1 form or other into the 80s and beyond. Often they had been built in crappy areas to begin with, and after skating died nobody wanted the land, so they just sat there. I was skating a park in Liverpool until I left for the USA in 85. I was often the only one there.
I never skated Southport although it is only about 45 minutes from my house. My aunt lived there. I had no car though, so bummer. Plus I was a grom.