After spending most of the session at Northbrook, Neil asked if I wanted to check out Chicagoland’s oldest concrete skatepark located near by in Deerfield, Illinois. He said it was janky, but they used to call it home before Northbrook existed. I’ve never been one to pass up some jank and/or history for a quick photo or two.
Jewett Park Sakteprk – Deerfield Illinois.
So this skatepark is a crapfest, but for some reason I can forgive the park district for building a crappy skatepark in 1996.
Here’s the view from the parking lot. The Police station is at your back, and they have your back too. Neil dislocated (or separated?) his shoulder there once and said the cops were more than helpful as far as getting his gear out of there and helping him get medical attention.
From their web site:
The Deerfield Park District has built one of the first public poured concrete skate board and in-line skate facilities in the state. The 11,000 square foot facility is located in Jewett Park, near the corner of Deerfield and Waukegan Roads. It is geared to the more experienced athlete. Hours at this unsupervised facility are dawn to dusk. There is no charge to use the facility. Safety equipment is encouraged. Helmets are required for all skaters under 16 years of age.
Geared to the more experienced athlete? Well maybe by default since the transition is pretty steep for a bowl that size. Same thing goes for pyramid-step combo. However, the rest of the park is fine for less experienced. It flows down hill and and there is a kind of very lazy and shallow impression with an adjacent set of bumps between the top and bottom part. It’s fun to roll over but not deep enough to allow you to work it or build momentum. There’s plenty of flat at the bottom and the rail is really low.
That’s Neil’s friend Mark and his twin brother Mark in the panorama below.
Check out a closeup of that coping. Chunks of cement were flying off with almost every pass at the coping. sadly, not because I’m so gnarly, but because the park is not being maintained. I can forgive them for building a crappy skatepark in 1996, but they need to take care of this type of thing.
Here’s a nice long downhill s-curve curb.
Panorama view from the opposite end.
This one is only here to show you what’s on the opposite side of the hubba in the panorama above.
The angle on this half pyramid/stair setup is a little steep.
Deerfield’s skatepark is not up to snuff. It definitely has the aura of something built in the 90’s by someone who didn’t quite get it. It’s one of those crappy spots you were glad to have when it was the only thing around, but now it’s mostly just a curiosity. Of course you can still have a lot of fun here. I certainly did, and I might be tempted to make it a semi-regular stop on the way to or from Northbrook if I lived in the area. It’s interesting to consider that Lincoln City (Phase I) was just two years away when this park was built. I think I’d still rather skate here than here. I think I’m willing to cut this park some slack because at least it seemed like the city cared at some point when skateboarding wasn’t even very popular compared to the level it has reached today. Compare that to some prefab on a lonely slab somewhere that seems to be just an excuse that says “Now they can’t complain that there’s no place to skate.”
This is the overhead view courtesy of Google Maps.
13 comments
Billy Coulon
Localized this park in 1998-1999
ShawnF
The kinked ditch at Six Flags off Washington was our crappy staple in ~1983. Another was the drainage off the water park features that came off the park on the east side close to Grand Ave. It also tunneled under the park which was good for a few laughs yelling at people up into the park through the drains / sewer covers. At one point I guess in the later 1980’s some indoor launch ramp “park” in Waukegan called Rad Dogs or Frogs or Cool Cats or Rats or some crap like that. We made so much fun of that name I am not sure what it was really called.
Mark's Evil Twin
There will always be the need to return to Deerfield even when bigger and better parks are being built around the area. That park was the first transition I successfully skated after taking a very long break from skating. So if nothing else it holds a lot of sentiment for me. Besides… you skate that park for an hour and then go to Northbrook and the difference is unbelievable.
houseofneil
I’m upset that Klwag didn’t get a pic of my boneless to 2nd stair, and my 80s style walljam on the backside of one of the pyramids.
TNJeff
Yeah, I got kicked out of the ditch off Washington by Six Flags. I worked on the log and boat ride at the park and used to drool at the dolphin pool they had. It was real nice round bottom, but tight.
ShawnF
I grew up in Gurnee way before the crappy little park. I did get a chance to teach the present day local Gurnee kids how to scale the skateparks fence to take a few runs until some security kid asked us if we could “please” leave. I think he was about 17 years old and looked nervous. There are a couple of bank type drainage ditches at Six Flags that we used to skate just about everyday. Although it was just as much fun skating through the parking lot at Six Flags with the sole intention of getting security to chase you.
Kilwag
Two brothers named mark.. no. It was a panorama shot and Mark appeared twice when I stitched it together.
Neil, you’re too kind. Way too kind.
cold ones
Twin brothers both named Mark?
TNJeff
Well I grew up in Waukegan, which by the way has a crummy Thompson Dyke “designed” skatepark. Us hillbillys down here have some sweet parks (TN); Nashville, Franklin, Knoxville, Manchester, Bowling Green… Concretin Nik’s L’ville…
houseofneil
deerfield is super tough to skate well. I’ve see some skaters I’ve seen rip other places completely fail at pulling anything at deerfield. Being a local I have some lines, but Kilwag ripped the place apart.It must be all the NW skating at lots of different spots, because he was reaching and grinding places I’ve never seen people even dare to hit before. It was an honor to watch him skate it, but it did make me nervous because he wasn’t wearing pads, and a fall from the top on the ripped up crete wouldn’t be fun for anyone.
Bottom line, it has a ton of issues, but if you make the effort it is a fun (but tiring) park to skate. The addition of curbs all the way round the inside is a really great touch that I wish other parks would incorporate.
Kilwag
TNJef should change his name to ILJeff!
They designed some funky looking parks, I hadn’t heard of most of them. Such crappy pictures too.
Sorry SB, no Roselle. I’m back already, but send some pics if you want.
TNJeff
http://www.tdaplan.com/
Get this… they claim they went to California, Oregon, Washington and Florida to research this project (Jewett Park). TDA is the Midwest’s version of Purkiss-Rose. I did skate this park once and did have some fun albeit janky-licious. Gurnee has a fun little park with transitions that actually are OK, too much flat but still a smooth ride.
SB
Please tell me you’re going to review Roselle, I’m interested to hear you’re take on that one too. A mediocre concrete park, with ramps that I’m pretty sure aren’t solid concrete. It’s close to my crib so I’m there a few times a week. I’d be interested in your take, if you’re still in town…