I’ve heard from a couple of different sources (some of them reliable even!) that The Department of Skateboarding, or D.O.S., will be shutting down at some point mid-summer. The rumor is that the building was sold, and the bowl is scheduled to be closed down as early as June, with the rest of it to follow possibly in August. This seems at odds with their posted summer camp schedule. Colin has an associate of D.O.S. scheduled to appear on his radio show on June 16th. Maybe we’ll get an answer then. It will be a blow to Portland’s skate scene if D.O.S. does shut down. It’s the only indoor street course of any mentionable square footage accessible to the public in the greater Portland area. No word on what this might mean for the attached Cals Pharmacy skate shop, a long time fixture in Portland.
[Image: SkateAllCities]
47 comments
FAPJI
:'(
i could not be any sadder that dos close i love you dept!!!!!!!
truth
Ripzu looks like some bullshit, what a waste of money! I wonder who the idiot was who built/ designed that piece of shit… really POOR DESIGN!
Ty Beckley
Man, going to miss that bowl in the winter, but my last sesh there was good, got to see Red 50-50 around half the bowl!
C. Wilkins
Suck a duck… My wife and I are moving to Portland in the fall and I really was looking forward to skating at the Dept. It would have been a great refuge from the winter weather (not that Boston has much better weather). Gonna have to try and make buddies with the Nike homies. All the best to Pharmacy, good on ya for having a sick place to skate all these years.
Chris
Sucks to hear about DOS but the news isn’t all bad for the Portland area skate scene. There is a new indoor skate park opening up in Vancouver. It’s called Ripzu Skatepark. It’s got a 38ft wide half pipe plus a bunch of street stuff. Should be a cool place to ride.
egbert
Will you make it cheaper to get in? Those prices are pretty high.
Chris
Rates have been adjusted since the park opened. There’s also lots of ways to ride at a discount. Check out the special sessions.
tom
hahahahah. bro your kidding me?
those prices are so high, im never going there.
trevor
so sucks. went to the dept a bunch last year cause it was raining a lot well i was in town. really like old man army night. sucks to hear.
Ramsey
God that sucks so much dick. I had a friend tell me last week at Hood River Skatepark tell me it was closing. I didnt know IPS was closin though. D:
collector
Uh, try, Epic.
kc
The Department of Burnside.
carl warren
That sucks!! I guess rip city for the indoor skate scene ?
Scott
So, skated the bowl today. It’s there for another 2 weeks, the guy at the counter said.
Scott
I just had an idea…
Nike should buy up the building from the new owners, and then lease it back to Pharmacy/Dept.
They already have a pretty deep connection, Nike SB and Pharmacy, so why couldn’t Nike do a solid for their community? They would be a saving grace for our skate scene, and would also gain a lot of credibility amongst the community.
kilwag
That would have been a good idea, but I don’t think you can buy a building that isn’t for sale anymore.
Scott
Nike has a lot of leverage. And money. They could practically just claim eminent domain and toss a ton of money at the new owners!
bailgun
anybody at nike reading this? it could be an extra after-hours tf for the team, too.
Mac
Nike already has an indoor “training facility” for team riders and SB employees. The tranny/bowl section needs re-surfacing/rebuilding, though. The DoS bowl would be a significant improvement.
Scott
Is the bowl still there? I want to hit it up one last time this week!
egbert
It was on last Thursday. Call ahead.
Will
Does anyone seriously still buy from shops? i guess the shops in Portland are better but where i live, the shops don’t sell anything that i want. If I’m going to drop 50 bucks on a board, I’m going to buy online and get the exact size i want.
Jake Sutter
Dude, if you grow up around skateboarding and you’re in the same area for a long while, why would you not go to your local shop?
Just for being a loyal customer at a good local shop you can make good friends and gain benifits such as dicounts on boards and shoes ordered into the shop for you.
Local shops is skateboarding, Online can take weeks, when you can just walk into your shop and be like “What’s up Mike, I need a deck.” And online is a waste of time when it comes to ordering skateboards, You can’t stand on an online board and feel it.
I’ve been on a skateboard for 13 years. And I’ve always gone to my local shop NWS (north west snowboards).
Talentlessquitter
Yes I certainly buy from shops!
I like to hold a board and see exactly what size and shape it is.
Toxic Mike
Toxic Skate is alive and trying hard to make it .
skateboardering is fun
hell ya!! toxics the shit!!
Tom/Bjjpdx
yea gromshop is closed already.
conahan
Sorry to hear about IPS. Support skateshops!
Estes' Ghost
Several skateshops are closing: Gromshop in Gresham (going online only) and IPS Skateshop in Hood River are also closing. Its an end to an era. Retail is shit right now- no one is buying or supporting local core shops. Apparently the ‘Mall’ is where everyone goes.
Kilwag
bummer about IPS, but where is the mall in Hood River?
Ricotron
Not just the mall, but tech savvy kids are ordering stuff from online shops that can not only sell for cheaper, but they have the accounts needed to order certain shoes like Vans in those annoying colorways.
Joe Booth
IPS is being sold to Mark Partain, who skates for Old Man Army. Mark has been managing the shop for Wally for about 6 months. He’s planning on changing the name to HRSS, Hood River Skate Shop.
Tom/Bjjpdx
its the best indoor “wood” bowl in Portland I hope it ends up some where good. man this sucks no more old guy night in the winter!
Fryar
Stay on the mat. Not on the flat, Tommy.
Tom/Bjjpdx
missed you on the mat again yesterday, were you on the flat?
clevelander
good, you portlanders were spoiled enough!!!!!
annon
I’ve heard rumors that shrunken head may be doing something with the bowl
hairybelli
My boss justin from shrunken head has been talking about renting a warehouse/show room to build an indoor vert ramp. There are too many bowls in this city already, but the amount of wood coming from their bowl could really help with the construction of a solid vert ramp. we’ll see come september what is going to happen for us…
X
hell ya we need a vert ramp here
Tom/Bjjpdx
this article on their site hints at it. http://departmentofskateboarding.com/news/
I hope dept and cals are able to stick around maybe at a different venue. Good guys over there hate to see them vanish.
Tom/Bjjpdx
bummer!!
pointer outer
windells is not in portland.
egbert
Yeah, I know.
Tyler G.
Windells wont open a park to the public. They have camps all year round and there wouldn’t be room. They do have some days during the winter where the weekends are open to the public for skate and BMX.
Martin
uhh, yeah, Windells is open to the public. friday and saturday nights. The last time I phoned them (a few months ago) it was open for free-skate.
too bad I haven’t been there yet. and to think I know 2-3 guys that have a key hook-up…
Garric Ray
For those of you that don’t know I work at the Department of Skateboarding. Unfortunately, the rumors are very true! Our building was sold and the bowl has to be out by July 1st. So to anyone that likes skating the bowl, realistically speaking, you probably only have a few more days or maybe a week to skate it? I have no idea where the bowl is going to go or what were going to done with it? The boss has something in the works and that’s all I know currently.
In regards to the street course, The Dept will be around until the end of August? But being that’s it’s summer-time the park will be closing early each day, so I guessing during the week we will be closing at 3:30 or 6:30? The Pharmacy on the other hand is doing just fine. It will be at it’s current location for a while, but at some point they will find a new location. I’ve been at the DEPT pretty much since the beginning, so for me it’s pretty crazy to think it will no longer be here anymore.
In fact, I don’t even think reality hasn’t set in yet? It really sucks for everyone in Portland!
egbert
That sucks. I loved the Dept. This city definitely needs an indoor park. Maybe Windell’s can open an indoor concrete park? That would be the tits.