This week’s Shot of the Week is from Elias Parise. It features Kevin Solomon at a Portland DIY spot. Take a moment to gather your complaints about the fact that I’ve posted it here. Take your time though, really gather your bile. Thanks Elias. I am enjoying the summer. My only complaint is that seems to be going too fast.
17 comments
scummer44
so Fitz i must know you..you just said my name.. Ever ride shippys ramp? Remember skating Matt Beach’s ramp?
Fitz
Endlessly skated The Beach Ramp! Jon was my locker partner at Mt. View. I hit Shippy’s more than a few times, too.
So which one are you? I’m Dave Fitzpatrick…
I’ve seem Greg arounda few times. Haven’tseen Aaron in years. Skated with both Team Vicious members at one point or another in the last decade or so. Shearer was always at Newberg around ’01, and I ran into Chandler at DOS a few times. Saw Damon two weeks ago!
scummer44
hmmm so it was you FITZ that left the wood jump ramps at NIMBUS and tektronix!(aka the Burrito banks/koll) i used to find random wood ramps there around 88 or 89. We would set them up at the top of the banks or use them for the bank to wall. Im sure you rode the King city banks right?
Fitz
King City was Mecca! We’d hook up on a Saturday morning, bus it down to 72nd Ave Banks in Tigard, then skate Durham Road Water District (if it was drained), attempt to hit on chics at Tigard High, and then go skate King City.
I sessioned Nimbus quite often, too. Skated with the Beach Brothers, Terry Osbourne, and Sean Steinman a lot, and usually ran into Billy, Damon, Chandler and Schearer,the Radspinners (best named skaters ever!), and about a hundred other locals there. On a good Saturday, you might find anywhere from 10-30 dudes sessioning that spot.
All that aside, I hit Smileys and Twin Oaks mainly, because I lived off Baseline Road. Man, the westside had it going on in those days!
lou sassel
yeah kevin – nicely done
francisco
Good shot. That place is crazy to skate.
Fitz
It needs a name in honor of Weller’s trowel skills.
Weller wall?
K.C.
I skated there today, or tried to at least. That thing is way gnarIy’r in person. I actually prefer the red curbs out in front of the hospital.
Fitz
Great photo. That spot is no joke.
kilwag
Dave Duncan, is that you?
Fitz
Nope, just me. But as I recall, my fellow Dave is a fan of that phrase.
scummer44
actually thinking back i have been riding that spot(minus the DIY) since the late 80s.
Fitz
I remember bussing it out there to skate that spot, and the bank down the steet circa ’87.
francisco
You mean to tell me that skateboarding existed BEFORE Drydeks Fantasy Factory?! No way?!
Fitz
I need a like button here. I wonder when I first encountered DIY work?
In about ’88, me and a few friends built a wall-ramp that mirrored the angle of the wall at what was then an asphalt parking lot under the Burnside Bridge. It lasted a few weeks before it became hobo firewood. I doubt we were the first. You could often find ramps abandoned down there. We did similar stuff around Beaverton beforehand, usually with scrap wood and duct-tape–basically fixing spots in a temporary manner with a bit of planning and some rudimentary carpentry skills.
The only concrete work we did involved putting a floor jack under a sidewalk and making a gap over a tree root at an already-steep curb-cut. I fixed the gap with Bondo. The homeowner was chapped, but it was so sick!
I think Kent, Red, Chuck, and Brett’s Halloween work was the first time it occurred to me that we could mix our own mud.
francisco
🙂
scummer44
Why would anyone complain? If your a Portland skater you should know where that spot is. Its been going since 1999..Thanks Wu Weller.