I’m going to freely cop to filling space with this post. This here’s the tale of a nefarious character whose name is/was Martin. His ego was legendary, and he’d be the first to tell you. He was always looming/lurking on the skate scene in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois back in the 80’s. A self-styled king of the town, rocker and skateboarder. He was like a five foot tall, less subdued version of Steven Tyler with a skateboard, if you can imagine it.

This D.I.Y. spot in SE Portland only lasted a couple of weeks. The spot had been home to a wooden bench made by skaters for at least a year before this bank went up. The neighborhood reaction was positive, but obviously someone in the City of Portland wasn’t impressed. The builders opted for the “it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission” tactic, but it didn’t work out, obviously. I applaud the effort, but in this case the location was too ostentatious. Choose your renegade spots wisely kids. In a situation like this (a well used public park, already frequented by skaters) it would be advisable to get it sanctioned first. Write up a nice proposal. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but use a spell checker. Talk about the benefits and address negative concerns. Spin it as a community project. Get a petition signed by neighbors and park users, than take all this to the Parks department. The fact that you aren’t asking for money might help your chances. Stress the small overall size of the obstacle and minimal impact on the surroundings. Good luck!

Thanks to… I’m not telling. That kid in the green shirt is in trouble though.

“Ramp it Up” will be exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian ( On the National Mall, Washington, DC) from June 12, 2009–September 13, 2009

Ramp it Up celebrates the vibrancy, creativity, and controversy of American Indian skate culture. Skateboarding combines demanding physical exertion with design, graphic art, filmmaking, and music to produce a unique and dynamic culture. One of the most popular sports on Indian reservations, skateboarding has inspired American Indian and Native Hawaiian communities to host skateboard competitions and build skate parks to encourage their youth. Native entrepreneurs own skateboard companies and sponsor community-based skate teams. Native artists and filmmakers, inspired by their skating experiences, credit the sport with teaching them a successful work ethic. The exhibition features rare and archival photographs and film of Native skaters as well as skatedecks from Native companies and contemporary artists.

This is actually the first ever Smithsonian exhibiton on skateboarding. Apparently they are just now recognizong the cultural significance of Back to the Future. You can read the entire press release here.

UPDATE: added new poster images for the show.

Hoverboards, the mythical flying car of the future for the skateboarding crowd. Let’s run down the hoverboard links first:

1. A fan makes his own adequate replicas
2. Auction of one of the original props
3. Photoshopping hoverboards into existing photos

What else is there? Well there’sa guy in the UK who will sell you a, uhm, realistic looking prop for the paltry fee of $290 USD. Hoverboard.org.uk has some fancy replicas with only sublte finishing differences that are only visible when you compare them side by side with the original. They even sell replicas of Griff’s baseball bat for people who are clearly over-obsessed with Back to the Future.

Lastly, check out the Hoverboard graphic from Boston’s Proletariat, pictured above right. It’s one of those “Why didn’t I think of it? ” ideas. Proletariat’s decks are really well executed, and clearly the winner because they are only $49 and you can actually skate them.

– Thanks to Aaron Shims and Mike for the tips

Join Portland Parks in the celebration of Portland’s new skate plaza at Ed Benedict Park, Saturday, May 30, 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Event Schedule
1:15 PM Ceremony: Commissioner Saltzman, Commissioner Fish, PP&R Director Zari Santner
1:30 PM Adidas/Tribute Skateboards Skate Jam
2:00 PM Best Trick Competition
2:30 PM PP&R Skate Jam Invitational (grades K-8 and 9-12)

There’s a brand new zine out of Richmond, VA called Born Ugly Magazine. Born Ugly is jam packed with color photos and illustrations. The first issue is reminiscent of Jim Phillips’ art direction. In their own words “layouts infused with illustration soaked in masonite dust and beer sweat…” I’d say they succeeded. I’m not sure how wide their distribution is, so if your skateshop doesn’t have any of the (free) issues, you can download the whole thing. Check out the shot of Josh Swyers on the right side. I don’t know how it came to be, but I’m sold. Aside from the first issue, the Born Ugly site has the prerequisite blog too. Check it out.

– Thanks to Saturday Skateboards for the tip.

Spot check, Seattle. John Aguilar sent these in. It’s near the Bell Street Pier in the Port of Seattle. He said the street view from Google Maps was better than his shots. You can be the judge after the jump. Looks like a rad spot.

Here’s the trailer for Street Dreams. What’s that, you ask? Because we mentioned it here earlier and nobody seemed to notice. It’s a movie that Rob Drydek wrote and produced. It stars guys like Rob Dyrdek, Paul Rodriguez Jr., Ryan Sheckler, Compton Ass Terry, and Ryan Dunn. It looks like the biggest stars may be the DC skate plaza and SPOT. I love to make fun of skateboarding in the media, and the excesses. It would be easy to jump all over this, but I have to say the collective times I’ve watched him (Dyrdek) on TV have made me a fan. Maybe I’m learning to let it go, or it’s because he hails form the midwest, or I’m getting soft. Piss off! That being said, I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to S&A… Just kidding. I’m still not going to see this, even though I have to imagine this will be better than Thrashin’ as far as movies go. Comic relief? Who knows, it’s an uphill battle without Eddie Reategui’s eyebrows as extras. Official website: streetdreamsmovie.com/ plus… Twitter and Facebook? In theaters June 12th, also the same day the cast will appear on Fuel TV’s Daily Habit. Trailer after the jump.

I get a lot of emails running this site, mostly guys in Taiwan and China wanting to sell me skateboards, bearings, trucks or wind sails, people wanting me to tell them if how much their skateboard is worth, occasionally somebody wants skateboard vacation advice… Here’s the most lax and yet demanding RFP I’ve ever seen:

Hello,
I would like to know if you can create for us a skatepark as we attached in this mail…If yes, please let me have all the tehnical information(all the materials applied and used during the processes, sizes..etc) and the prices.Please let me have them tomorrow..Of course also we need to know the guantee conditions..
Yours,
Alev AKUZUM
Bucharest/Romania

The only other info was the two pictures embedded in an Excel file, for some reason. So if you can help out Romania and can answer instantly…

There are a bunch of renderings of the Newline street plaza project found over at Deluxe. I don’t know if it’s the low contrast color palette or what, but I’m having a hard time getting a feel for this park. The Newline site has some renders too, but they are smaller and harder to visualize. There’s general overview of the project at the San Francisco government site, be forewarned it’s a PDF file.

– Thanks to Eric Shea for the tip – he says the new park is dangerously close to the Zeitgeist bar.