Tony Alva had a birthday last week. Photos cropped from Glen E. Friedman (left) and Eric Staniford from the Alva Skates website Still ripping at 50! Skate Daily has info about a birthday party event.

The city of Corpus Christi Texas banned the practice of “grinding” along their precious sea wall eight months ago, but so far have only handed out a few citations and the grinding continues. They’ve got themselves worked up in a lather to spend $50,000 on Skate Stoppers and consider an investment well spent to rid the sea walk of the evidence of grinding that is an “eyesore.” I’m sure the Skate Stoppers will eliminate all grinding. That’s money well spent, guys. Now imagine if instead they could spend half that much money on building skateable ledges nearby for kids. Problem solved. [Source: KRISTV.com]

I came across this web site (get your mind out of the gutter) while doing some, errrr, research. Gaybar Zine is a German web site that handles all your skate, BMX, graffiti and even struller needs. Kind of like a modern Action Now I guess. I’m not sure what the connection is with the Gaybar title. Maybe it’s one of those things where it means something different in German, Kind of like the time I was in Polland and saw an amusement park ride called the “Super Fahrt.” Anyway, I can’t hear the words “gay bar” without thinking of the Electric Six.

Dave Adams sent in this picture of the newest Team Pain skatepark in Dunedin, Florida, which is celebrating its grand opening Saturday September 15th. I personally have been working on getting this park built for nine years, so it’s a very big deal for me and the skate commuity here in Pinellas County. The Team Pain concrete crew did some amazing work to fit what they built in a relatively small area of 10K sq ft., and they had to build it all above ground by building retaining walls and placing a lot of fill to get it done. There are a lot more pictures on the Team Pain news site. If I’m not mistaken, I think the Englewood park the Team Pain recently finished is in or near Pinellas County as well. (Update: No, it’s not. Englewood is about 100 miles south of Dunedin.) Dunedin looks like it’s a fun spot. Congrats to Dave and the Dunedin locals, as well as Team Pain. Now send us some action photos! Update: The Groms are barging!

Holly Farm Park Grand Opening. Saturday, September 15, 3:00pm. In case you are a community-oriented type. Portland Parks Foundation funded the park privately and included the skatepark as part of the park concept. Thank you Portland Parks Foundation.

A high school in North East Portland had to be closed down due to asbestos or black mold, or so the rumors go. It was too expensive to rehab it and they apparently didn’t need the space so they decided to tear the whole thing down. It was where Gus Van Sant filmed the 2003 movie Elephant that Grover mentions in his GVK episode titled Paranoid Park Tryouts. It was already vacant when they filmed the movie, and for the past few years or two it was home to a DIY street plaza that the locals had built in the semi-secluded parking lot. There were a bunch of grind rails and artificial ledges set up on the island curbs, as well as a couple crazy ramps of various size and design. It was all very sketchy, but admirable. Every once in a while I would spy a few kids dinking around on their boards. Whenever I drove by, which was a couple times a week, I made a mental note that I should photograph it. Well, needless to say, I waited too long. This Spring they finally demolished the school to make way for some real estate development because the…

Skateboards: Your child may not want to cruise the neighborhood on his skateboard, but he’ll probably think it looks cool in his room – you can easily turn this into a rad shelf that holds his important stuff. Purchase a pair of L-brackets that are a little more than half as long as the skateboard’s width. Screw the brackets into studs in the wall and set the board on top. You can remove the wheels if you choose. Hey kids, you know what really looks cool? A skateboard smashing a television set and a kid going out to skate! Other helpful hints from Real Simple magazine via CBS News Parenting I just stacked all my skateboarding books on a skateboard and took a picture.

Our pal Steve Grover turned 40 yesterday. Happy Birthday dude!

So Here it is the long lost version of “My Great Movie” assembled in late 04 early 05. Its an epic saga of a group skaters that had only 2 parks to ride with in an hours drive, not like today where we have 5 parks with in twenty minuets of my house. and 10 with in an hour thank gawd. Bonus film “Washed Up Old Vert Skaters.” A title bestowed by some street skater trying to ollie to tail at the old beaverton ramp while I was in the middle of a run. – GVK Off!

The 70’s was a funny time in skateboarding. At times, the industry and the public at large tended to view it almost as a carnival ride or amusement park attraction. Case in point, Skateball. I received a couple old pictures of a Skateball installation at the Olympic Skatepark in Crystal Lake Illinois a few years back when SnA was being updated on a very infrequent basis. Seeing the Radical post reminded me of them, so I dug them up. Fortunately, I was still able to contact Jeff Hottle for some larger scans, and he obliged with a few bonus shots as well. Skateball was basically pinball on a halfpipe, where the skater simulated the ball. It’s one of those things you hear rumors about but don’t quite give them credit unless you actually see it. Five pictures and a little history after the jump.