Carhartt is a work wear company that for some reason has a large presence sponsoring skateboard events in Europe, but is invisible here in the USA. Invisible except for the fact that you’ll see a lot of Carhartt being worn by some of the crews actually building skateparks over here. Mongolian Tyres is a skate video of a Carhartt sponsored skate trip to Mongolia. It’s about 38 minutes of mostly street skating totally ghetto spots in China without a lot of attitude. Very refreshing. I don’t know any other details like release date etc, except that it’s worth the watch. Chompy, why aren’t you all over this? Watch the vid after the jump.

[Source: Welsh Pete via Sleestak]

The OC Register among others is reporting that one Huntington Beach skatepark will likely be shut down due to foul language, vandalism, and sexually degrading comments made to female athletes practicing at the nearby high school field. Way to keep it real guys. Ed Templeton is a local and he says he rarely sees bad behavior. Officials at the school want it gone and the parks district seems bent on relocation. The police station across the street says there are very few if any problems with the park. It’s looking more and more like a case of the people in power just wanting it gone. They claim keeping it open will cost $300,000 for maintenance. 300k? get out of town! It’s only a 6,200 square foot park that is essentially flat! You could almost build two of those parks for that amount of money in Portland. To be fair, part of that 300k would go to a bathroom facility. It’s hard to find decent pictures of this skatepark. After checking out a few on Socal Skateparks it looks like relocation (as long as it’s nearby) might be the best thing to happen to locals. The current park (albeit via the Interweb™) looks totally unremarkable and uninspired, but Templeton says it’s a landmark in skater’s circles. Really? I feel sorry for HB.

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 Portland school district needs the money. Before the demolition started they removed all the street obstacles and fenced in the parking lot for the workers and support equipment. By the time I got there with a camera, the only skating obstacle left had been moved upstairs into a courtyard balcony. I can’t even remember the name of the school since they tore down the sign. It’s now a big empty field on the corner of NE 42nd and Killingsworth. The athletic fields and expansive adjacent park footage are not included in the redevelopment plans, and will remain in place. The park has ironically been chosen as an eventual location for one of Portland’s 19 skatepark sites.

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!