Here it is everyone, the new park at Vancouver. It is a Grovers Korner Exclusive, first to ride. Enjoy and barge That’s what Ivan, Rich and I did. One of the workers for the city told us the park will not open until the whole complex is done (a year) but we don’t care because we barge.

( I can’t condone that statement. I almost didn’t let this post go live. The whole park complex is scheduled to open in 2008 but the skatepark should open at the end of this month, unless the city is annoyed by bargers! – K.Ed )

How telling that the day after our country celebrated our independence I end up making a flippant post about how the US government is helping to fund “extreme sports facilities” in El Salvador in hopes of combating violence amongst disaffected youth. As if Extreme!™ Democracy wasn’t enough (see Iraq). The News Blaze has an article titled Extreme Sports Offer Salvadoran Youth Refuge from Violence – United States provides extreme sports facilities to Salvadoran youth center.

This popular rejection of violence is what the founders of Fundacion Salvador del Mundo (FUSALMO) hoped to see when they created a recreational facility for the youth of Soyapango in 2003…

…In 2006, with a grant from the U.S. government, FUSALMO expanded its facilities to include extreme sports: bicycle motocross (BMX), skateboarding and break dancing.

Break dancing and skateboarding? Sounds like 1987, not 2007. I guess skateboarding heals all wounds. I’m sure a few American-made prefab ramps will make up for the fact that the USA backed a bloody dictator for all those years. I can’t think of a better way to say “I’m sorry for the death squads and you know, those 30,000 executions. Let’s put this unpleasantness behind us with some method airs and a little pop locking.” Big surprise, the source for the News Blaze article is the U.S. State Department.

Skaters from El Salvador – send us your pictures and vids! We’ll put them up.

[Photos: Top – Salvadoran Tourism Ministry. Left – Children of the Street. Right – United Nations]

Dreamland is building two more skateparks in the Portland area right now. Holly Farm is a small skatespot in Southwest Portland. I had kind of written it off as something that was going to be for neighborhood kids but it is looking gnarly. That wall behind the spine looks six foot tall and the front pocket looks about eight. They are planning a KGW banks treatment around the outside.

Meanwhile, two miles down the road, Tigard is also in progress. It is not as far along but it’s bigger.

Troy Sliter sent in some pictures from a recent road trip he took to New Mexico. I’ve never skated there, have you? I like the look of that ditch, that’s for sure.

Outside Magazine? At first I thought this was going to be some real news, Tony Hawk coming out of the closet as the first highly successful openly gay skateboarder would certainly be news. Yeah I know there are other openly gay skateboarders out there, but nobody at Tony’s level. Turns out I was thinking of Out Magazine. Outside Online has an interview with both Tony Hawk and Shaun White, comparing career moves and their relationship as mentor and.. mentee? Err.. One of the best quotes:

HAWK: Someone came to me once and wanted to do a signature Hawk cologne. I was like, “Of what? Sweaty pads? Am I wringing out my pads into a little perfume bottle?”
WHITE: I’ve been sent like 20 movie scripts. And the first lines are always “What up, brah?” Nope, nope, nope.

It’s a good interview that shows a bit of the human side of these two larger than life personalities. At four pages long, this interview is still way too short. I wish they had made a longer version available instead of just mirroring the print edition, which is what I’m assuming they did. we like to poke fun of some of (well most, actually) Tony’s marketing decisions here on SnA, but it’s pretty good natured. He does give an awful lot of time and money towards building new skateparks, and you can’t fault that. read the interview here. Thanks to SnA commenter Mac for the tip off.

John Aguilar sent in more construction pics of phase two of the Bellingham Washington skatepark. Here’s the links to his two previous pics.

Not much to say about this 1981 clip of Tony Hawk on the old children’s show Captain Kangaroo. I didn’t know the Captain was still on the air in 1981. It’s a little disappointing actually, since Tony’s appearance isn’t live on set with the Captain. Instead, it’s just video footage of tony skating Del Mar on a Steve Caballero board no less. The Captain’s crew even managed to record an old sea chanty titled Skateboard Johnny, not to be confused with the song Skateboard Johnny featured in this collection of 70’s skateboard tunes, or this UK child molester named Skateboard Johnny. Watch the video after the jump.

[Source: Wall of Gray]

Hey. It’s summertime. The weather is nice. We’re out skating. This shot was taken in April of 2006 at West Linn Oregon. Don’t know who that is. I’ve been known to hang out with those two nerds in the background…

I get about a million emails a day. I’m trying to run two web sites while being a little absent minded already. Things fall through the cracks, to say the least. If I meet you, I will likely have to have several conversations before I remember your name. It’s just how my brain is wired. I just got OMSAZine #3 in the mail, and I recognized the name from something, an email address I’ve seen before, the combination of the OMSA letters somewhere. The Pool Skating issue is 32 pages of well printed black and white on glossy paper. there are interviews with Aaron Murray, Steve Alba, Arab, and Bill Danforth. There’s also a short interview with one of the owners of Riviera Pools, who doesn’t realize he’s being interviewed for a skate zine. Someone should have asked him why he has two completely different web sites for the same company – check the addresses. I can keep telling you about all the features of OMSZine #3, I just can’t tell you how to get one since there is no address printed in the zine or on the web site, which is of the MySpace variety. I don’t understand the popularity of MySpace, and I wish entities would stop using it. One last thing about OMSAZine, it’s got an unusual format. Letter sized, folded in half, but with a horizontal orientation. Very nice, and it comes from Germany. Why am I telling you about a zine you can’t get ahold of. I guess I’m just trying to imply that I’m cooler than you. What a dick.

OK, I don’t know if they are actually anarchists or not, but Flora Skatepark is being built behind a building called the Rote Flora in Hamburg, Germany that currently has strong ties with squatter and left-wing groups. Do right-wing squatters exist? The Rote Flora was one of the few theaters in Germany to survive WWII intact. According to Wikipedia, it was used as part of a department store from the 70’s until 1987. Here’s where it gets murky. For some reason there was an uproar by local shopkeepers and and “autonomous groups” (Anarchy!) when a producer wanted to turn it back into a musical theatre. There were clashes with police, and ultimately most of the building was torn down in 1988, only to be renovated and squatted in, leased and un-leased, made a focal issue in an election year, etc… The point is, most renegade concrete projects tend to be located in spots that don’t attract attention. Maybe this one will succeed in finding a permanent location precisely because the adjacent property has such a volatile “hands-off” history. The end result… Opening party for the first part of Flora Skatepark is June 30th, 2007. Thanks to Peter Diepes for the heads up.