Betonhausen is A D.I.Y. spot in Berlin funded by c-list energy drink. (But really, is there anything as an grade A energy drink?) It has an outdoor part that looks like it served as the concrete college. Check it out. They’ve added an indoor part as well, 3 videos after the jump. The best video in the series is part two, which features the construction, including huge chunks of styrofoam sculpted in place and used instead of fill dirt.

New skatepark is goin to have a soft opening this weekend. The 1/13 check Kevaland on F-book for updates. These are the ramps from the old freemont project. There is room for a vert ramp we just need to stoke the owner. It is located in Clackamas close to the highway. GPK on the scene and out.

How to stay relevant in a world where you came up with an original (isn) idea and everyone has copied you, and Chinese manufacturers are flooding the market? Christian Hosoi has a model out on Penny skateboards. Looks pretty damned cool, and he shreds that thing. Video after the jump.

From Elias Parise: Willis, Andy, Mark and Lorenzo getting it at Pier and Unheard, during one of the weirdest and coldest weeks of the year. 12.28.12-01.01.13 How thoughtful, a skate session on my birthday! Oh wait, I wasn’t invited. That’s OK, I would have stunk up the video. A little Unheard facility footage too. Music by Ghost Alien.

Pacific Park in Vancouver, Washington is so close, but I always forget it’s there. Here’s a video from Landshark Wheels featuring two Northwest rippers, Danny Tumia and Mudhoney (via the soundtrack.) The song is “Sonic Infusion” from the album “Since We’ve Become Translucent.” Check out the recently released Mudhoney documentary I’m Now. The Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Two great tastes that go together.

Pretty sure I’ve used that one (here) before. This is a pleasing form for a skateboard rack. I have to imagine it feels nice let those wheels down in that little cradle. The stress point at the mounting holes looks fragile. Check it out on Instructables. I use a chunk of 2×4 with two dowel rods inset at an angle.

Well, 13 minutes really. 1991 Münster Monster Mastership. A lot of it is just mellow practice runs, but hey, It’s the first full work week of the year, and you’ve got buckle down for the long haul. SOme blasts from the past, and some guys still on the scene today. Includes Danny Way, Neal Hendrix, Jason Ellis, Bryan Pennington, Jeff Kendall, Omar Hassan and others. From the VHS video vaults of the deceased John Findlay, edited by his friend Michael Mulhall.

John Egertson enjoyed these photos, and it led him to send in this week’s Shot of the Week. I loved that post about the ramp out in the desert made of old signs and poached lumber. Got me thinking of two great ramps we road back in the day… The “wooden wave” was a sketchy, shaky thing built on a public sidewalk by the Duke Street / Telegraph Road overpass in Alexandria, VA. It was built entirely from scraps of lumber found here and there by my friend Dave Alexander. The photo attached is Dave, probably around 1980, taken from up on the overpass. You can see the ramp is not a classic beauty, but it was way fun. The top piece of ply was over vert. It lasted a week or two before someone torched it. Wooden Wave really was ridiculous. It truly was 16 feet tall as painted on there, and over vertical. You can see that Dave painted on some faux tiles and then after that decided to stick another piece of ply up there to make it taller. Despite the photo, Dave Alexander, his brother Mike and myself all got close to the top of that…

2013 started off in the crapper for me. I’m just now emerging from a fog of strep throat that has had me laid up since New Year’s day. Here’s hoping your new year is better than the promise of a slick red curb covered in skate stoppers. Absurd Family Skate photo on Instagram. Hey! Get off my curb man!

Konstantin Butz is probably the first person ever who tried to analyze the phenomenon skate punk from an academic point of view. He wrote his doctoral thesis about it, which – in a slightly revised version – became this book, entitled Grinding California (transcript Verlag 2012).