This week’s Shot of the Week is from Jim Gray, pictured at Skate City in Whittier, CA. This shot was used for his first advert ever, which was in Action Now magazine, circa 1980 or so. He can’t remember who took it, and I can’t seem to find it in the couple of Action Now’s that I have access to. So maybe our readers can help. I’m working on putting together an interview with Jim, so if anyone has any questions they’d like me to consider, go ahead and email them to me. Check out the Shot of the Week.

When is a hippie jump not a hippie jump? When you hippie jump a hesher. Here’s a few more pics from the Hood river field office, AKA Carl Warren. Bonus shots after the jump.

Taking influence from a skipping stone, this design focuses on a rhythm of circular plazas that are linked through paving and skate-boarding features. The design offers features for riders of every skill-level and style. The paving pattern consists of a large saw-cut concrete pattern within a circular paver banding that helps de? ne space and add visual appeal. The first meeting for the Happy Valley, Oregon skatepark saw three different Newline concepts presented, and this is the design that was the overwhelming favorite. The plan now is to refine it to “to serve as many different levels of skateboarders as possible.” The argument about street plazas vs. tranny and out of state (and Country) contractors is moot here, so please don’t waste anyone’s time by flogging that dead horse. The Clackamas County planners would do well to talk to Portland about the Ed Benedict project. I have heard that when it came time to actually build the park, there were numerous delays and attempts to get more money out of the project than was set forth by the agreements in the contract.

This is a shot of an amazing looking collection of concrete at Chingaucousy Skatepark in Brampton, Ontario, as designed and constructed by Spectrum Sk8parks. Soak it all in, then watch some video after the jump.

Time for more input on the Happy Valley skatepark in Clackamas County, Oregon. We must have missed a meeting or two, because from the looks of the tiny renderings, they appear to have chosen a designer already… Street plaza city, Newline? The meeting is Wednesday, April 29, 2009, from 5-7 p.m. at Sunnyside Elementary school on 13401 SE 132nd Avenue in Clackamas, OR. No word on whether the infamous Happy Valley back biter (seen above, lower right) will be allowed in the park. This is as good an excuse as any to post some more photos form the Happy Valley pool you love to hate.

I thought this Battle Ground, WA video montage from Joe Stevens contained some footage from the same session in Battle Ground that I was poaching him in back in January, but it was uploaded before that day. I’m trying to talk Joe into becoming a contributor. I love seeing videos of my friends skating, but it gets literally and figuratively, uh, old after a while. As The Dogs said, I traded in all my old attitude, for a younger point of view.

It looks like Tuscon’s new lighted skatepark is almost ready to open. The top shot is from Danimal’s friend Erik and the bottom two are from TusconSkaters.org. It’s funny how you can get an idea of who builds these things just by looking at them. This park has Site Design written all over it. The shot that gave it away for me was this one. Except that conflicts with a story and video in AZStarnet.com. Both Site design and California Skateparks list it in their portfolio. California must be the build contractor. Strange design choice, that keyhole pool. You don’t see too many of those being built now, and for good reason I think. Still, the channel looks fun. Notice that it’s not just a straight roll in for some reason. It’s a $1 million, 12,000 square foot project.

Found on The Tactics Grind: City Council Meeting Monday April 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m As you might know, the City of Eugene has committed $292,000 for the W-J Skatepark, but we still need to raise $250,000 in matching funds to make this vision a reality. HOWEVER, the City Council needs to hear from the Eugene Skate Community that we need their continuing endorsement of this project. Please bring your skateboard and your friends and show up to this VERY IMPORTANT City Council meeting, located at 777 Pearl Street, so they can see how much this skatepark means to us. Our goal is to have at least 200 skateboarders, friends, and family in attendance. This meeting is very important. We need you to be there. More details at skateeugene.org

Peter DiAntoni has a show opening tomorrow in Milwaukee (I assume) titled Salad Days: Turf 30th Anniversary. It’s all photos of Milwaukee’s Turf skatepark that also has an earlier run as Surf & Turf, before taking a brief rest while serving as a strip club. I guess they build wooden platforms covering the bowls. Sadly, it’s been permanently destroyed now. Pete D. was the proprietor of Clueless Zine, of which I have a couple issues, but haven’t yet added to the 80’s zine archives. Dang, I need to get on that. If you skated in the midwest in the 80’s you went to the Turf at least once. A lot of people travelled there from other parts of the country. It also appeared in some Santa Cruz and Gullwing videos, possibly others as well. For some it was a travel destination, for others it was more like a home. Mr. DiAntoni will be screening Turf shirts on site at the opening, and if you have your old park ID you can get one for 1/2 price. I wonder if that works via mail order? – Thanks to Matt Grasser for the tip. April 10th 7-10pm Vetter Denk Building 161 s.…

Here’s my video wrap up of our mini tour of southern Oregon skateparks that I made with Rich and MC on the occasion of Matt Kline’s BBQ session fundraiser for his bowl in Grants Pass Oregon. With apologies to Steve Grover, because I wouldn’t have brought my video camera if he hadn’t called me up and told me to shoot some “Spring Break” footage. When I lost the photos from this trip I was only able to avoid completely losing my mental health by the calming realization that I at least had some fun video footage. My apologies to the park locals who cooperated for the still photos. Chances are Rich might have some of you if you were in Winston, Matt’s Bowl, Myrtle Creek or Harrisburg. Yes, I am accepting donations towards a steadicam…