A group called The Side Effects of Urethane working in conjunction with the U.K. skate rag Kingpin have designed and mostly built a skateplaza in some unused tunnels in London. These guys are the Dreamland of street parks, I’m declaring it. Make it so. They even followed the D.I.Y. ethic of funding and making it themselves on unused public property. Unlike London’s tradition of squatting however, they managed to get permission first. More London Skateplaza action after the jump. [Source: Sleestak]

The setting: The Riverwalk in Naperville Illinois. The time: About 1984. How many times can you say “I was the first person to ever skate this?” Now everyone skates, that’s getting harder and harder to say. I go back to Naperville to visit family every other year or so. Now they’ve got a crappy prefab skatepark, but back then there was not much of a scene. I have to assume Naperville’s current park is crappy because I’ve only looked at it from the car. That town has money to burn but somehow they got suckered into a bunch of wooden ramps on a concrete slab. Larger versions and a little more about the new skate park after the jump.

What do you call this, a slob sweeper? Who is this guy? Where is he skating? What would posses him to get inked on his shins? Ask Old Man Army. (Link Fixed)

A few details at Skaters for Portland Skateparks.

Troy Sliter sent these shots from California, Santa Cruz pipe edge, and Pacifica bowls. Road trip anyone?

Variflex used to be a honest to goodness real skateboard company with a real team. BroadbandSports.com has a SocalSkateparks.com video of a Variflex reunion of sorts at Ione skatepark. Featured riders are Lance Mountain, Tim Metz, Curtis Franklin, Dan Colburn, Freddie Desota, Mike Hirsch and Steve Hirsch. What, no Eddie Elguera, Eric Grisham, or Allen Losi? That’s like seeing Van Halen without David Lee Roth. The footage is nothing amazing but has some solid skating for all you bowl trolls (myself included) out there. If you need more Variflex action, check out this Juice interview with Lance Mountain where he talks a little about his Variflex days.

Here’s a couple pictures of Dave Campbell skating Modern Skate Park in Grand Rapids Michigan. If that name rings a bell, it’s because Dave had a brief but memorable spot in the Santa Cruz video Troops of Tomorrow. Since Chompy hasn’t posted that one yet, you can watch some Swedish guys on Flask TV, possibly making fun of it., I don’t know. I don’t speak Swedish, but they seem to be impressed with the pogo-to-drop-in on the vert ramp. Enlarged pics and more after the jump.

Hmmm, Glenhaven opening or Hollywood, Nevada opening. I guess I can walk to Glenhaven. End of April, man. Click to see more photos at the California Skateparks website.

It’s pretty incestuous Portland skate-media scene here. Of course, there are recent additions to the area that I haven’t seen yet, but for the most part, a lot of us skate the same spots together. Case in point. Seeing a recent photo of Steve McBride on EPM reminded me a shot I took of the same person, spot and motion from a slightly different vantage point, circa 2001. And so here it is, and there it is. Wow. I had a real camera with negatives and developing and everything back then. I sold that lens 16mm lens to this guy. Hey Bryce, let’s get our respective crews together for a session!

March 24, 2007 Portland, Oregon Click to enlarge