It’s been a while since I’ve covered the Kings Highway DIY project in St Louis. Much like BSSS before it, Kings Highway enjoyed an existence as an officially tolerated temporary DIY skate a finite lifespan. The crumbling bridge it rests under was built in 1936, and scheduled for demolition next spring. Amazingly, they’re still adding onto it as late as last week. Unlike BSSS, however, There are definite plans for a replacement… of sorts. The city is leasing an unused parcel of land to the non profit for $1 a month, but the non-profit has to pay $2,000 in insurance annually, as well as funding the entire construction. They are also losing the overhead coverage that they used to have, cutting down on the amount of time the park will be usable. You’d think a major American city with no public skatepark could do better than that. The locals have been actively fundraising though, and have even secured a 5k grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation, bringing their total fundraising efforts to $13,000. They’ve even got a listing for material and other donations on Craigslist. I’m not sure that the before and after square footage evens out though. The new…

Although it may look like Kentucky, Ken Henning, took these pictures at the zoo (Tiergarten) in Nuremberg, Germany in 1968. Pictured are American GIs from California enjoying a downhill session. Ken says this was the first time he ever saw anyone on a skateboard. The guys in these photos eventually shipped out to Vietnam, and Ken doesn’t know what became of them. Additional photo after the jump. – Thanks to David Brosch for the photos.

1986 out of Hinsdale, Illinois

My friend JeNny, [sic] a skateboarding “hip hop girl” circa 1999 from South Korea. Maybe it took a little longer for 90’s baggy jeans to make it to Korea. It’s only $19.99, but I don’t know about shipping it. The skateboard on the front of the box looks like a clown shoe. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

Europe’s largest vert ramp allegedly in Copenhagen, but no specs listed, so how big is it? I was going to try and count the plys, but some of the construction photos make it look like we’re dealing with some Euro standards and not the typical North American 4″x 8″ sheets. It does appear to be rather large. Check it out on Ramp Riders. (Yes, this is a year old.)

Those who have homemade concrete and those who help make it, from Elias Parise: A Gift of Mud is a photo and video documentary that sets out to capture as well as communicate the structures, stories, hard work and dedication that each home owner has embedded with in the concrete that lays in his or her’s own backyard. The work also stands as a testament to all skateable structures that have, are, and will be built by skateboarders for skateboarders, whether private or public and to stand as a reminder to respect these sacred venues, as well as the men and women who helped design and construct these obstacles for your enjoyment. Watch the trailer after the jump. Not quite open to the public yet. He’s trying to get a gallery space figured out.

Kool Aid man celebrating Thanksgiving in the Macy’s parade. Photos that weren’t taken with a cell phone pointed at the TV and a little video after the jump. Happy Thanksgiving.

Three issues of Death Mag added to the zine gallery, dating from 1982-1983.

In this edition we have some Malone skateboards. Malone was a brand that produced crappy skateboards in the 80s, but I really don’t know much about it, besides the fact that they were pretty crappy and my brother had one.  I was riding a Rusher Sports  ‘California Pro’ (even worse than a Pro 90) at that time and my brother bought a ‘Malone’ from this sports store. I have never seen these decks back untill now on eBay. Funny thing, I remember my brother ( he was 10 or 11 at that time) described his boards as ‘semi-pro’, haha, but I guess he had a point there, since they were actually better than the ‘Turbo 2’ ones. More models after the jump.