Again from the shutter release finger, dare I say Hood River bureau of SnA? (I’m trying to shame you, Estes…) Carl Warren has a few shots of… aww… come on. Who is this guy? (I’m trying to shame you, Carl…) Looks like it’s too late for a gap jump “first.” Three shots after the jump. UPDATE: Added video.

This week’s Shot of the Week came from Dan Hughes Northwest Skater. He’s got three pages related to his old friend Mark Holt. There’s one full page of shots from the old Olympic Skate Park in Olympia, Washington, probably from the last couple of years it was open. It closed in 1982. There’s some great shots in there, some probably better than the one I chose, but I decided on this one despite the obvious out of frame flaw. It’s still rad, and I like the guy in the background. The next page is dedicated to various ramps that Mark had, some without any flat bottom. The last page is assorted skate shots in the street, skateparks and a pool. Check ’em out. (1 – 2 -3)

A car company in Spain called SEAT (?) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of a car called the Ibiza. They are promoting it with a commercial featuring a lot of skateboarding and the now ubiquitous Alphaville song “Forever Young.” They’ve got a very loose interpretation of a skateboarding timeline as the backdrop. is SEAT spanish for Mazda? Check it out after the jump. Thanks to Dean Tyrell for the tip. His friend Jairo Garcia is one of the skaters in the ad.

Curt Stevenson tipped me off that construction on the new 16,000 square foot Venice skatepark has broken ground. It’s a Wormhoudt design, but I don’t know who is building it. according to Yo Venice, the construction is supposed to take an inhumane TEN MONTHS! Really? That seems absurd, but then again, those California construction companies seem to work at a glacial pace. We’re still waiting for Ed Benedict to open here in Portland, and coincidentally, California Skateparks is the contractor on that long overdue opening. We never seem to have that problem when the jobs go to local contractors, I’m just saying… A web site called Venice Skatepark would seem to be the place to go for info, but so far it looks like the site is only aggregating feeds from elsewhere. A skateshop called, wait for it… Venice Skates has more of an inside line, including shots of Christian Hosoi, Pat Ngoho and Jesse Martinez taking a break from a session to revise some of the bowl plans. Considering the long and colorful history of street skating at Venice Beach, I’m surprised there is as much tranny in the design. It’s about half and half. I guess a street…

The last ever issue of Concussion should be hitting the skateshops as you read this. Publisher Davoud Kermaninejad sent the news out to supporters via email last Friday night. He’s been half-seriously threatening to do it for years, but the harsh transitions of our shitty economy finally sealed the deal. Sorry Davoud, couldn’t resist. He’s throwing in the towel as far as print issues go. He decided to go out with a bang rather than see future issues strangled by the ever-shrinking list of advertisers and the production budget that comes with them. You’ve got to respect his style. Concussion may or may not continue to live online, that decision won’t be made until the coping dust has settled. Until then, get your Concussion back issues and schwag direct from the source before Amy Winehouse shows up wearing a Concussion shirt in People, and you have to pay twice the price on eBay. You can read Davoud’s email (with permission, of course) after the jump.

Parents in Arizona are suing the Gilbert school system over injuries sustained when he fell off a wave board that was being used as part of a physical education class at his junior high school. Plimpton and Denton allege Mark will have permanent physical and emotional disabilities, disfigurement, humiliation and impairment due to the incident. No word whether other students asked to ride the device will participate in the humiliation part of the lawsuit.

Those of you left still holding your breath can take a giant inhale. Sam from SkateOregon just got off the phone with a real life Portland Parks & Recreation representative who confirmed the fences are coming down, and Ed Benedict is officially open tomorrow, Saturday, February 7th. An formal ceremony may or may not come at a later date. It’s Portland’s first street plaza, so you have to believe there will be some sort of recognition. I wonder if our beleaguered Mayor will attend? Free Cold War 7.75″ Strike deck to the first person to send me photo or video proof of any kickflip variation over the snake river gap! No joke. It has to be new proof, not something poached from when the fences were up. I’ll judge “first” by the order it reaches my inbox. May the best man (probably not old) win! UPDATE: We have a winner. Clip coming soon. – Thanks to Sam for the tip!

Mumble Online Magazine (Note: Link removed, original site is gone and appears to be malware now.) launched a program to give three people who were/are influential in skateboarding (long terrm) an honorary certificate designating them as “Pro Skateboarders.” The best part is that the certificate comes with a limited edition, wait for it, pro model skateboard, and I mean limited. The first awardee is legendary photographer and photo king of the The Skateboard Mag, you know him as J. Grant Brittain. I don’t know Grant personally, but he was gracious enough to let us use one of his famous photos as a Shot of the Week here on SnA. Grant Brittain is an excellent choice for the first honorary pro skater. Grant’s pro model was made at Powell, and it’s a riff on one of their most famous graphics. It’s kind of funny that Powell is parodying their own graphics after it’s been done by other companies multiple times. It should come as no surprise that it’s already sold out considering that they limited the run to only 99 pieces. Powell wanted to keep things realistic for the time period, so Grant didn’t have a say in what his graphics…

Check out Thrasher’s Rumble in Ramona recap for a liberal dose of scantily clad gals reliving the golden age of pinups and vert skating. That looks like Mark Scott getting in on the “photography club” action.

We’re off to see the wizard… That’s the creek jump in Hood River. Hard to tell how big the gap is, but I’m sure it’s going to be a hit, and a bummer for everyone that doesn’t clear it! Super cool feature, nonetheless. Thanks again to the lens of Hood River’s resident skateographer Carl Warren, we’ve got some more images of the work in progress. Looks like it’s getting pretty close to being done if they are pouring flat. Can’t wait to check it out. Can’t wait.