Public skateparks should be open 24-7, and free to boot, but that’s a different rant altogether. Dan Hughes made a road trip recently, and ran into a bunch of padlocks.

Sure, we may rib him a little on some of his endorsement choices, but Tony Hawk’s record on advancing the sport and and promoting concrete skateparks is unimpeachable. The Tony Hawk Foundation has just funded the printing of a revised edition of the very valuable Public Skatepark Development Guide which can be yours for the price of shipping. Check out the press release after the jump.

House of Neil sent me a couple pictures of him skating on the Wallasey (UK) seafront in the fall of 1984. The weather looks ominous. Are there tank traps on the other side of that wall? I love looking at grainy old skate photos. What board are you riding there Neil? Larger versions after the jump.

Satori Movement is joining Sector 9 in the alternative-based urethane market, but it looks like Satori has raised the bar a little. These wheels combine a core made out of recycled plastic with a riding surface made out of 50% bio oils, and are guaranteed against flat spots. If you recall, Sector 9 doesn’t name the amount of soy-based urethane in their product. Satori doesn’t specifically say it uses soy, referring to vegetable oils instead, so maybe these wheels smell like french fries! You can find out when the wheels become available in February. Check out Satori Movement for more details. We’re running out of adjectives for environmentally friendly urethane compounds. I should trademark GreenThane, EnvirotThane, EarthoThane…

This is a shot from October of 2006. It’s been cropped to fit horizontally. It’s Mike McCarley, one of the owners of Shrunken Head Skateboards. Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.

As we were pulling up to the park yesterday I remarked how small this park seems now, compared to the vast expanse it felt like when it first opened. Battle Ground, Washington has a lot to offer, at least in terms of skateparks. I took some photos yesterday, catch them after the jump.

Congrats to Juice, the magazine you love to wait (and wait) for, on celebrating their 15th year of publication with issue #65. That averages out to over 5 issues a year. They must have really cranked some out at one point, because I swear there were a few years in there where you were lucky to see one issue. I kid, only because I love… Hey, what’s on the cover? Mark Scott at Burnside! Steve Olson handled the interview honors and Portlander Dave Hupp handled the photos. Hey, who’s that on page 70? Why that’s our own (and his own) Mark Conahan! Jim Murphy manned the tape recorder and Portlander Bryce Kanights manned the camera. I think Bryce actually spends more time traveling then he does hanging out in Portland, but his couch is here, so he’s a local. It’s great to see the Northwest finally getting some coverage… Get your copy wherever Juice is sold. If you can’t find it, I happen to know the imaginary Portland rep for Juice.

The Exit Real World team is doing a demo and premiering a video at Windells Camp near Mt Hood in Oregon. IAlthough you’d be hard pressed to know that if you looked at their web sites. It’s this saturday at 1pm. The park is open from 9 -5, and lately Grover has been going there on saturdays with his offspring and an empty facility. That’s right, I’m blowing it out. Saturdays are a good day for an uncrowded, very uncrowded session at Windells. See you in the foam pit.

P.S. I heard Windells was recently featured on an MTV show called True Life, of which I know nothing about. Those darn kids and their loud rock and/or roll.

The OC Weekly has six (count ’em) pages on Skitch Hitchcock, past and present, which includes highlights of other members of the Salt Creek Beach crew which includes a lot of surprising names. In the shot above left are Dale Smith, Skitch, and his brother Garrison. Aside from the now customary gripes about the Dogtown film, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there, assuming you are interested in the roots of skateboarding or surfing. Remember the recent Skitch Hitchcock model we profiled? Turns out Skitch is battling liver cancer, and proceeds from the sale go to help him out with his medical bills. Skitch did a lot more than invent the gorilla grip. He was the first guy to land a full loop, and he dealt acid straight from the labs of Timothy Leary. Interesting guy for sure, and a nice tip of the iceberg view of OC skateboarding history. Hey, I guess we are one of the top three carriers of the old school flame. I feel compelled to note that the article is lacking in the usual stereotypical bungling that most newspapers exhibit when covering skateboarding. So yes, check out the OC Weekly feature.

[Source: Boardistan]

I have been sitting on this footage for sometime, I stumbled on it the other day while doing some cyber house cleaning and decided to make a GVK out of it. I really like skating with these guys they are a good krew. My old friend Earth Patrol Media was manning the moving picture box, we were originally going to do dueling videos to see what the other guy would do with the same footage, who knows maybe old EPM will still do it I hope he does. Enjoy. GVK OUT…