I stumbled upon this skatepark while visiting Chicago recently. These things (new skateparks) happen when you move away from a city for 15 years or so. This street plaza-style park is much more interesting than this panorama photo may lead you to believe. I’m standing on top of a wall that is maybe 10 feet tall. Under my feet and out of view for the most part, are the assorted transitions and banks that butt up against the wall. The panorama makes everything seem more spread out than the reality, but it is a pretty expansive park. There was not much going on there during my accidental visit, but it looks fun.

Random guy standing next to me in line at the airport. I believe this is Mondo Gecko from TMNT, wearing a Ramones shirt. Radical!

International Olympic Committee Announced street and park skateboarding events to debut in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.  The IOC has some live video of the even with a horrible interface, but there’s an interesting bit where a reporter asks about the lawsuits in one of the so-called governing bodies of skateboarding, as well as anti-doping. The  Tokyo Skateboarding Commission sounds like a criminal investigation, but it is in fact, ” a partnership between the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports and the International Skateboarding Federation formed under the guidance of the International Olympic Committee. The TSC is in charge of all aspects of producing the Skateboard Street and Park Terrain events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”  Now that skateboarding is in the Olympics, maybe we’ll finally get some skateparks built… oh yeah. Well maybe our top athletes will be able to earn a living… oh yeah… It’s all moot now.

Two illustrations from Christoph Niemann’s illustrated children’s book titled Words. Christoph says “I am inviting kids (and readers of all ages) to intuit and puzzle out meaning, and to see language as a source of ideas and stories.”  Is that a bunch of hooey to justify a pet project? I don’t think so.  I have to admit, the juxtaposition of these two illustrations definitely had me pondering how a young child just learning to read might process this page spread.  There’s an extra layer of interest to me as a skateboarder, being able to recall my first skateboard and how very fond of it I was at a young age, separation anxiety and all. [Source: Creative Review] – Thanks to MC for the tip. 

Sisterhood of the Skateboard is ant article in the NY Times about a female skate collective in the Bronx called the Brujas, which is Spanish for “witches.” If “Skate Witches” sounds familiar, you might have seen it on S&A. The Brujas actually copped their name from this 1986 Super * film after it showed up on YouTube. You can buy this film on a DVD compilation Danny Plotnick movies titled Warts & All. As for the Bruma’s and the New York Times piece… the accompanying video is a little cringe worthy. Is skateboarding heteronormative? Skateboarding doesn’t care. We can agree Girl is not a 4 Letter Word, and there’s always room another organization, or collective, but maybe the NYT is making a big deal out something to fill some space. Maybe I’m just part of the patriarchal problem. The article actually made it into the print edition, which is cool for their crew and female skaters everywhere.

This promotional plastic lunchbox or pencil box was made for Bryan Foods. The seller can’t confirm the date, but the style of the skateboard in the illustration and the “Just Say No” paraphernalia would suggest late 80’s. “Hot doggin'” was a popular 60’s and 70’s slang for showing off on a skateboard (or surfboard, or skis, or anything else…) so maybe they were trying to get Corn Doggin’ to catch on. It’s not clear whether or not the “Corn Dog Kid” was used for anything other than this lunchbox. A web search doesn’t turn up any other occurrences. The The company (Whirley) that made the box is still in business too.

This Sunny Street cartoon dates back to 2012, and I may have posted it here before, but I can’t find it. For future reference: This is a post about an injured horse riding a skateboard.

Remember at the turn of the millennium when there were only a couple skateparks nearby? My buddy Shawn used keep a squeegee and a handle in his trunk for such occasions when we would arrive at the park after a recent rain and it would be covered in puddles, and kids skirting the outline of the puddles, occasionally tracking through the park. We’d spread out the puddles and push what we could into the drain. All the kids would bitch at us for making it wet, and we’d tell them to shut up and wait 5 minutes. Sure enough, the wet spots evaporated and suddenly the whole park was skateable. I’ve literally had kids yell at me for this. Don’t get your bowels in an uproar, youngster. Most of the time, GVK carries a broom in his van for cleaning up those bowls filled with trash or dirt, and whatever nature or unsupervised children decide to throw down there. Check out these interchangeable cleaning tools from Swopt. You buy whatever accessories you need and snap them on and off a single handle, which is great for saving space on a traveling kit. The only thing that would make this system…

StayTrueToYou.org is part of a public service campaign trying to convince teenagers in Oregon not to smoke pot. It’s likely funded by some of taxes imposed since the recent legalization of marijuana in Oregon. The trouble with running a campaign like that on social media is that allows all kinds of predictable commentary from the peanut gallery. This radical stock image posted on Instagram states “Pot can make it harder to learn new tricks,” but it prompted a response from an ever helpful young adult that said “Not really, I learned how to skate while being high :)” Earache my eye. This banner was spotted at the mall, surrounded by mall-grabbers. You know what else can make it harder to learn tricks? A bunch of girls with their feet hanging over the coping.

Fresko Shoes is a company that sells shoes and beachy-stuff to tourist traps next to oceans. They’re out of Florida, but I found this plastic skateboard in Pacific City, Oregon. It’s actually a pretty cool design. If someone had thought of this in the 70’s they would have sold the crap out of (another round of ) plastic skateboards. Remember, for those kids not near sizable hills and skateparks, a plastic skateboard with a good set of open bearings was a perfectly serviceable skateboard. I rode one for years, and.. uh, look how I turned out?