The San Francisco Skateboarding Association is holding a Golden Gate Park Horseshoe Pits clean up and Junk Jam on September 15th 2007. It looks like they have a bunch of projects either in the pre-fetal stages or already on the books. Much to the horror and disappointment of every skatepark advocate and teenager in a 50 mile radius, Potrero del Sol/La Raza Park skatepark was designed by Grindline and will be finished by Dreamland some time in 2008. Those poor, unlucky bastards. No word yet on if there are any mafia ties being investigated. Perhaps the large street presence threw invertigators, I mean investigators, off the track.

Nobody has been able to successfully incorporate skateboarding into a fictional movie as a major plot device without making it corny. The 1978 movie Skateboard was probably the first attempt. It stars teen heartthrob Leif Garret in his pre coke binge and DUI days and also features Tony Alva as Tony Bluetile. Here’s a short clip of the archetypal sketchy outsider trying to hustle some teenage kids to form a skateboard team and make a quick buck. It’s very amusing, more so if you imagine our own Grover from GVK as the lead. The last time he tried to talk some teenagers into his van to go skateboarding he had to register his name with the neighborhood as an “offender.” Watch the clip after the jump.

In January we mentioned Grant Britain on some obscure educational network TV program. He’s back on the air again with “A lecture by renowned skateboarding photographer Grant Brittain about his life and work.” I’m not sure if this is the same thing as the last one, but I sure would like to see this. After all, he is our current SOTW. 1958 RCA Deluxe picture from Eric’s Vintage Television Sets

Eco Skateboards has an project placed on iFreelance.com titled Hip looking website for an environmentally friendly skateboarding company: I need a cool looking flash website design done for an environmentally friendly skateboard company. To give you a little background on our company, we are a skateboard producer located in Canada called Eco Skateboards. The philosophy behind the company is really organic and natural, we love bright colours and happy looking designs! We are looking for something with our logo integrated into it. What is their budget for a hip website developed in Flash no less? Between $250 and $499 with two weeks to deliver. I don’t know if the skateboards are made in China, but at that price the web site will have to be made in India.

Troy Sliter sends these photos of the Portland Mobile Precinct handing out sugary snacks to the sweaty hordes at Glenhaven skatepark last week. Now when his son Quinn sees policemen he wants ice-cream.

When Oregon Scientific decided they needed some on location shots of their helmet mounted waterproof action cam, the ATC2K, they chose Portland’s Pier Park instead of some other less family friendly locations. Not surprising since the company is based in Tualitin Oregon. Actually, it is surprising since Newberg would have been a heck of a lot closer. California parks show up in tv commercials and print ads all the time, so it’s interesting when a local Portland park is featured. Or not. This poor, unfortunate youth appears be using his helmet cam to avoid seeing footage of himself looking very stiff or possibly posing himself on a skateboard. The waterproof ATC2K is being hawked on Costco, and shows video footage of from a trip down a waterslide which makes me think they are missing out on a potentially more lucrative niche market, adult watersports. (Cue track six from the Surf Punks’ album Local’s Only.) Now to hit up these guys for a review model. Thanks to Roger Harrell of Skateboarder Magazine for the tip.

Joesf Heffner (AKA nweyesk8 in our comments) sent in these pics of a mobile skate shop he’s seen traveling around to skateparks in the central part of western Oregon. It’s less than ample stock is being hauled around in the back of large RV style trailer. That’s an awful lot of hardgoods they need to sell just to cover gas. The skateshop-out-of-the-back-of-my-car is not a new phenomenon, but at this level it’s a big slap in the face to the local skate shops. There’s always the chance that Grinders is servicing a bigger geographic area that doesn’t have local shops, but it’s a pretty safe bet that’s not the case. If it is, then good luck with that operating model. Your first order of business ought to be selling the huge trailer for a small used panel van that runs on home brew biodiesel. You might have a fighting chance then.

Great thread on Concrete Disciples about a guy who took his kids to Burnside and got vibed by the locals. His threats to start a petition to try to get Burnside closed ruffled a few feathers. Abuse is heaped, the terrorists win. Pretty funny that he ends up getting vibed on the website too! I’m going to go out on a limb and call the TimK SnA’s Douchebag of the Week. I’m guessing his next petition will try to close down the Indy500 because they wouldn’t let his kids ride their pedal cars on the track.

A tutorial on removing your bearings can be found at About.com which is a New York Times venture. About’s treatment of Skateboarding is squeaky clean. Marketers to youth and school teachers should find the site useful, making it easier for them to rap with the young people. Amazing that this Steve Cave character gets paid to rewrite the book of skateboarding making sure everything is spelled correctly. I’m waiting for the Time Life how-to series. Are there skateboarders out there who haven’t figured out how to use an axle to remove a bearing? I wonder if About.com can help? Which brings to mind an amazing skate repair tip I watched at Pier Park one day. A kid was looking for spare bearings because his were totally seized. Mike Swim took one of the kid’s non-rolling bearings and applied a little PBR. No shit, it freed up the previously frozen bearing. You can’t learn nothin’ in school they don’t teach you on the streets.