We’re starting a gallery of skateboard tattoos. Send in your pics if you want to be in it. Please include your name, the name of the tattoo artist (if you know it), the tattoo shop (if you know it), and approximately when the tattoo was new. Optionally, you can include a picture of yourself. I’m expecting to get a deluge of Independent and Thrasher tattoos, but don’t be afraid to send in the obscure, like this Natas panther Skate and Annoy hybrid. Skate and Annoy? WTF??? I found this buried an an email from 2005. House of Neil originally sent it to me, with the name “Friend of Wolfgang” attached to it. I’m pretty sure it’s just a coincidence. Friend of Wolfgang, care to chime in? On the right is a Bob Schmelzer graphic taken from his freestyle board. I’ll bet there aren’t to many Schmelzer tattoos out there.

Here it is everyone, the new park at Vancouver. It is a Grovers Korner Exclusive, first to ride. Enjoy and barge That’s what Ivan, Rich and I did. One of the workers for the city told us the park will not open until the whole complex is done (a year) but we don’t care because we barge.

( I can’t condone that statement. I almost didn’t let this post go live. The whole park complex is scheduled to open in 2008 but the skatepark should open at the end of this month, unless the city is annoyed by bargers! – K.Ed )

BMX celebrity Rooftop is interviewed about Tony Hawk’s foray into entry level BMX bikes branded after the Boom Boom Huck Jam. I don’t follow BMX at all, but I recognize the name Rooftop, so he must be a celebrity. Catch one interview on Vital BMX and another on The Come Up. Thanks to Concretin for the tip off. Tony looks like he’s been listening to some Aphex Twin. [Photo: Vital BMX]

Figures, he’s on roller blades. I was following a link from a comment on officer hard-ass beating the rap. The link was from a site called Skate Theory that features a random picture popping up on the front page. On my first visit I happened to catch the pic above. It’s from 2001 when a friend of mine and former roommate dressed up as Captain Corporate America and crashed a Fourth of July parade in Urbana Illinois. I know the skateboarding link is tenuous at best, but the same guy also illustrated this skateboard company logo for me. You can read the full scoop on Captain Corporate America at Media Geek.

How telling that the day after our country celebrated our independence I end up making a flippant post about how the US government is helping to fund “extreme sports facilities” in El Salvador in hopes of combating violence amongst disaffected youth. As if Extreme!™ Democracy wasn’t enough (see Iraq). The News Blaze has an article titled Extreme Sports Offer Salvadoran Youth Refuge from Violence – United States provides extreme sports facilities to Salvadoran youth center.

This popular rejection of violence is what the founders of Fundacion Salvador del Mundo (FUSALMO) hoped to see when they created a recreational facility for the youth of Soyapango in 2003…

…In 2006, with a grant from the U.S. government, FUSALMO expanded its facilities to include extreme sports: bicycle motocross (BMX), skateboarding and break dancing.

Break dancing and skateboarding? Sounds like 1987, not 2007. I guess skateboarding heals all wounds. I’m sure a few American-made prefab ramps will make up for the fact that the USA backed a bloody dictator for all those years. I can’t think of a better way to say “I’m sorry for the death squads and you know, those 30,000 executions. Let’s put this unpleasantness behind us with some method airs and a little pop locking.” Big surprise, the source for the News Blaze article is the U.S. State Department.

Skaters from El Salvador – send us your pictures and vids! We’ll put them up.

[Photos: Top – Salvadoran Tourism Ministry. Left – Children of the Street. Right – United Nations]

Happy Fourth of July. If you love your country, you’ll blow something up.

Dreamland is building two more skateparks in the Portland area right now. Holly Farm is a small skatespot in Southwest Portland. I had kind of written it off as something that was going to be for neighborhood kids but it is looking gnarly. That wall behind the spine looks six foot tall and the front pocket looks about eight. They are planning a KGW banks treatment around the outside.

Meanwhile, two miles down the road, Tigard is also in progress. It is not as far along but it’s bigger.