… street skating is based on the stylings of Daniel Gesmer!

Believe it or not, that’s an actual CNN headline and not something I made up. With the news that Miami’s Cubans in exile are planning to celebrate the impending death of Fidel Castro in the Orange Bowl (WTF?) now is a good time to bring up the Subvert Cuba Project. Probably due to in part to our embargo, Cuban skaters are really, really hard up for gear. That’s hard to believe considering Rodney Mullen insists China makes the best skateboards. The Subvert Cuba Project is like a bizarro Berlin Airlift, transferring skate goods from Germany to Cuba. You can buy decks from which a part of the proceeds are donated, or you can send used gear. Now seems as good a place as any to mention that Cold War Skateboards has a Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy model called the Detente 2, of which absolutely none of the profits are donated to Cuba or Ethiopia. Sorry, couldn’t resist a Dickies reference somewhere. Maybe when Fidel dies the Cubans will finally be able to get some decent skateboards. In the mean time, I don’t the Detente will make it past customs, and I’d hate to see someone imprisoned for riding a smart-assed American skateboard. [ Source: Kingpin Magazine ]

When I saw some of these pictures I thought, geez, for an exhibit on skateboarding, there sure does seem to be an overemphasis on shoes. maybe the source (kick-fiend.com) should have been the tip off. That’s when I realized it actually was an exhibit on skate shoes called Made For Skate put on by the volks at Skateboard Fieber. Translation: The folks at Skateboard Fever in Germany. They are the group that brought us the Claus Grabke Retrospektiv. It strikes me as kind of funny, the thought of people looking a t a bunch of old, worn out and smelly shoes just because people skate in them. That’s OK I guess. Some people are into shoes and some are into Claus Grabke.

A follow up to a follow up. First Boston Hospital, then Turtles, and now Metals. More pics from this local Boston spot shot circa 1987 after the jump.

Dan Hughes has posted some recent shots of progress on the Battle Ground skatepark here.

When this bowl was being built, the owner learned that a neighbor’s son was a skateboarder – so the bowl builder went out of his way to invite the kid over, assured him he would have access, get a key to the chain, etc. The kid looked at it and said, ”so it’s just a bowl?”

The bowl is 3’6″ in the shallow and 7’4″ in the deep.

We can all agree that prefab ramps in skateparks blow, but what about for home use? Prefab ramp kits have been around in various forms for a while. They are usually pretty expensive, especially when allow for shipping. Personally, I’ve never quite understood the appeal of them, but for the mechanically challenged or just plain lazy, it takes the guesswork out of the critical aspects and drastically cuts down the actual build time. What’s new in the world of prefab ramps for the home? Computers. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) means that these kits can be cut out by a computer attached to a router instead of by hand, allowing for the possibility of cheaper and better designs. Compare two ramp kit companies (products, not ad models!) after the jump

Hey someone was asking about the spot Turtles in Boston. Here’s a shot from Bodyslam four photo by Glen Goldstein

Check out the Town and Country surf shorts!

Unless you happen to be around PDX right now, in which case winter is fully on vacation and spring is in command. Sessions have been happening daily at Pier, West Linn and every other concrete shrine around Oregon over the past week as a nice, sunny high pressure system has delivered clear blue skies and a complete lack of precip of any kind.

Friday myself, Capozzi and Jon Brown headed out to West Linn for it’s first dry day in a while. Rebel Chuck was there, along with a few of the locals. It felt very good to grind around that corner again. The fall from the top to crushing hip blow didn’t feel good, but sometimes that’s the price you pay.

The coping at West Linn is awesome. It’s that right mix of concrete pool coping gnar, but still in shape enough to move through. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely not steel pipe, but you can get through it with enough inertia and speed. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Capozzi worked out body jars while Brown flew around, frustrating the children with his runs that emcopass the entire park. The fact that he does this in slacks and a blue dress shirt frustrate them even more.

“Do you rock the party?” a kid asked me. I said “What?”. He said it again. I said “No, I doubt it.” He walked away and left me alone, for sure disappointed in my inabilities to completely rock the party. Damn, I must be old.

Today, it’s back to Pier for me with J.P. and Capozzi (and many others). Some are out on a secretive pool mission followed by a stop by Aumsville. Good luck to the hunters.

[r]

The Story from H-Street, circa 1997. This is the sixth video in the H-Street Box Set. This is a really long video, it even gives you the timing of each section so that you can fast-forward to each part. Of course, this was back in VHS times, so the timing means nothing now.

H-street was the brainchild of Mike Ternansky(along with Mike Carroll, Matt Hensley, Danny Way and Sal Barbier), who formed Plan B, and Tony Magnusson, who now runs Osiris.

I had to include the Story of Iron Cross, which is an interview with Art and Steve Godoy from Skate and Annoy 6.

Featured Skaters: Ron Allen, Jordan Andreen, Felix Arguelles, Barker Barrett, Andre Camacho, Colby Carter, Chad Conner, John DeAgo, Jason Ellis, Kit Erickson, James Frazier, Trent Gaines, Buster Halterman, Eric Jueden, Kien “Donger” Lieu, Brian Lotti, Cheyne Magnusson, Tony Magnusson, Dennis Martin, Chris Miller, Jeremy Owens, John Reeves, Mark Roach, Jason Rogers, Ally Roller, Shane Rosson, Noah Salasnek, Brennand Schoeffel, Sean Sheffey, Jovontae Turner, Aaron Vincent, Danny Way, and Paul Zuanich

run time: 2 hr 32 min 19 sec – Check it Out