Ignition TV has recent (I assume) footage from the grand opening of the Mission Valley YMCA’s new (to them) vert ramp. A bunch of vert dogs were there, Bucky Elastic, Bony Hawk, the French Canadians… There were other people present on deck but they didn’t make the cut, perhaps due to space limitations. Although posted on Metacafe, the clip’s producer is Ignition TV, who is the, uh, leader in action sports fro you mobile phone. You can chose by sport and brand on their web site, so you know that’s Extreme™! Mission Valley’s vert ramp was donated to them by the X-Games. We had one of those X-Games retired ramps in a suburb of Portland for a while, where it mostly sat as a platform for kids to practice flip tricks off of the flat bottom onto the cement. There was a small community of vert riders who would session a couple times of week and chase the kids off the flat. Ask MC about it. They banded together to meet and talk with the park district to ensure and volunteer upkeep, but the district wasn’t interested. As more and more concrete parks opened out here, the already underutilized vert…

The latest installment of G.V.K. Watching this video made me realize I have had the same friends for 20yrs +. Good or bad im not quite sure. At the very least this is proof that we are washed up vert skaters. So all we need is a vert ramp so we can go and have a place to talk about the good old days and (re-live) the glory we never had. To be totally accurate this footage is from the end of our low fidelity careers. This footage is from Boulder but the crew lived in Steamboat, Colorado, circa 90-93. Not much vert anywhere, especially Steamboat. We would literally go months with out skating, get antsy head to Boulder (3 hours) to see a show. Most of this footage is from a session before a Ramones show.

I’ve scoured the web for more examples of Skateball (or Skate-Ball – they can’t make up their mind). The only thing that turns up besides our previous post is another actual pinball game. (More on that later.) Jeff Hottle had this old low-res image of a Skate-Ball flyer he got off the web ages ago, but the original source remains shrouded in mystery. A full retail business including skateboarding accessories, roller skating and other youth oriented products. Skateball is made up of 4 different ramps, bowls, runs and moguls each with their own scoreboard and timing device. Can be located in strip stores, shopping centers and free standing buildings. Minimum cash investment $25,000. You can see the whole flyer after the jump. UPDATE 2021: 14 years later… Secured a high-res scan in the Vintage Adverts gallery.

The saga of Caz’s ramp continues. When assembled, The ramp is 75 feet long and ten and a half feet deep in the deep end. It’s half shallow, half deep with a connecting hip section. You can see pictures and video of the ramp in it’s various states on Antigravity Press, and supposedly on the Plywood Benders site. I never skated this thing but heard about it every now and again. It was a private operation in a barn somewhere, then it was supposed to be some sort of a skate camp type operation that never got off the ground, and lastly it was being assembled in an indoor skatepark in Troutdale Oregon that never opened due to permitting problems. Now it can be yours if you have an extra $10,000 and a really, really large garage. The pictures form the Craig’s List post makes it look like a Noah’s Ark episode of In Search Of. In fact, isn’t that Bigfoot in the upper right hand shot? Let’s hope that thing get’s sold before the rain hits. Thanks to Joe Martin for the tip.

If you want to avoid the crowds at the Trifecta this year, but still want a little bit of commotion during your NW Oregon skatepark experience this weekend, consider heading over to Seaside this Saturday for the 3rd annual Skate ‘n Ride Summer JAM. It’s for a good cause.

The City of Portland held it’s Skateboarding in Portland retrospective art show last night, titled Board of Art. I’m not sure that description is entirely accurate though, as the “history” aspect of the show seemed to be solely visible in the Burnside documentary trailer. The rest was art on the wall of the City Commissioner’s office. Oh yeah, and did I mention, there was a mini ramp in front of City Hall?!! Only in Portland! Check out some pics after the jump. [Update: Added more photos from MC.] There’s more…

I don’t watch the X-Games, even if I come across them by accident. I know, it’s hard to believe. When I came into work this morning a coworker in his 40’s who doesn’t skate had already emailed me about Jake Browns’s slam to flat on the mega ramp. It’s every vert rider’s worse nightmare, multiplied by 10. That’s right, he fell almost to flat from 15 feet above the coping. How tall are those mega ramps? 20, 30ft? Unofficial word is that he fell about 45-50 ft. It’s sickening to watch, but he actually walked off under his own power 20 minutes later. Jake Brown is the luckiest skateboarder alive on this day. Cringe through the vid after the jump. [Update: Added an alternate, extra gnarly camera angle.] [Update: That was fast! The New York Times has article about Jake’s slam and the inherent dangers of the Mega Ramp. Requires free registration – or read it here]

Dan Hughes tipped me off to Tony Hawk’s appearance on HGTV’s show called Sizzling Summer. This particular episode had to do with sizzling backyards, and Tony Hawk’s cement “skatepark” was one of the backyards featured. I tried get this recorded on my own but all I could seem to find were episodes on a bunch of arts and craft projects. Dan was kind enough to digitize it himself. One of the related links that came up with it is a Red Bull authored video on Ryan Sheckler’s backyard skate ramp. It looks like Red Bull must have built it for him because it’s got Red Bull’s color scheme and a cheesy little built in fridge stocked with Red Bull. Watch them both after the jump. Update: Added Bob Burnquist’s house after a reader request.

Skate and Annoy, your repository for deceased skate spots, brings you the Chavez bowl. Actually, Dave V is bringing it to you. The video of the ceral bowl in Texas reminds me of Joel and Dave Chavez’s old bowl in Richmond, Ca. These were taken about 4 years ago. The bowl was built completly from found materials…they didnt put a cent into it. It’s no longer there due to noise complaints but it was fun while it lasted. It includede a plexiglass light for viewing and weird angled coping… not that easy to skate but no cereal bowl either. Does anyone remember that band Chavez? They were pretty good.

Check out this video of a half-sphere bowl some guy built. One dude is riding a retro looking board so this looks like it could be old but the outfit looks more recent. Check out the video after the jump. Thanks for the link Dan.