The Oregon Zoo has been doing some architectural landscaping and exhibit re-design. I’m pretty sure this is a bust, even if you pay your $12 to get in.

There’s an auction group online benefiting the Tony Hawk Foundation. Alongside opportunities to hang out at the Tony Hawk headquarters or have a Birdhouse session, there are also some items from Tony’s personal collection. The standout gem is Tony’s 2nd place trophy From the 1989 Savanah Slamma II, signed of course.

On the left we have Jeep Renegade skateboard themed advertising on the SB Nation network of sports related blogs, this time seen on Stumptown Footy, the one dedicated to the Portland Timbers. On the bus ride home from the Timbers match in Seattle yesterday I noticed these giant, highly skateable curbs at the Toutle River Rest Area on I-5 South.

Insta-Ledge is a system of portable, skateable ledges in modular lengths of 4 feet. Sure, you could go skate somewhere else, but Instaledge definitely has some potential benefits. Suppose there’s a great spot you’d like to skate without actually destroying some artfully built ledge. Say it was covered with ceramic tiles, (or skate stoppers) you could still skate it, potentially without drawing the wrath of security. OK, most likely not. It could still help you in situations where skate stoppers were just too burly to overcome. Some might argue that it’s a bit like using copers, or Z-roller trucks. What’s the point if you can’t skate the actual terrain? I don’t really have an argument to counter that. Insta-Ledge is at the very least, a very smart solution to a problem that might not exist. Why do organizations use skate stoppers? In the promo video there’s a spot where the ledge has had uniform notches gauged into it at regular intervals, clearly after the fact, and designed to do what? Keep skateboarders from ruining the look of the steps? Too late. Is it for insurance liability reasons or to prevent damage to architecture? Just to keep people from having fun.…

Don’t even think about it, OK? When you don’t want skateboarders messing up your planters with unsightly grind marks, or disturbing the Feng shui by loitering, this 20 foot long stencil ought to do the trick.

Troy Sliter sent me this picture a long time ago. Very skate-able public art in Melbourne, Australia. I feel like I’ve seen this in a magazine since then. Hm.. Apparently “skateable” is not a word according to my built in spell check. Art is a word. A four letter word. I am just rambling.

Random spot near Siesta Key, Florida. – Thanks to Sparky for the photo.

The Skateboard Mag has a crazy-long board slide video with Jordan Hoffart. They kind of make a few excuses for it not being gnarly or fast… but seriously, who cares? I thought we were past that attitude in the collective skateboard media. Check it out.

In spite of Billy Bragg, Skateboarders, BMXers and artists have prevailed in their attempts to prevent historic the South Bank spot in London from being turned into a strip mall. The Save South Bank coalition also has a book for sale that looks pretty well conceived, but details like page size and count are non-existant. [Source: Good Magazine] – Thanks to MC for the tip.

It’s like France central over here… These pictures from Skateparks de Paris are about two years old. Doesn’t look like they update that often… but hey, it looks beautiful. Here in America, we like to hide our skateparks away from any foot traffic, preferably adjacent to an empty baseball field on the outskirts of town. My chapeau is off to whoever approved this.