The Love Park Story

If you spend any time on the skateboard-related part of the internet, you have no doubt seen part 2 of the Josh Kalis Epicly Later’d series. The series has already began dwelling on a lot of the east coast “golden era” stories, namely some of the lesser known political alliances that existed in Love Park as it was beginning to rise to prominence in the early-to-mid-nineties. Since the series is obviously more biographical of an individual (i.e. there’s more to Kalis, Stevie, Ricky Oyola, etc. than just Love Park), it makes sense to share some biographical work that was done on the actual spot from seven years ago.

“Saga of a Skate Landmark” was a thirty-minute segment that originally appeared in the Winter 2004 issue of On Video Magazine. (For the few who may not know: On was a more documentary-esque approach to skateboard video magazines that lasted for the first few years of the 2000s, they would cover tours, skaters, and things like that, but their real strong suit was well-researched pieces like this, with solid interviews and archival footage. Basically, a lot like Epicly Later’d but less focussed on specific individuals as opposed to events, spots, etc.) The segment expands on a lot of the Kalis meeting Stevie story, and the Kalis versus Ricky angle, but overall, it is definitely wider in scope towards the actual spot, as it features interviews with the park’s original city planner, Photosythesis-era anecdotes, and plenty of amazing footage. The video used to be on Google Video, but has been giving “Not Available” errors for quite some time, so here it is on Vimeo.

Here’s the text message I received prior to seeing the new episode, as I was watching the Knicks embarrass themselves against the Clippers on Wednesday evening. It’s a humorous summary. Quote of the Day. Via Roctakon: