Farewell, Rolls-Royce Ledges

(A.K.A. Wachovia or Wells Fargo to you younger guys.) Another view here.

The 49th Street side of the building is under construction, and it looks like the 50th Street side and the long manual pad facing Madison Avenue will be soon. There are some crummy mock-ups on the front of the building that show what lays ahead. It might contain a marble ledge over steps (that’ll inevitably be a bust.) The adjacent Driveway Ledges spot has also been under construction for years, so maybe that will yield something cool :) Thanks to Gerry for the tip.

By most estimations of what a “good” spot is — this place sucked. Chunky ledges that never grinded in their entire history, choppy ground, and a horrible eight stair aren’t the best things midtown has to offer. However, the spot was an anomaly in the neighborhood because it wasn’t a colossal bust. This means that more hours were clocked here than other midtown destinations over the years, simply because it was a last resort before conceding defeat for the night. Only the (also defunct) 45th & Lex Wendy’s can lay claim to logging more skater hours this past decade-and-a-half.

The spot is also notable because Geo Moya maintained a career-long allegiance to skating the awful eight stair here. The landing was into a hill going the wrong way, and that hill was made out of the worst ground ever. Moya’s three lines from Jay Maldonado’s La Luz video remain the only examples of someone refusing to acknowledge how genuinely bad this set was. Add that to Moya’s list of underheralded accomplishments, along with the Times Square 20-stair noseslide, the switch front nose over the Flushing grate in ~2000, and pioneer status as the first known person to attempt the “cherry” ender rail ♥

When was the last non-“Banned From T.V” time you were reminded of Nature’s existence? “Ultimate High” still goes.