2014 New York Skateboarding Year in Review: 25-21

(The list series formerly known as “The Events That Defined New York Skateboarding in 20__”)

If you started reading our award-winning skateboard website in 2014, we should inform you that every December, we turn the mundane into the fantastic by counting down the moments that shaped skateboarding in this fine city throughout the past twelve months. They are listed in rough order of importance, depending on how you define the word “important.” A fun way to reminisce for those who were there, and a way to get informed for those who were not. Enjoy ;)

Previously…2013: 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1 / 2012: 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1 / 2011: 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1 / 2010: 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1

25. The Grease Banks

We begin our year-end countdown with where we began last year: skate deterrents. Where would we be if not for those who try to stop us?

We’re accustomed to having buckets of water poured on us by people who live above diamond-plate skate spots, or eggs thrown at us by kids out of project windows. Hell, in Barcelona, we saw someone throw bleach from a window on a drunk crowd of skateboarders outside a bar. But this fall, after becoming an accidental neighbor with Chinatown’s latest bank spot, a restaurant poured kitchen grease all over the obstacle of interest, which — short of maybe smearing shit all over a spot — is the most hateful skate deterrent of all time, especially in less-detectable low light.

24. “That Winter Tho”

The winter is part of what makes New York special. Without it, those ecstatic “first warm days” of March / first skirt sightings of the year would be meaningless..

But yo, that winter was fucking brutal.

Observed residual effects included a sizable first quarter earnings hike for neighborhood bars, increased time spent in Puerto Rico by any New York-based skate crew with $300 to throw around, plus a dent to 2014’s “Summer Trip to New York” skate clip cycle, which didn’t begin until July and went on to have a rather lackluster year.

23. Converse Lockwood

Photo by Mike Heikkila

If “style is important to east coast skaters because they are not as good,” why did Converse build us a version of the Lockwood bank-to-bench that is twice as big as the California one???

And before you say that it cancels out because Californians need to hop a big fence before skating Lockwood — please keep in mind that the New York version was built behind one of the most heavily trafficked bars in northern Brooklyn, and that is far more difficult to overcome than some stupid fence. It’s never easy :(

22. Dude, The Fish Re-Opened

2013: “Oh my God, the Fish is closing? What is so-and-so going to do?! He’s been going there for soooo long! It won’t be the same.”

2014: The Fish re-opened two blocks away, and so-and-so is still at the bar with a Jack and Coke.

The jocks are still in the corner being loud and playing Wu-Tang on the jukebox every Saturday.

The dude who never has money to buy his own drink is still standing against the wall waiting for you to buy him one.

The guy who will take anything with two legs home at 3:55 A.M. is still there smelling gross.

The girls poor enough to “have a thing for skaters” are still there a few seats away from him.

The drunk pros are still there every August, inadvertently reminding you to keep your opinion of them confined to their video parts.

And the people who stopped by for a beer are still stopping by before going to a better bar with more expensive drinks and dimmer lighting.

21. Some Guy Darkslides Down Black Hubba

New York’s second longest-standing, brand name skate obstacle (the first being the Flushing grate) has gone through a variety of phases in the Everyone-Is-Good-2.0 Era. It existed as a standard hubba ledge that was friendly to standard hubba ledge tricks for its first ten years. Then, Brandon Westgate opted to (probably) begin pushing from Kenmare Street and backside 5050ed up it, ushering in other “wrong way” maneuvers. Proceeding him, a once Quiksilver-endorsed Alexander Olson became one of the first to go over what others preferred top stay on top of, inspiring a new checklist on the Black Hubba ABD scroll. Years later, Olson’s more fashion-forward alter ego, Challex™, transformed the obstacle into a runway that he could backside lipslide down in different outfits.

In 2014, tricks down Black Hubba entered a different dimension. A French guy (of course) brought the genre of skateboarding currently being explored by Greco, Kremer et al. to our city of otherwise sparse Rodney v.s. Daewon YouTube search histories. Someone will casper slide down it by the end of next year, probably in a Welcome video.

Bonus Mini Top 10 — The Ten Best Skateboard Vines of 2014:

We at the QS office still have a soft spot for Vine. It might not be the most conducive medium for skateboarding given the whole six seconds thing, but there’s nothing that incites laughter quite the way a good Vine does. Shout out to Peter and all the Richmond dudes for holding Vine down.

Twenty years of Chocolate in six seconds
“Laterrrrrrr”
Fourth of July pool lipslide
“Fuck school”
5050 to window
Osiris’ new marketing strategy
Gylan.
Bank to bayou
“Let me watch a skate video first”
1. “I said give it to me!”