Keeping it moving with the new 10-10-5 format :) Previously in 2016: 25-16
Past Editions: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
15. Astor Renovation
Two years ago, we lost a zen-like intersection of flatground that intertwined with all vibrant walks of life — the greatest non-spot in this history of skateboarding. It was, however, replaced with actual skateable obstacles this year: decent-enough beveled benches, a gap that replicated BAM’s ledge-to-street gap, and a Flushing-width flatground gap that Jason Byoun switch Muska flipped. The spot’s original meditative qualities dissolved into cement fairy dust, but at least it’s something to skate for now, even if the overall aesthetic of the new Astor Place is “we ran out of money.”
14. Vogue Skate Week
Just as the 2016 election was something that nobody thought could happen until it did — only for everyone to realize “oh, of COURSE this happened” — Vogue‘s “Skate Week” was the year’s far second place example of underestimating the obvious.
13. Yaje Skates Over the Williamsburg Bridge Holding a Flatbar
Though there is no video of this feat, sometimes folklore is best left to the spoken word. Following the closure of the Nike SB Garage this past spring, one of T.F’s native sons, Yaje Popson, salvaged the indoor spot’s flatbar and skated over the Williamsburg Bridge, across town, and to T.F. West by himself while holding the rail (3.6 miles.) Needless to say, it lasted a whopping two weeks locked up at the spot before the Parks bandits took it.
12. Spot of the Year
The flip side to it being borderline impossible to maintain a small business in New York, is that we get to skate whatever spot a store may have out front for six months after it closes, and before it turns into a Duane Reade.
11. Pretentious Self-Felatio in the Big Apple — Part TWO
Skateboarding in New York moves at a fickle light-speed. Since the straight-to-Vimeo release of the original “P.S.F.I.T.B.A.,” we’ve grown tired of camo, replaced Black Moon’s finite back catalog with endless #skatevideohouse Soundclouds, and become unfairly branded as the city with a vendetta against crustaceans.
10. The Water Street Resurgence
2016 was a vicious reminder that history goes in circles. Just two years after this very same countdown series declared Water Street all but dead, the Pyramid Ledges are unknobbed, the Veteran’s Memorial manual pad made famous by Pappalardo’s Fully Flared part has seen more coverage than ever before, people are skating those benches next to the C-Benches, and the adjacent Pace Ledge had its massive crack patched up + its ABD scroll erased.
9. Antonio’s Lenox Line
Throwing flatground tricks at the would-be end of a line is as old as skateboarding itself. Superfluous 360 flips in the street have been an increasing point of contention by purists, especially if the specimen isn’t in the upper .1-percentile of the given trick. However, the existence of skateboarding’s cheapest move was rebranded this year, when Antonio Durao used a Street League fluff piece to rattle off 43 flatground tricks down St. Nicholas Avenue after a two-trick Lenox line.
8. 86ed from Sunshine
As skateboarders in America, we generally don’t have an easy time in public spaces. Except at Sunshine Cinemas, which was Europe inside of a box, in that it tolerated all of the things European countries allow in public spaces (including skateboards…and…you know.) Shout out to Maria Davis and Mad Wednesdays, because this is why we don’t have anything: skate premieres got labeled unwelcome this year unless you fork over a massive security deposit due to…let’s not get into it.
Thanks for putting up with our shit all these years, Sunshine.
7. Plug
After spending the decade as skateboarding’s most oft-bitten video franchise, Bronze scaled back the nineties web iconography and #deepyoutube finds to bring the world its most straightforward project since Sognar + the first Phil Rodriguez part since Caviar.
6. A Victory for Straight [fucking] Ledges
We spent the better part of the period when New York knobbed a skatepark lobbying for better quality of ledges in this city. Five years later, it paid off. The Fat Kid Skatepark contains four of exactly what we asked for: borderline carbon copies of the now defunct Seaport 4.0 ledges, right down to the same exact ground.
Bonus Mini Five — Best #musicsupervison of 2016
– Rod Stewart – “Don’t You Think I’m Sexy” in “Faces” by Ben Chadourne.
– Letta Mbulu – “Normalizo” in Landon Avramovic’s Antisocial Video part [the most I’ve ever used Shazam watching a skate video.]
– Fabolous – “So Into You” in Tyler Warren’s Antisocial Video part
– Vince Guaraldi Trio – “Linus And Lucy” A.K.A. Pat Duffy’s Secondhand Smoke song in Genesis Evans’ Twisted Illusions part [time machine x2]
– Ross From Friends – “Talk To Me You’ll Understand” in Yaje Popson’s DANY part [can you believe we’re only three years removed from the un-ironic-ization of Daft Punk that — along with Palace videos — ultimately opened the floodgates to #skatevideohouse.]
tree in astor dirt gap now
Damn should we chop it down