Spots: Downtown Manhattan — Financial District

Update — Fall 2011:

You cannot skate here at night anymore because the building barricades the entire plaza off due to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. There are cops always posted across the street, so moving the barricades probably isn’t the best idea either.

Spot: Running alongside the southern end of the building’s is a marble three-up, five-down, with about sixty feet of space in between to throw in a flatground trick for a line. The three-up could only be approached from the side (i.e., not straight on), and the landing for the five is only about five feet wide because there’s a city map structure to the right of the steps. There are some benches and dirt gaps at the upper portions of the plaza, but you are liable to get kicked out of them a lot quicker.

Bust — ♦♦♦ / Half-and-half: The plaza is no longer under as tight security as it once was following 9/11, so the previously ubiquitous outdoor security presence is not the central detractor of the spot. The security still remains on the inside, and will occasionally make patrols around the building, so that is the only way they will typically spot you, seeing as how the spot rests on a lower level than the otherwise elevated portion of the plaza, so you are in good shape in terms of avoiding kick outs. The spot is a part of one of the larger buildings in the Wall Street area, so there are insane amounts of pedestrians walking up and down the steps during working hours. The spot is one block north of Wall Street, so you should get the idea. Come after 8 P.M. or on a weekend.

Location: Pine Street between Nassau Street and William Street. Take the J, M or Z to Broad Street, and skate north on Nassau Street (Broad Street turns into Nassau Street) for one block. Make a right on Pine Street and the spot is in the middle of the block, on the north side of the street.

Pictures (Click to Enlarge):