Spots: Downtown Manhattan — Tribeca & West Village

The back of Union was remodeled in late-2008, and had its oft-skated backyard wasteland that would usually be the sight of wooden scraps, newspaper boxes and scrunched up construction cones stripped of any actual skateable concrete fixtures that were once there. There’s no more manual pad, street gaps, or waxed curbs, just an abundance of flatground with the aforementioned scraps, boxes, and cones, in addition to a handful of people unaware any other place to skate in the entire city. But I guess that is a good thing. God forbid any of the Union-only locals should make their way to Midtown or Battery Park. Skate spots would begin to look like raves, flea markets of b-list company products, and viable locations for promoting parties.

The only real reason to ever go to Union would be to meet up with someone as an in-between for the day’s downtown session and the night’s midtown session, provided that you are one of the few left capable of withstanding such immense physical strain, and have not sold yourself short in believing you are only capable of doing four ledge tricks a day, leaving yourself to “chill” for the remainder with a clear conscience.

This 17th Street cesspool of ravers, squatters, runaways, thugs, and sneakerheads-turned-”skateboarders” is also a good place to sell or buy a set of wheels at 10:30 on a Friday night if you happen to not make it to the local shop, but that is not exactly the sort of thing you want to admit out loud.

“Where did you get your wheels?”
“Oh, the back of Union. He wanted $35 but I gave him $10.”

Such a conversation is never a good sign.

If you want to seem dated and skate the front, know that it is largely off limits whenever it is warm outside until the wee hours of the night, and during December, when they set up a holiday fair full of makeshift stores and leave them there overnight. However, people will attempt to skate in front, or at least pretend to do so, due to the overwhelming amount of women walking by, making it a more suitable location for sightseeing than actually achieving anything on a board. Terrian-wise, there are a few curved curbs, one high ledge at the very top that has not been waxed since 2001, two sets of four, and some high rails over which you can skate into a handicap ramp.

Bust Factor — ♦♦ / Occasional: You should never get kicked out of the back, but on very rare occasions, especially during that wretched time at the end of the month when rookie cops need to fill their quotas, tickets and board confiscations have been known to happen in the front. Otherwise, just stay away from here in the daytime to avoid the crowds, and you are free to do whatever.

Location: Located on 14th Street and Broadway. Take the 4, 5, 6, N, R or L to 14th Street – Union Square and walk outside.

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