Spots: Midtown Manhattan — Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen & Midtown West

Spot: Columbus Circle was remodeled in the summer of 2006 to modernize the area in honor of AOL-Time Warner’s newly built structure, and liven up the park from the dilapidated condition it was in prior to the renovation.

There are six up-ledges on a pretty heavy curve that require massive amounts of speed and wax in order to get any distance on them. There are weird sculptures in front of the beginnings but they do not really effect your ability to skate them, as you’d be curving in whether they were there or not. There are a bunch of knee high ledges stacked on top of each other in the fountains of this spot, although they can only be skated during the winter when the fountains are empty. In the center of the spot is a statue structure set atop of three oversized steps that can be skated either as mini-gaps with short runways, manual pads, or low ledges. These would probably be the most well-waxed things throughout the plaza. There are also a couple very low, foot and a half high metal pillars coming out of the ground at the entrance points. Be careful your board doesn’t slip out, because it will inevitably get ran over by a cab unless it’s very late at night.

Bust — ♦♦ / Occasional: On very rare occasions, namely when the the fountains are off and not there to muffle the noise of your skateboard, people from the apartment buildings will call the cops on you, and sometimes they will show up and tell you to leave (occasionally, they will take your name down, but tickets are unlikely.) Otherwise, you can only skate here at night, or when it is cold out because the park is covered with people eating their lunches from Whole Foods during the day. During the day, you’ll spend your time dodging pedestrians and being frustrated with people sitting all over any potential thing you would want to skate, so it is not worth it unless it is the wintertime.

Location: Eighth Avenue and 59th Street. Take the A, C, 1, B or D train to 59th Street–Columbus Circle, and the spot is right outside.

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