Spots: New Jersey — Jersey City
Spot: Anybody who rides a skateboard can attest to the fact that most warehouse districts are treasure troves for skateable terrain. But as developers continue to have their way with downtowns and warehouse regions throughout the New York area, a lot of what we used to skate gets torn down in favor of “artist lofts” that keep the aesthetic of industrial warehouses they replaced, but none of the skate spots.
A lot of the more “famous” terrain, recognizable from early-2000s videos like Habitat’s Mosaic and Josh Stewart’s Static II is long gone. The most recognizable being a bank to ledge / ramp to manual pad / drop to bank combination that Rob Pluhowski kickflip manualed in a 2004 Habitat ad. Otherwise, an ensemble of gaps off loading docks over rails and steps have been dismantled and replaced with newer concrete ones, topped off with fences along the perimeter that make them useless for our purposes. Several short and low handrails here that have landmark status as “my first rail” many locals that came here from 2000-2005 have also been completely taken out. Even the manufacturing elements that have remained here have somewhat dwindled in their contribution to making this the great spot it once was. There is a stage company here that designs various sets for New York-based productions, and over the years they have left behind everything from stacks and stacks of movable manual pads, full-on wedge ramps, five-foot-tall banks that were movable with the help of a few friends, and movable philly steps. Nothing that exciting has shown up here for years, making the previously common place of stopping by the company’s dumpsters on any given weekend you happen to be skating in Jersey City, a ritual with a lost purpose.
What remains is still a bunch of loading docks, which admitedly are not much fun for most people over the age of fourteen. Occasionally there are metal filing cabinets and wooden desks that can be set up off the docks as ledges, or maybe a car parked perpendicular to a higher dock that could potentially be ollied over as long as the inevitable ire of the owner if he catches sight of you is not an immense concern. There are several stair sets, namely a five, and two sets of sixes, but they do not serve much of a purpose as you can find better sets at the Post Office five blocks south on Washington Boulevard. There is one street gap that is one of the few of its kind in the area. The runway for it is down a smooth handicap ramp. It is a curb to curb gap over about six feet, onto another approximatley eight-foot-high concrete platform, so it is often utilized as a gap to manual sort of obstacle.
Across Second Street, at the BJ’s parking lot, there is a gap over a two-foot-high highway divider into a concrete bank. The bank itself is pretty short, and not too steep. The runway for it will either grant you only one push, or require a curve-in depending on the trick you intend to try. There may occasionally be a tractor trailer parked directly in front of it, but the chances of that happening are slimmer if you come on the weekend.
Bust — ♦ / Rare: You might get kicked out of the street gap after a while, but otherwise, you’re good.
Location: Located in the entire region spanning from 2nd Street to Montgomery Street on Warren Street, and ranging over west all the way over to Marin Boulevard in Downtown Jersey City. If you’re coming from Uptown or Queens, take the B, D, F, V, N, Q, R or W to 34th Street — Herald Square and transfer to a Journal Square bound PATH train, and take it to Pavonia-Newport (first stop in New Jersey, less than a ten minute ride from Manhattan.) If you’re coming from Downtown or Brooklyn, take the A, C, E, 2, or 3 to World Trade Center and take a Newark or Hoboken bound PATH train to Pavonia-Newport. Once you get out, make a left on Washington Boulevard and go south until you reach 2nd Street. Make a right on 2nd, and skate east for one block.
Pictures (Click to Enlarge):
