Spots: Uptown Manhattan — Harlem & Morningside

Update — Fall 2011:

You get kicked out of here now, which is lame considering local kids from Morningside/Harlem and the few Columbia students who actually skate have been coming here worry-free for ten-plus years. The security installed “No Skateboarding” signs and started enforcing this over the past few months. They’ll tell you to leave if you throw your board down near the ledges, and they typically don’t leave until 6 P.M. or so.

Spot: As far as ledges over steps are concerned, this is probably the best spot you could find. The runway is perfect and smooth, the ledges grind and slide well, are at a perfect height (around a foot-and-a-half) and length (four feet), and best of all, you don’t get kicked out.

The notorious ledge-to-bank is out back, originally made famous by Anthony Pappalardo’s Mosaic part, and skated by countless people since. It is a four-foot-long ledge into a bank down thirteen stairs, with a kink at the end. You also need to curve out to avoid running into the grass below. The runway is choppy, but it is not the sort of thing you want to skate with tons of speed.

Aside from the ledges, there is smooth flatground and a couple of curbs in front.

It is also a prominent location in the 2 Chainz and Vado video for “Lo Boots.”

Bust — ♦♦♦ / Half-and-half: Security is usually here until 5 or 6 P.M., and many of them will kick you out. Unfortunately, when it gets dark early in the fall and winter, you can’t really skate here because the spot is pretty dark.

Location: 122nd Street and Riverside Drive. Take the 1 to 116th Street–Columbia University. Skate west for one block until you hit Riverside Drive, make a right, and skate north for six blocks. The spot is on the west side of the street.

Pictures (Click to Enlarge):