Was tempted to call this a “bro cam” video, but it’s more. A lot of great skating here: “The 306 Video” by Neil Herrick features the 306 crew, and a lot of surprises along the way. Mostly city stuff, with a bit of upstate. The monster shuv 5050 on Courthouse was so sick.
Enjoyed this one a lot: “Lidocaine,” a seven-minute New York video by Robert Marohn. One of the great joys of watching local videos is seeing people find new ways to skate shit that buildings or the city recently skate-blocked 😈 — good bit of that in here, plus footy of the infamous 95th & Columbus brick bank spot.
Ewan Creed — who hasn’t put anything on his YouTube since The Bot Video 2 nearly four years ago (time is insane…fuck) — uploaded this montage of unused footy, with a part worth of unseen Mecca clips at the start, some young(er) Kyota footy, and other highlights from the era when the Broome Street median was a popping spot 🕰
The only constant is change or some shit like that ;)
So much nineties New York footage on the #repost circuit is us re-mining R.B. Umali’s amazing archive over and over that it’s a shock to see something from then that you haven’t seen before. Alex Corporan started going through all his old tapes, and put together a montage as a preview for a Revisted-esque project he’s working on.
New York has quite literally never felt like it does right now in this quarantined liminal space that we are in. The level of quiet in Manhattan at 8 P.M. is incomparable to even the deadest, coldest Sunday night in a residential zone. Obviously, there’s a reason for this, in that we all must do our part to minimize human contact so that COVID-19 can be contained, hospitals can maintain a semblance of functionality, and we can begin to burrow out of this chapter. Mobbing to skate midtown and being a responsible member of society are clearly at odds right now.
However, the current state of the city did bring up memories of a different disruptive event: Hurricane Sandy.
→ Please sign the petition to show your support for keeping the asphalt at the Tompkins Square Park courts. This space is as sacred to skateboarding and the East Village as the Rucker or the West 4th Street courts are to basketball. It would be a massive loss to the youth and cultural fabric of the neighborhood if they were covered with synthetic turf. We are a few hundred shy of 25,000 (!!!) signatures, so please please please share the petition with your friends, and on your respective social channels.
After many years of captivity, the Zipper Ledge is finally free and dressed with a fresh, yellow paintjob, as first reported by @mini_spots. (Don’t ask for pin! That’s like asking where the Empire State Building is!) If only the park starts opening the gate at Yellow Rail, then the entire Morningside little kid skate scene circa 2003 will be in full revival.
One of the hardest things about interviewing skateboarders is not asking the same ten things that the last few interviews they did asked. It’s special and rare when you get someone for their first one. Caleb Barnett did his first ever interview with the Slam City Skates blog.
Just got back from Greece, so maybe there’s a heightened awareness thing going on, but it kinda seems like ~going to Greece~ is becoming more ofa moment now that a second generation of Americans has successfully re-done the entire list of ABDs from the 2000s at the Le Dome double-set ;) ANYWAY! You should watch the new sixteen-minute edit from our Greek friends at Screw Loose Fastening Co. to break you out of the République / Southbank / Barcelona / etc. European content spiral. It looks different, and is a lot of fun.
Elsewhere in a northern corner of the state: b-sides and extras via the Buffalo-based Jeb video that we linked up a bunch of parts from last year. Another upstate trip is definitely still on the 2019 resolutions list.
“The history of skateboarding is the history of the built environment, and of the ruins left by overreach.” Here’s a really rad photo essay about how hill-heavy condo developments in North Carolina that were left all but abandoned by the Great Recession have become ripe for skateboarding.
“Stranger Than Paradise” is the new mini vid from our new gen Miami friends at Andrew Skateshop:
“Places are all very different but also the same, right? A lot of it is what you carry around in your head.” Big past week for Jacob Harris on the ol’ non-Thrasher, non-Instagram skateboard content circuit: Atlantic Drift’s auteur talks to the Slam City Skates blog about his process and how Las Vegas is kinda the same as London at the end of the day ♥
How insane is it that the two French skate spots most recognizable to Americans have simply been, like, renovated and restored to brand new condition over the past twelve months? There’s actually this cool place by the Brooklyn Bridge that could use a similar treatment, but that probably makes too much sense, right? :(
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Enjoy Giannis in these cute early years before you have to get used to him breaking your team’s heart for the next ~decade are so.
Quote of the Week: “The Sombrero is the only spot in New York that isn’t a bust.” — Cyrus Bennett
