The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2012: 15-11

December 21st, 2012 | 2:26 pm | Features & Interviews | 8 Comments

knobs

Previously: #s 25-21, 20-16. Have a good weekend.

15. The Average Completion-of-Construction-to-Knobbing Time Frame For New Skate Spots Reaches an Unprecedented Low

New York continues to have issues with underreported hate crimes. For the first time ever, the under-construction spots that we have been eyeing for months have begun coming with pre-installed knobs (cue up Rob Welsh’s Free Your Mind intro.) Consult the too-good-to-be-true “Late Show Ledges” on Broadway, and even bad spots like those marble blocks across from the Hilton on Sixth or those shitty wooden ledges at the hospital by the Banks for examples, all of which got knobbed within a month of blockades coming down.

The Michigan Deposit Bottle Scam

October 8th, 2012 | 8:35 am | Daily News | 1 Comment

“No, an 18-wheeler’s no good. Too much overhead. You got permits, weigh stations, tolls. Look, you’re way out of your league.” You know that thing about life imitating art? Yeah. The Quartersnacks Michigan Bottle Deposit Scam Tour: Coming Soon. Our G & A goes down 50%!

If you ordered a tee or board, your package will be shipped tomorrow. Black tees are sold out online, but will be available at Supreme later this week.

You may have noticed that the entire school of which 12th & A is a part of has been completely fenced off. Well, the building is not condemned, like many had assumed. (There were rumors of a developer trying to get the school off the land in order to build condos some years back.) There is a structural defect on the eastern wall (12th & A is on the west side of the building), and the Board of Ed. had to temporarily close the school in order to administer emergency repairs. You can’t skate there for now, but hopefully, the spot remains when it’s re-opened.

It looks like summer now ends on Columbus Day instead of Labor Day. There’s a place you could go this winter, though. Cut back on the bars and start saving now.

Late, but Ice Cream rebooted their skate team with a few kids who have been ripping around New York these past few years. Not sure about Easter egg colored shoes, but new footage of Andre Beverley, Stephan Martinez and Jamel Marshall is always welcome.

Connor Champion’s full part from the NC-based 3Hunna video.

The Philadelphia City Council temporarily put a bill that would increase fines for skateboarding from $300 to $2,000 (with possibly up to 90 days in jail) on a temporary hold. Good thing a city that saw a 23% increase in murders last year has its priorities in order. Philly sucks.

Some dudes skating every single crusty bank spot in New York City. #noskateparks

Did Paulgar re-do his look to land some street style shots on menswear blogs?

Here’s an all-night MCVX montage. They skate Crosby Street and seem to be in favor bringing back skateboarding to the front of Union Square, something that has been on a consistent decline since summer 2004.

Fabian Alomar is currently facing 26-to-life in jail as part of California’s “three strikes” law (his “third strike” was a non-violent offense.) DGK released four minutes of largely unseen footage, claiming it would have been his Menace video part, had it actually ever come out. If Fabian has four minutes of footage, there’s got to be other people with unseen clips. Why don’t they just go ahead and release the entire “Menace Video?” Better 17-years-late than never. For now, DGK is selling tees with 100% of the proceeds going to Fabian’s legal fees.

One of the most beloved curbs in lower Manhattan (as seen in those Skate NYC clips from the late-80s and Aaron Szott’s Lurkers 2 section) is no more.

Quote of the Week
Non-Baseball Fan #1: “The Mets are for old Jewish guys.”
Non-Baseball Fan #2: “No, the Yankees are for old Jewish guys.”
Both Non-Baseball Fans Together: “…baseball is for old Jewish guys.”


Downtown got really bad this past weekend.

Turn On the Lights

September 17th, 2012 | 9:19 am | Daily News | 1 Comment

“It may look like a skatepark, but you can’t skate here.” — Volume 2

Four decades ago, Louis Kahn unintentionally designed an incredible skate spot, which is just now being opened to the public. The chances of ever being able to skate there for an excess of twenty seconds are likely non-existant.

“I get mad bodied.” Kevin Tierney stretching the grammatical boundaries of modern New York slang, and out-of-towners raising awareness of the disdain for “Two times if you know me” greetings in the northeast, in yet another “Summer in New York” clip.

Island Music is a video entirely filmed in Long Island by the same crew that brought you Missing Persons (which strangely disappeared from YouTube) last year. Based off the teaser, it looks like it’s going for a similar black-and-white jazzy feel. Anything inspired by the by the best skate montage in skate montage history is cool.

Skateboarding, fiction writing, and uh, Mike Carroll’s Modus Operandi part.

Where would east coast skateboarding be without the wallie? This clip has a lot of wallies, wallrides, and other NY/NJ/PA skate hallmarks.

Apple could call the iPhone 4S a different name, and millions of people would still ditch the current model for it. Crazy.

Is Palace the next Apple? The next Supreme? The next Menace? The next Maybach Music? Because this is wild (£137 = ~$220.) Also in the realm of skate-gear resale values, Lamborghinis apparently appreciate in value.

Events: 1) Polar Skateboards, Thrasher, Converse, KCDC, etc. are holding a Bum Rush the Spot event at the BQE Lot off Lorimer this Saturday, September 22 from 4 to 6 P.M., followed by a Polar art show at KCDC. 2) File under “Demos Grown-Ups Might Attend” — Cliché and DQM are holding a demo at the L.E.S. Park on Thursday, so you could see French Mariano skate in real life.

Spot Updates: 1) The remaining ledges at Seaport that were not knobbed, have all been barricaded off as of a few days ago. Again, New York sucks sometimes. Developers are idiots. Spot’s done. 2) Those new good material / bad set-up ledges on 53rd and Sixth got knobbed. 3) Oh, and those new high wooden blocks by the Banks / Fulton Street Burger King (R.I.P.) also got knobbed.

Our homie Ren made his first music video. Unlike Black Donald Trump, he doesn’t skate, but his video is chill. Everybody raps.

And once again: If you can’t ollie up it, don’t ollie down it.

Quote of the Week:


“29 Random Things That Happened at #NYFW.” Check #9. We out here.

Here’s To Feeling Good All the Time

July 30th, 2012 | 9:27 am | Daily News | 6 Comments

Our two friends, Adam Abada and Zach Baker, are taking upon themselves the intensive task of skateboarding from Boston to New York (on non-cruiser wheels) starting later this week. Read more about the project on their website, BackStreetAtlas.com, and follow the trip on Twitter/Instagram via @backstreetatlas.

Here’s a Cincinnati crew’s clip of a trip to New York. Features various Dobbin Block personalities. It seems that someone editing a skate clip to a song off the new Nas album happened quicker than everyone forgetting about it altogether. (“Oh Nas has a new album out? Is it in the ‘Best Nas album since It Was Written‘ category or the ‘Best Nas album since Stillmatic‘ category?”) Though to be fair, the clip is edited to one of Life is Good‘s better moments. The album’s highlight is him actually admitting he makes music for people stuck in the 90s.

Another early entry in the annual cycle of “Summer Trip to New York” clips, which usually lasts from late-July to mid-October. There’s a sick homage to Loki’s signature Astor Place move at 0:51.

Skateboarding over flood damage via The Weather Channel. *Insert skateboard documentary cliché about how “Skaters, like, totally see the world differently, dude.”*

Dedleg has a post up compiling the world’s greatest abominations of skatepark obstacles. Speaking of which, who’s the genius that built a concrete ramp up to a curb at the Fat Kid Spot?

New updates over at Phatstylez. A G-Man tribute, a Droors resurgence, No Limit gear and some other things.

In our weekly “Trip to Boston” link, Lurker Lou, Tyler, Kennedy Cantrell and the rest of the Iron Claw crew went up there to skate planets and eggs.

Brian Wenning has a new board company. If you were forced to make a decision, who would you rather skate for, Lockdown or Selfish? Jenkem Mag also has a new interview with Wenning about the company.

Watch Connor Champion’s part from the 2010 North Carolina-based YOUGOTTAGETTHAT video because A) He skates to Petey Pablo and B) He does a flatground kickflip in a line. Flatground kickflips in lines need to make a comeback.

Spot Updates: 1) The city removed the fat flat rails that were across the street from the Citibank building in Long Island City. 2) They knobbed another ledge at the Seaport. 3) Not sure how recent this is, but another mythological food establishment in downtown Manhattan skateboard lore has closed down. R.I.P. Wendy’s on Water Street. It now joins the ranks of the Fulton Street Burger King and the Water Street Burritoville.

Quote of the Week: “She’s hot, but she works at Alexander Wang, which is like working in a female trash compactor.” — Baptiste


“Oh yeah. I’ve been known to drink a beer or two. But then again, I’ve been known to do a lot of things.”

‘NO ARM & HAMMER IN MY HANNAH MONTANA’

July 16th, 2012 | 9:14 am | Daily News | 10 Comments

Everyone skateboards now! Miley Cyrus is into it! Rihanna skates! This girl skates! Everyone skates! What a fun way to get your cardio in! Sk8 or die, girls! Derek Zoolander |*ngb**rds! When is the male model game of S.K.A.T.E? My money’s on Ted.

12th & A lives. There was an East Village community board meeting this past Thursday to decide its fate, and skateboarding prevailed. It’s open 5-8 P.M. on weekdays, 12-8 P.M. on Saturdays, and unfortunately closed on Sundays. Better than nothing. Hopefully, it will open earlier during late-fall and winter weekdays, since it gets dark at 4:30. (Also, there’s a new ~15-foot-long round flatbar there, and they sawed the legs off the larger picnic table to make it “Cali size.”)

“Gyro” is a montage filmed in New York over the course of two weeks via the same crew that brought you the SF-based Chunder and VHS1K videos.

Some kid wallrid off that giant bottle sculpture near 57th Street on the Westside Highway, which is pretty gnarly. It would make a great photo. Photo here. That trick, and six minutes of other NY/NJ/Philly-based footage in this “Gravity Hammers” clip.

Death Video throwaway clips set to the soothing sounds of 2 Chainz.

The first summer edition “Diamond Days” video (#62) is now online. It utilizes the early frontrunner for “Song of the Summer 2012,” Cash Out’s “Cashing Out” A.K.A. “Yeah, it’s the ‘Racks’ of 2012, but it’s not as good as ‘Racks.’” Grown & Sexy S.O.T.S. early honorable mention: Usher “Climax,” which would’ve been in five skate videos by now if it was by some white girl who moved to Brooklyn from the midwest.

Nate Rojas’ part from Five on That is on YouTube. He 5050s the kinked handrail outside the Tribeca jail skatepark.

“Oh no, I’m completely fine. I do this all the time. Have a nice day.”

The Museum of Modern Art in Finland claims to currently have “the world’s first large scale skatable sculptural installation” on its premises. Stadium did that, like, last year, bro. Though to be fair, the Finnish one is a superior “skateable sculpture” for “normal” people and not Zered Bassett.

SPOT UPDATES: 1) The rail gap and keyhole ledge at CBS are now blocked off by scaffolding. 2) The gas station on 15th & 10th with the flat rails got torn down. Near the end of this clip, Gigliotti does a line there in a controversial hat. (Aren’t there ~six gas stations south of 96th Street? Why the hell are they tearing them down?) 3) Those awful marble windowsill ledges on 4th and Bowery got knobbed.

Quote of the Week:


Straight bling-bling, whip it with an antenna…


Supreme