Given the ups and downs that the bust at this spot has experienced over the past decade-plus, it’s a shocker this step has taken so long: as of this morning, maintenance crews have began knobbing the ledges at Big Screen.
It was supposed to get knobbed back when the building first boarded the park off in July 2020 — after the park got too wild at the start of the pandemic (there’s footage from that era where you literally see people having sex in the background of people’s lines), but then they simply …re-opened it. For years, security guards and maintenance dudes have been alluding to the fact that “something” was about to change there, so it looks like this is what they meant.
There has seldom been a Manhattan spot that incited thoughts of “Well, what did you think was going to happen when you built this?” quite like Forbidden Banks did.
Located between an apartment building and the Jamaican Consulate, this maybe five-foot-high brick embankment lead up to an uninviting wooden platform. The spot was nestled between so many tall buildings that it rarely encountered natural light; there are far better parks nearby for an office worker to enjoy lunch, and few people ever chilled here.
The plaza did, however, invite an unintentional activity.
This spot had been around since many of us were kids skating midtown for the first time. It earned its name because you could consider yourself lucky if you got more than a try-and-a-half. How they hadn’t skateblocked it after decades of trench warfare with security and doormen was one of New York skateboarding’s great mysteries.
We began the decade by burning an impossible over a bench into memory — a trick that had, with a few exceptions, largely sat dormant for the better part of twenty years.
Tallying every trick that had gone down at every gap became burdensome. The best real estate for a switch tre down D7 in 2015 was the part of a Johnny Wilson clip when the drums began to cut out of a Moodymann song. (Jk, that clip is one of the best things of the past decade. Switch tre is obvs beast too.)
“So, you’re smoking weed on the plane at…13-years-old.” This Steven Cales “Nine Club” interview is full of gems from late-80s and early-90s New York. If you want some footage accompaniments to the people/companies/places/era he talks about a lot, check these 88-92 Skate N.Y.C. videos that surfaced on YouTube back in 2011.
Theories of Atlantis is at the helm of a new wheel company called Dial Tone MFG. They have a new edit up featuring teamriders Jahmal Williams, Alexis Sablone, others.
With every New Yorker’s favorite L.A. spot reaching an unfortunate demise, Andrew Allen provides us with the story behind the day when he backside flipped into the main bank at L.A. High.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: By the looks of it, this might be the final installment of the Sports Desk until the fall, but gotta give it to J.R. Smith running to the liquor store in the final two seconds of an NBA Finals game.
Quote of the Week: “So, Die Antwoord is these white people who rap.” — E.J.
