The Love Park Story

February 13th, 2011 | 10:05 am | Time Capsule | 3 Comments

“I saw a 411 opener of Ricky olling two cans off a propped up tile, and I thought that was the dopest looking thing I have ever seen on a skateboard. I told myself when I go back to Philly, I’m propping up them tiles and skating over those cans.”

If you spend any time on the skateboard-related part of the internet, you have no doubt seen part 2 of the Josh Kalis Epicly Later’d series. The series has already began dwelling on a lot of the east coast “golden era” stories, namely some of the lesser known political alliances that existed in Love Park as it was beginning to rise to prominence in the early-to-mid-nineties. Since the series is obviously more biographical of an individual (i.e. there’s obviously more to Kalis, Stevie, Ricky Oyola, etc. than just Love Park), it makes sense to share some biographical work that was done on the actual spot from seven years ago.

“Saga of a Skate Landmark” was a thirty-minute segment that originally appeared in the Winter 2004 issue of On Video Magazine. (For the few who may not know: On was a more documentary-esque approach to skateboard video magazines that lasted for the first few years of the 2000s, they would cover tours, skaters, and things like that, but their real strong suit was well-researched pieces like this, with solid interviews and archival footage. Basically, a lot like Epicly Later’d but less focussed on specific individuals as opposed to events, spots, etc.) The segment expands on a lot of the Kalis meeting Stevie story, and the Kalis versus Ricky angle, but overall, it is definitely wider in scope towards the actual spot, as it features interviews with the park’s original city planner, Photosythesis-era anecdotes, and plenty of amazing footage. The video used to be on Google Video, but has been giving “Not Available” errors for quite some time, so here it is on Vimeo.

Here’s the text message I received prior to seeing the new episode, as I was watching the Knicks embarrass themselves against the Clippers on Wednesday evening. It’s a humorous summary. Quote of the Day. Via Roctakon:

A New Era of Skateboard Media Has Begun

September 2nd, 2010 | 6:20 pm | Daily News | 4 Comments

“‘Cause you know I’m doing 300,000 every week! Unless they take the shit down, then I gotta throw it back up. Start me back at the beginning, but I’m still killin’ ‘em.“

Skateboarding is finally getting its head on straight and taking some welcome cues from the rap music media world. As we enter an age where everyone is good, and essentially spending their adolescence tailoring their skills in well-built skate plazas, personality-building supplementary materials may be needed to help distinguish Cory Kennedy from a kid that skates like Cory Kennedy. And this means more than just a Crailtap “Fives” where Mike Carroll’s status as the world’s greatest skateboarder is reaffirmed. Anyone can rap about coke, fat asses, and Louis Vuitton, much like anyone (well, anyone who’s good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand. Just as long as no one gets shot.

Yums, a shoe brand spearheaded by Soulja Boy, one of the greatest internet marketers in the history of the medium (I say this with utmost sincerity — you don’t have to like him, but if you disagree, then you’re wrong, simply put), took a saavy WorldStar-esque spin on the world of skate gossip in relation to the Manny Mania fight that seems to have eclipsed every other New York related skate event this past summer. We can only hope that this is the beginning of an endlessly entertaining path of Kat Stacks videos victimizing Alex Olson, or maybe a skateboard equivalent of the “oh you mad ’cause I’m stylin’ on you” classic.

(Stating this for no reason: The black suede Stevie Reebok is one of the most underrated skate shoes ever, if you have some pairs buried under your house because they were selling at stores for $30 at one point, e-mail me.)

Spotted via 48 Blocks. The fakie heel nosegrind at the end of the Pulaski line is pretty sick.

“Catch Me Today With a Canon or a Kodak, ‘Cause By Tomorrow, Yesterday Gonna Be a Throwback”

April 17th, 2007 | 10:43 pm | Time Capsule | 23 Comments

Every once in a while, we need to acknowledge the fact that we aren’t the center of the universe, and woodpushing, as an artform, a hobby, or just a mere thing you do when you’re not sniffing blow off the toilet seat in some L.E.S bar, extends beyond fall-off lists, injury lists, and the like. But we can’t drift too far off and acknowledge a scene outside of the few dozen square miles radiating from my desk, so here’s a new photo bag, dripping wet with golden-day New York City nostalgia. (In other words, most of the spots in the photos aren’t around anymore, or exist in different incarnations).

And before I put myself on the fall-off list, given that I try to throw up at least two updates a week, I got school shit, a meth addiction, and several money-making related projects (I need mine $$$) to distract me from providing you this wonderful website at no cost. As far as 99.5% of the rest of the skateboarding-revolving-internet goes, I got a better update ratio than them, so get off my..

Quote of the Week: “You guys are the most disorganized idiots I know.” – Alex Dymond.

If anyone has photos or knows of a hipster photoblog with photos from the abandoned house party on Grand Street & Mulberry last Saturday, please let us know. Either e-mail info@quartersnacks or post a link in the comments. I’ll send you some shit lying around Quarter Snacks international headquarters if the photos are good. Edit: Seriously, out of all you geeks that pretend to skate and go on here to stay up with the time, and own digital cameras, how is this report the only coverage I’ve seen online.