“Smith knows that what becomes of Mosquito Beach is likely out of his hands. But that doesn’t dampen his impulse to keep building these spaces.” New York magazine’s Curbed publication profiled Pat Smith, Jerry Mraz, and the D.I.Y. skatepark scene in New York City, with Mosquito Beach as the focal point. (Apparently, a “sewage bomb” was unleashed on Newtown Creek following the storm last Wednesday, so it should be an interesting situation over there for a bit…)
“The era in which TD, Seagram, and similar plazas were constructed can be considered a ‘goldilocks’ moment in modern history, where the design of successful public spaces did not preclude the eventuality of skateboarding.” Michael Barker chronicles the simultaneously monumental and accidental influence of Mies van der Rohe in modern skateboarding for Village Psychic.
“Wumbus Video” is an eight-minute video from Tom Albin, who brought you the Public Skateboarding full-length from late last year. Kickflip back smith on the curb to Billy Joel ender was fire :)
Frame via Mehring. Sorry that Rob’s a bit blurry. Hate hate HATE that Instagram replaced Tumblr for things that Tumblr was way better at doing, e.g. not compressing skate photos into goddamn 700px size, but then again, I’m sure someone was going on about the same thing when all the mags were going under, so…
The first Blobys edit in over a year! This one got a good deal of burn these past few days. Roman Gonzalez is the all-time leading scorer of making visual poetry out of tricks nobody else is getting away with :)
Lurker Lou premiered his new part — filmed entirely in purple Adidas Campus shoes he kept finding in Cape Cod Marshall’s locations — on a box truck decked out with L.E.D. screens this past weekend. Village Psychic made a video profile with Lou about his footwear-based artwork over on their site.
It seems like we traded our annual office tradition of late posts on the Monday during Fashion Week for late posts on the Monday after Glory Challenge. No seasoned QS reader expected an on-time update today though, let’s be honest ;)
Before we get started, let’s talk about perseverance in the face of adversity. No matter what skate trick got away from you, what job interview didn’t call you back, what crush blocked your number…there is always hope. Even if it’s four years, and four broken boards later — maybe you too, one day, will be the recipient of a celebratory “oooohhhhh yeaaaaaahhh” from Alexis Lacroix. It is all a matter of patience and dedication.
FYI: Most remaining stuff in our webstore is on sale.
I know Vice articles about skateboarding tend to get a bad rap on the comments here, but this one is actually pretty good! Zach Harris on the “trend” of skateboarders not treating their bodies like garbage cans anymore. (Save everyone who spent the last three days in Montreal, I imagine.)
And on that note: “Will skateboarding’s notoriously rapid generational churn soon spur a backlash against sober, thoughtful life choices, and bring about a new era of ‘hammer’ tricks, illegitimate children and unpaid debt?” …probably?
It is wild how much the spot selection in even a skate heaven like Barcelona managed to change over the course of a decade. Tombo uploaded some old footage from a trip out there in 2005 with Puleo, a young Brandon Westgate, and others.
“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.
These “new old” clips can be hit-or-miss (often miss), but Tombo’s 2000-2010 one that dropped late last week is an incredible document. It encapsulates the entire first decade of east coast skateboarding in this millennium — brown pants, first-wave cellar door searchers, Justin Barnes cameos, I-Paths, ABC Ledges, etc. Also, why does it still feel like Brandon Westgate has been 20-years-old for the past 15 years?
It’s that time of year when the Barcelona clips really start to roll in. Spencer Hamilton, Dana Ericson, Brian Delaney, Nick Ferro and Wade D. went out to the land of zero skate spots and came back with a sick clip for Grand Collection.
Much respect to Uru out in Japan for distributing and spreading the word about QS, Alltimers and other hot skateboard brands in the far east. Skateboard Story has an interview with him about his operation.
