TRENDWATCH 2012: The T.F. Summer Trend Report

April 19th, 2012 | 10:21 am | Daily News | 5 Comments

Four months into 2012 and we can already determine which status symbols will dominate this summer at the T.F. The photo above is a routine slice of modern T.F. life, encompassing all of the styles relevant to a summer 2012 stint at Tompkins Square Park. Here are the five most heavily trending developments.

1) Camo: For the second year in a row, the consumer-base for camo continues to expand. Earlier this year, it was predicted that sweatpants would overtake camo’s New York-based marketshare, but their ascent has been slow to say the least. On the other hand, camo experienced nearly threefold growth. Discussions of whether or not camo “has gone too far” are rising, but not more rapidly than the adoption of new patterns and new customers (there are three different swatches in the picture above.)

2) Palace Shirts: With Autumn limited to an online operation (Autumn had dominated the graphic t-shirt market at the T.F. for the past 10 years), the London-based brand found itself a niche in an environment where the blank white tee is otherwise king. Though the triangle tee was sought after by insiders last summer, the brand’s expansion and thus a wider availability has made it one of 2012′s must-haves, even for those who are typically weary of the graphic t-shirt.

3) Cargoes: One of the more memorable door-guy moments in recent history was Big Rob from Lit denying someone by telling him, “Between the cargo pants and the laptop bag, it’s not happening tonight.” That was in 2008, when Lit was still somewhat relevant. Now that it is no longer relevant, perhaps it switched places with the previously frowned upon cargo pockets, which have crept their way back into relevancy and wardrobe rotations among the T.F. faithful.

Call My Accountant, He Gonna Make It Do Magic

April 16th, 2012 | 12:29 pm | Daily News | 5 Comments

Is this a photo from the T.F. or an unseen production still from City of God?

Last week, Skateboarder ran a “25 Questions” feature with #PhatStylez co-founder, Jack Sabback. Ice coffee, switch shove-its, and Commodore nachos are all chill.

Bill Pierce’s part from the KCDC video is now online. The Juicy J skate part is still heavily trending in 2012. (Loosely related: “Girls who like Juicy J are the worst.” — Matt Mooney.) You can find some other parts from the video here.

Due to the song, this clip is a mandatory post. Hard to tell where it’s based out of, but the description was astute enough to acknowledge the song’s best line, so it doesn’t matter.

Jereme Rogers A.K.A. J.R. Blastoff was spotted at Tompkins and interviewed on a variety of subjects: making the world a better place, Audemars, “raising human consciousness,” Honda Civics being the dirty white tee shirts of cars, and Lurker Lou not saying “Hi” to him.

Some footage of the Washington Heights homies. (C.R.E.A.M. > Y.O.L.O.)

There’s a new quarterpipe at the lot under the BQE in Williamsburg. Here are some tricks on it.

Principal QS shareholder, Alexander Mosley, has been living in Puerto Rico for the past half-year. He has a line in the middle of this Mayagüez skate plaza clip.

That short loading dock to cellar door bank spot on Canal and Washington Street is gone. They removed the bank. Watch Jose Pereyra’s part from the 2008 2nd Nature video because he has an ender on it.

New wooden bench spot downtown. It sucks, but people are still going to skate it.

Weird. The 11th and Wythe Street ledge turned into a hotel.

Quote of the Week
Inquisitive Gentleman: “What’s the whitest trick in skateboarding? A benihana?”
Neal Santos: “The whitest trick in skateboarding is snowboarding.”


Don’t forget to do your taxes.

The Week in T.F. [West] Videos

April 13th, 2012 | 2:35 pm | Footage | 4 Comments

Office sports season has officially started at the T.F. The softball paralegals are wielding their permits as they hijack the park, and the guys playing street hockey in gym shorts and yamakas continue to wish they were as cool as the under-40 Jewish basketball league. The paralegals haven’t called the cops yet, but they inevitably will, especially when key derelicts decide they’re too dumb or too high to care if they get hit in the head with a softball while practicing switch mob flips.

What many casual T.F. patrons don’t know, is that there is an arguably superior slab of baseball diamond concrete on the other side of the island. It falls short of Tompkins from a cultural standpoint, but its amenities are unparalleled. They include a two-block skate from the best slice spot in Manhattan, a four-block skate to Mamoun’s and Gray’s Papaya if you’re poor, the former residence of the G-Man, and sightseeing benches that are vastly more fashionable than their eastside counterparts. (Many of Tompkins’ notable personalities haven’t left the East Village since ground was broken at the T.F. in 2001, so surpassing it in culture is next to impossible.) Tompkins may have one cone, but T.F. West has 1/3 of a sawhorse.

Below is a video by Xavier Veal that documents this monumental east-to-west journey, and the many hardships endured by those who dare to leave the East Village.

Related: Last week’s “Week in T.F. Videos” installment

Filed Under: Footage | Tags: ,

The Week in T.F. Videos

April 6th, 2012 | 3:36 pm | Footage | 1 Comment

Photo by Emilio Cuilan

Spring is in the air at Tompkins Square Park. The cherry blossoms are blooming, the two cones are down to one, rumors of a soon-to-be camo box are swirling, the empty ice coffee cups are piling up, the Knicks are still fighting to win the Atlantic (fat chance!), Dwight Howard is creeping on Lebron as the NBA’s most hated, and Future’s debut album, Pluto, is claiming an R. Kelly feature.

Fortunately, these events grant more opportunities for camera-owners to capture the magic of spring at the T.F. for those who cannot experience it firsthand. This week, we have an obscure student time travel documentary film, possibly from the late-80s. It’s haunting at how accurately it predicts the future of history’s greatest skate spot and the culture surrounding it (even explaining the infamous T.F. crack.) It’d be safe to assume that the last remaining print was on some worn-out VHS cassette. T.F. historians can now analyze it on YouTube in small increments. If you want something more modern, there’s another raw footage log file featuring a review of Aero Shot breathable energy, Luis Tolentino, Rob Gonyon, Dom Susca, and Shawn Powers making the case for heelflip-only flatground lines.

SLOW NEWS WEEK

March 26th, 2012 | 3:46 pm | Daily News | 9 Comments

By some miracle of modern science, the Dunions now have a Tumblr: Dunions.tumblr.com. We have high hopes, but low expectations. Slicky Boy insists that he’s “getting his tricks back,” and returning to conquer the heelflip tailslide (obtaining a $38 reward) this spring. More history on the Dunions’ significance here.

Also in the realm of the strange, Palace collaborated with Umbro on some soccer “football” gear, and it came out looking really sick. It’s weird when you actually think to yourself “Damn, I want that Umbro shirt,” but unfortunately, it looks like availability will be limited to the UK. More info at i-D magazine.

CRAZY ILL THROWBACK OF THE WEEK, SON!: Josh Velez A.K.A. Josh Veledge in the 2006 Queens/Long Island-based $20 Off No Tax video. “We should go back to that low two-stair ledge in Staten Island one day.” “Helicopter up the two with Jordan 1s, fam.”

Most people stopped paying attention, but there’s some drunk skating and a crazy session down that awful Chinatown Park double-set in the new Slap One in a Million segment.

Sitting on a bench, profiling, and drinking iced coffee is one of the quintessential summer in New York skateboarding experiences, so you might be interested to know why cold coffee costs more than hot coffee (thus cutting into your summer alcohol budget.)

Recent happenings in the world of #stylez: 1) #phatmomz. 2) Should Arizona Iced Tea begin making more gear, it’d be an inevitable hit among the skate crowd. Arizona and 2 Bros. definitely haven’t maximized on their abundant merchandizing opportunities.

Spot Updates (but not really): 1) They built in-ground mini picnic tables at the old S-Gap on Water Street, but then surrounded it with rubber, so there’s actually no way to skate them. The dream is over. Think of what could have been! 2) Weekend hockey started back up at the T.F. They caution taped the benches off, and we all cried.

T-Bird made a mix to get you hyped before getting drunk. (Disclaimer: It has zero 2 Chainz appearances.)

Quote of the Week: “The Bronx is crazy. Girls out there got the fattest asses. I be jerking off out the window and shit.” — Matt Mooney’s Older Brother


Updates and things should pick back up this week.