It snowed again. With one more inch, we’re en route to having one of the snowiest Januarys on record.
Although mentioned in previous posts, we have had a few chances to actually skate the Below the Bridge Skatepark in Bayonne over the past several weeks, as it has been the only real source of non-weather dependent terrain, aside from maybe a fun box in an office. The park isn’t that big, but they maximized on what space they had. The normal protocol here has been that the people who only skate ledges stick to the left side of the park, and everyone else skating the stairs, bowl-half and euro gaps stick to the right side. It does tend to get crowded in the evenings, but is pretty much clear at any time you expect kids to be in school, and weekday nights have never been too much of a hassle in terms of overcrowding.
The ledge is really solid. If it was in Brooklyn or Tribeca on decent ground, it’d be one of the best ledges in the city, so you’re not really settling for merely a box with some Home Depot angle iron glued on. There’s not much here in the realm of transition beyond the half of a bowl, which some kids treat as a mini ramp, and a three-foot-high quarter pipe at the top of the stair platform. (There has been talk about building a bowl or a mini ramp in the space next door though.)
The park has already been responsible for some new Zipcar accounts, so it’s definitely worth venturing out to a few times over the winter. They have three sessions: 12-3 P.M., 3-6 P.M., and 6-9 P.M. (There actually might be a 9-12 on Fridays and Saturdays.) Each session is $15. Located at 9 Gertrude Street in Bayonne. (Ten to fifteen minutes via Holland Tunnel when there’s no traffic. 25-minute to three-hour drive when there is traffic.)
Both of the pictures are enlargeable. Yes, there’s a weird ghosting thing because they were taken with a cell phone and not a real camera. I was gonna post some footage of Andre Page doing ollies onto absurd things, but there might actually be a half-indoor winter clip on the horizon to relay the largely undocumented face of New York skateboarding in the wintertime.
anyone know where the ledge in the middle of the street at 0:49 in the Real NYC throwaway clip is? http://www.dlxsf.com/lostdays/ch-27/
Houston and Mercer and It’s gone, half the shit you see in clips like this comes and goes…
damn nigga are you stoopid or somethin?
have you not been down a main street since the stone age
asking some wild ass shit like where spots on main strips are. gtfoh.
ask the gonz. see if he gives you a straight answer or runs off with your 5 gallon hat
That spot is like on the lower east side uptown somewhere near brooklyn, you know?
Changing subject back to that awesome looking skatepark ledge…
Is it completely made of bricks and stone or have they just made it so that it looks like it?
The ledge is fully concrete and brick, minus a movable wooden piece at a gap in the center of the ledge (in the picture.) No faux brick panels or anything.
Really, what’s good with helmets? Do you need them if you’re 18? The “link” for rules and regulations on their site is broken.
I have only seen younger kids with helmets there.
Kinda bummed on the 3 hour sessions for 15 dollars half that time would be warming up and the other half waiting for your turn if it was crowded what happened to the 15 dollars for the whole day, wait maybe ill just go to Drop-in.
Yeah what are the crowds like on those noon-3 weekday sessions?