Fawk • 📷 via @kyotaumeki
Moving right along…
Previously: 25-16.
15) Nick Matthews’ Manhattan Bridge Ollie
There are the “someone could do this …one day”-spots.
Then there are the “wait, what? …this thing? …from here?”-spots.
Safe to say that this barely two boards’ length block over probably twice that’s worth of sidewalk into a bridge on-ramp is the latter. Hell of a way to celebrate one of the most overdue pro board nods ever.
14) Carmelo’s on Bowery
They say the skaters are getting pushed deeper into the outer boroughs. A Manhattan skate house is a unicorn.
So how are the skate bars of years past — namely of the Twins Lounge, Carmelo’s, et al. genre — moving into such incredible swaths of real estate? (A shop owner from Michigan described Ripple Room as being “the size of a bar in Michigan,” which I thought was really funny because nothing in lower Manhattan is the size of anything in Michigan.) It may have something to do with the finance and tech guys lining up outside the door on weekends, but at least for now, it’s nice to have a go-to venue after a video premiere on a Wednesday.
13) Non-Alcoholic Beers
If someone told you during the horny boozehound COVID days that you’d be pulling up to a late fall Saturday session in 2025 and there’s just a trail of empties — without a single one hitting above 0.5% ABV — littering the adjacent benches, would you believe them?
The rate of alcohol consumption in the United States is at an all-time low, and skateboarders are no exception to the trend, at least a lot of the ones we know, and especially even among the ones who still drink. Hell, even the skate-adjacent bar mentioned above has N.A’s on tap now. Oh how far we’ve come.
12) 5Boro’s 5Ball Video
A 2025 Clipse album most certainly did not get played in the QS office, but 5Boro’s return-to-form did quite a bit. Why chase the feeling of your fanbase insisting you “still got it” when you can spotlight new players, tweak the formula, and let Mike Sass sort ’em out? 🥁
11) Tompkins Bump To Rail
Just when you thought the HD Tompkins ground had dumped cold water on innovation — ushering in an era of boring boxes, launch ramps, and quarterpipes — a whole new generation of scientists lugged an iron husk of a handicap ramp to create the first truly iconic obstacle of the Nu-T.F. era. The marble tombstone would be proud.
10) “Is That An 8?”
People spent so much time worrying about pants widths, that they forgot to keep scanning downward.
Much like how you notice your ravenous sweet-tooth once you cut out drinking alcohol, swearing off from pants content lead to some immediate epiphanies this year. Namely that people realized they don’t have to condemn themselves to a life of learning switch varial heels on an 8.5″ just because they never thought to skate anything smaller.
No conversation echoed throughout the year as much as some version of: “Yeah, it’s an 8.1, it’s so much easier to flip! Maybe I’ll try an 8 next time.”
9) Market Gallery
Skate houses do not have a glamorous afterlife. Everyone either gets evicted, moves in with their longterm partners, or gets evicted and is forced to move in with their longterm partners.
So the mere fact that Adam Zhu managed to turn this rooftop shack that once housed a rotation of skaters who had to step outside to use the bathroom inside into a popping art gallery is beautiful.
8) @solojazz’s Spot Nostalgia
Yes, there have been Bronze releases this year, but the real hold on the zeitgeist came from Bronze auteur Peter Sidlauskas’ personal Instagram, where he highlighted the lost places in skateboarding’s collective psyche with an acupuncturist’s precision — so much that people who never even skated them could feel the waves of melancholy wash over.
Every block is a ghost, yo.
7) Jasper’s Switch Dill Trick
Always heard a rumor that Jason Dill was unhappy with his Mind Field ender on account of how he landed, but never heard it straight from the source. A deadline’s a deadline ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Like most things we’re hard on ourselves for in our younger years only to lighten-up on as the years go by, he’s probably fine with it now.
Because, like, you kinda gotta be.
In this crazy world, it is only a matter of time before someone does it switch and beyond scrutiny. That’s Hollywood Family Court, baby!
6) Three Enders in 19 Minutes
Can pretty much copy and paste everything we said about Antonio at the #2 slot last year into this one, but feel it’s worth mentioning that all three of those tricks down the World Trade steps to close out his iPhone part happened in less time than it takes to boil water and cook spaghetti.
Bonus Mini Rapidfire Five
Everyone Should Do It At Least Once: Skate Flushing, hit a Mets game at Citi Field (preferably a Subway Series), and then dinner at Queens Night Market for the Queens-est day ever. At least before they turn that parking lot into a casino.
2010s Reality Show Reconciliation of the Year: Matt Militano 🤝 Lurker Lou.
How The Fuck Did This Not Go Viral: Gnarly Charlie’s bong rip mid-boardslide on that sandpaper-ass L.I.C. hill.
The Spot Demolition Nobody Ever Brought Up In Conversation: Pitt Pool.
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late: The Hoboken mini ramp.
Flushing/ Mets game/ diner
That’s how I think I secured a shorty