Favorite Spot With Anthony Van Engelen on The Green Bench

Figured after last week’s “Favorite Spot” with Hjalte, now is as good of a time as any to keep the momentum going with this new series :)

You may remember back in the fall when skaters of a certain age bracket couldn’t help but think one really nerdy thought while watching F.A’s Dancing On Thin Ice video: was the bench from A.V.E’s ender the same bench that he was skating in The DC Video back in 2003?

In short, the answer is yes. But the story of how the bench came to re-enter skateboard history is one of many fateful contortions that only the man himself could adequately explain. Farran tracked down A.V.E. for the story of the green metal bench, and how it has endured through nearly two decades, with the help of some archival footage from the F.A. and DC videographers that were there as it happened.

Interview & Edit by Farran Golding. Archival footage is courtesy of: Greg Hunt, Cody Green, Benny Maglinao, William Strobeck and Colin Kennedy.

Previous Favorite Spots: Hjalte Halberg on Jarmers, Gilbert Crockett on Sun Trust & Downtown Richmond

Favorite Spot With Hjalte Halberg on Jarmers

Like anybody with Josh Kalis’ “big ledges, little ledges”-monologue from The Sixth Sense ingrained in their brain, it’s always been a pleasure to hear skateboarders talk about the places that hold the most real estate in their hearts. Our “Favorite Spot” series is an expansion on that short bit of skate video ephemera into a retrospective of people whose careers have grown tethered to a certain spot. You may recall that Gilbert Crockett was the inaugural edition back in December.

We have long touted the virtues of Copenhagen, and at a time when European travel isn’t exactly possible, it made sense to vicariously re-experience the city’s most famous (yet deceptively difficult) spot via its modern-day ambassador, Hjalte Halberg.

Footage courtesy of: Emil Hvilsom, Frederik Bengston, Henrik Edelbo, Tor Ström, Pontus Alv, Johnny Wilson, Pekka Løvås, Jimmy Viberg & Anton Juul. Special thanks to: Polar Skate Co. & Dancer CPH.

Previously: Gilbert Crockett on Downtown Richmond

Five Favorite Parts With Andrew Wilson

📷 Photo by Ishod Wair

The other day, it was brought to our attention at our daily 10 A.M. that we’ve done one of these with Johnny [Wilson]. We’ve done an interview with Mitchell [Wilson]. We’ve even done a Five Faves with Josh [no relation Wilson]! And we’ve never done any formal, front-page QS content with Andrew — no doubt many people’s favorite Wilson. To remedy this egregious oversight, we got him on the phone to talk about another Andrew’s part from 2010 ❤ ️

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Five Favorite Parts With Ben Kadow

📝 Interview by Farran Golding
📷 Photo by Ben Colen for Thrasher

Five Favorite Parts is back.

If you ever wondered what possesses someone to, say, 5050 the bench on the Houston median depicted above, or boardslide the knobbed rail on Forsyth Street while everyone else is hurling themselves down the stairs — you can rest assured that the answer is a crossroad between Anthony Pappalardo and Jason Byoun ;)

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