favorite spot | Quartersnacks

Favorite Spot With Max Palmer on the Canal Fountain

Video & Remixes September 15th, 2021 · 12:00 am · 7

Since starting the “Favorite Spot” series, there has been one skater + spot combo that has been requested above all the rest. And with the fifth installment (second local spot in a row!), we are proud to present Max Palmer and the Canal Fountain — or just “the fountain spot,” or what we have even lovingly renamed “Max Palmer Park” on the spots page.

(FWIW, it’s technically called Albert Capsouto Park, but nobody has ever called it that. Probably not even Al’s family.)

So, this one needs no further introduction. Max is a man of sparse words (in most cases, not all), and we’re all grateful he was down to talk about this absolute mess of a spot.

Biggest thank you goes to Johnny obvs, but shout out to everybody who contributed their footy ♥

Favorite Spot With Dick Rizzo on Grant’s Tomb

Video & Remixes August 17th, 2021 · 12:00 am · 1

The “Favorite Spot” series was overdue for a New York edition — it has been three installments, and not a single one has been in the northeast.

If you told anybody who was skating Grant’s Tomb in the days when it was a backup spot after you got kicked off the Columbia campus that soon, the ledge into the double bank would become its most-documented feature, they’d have a tough time believing you. Dick Rizzo has somehow turned it into a fixture throughout his video parts, dating as far back as Paul Young’s 2012 Nevermind video.

Favorite Spot With Anthony Van Engelen on The Green Bench

Video & Remixes May 5th, 2021 · 12:00 am · 16

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

Video & Remixes April 29th, 2021 · 12:00 am · 3

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

The Oral History of ‘The Wire Spot’ A.K.A. Marlo’s Hangout

Features & Interviews July 24th, 2024 · 12:00 am · 3

📝 Intro + Interviews by Frozen in Carbonite

If you ask me, shit just hasn’t been the same since Home Box Office brought us all together every Sunday night at 9 P.M.

Finding spots in movies and television has long been a quantum-level subdivision of skate nerdery, from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (that black marble ledge on the east side of Manhattan) to The Godfather (Courthouse Drop) to Michael Mann’s Heat (DTLA Arco Rails area.) On an October 10, 2006 episode of The Wire, viewers caught a glimpse of a location known as Marlo’s hangout (Season 4, Episode 5) — a bleak concrete expanse with an array of banks, ledges, and bank-to ledges. It seemed insane that A) such a place existed, and B) one of the flagship programs of the “Golden Age of Television” used it as a key location.

As the legend of The Wire grew, so did that of the “The Wire Spot,” popping up in a slew of 2010s videos – primarily of the east coast variety. It seemed dope that an infamous locale in Wire lore became a destination spot, not only for locals, but for visiting pros.