Pull Up On A Spot

troy

Photo via Andre Page

Size runs are thinning out over in our webstore.

Boys of Summer is online in full. Logan Lara QS part drops 1/1/2018.

I do all this… on my iPhone 6New bro cam edits:Instagram Direct #13” from Johnny Wilson, “Hit” via Genesis Evans, “Linger” via Jesse Alba, and “Funza Summer 2015” via Mike Heikkila. NY Ramp Co. is #trending super hard in every phone edit these days :) ♫ You must have an Android ‘cuz you ain’t got Emojis

The Warschauer Benches are on the shortlist of the funnest spots I’ve ever skated, and they’re nothing more than a better version of the Newport blocks from ~15 years ago. Kingpin has a full feature on their creation and history. Amazing how the formula for a perfect skate spot is no more sophisticated than decent ground + wooden benches + metal, and how often that goes ignored.

Isle’s Vase video is premiering on Thursday, November 19 at 8 P.M. and Paul Young’s Bleach video is premiering on Wednesday, November 25 at 8 P.M. Guess what theater? If you guessed the Imax on 68th Street, then you guessed wrong.

Did you know Fully Flared premiered eight years ago to the day? Village Psychic looked back on Anthony Pappalardo’s seminal yet at-the-time misunderstood section, which inspired legions of twenty-somethings to scour Bushwick for unchartered crust, caused a 5% spike in applications to Pratt’s sculpture program, and skyrocketed the demand for brown chino fabric among the world’s textile mills.

“I miss having Skinner as a friend, but I miss him even more as an enemy.” Boil the Ocean on the current state of the skater / security guard relationship.

Footage of the 5050 + quick set-up barhop in front of Wavy’s is in the Local Express friends section, although no footage could really do justice to how crazy that is.

Monster Children interviewed Pat O’Dell in light of Epicly Later’d much-needed return.

Gino talks about all his major sponsor changes throughout the years.

Some bits of New York footage in the extras from the Florida-based Exhibit video.

Thought this “spot” was a joke. It wasn’t.

Dude you’re probably gonna be really bummed — but…the Hooters Rail is gone. What a fun spot! Shout out to Rodney Torres for being the first one to skate it, and to Connor Champion for switch nosesliding it just before the plaza got leveled.

Dreams do come true. Tha Tour 2 is on the way. Rich.. gang..

QS Sports Desk [Non] Play of the Week: This made me laugh a bit…”When you wanna be the Warriors but you ain’t the Warriors.”

Quote of the Week
Kuz: “Just give me the word, I’ll quit my job and break up with my girlfriend.”
Inquisitive Gentleman: “You have a girlfriend?”
Kuz: “No, but if I did, I’d break up with her.”

Much love and prayers to all our friends out in Paris.

A Bunch of Dumb Big Pictures & No Numbers

hjalte

After much deliberation, the Nosesliders Guild of America has awarded Hjatle Halberg its “Noseslider of the Year” award based on recent output. This is an unprecedented event, as no foreigner has ever won the coveted title. Photo above by Mike O’Meally.

Studies in Flat — Daniel Lebron.

It seems that Frozen in Carbonite’s hyper-nerdery and far-fetched non sequiturs aren’t translating to Ride Channel commenters, because this was great, at least for fans of the blog: An analysis of the parallels between the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry and current day Boston-New York skateboarding. (Boston is 200+ miles from New York btw.)

Part one of NY Skateboarding’s joint interview with Gino and Dill is live.

A lot of familiar faces and hot moves in Debut, a new video featuring the youth.

A boom-bapified remix of peak era Wu-Welsh via Hit You Off Management. That five-trick line at Pier 7 is the absolute best.

Anthony Pappalardo, early Alien days. Shot by Tim Anderson.

Ugggh, I have such a weakness for cute skateboarders.” We have such a weakness for any Ant Banks #musicsupervision in skate videos.

The VX is dead volume seven via Johnny Wilson et al.

Seeing Michael Mackrodt skate in real life is genuinely one of the most impressive things you could ever witness in skateboarding. His consistency and quick footedness is absurd (personal top 3 most impressive IRL pros.) The next best thing is seeing him skate on video, via this new all-lines part filmed out in the Parisian suburbs. (He also had a New York “Fishing Lines” part in 2010, in case you didn’t know.)

Despite all its frustrations, midtown is still the funnest.

Quick montage from the crew at Matériel Supply.

Got a kick out of this: “Fear City,” a mid-seventies pamphlet covertly distributed to tourists by NYPD unions at odds with the mayor (sound familiar?)

In case you only go on skate websites…you’ll be paying $2.75 to ride the train and $116.50 for an unlimited starting March 22nd.

Until Travis Porter fulfills recent promises of bringing the “fun” back to music, Rae Sremmeueurururd is the Rap Desk’s fill-in vote for “funnest” rap group of the moment:

[Late] Spot Updates: 1) Not many people caught onto this spot, but it had a short lifespan. 2) Those round flatbars on 22nd and Fifth near the Flatiron Building are gone. 3) The two-second bust Marriott Banks are also gone.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: What else? Klay Thompson went 13-of-13 from the field (nine of which were contested three-pointers) against the Sacramento Kings earlier this week, in what was an utter video game of a single quarter. He now holds the record for most points in a NBA quarter with 37. The Golden State Warriors will be at Madison Square Garden on Saturday :)

Quote of the Week: “Oh Fifty Shades of Grey, I want to read that when the movie comes out.” — E.J.

Good luck with the snow these next two days. The National Weather Service is predicting we may get up to two feet in the city :( Dust those ‘Lo boots off.

In Absentia: The Newport Remix

newport

After yesterday’s #controversial post, it felt necessary to quell the tension and focus on the waterfront utopia that existed on the opposite side of Manhattan island, some fifteen years ago.

Jim Hodgson was generous enough to lend us all the Newport footage from his In Absentia series for this QS remix. Out of all the romanticism that surrounds east coast skateboarding, the Love Park / City Hall / Photosynthesis era carries the most weight. These wooden blocks on the East River waterfront were New York’s concurrent answer to what was going on 100 miles south on I-95 at that time. The baggy carpenter jeans, bulky shoes (be on the lookout for D3s), steadyshot turned off, and above all, the first-ever sight of advanced technical skateboarding within New York City limits remain points of nostalgia for all late-nineties / early-2000s skate nerds. Consider it the video companion to July’s “History of Skateable Seaport” post.

Also, let this stand as a prime example of how easy-to-solve the issue of skateable space in New York is: A few wooden blocks with metal affixed to them, and we’re still talking about it a decade-and-a-half later. It’s not that hard. You don’t need California Skateparks to figure that one out.

Features Bobby Puleo, Albie, Mike Wright, German Nieves, Andy Bautista, Rodney Torres, Brian Wenning, Anthony Pappalardo. Filming by Jim Hodgson.

P.S. While on the topic of 90s-themed QS remixes: This past summer, a prominent Danish skateboarder told me that his “favorite video part” was the Quim Cardona QS remix. He was probably just trying to be nice, because, like, why wouldn’t the Non Fiction part be your favorite if you’re going that route? — but in any event, I always felt bad about the aspect ratio being f’ed up in that clip, so we fixed for 4:3 viewing over on Vimeo. For that guy, and all others. Have a good weekend.

Count Music

ny keenan

Thanks mom, thanks dad… ♬

If this guy seriously 5050ed up the Rockaway Rail

Not sure the Cellski song from Stevie’s world renown “Nut Grab” commercial is in any way appropriate music supervision for Dylan Reider, but that’s what the dudes at Muckmouth chose for the “non embarrassing” edit of his new Calvin Klein Huf commercial. It’s just all the skate tricks from the part, which is cool.

Imagine if they reedited it to “Latch” though? #lol #jk #jokez #notno. Anyway, Diamond Days #74. Yaje still rips. (“There was a long silence, then that one dude, the one with the beard, was like ‘Do you even have one single traditional flash tattoo?'”)

Illegal incentives at the Federal Reserve, etc. in Video Blog #212 from Johnny Wilson.

The “Summer Trip to New York” clips are finally starting to roll in! Some French guys skate around the city and one of them darkslides Black Hubba.

Someone compiled all of the footage Brian Wenning and Anthony Pappalardo have stacked since fading out of skateboarding’s focal spotlight in the 2010s. It’s weird. Never a bad time to reminisce over this one though.

Chris Nieratko interviews Stevie Williams about Love Park at Love Park.

A new clip from the Beerics crew, which features a solid batch of Governor Gall footage from Shorty’s. P.S. Here’s his turtorial on how to sorta Bondo cracks.

The Baker/Deathwish team v.s. D7. Anyone who has taken visiting skaters around to spots in New York can attest to the fact that many talented / seasoned pros have stepped away from D7 after seeing how rugged it was up close. These guys killed it.

Black Dave and Elijah Cole daily warm-ups in Harlem.

Whether or not there is space in modern skateboarding for a resurrected éS Accel remains to be seen (i.e. fond childhood memories of summers spent in Lakai Staples will immediately be tainted once you see the bulkiness that shoe in person today), but until then, SMLTalk list-iscized the 10 best moments in Accel history.

#TRENDWATCH2017 = Natas spin kickflip outs. Wow.

Stuff that never gets old: Watching Javier Sarmiento skate MACBA.

Ice cream trucks? That’s what y’all are upset about now?

Quote of the Week:

billy quote

Count music, built my own lane of hip-hop…”

The 2013 New York Skateboarding Year in Review: 15-11

mcdonalds

Apologies for this being a bit late. We spent all of yesterday looking for the only dry spot in New York. Past installments here: #s 25-21, #s 20-16.

15. R.I.P. to an Empire, the Water Street McDonald’s Closes

For every great skate spot, there is an accompanying fast food restaurant: the Burger King down the street from the Banks, the McDonald’s up the hill from Pulaski, the Wawa by Love, or the In-N-Out across from Hollywood High.

Water Street was once the most heavily treaded road of lower Manhattan skateboarders; Pappalardo and Wenning’s days of going to Burritoville near Pyramid Ledges to sustain on free nachos are well known. But that place closed. The aforementioned Burger King is now a high end grocery store. The nearby Wendy’s was turned into a tourist center. And this past year, the final remaining destination for hungry, poor skateboarders, shut its doors. Skating on Water Street isn’t irrelevant just because all of the spots are knobbed — but because everyone except the top 1% of skateboarders (those with an above minimum-wage income any income whatsoever, who can afford a Chipotle burrito) have effectively been priced out, right down to food options.

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