It is fitting that there are maybe the most skate photos of the Twin Towers featuring Keith Hufnagel and Harold Hunter: two of the greatest representatives of New York skateboarding.
Revisiting our series from two years ago, here are five more stories behind images of the Twin Towers in skateboarding, including many of Harold and Keith.
Looking into the stories behind them, I learned how essential they were to the fabric of so much of the skateboarding that has come out of the five boroughs. In memoriam photos of the Towers turn into stories about people and eras who shared some form of dual history with them, and in turn, ourselves. They remind us that if anything can be learned from difficult loss, it’s to always make the most of the time given to us. And that can be turned into hope and happiness, at least for a short time.
You likely caught this one via Free last week, but Hosea Peeters’ “Interlude” part by Daniel Policelli rips, complete with a Karl Watson nose manny 360 interpolation on Park Avenue, and a 10/10 back 3 down the big steps across from World Trade. Filmed entirely in New York over the course of two summer weeks, with guest tricks from the new gen Chocolate riders.
Conor the lost Polar rider. Happy early birthday baby. Photo by Genesis Evans, who posted up a bunch of shots from the October 2018 Japan trip with everyone and everybody. Damn, miss traveling yo :(
“People always want to trap people in a box for what they’re good at.” Thrasher posted the audio of Tyshawn’s interview from their last issue, on the occasion of their “passing the torch” S.O.T.Y. feature.
What is your first reaction when you see a new spot on a friend of a friend’s Instagram page? Is it straight to the DMs for the address, asking around, or are you a D.I.Y. about it, seeking out context clues in the clip? Does it vary by situation: what happens when you, yourself, are in possession of a brand new spot? And how does one catalog such information?
Just as many Americans are still recovering from 2008’s financial meltdown, skateboarding is apparently still reeling from the collapse of Alien Workshop 1.0, as evidenced in Yaje Popson’s latest interview with Transworld, and Jake Johnson’s [extended] one with Thrasher. Also note to anyone about to log off and head to D7: “I think I really messed my body up jumping down stuff when I was younger and my body was still growing. If I could give advice I’d say don’t jump down stuff until you’re older.”
Thrasher recently entered the arena of YouTube comps with a five-minute compilation of the greatest handrail tricks, but shouldn’t Gonz’s boardslide down the Banks 9 + his 5050 and front board down the [defunct] 8th & Greene Street rail from the (1986?) Vision video be the first thing? Weren’t those supposedly the first handrail tricks? Is the idea of handrail skating being born in New York akin to pointing out that Christopher Columbus didn’t actually discover America?!
