The 2013 New York Skateboarding Year in Review: 20-16

BEST SPOT OF 2013

5 P.M. updates are stupid, but whatever. Got a bit caught up today. Thanks to anyone who caught the preview of the new QS “Best of” clip at the Nike screening yesterday. That clip will be online at the end of the week. Back to our annual wrap-up series…

#s 25 through 21 are here.

20. Houston Street Construction Becomes the New Bank to Green Box

The first installment of this series concluded with a list of 2013’s best spots. Astute readers of QS should know that it reflected office favorites, and not all-encompassing New York skater favorites. We don’t ollie down what we cannot ollie up; professionals and “good” skateboarders abide by a far different creed. Last year, visitors were enamored with the green metal ledge in Harlem, until it mysteriously vanished in January. (Everyone was sick of seeing tricks on that thing anyway.)

Scrambling to find a fresh New York spot that would prove to sponsors that “I didn’t just get drunk and make out with girls with shitty tattoos the entire time I was there,” good skateboarders did what they do best: like, saw the world differently, dude. And so, you couldn’t sit for a minute on the Houston steps this past summer without seeing a pack of skateboarders cruise past, with their filmer towing a hundred-pound backpack ten feet behind them. With yesterday’s release of the new Zoo York vid, companies began an outpour of footage on obstacles that are otherwise the bane of every lower Manhattan driver’s existence.

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Linkz N Hood Chek

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B.C.C.B.G.Ps: Boot Camp Click Background Props. Photo by Brendan Carroll.

Never saw this before: The story behind the famous photo of Gonz at Alcatraz. If “music is fifty-percent of the video part,” then the spot is fifty-percent of the photo.

R.I.P. Drop-In Skatepark. Thanks for the memories.

As a follow-up to Friday’s William Phan post, here are two random GoPro clips found floating around on Vimeo. Nothing too exciting, but some display of the aforementioned flip trick abilities. Re-edit eventually?

Noted Park Slope rib spot, Pork Slope, put together a cruiser video with In4mation. Go skate the nearby pop-over ledge, and then enjoy some ribs and a beer.

Three Up Three Down (the New York version) is the chillest.

An incredible story about battling to skateboard in Buffalo and battling brain cancer.

Boil the Ocean continues with the common “skate industry = high school” analogy to explain how the ex-Blueprint rider offshoot and the actual Blueprint 2.0 reboot is like a broken up couple showing up to prom with new dates. Or something.

In light of Google Video’s demise, Peter re-uploaded Flipmode 3: The First Flipmode Video to YouTube. Enjoy a wonderful look back at the finest NY-based little kid video of its time, and the second best film of 2006. Free Billy Lynch.

Wait, so Mike Carroll and Lee Smith wear all the clothes at DQM before they get put on the rack? Weird.

Spot Updates: 1) Thanks to some awful asphalt work on behalf of the Parks Department, the entire T.F. is now covered in small pebbles due to one crack they filled in. It does however, now have a metal-less wallie box. 2) The city approved the construction of an AIDS memorial on the triangle at 7th Avenue and 12th Street / where the St. Vincent’s Bank is. Get your tricks in while you can. At least they’re not turning the triangle into a Duane Reade or another all-glass high-rise…

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Dirk’s game winner against the Bulls. Can you guys please make the playoffs instead of the Lakers? Thanks.

Quote of the Week: “Yo this dude is dressed like he just saw Fight Club.” — T-Bird

This Vine thing seems like a lot of work, but we’re on there now.