Ithaca | Quartersnacks

All photography by Zach Malfa-Kowalski

Nike SB and Quartersnacks present “Core,” the new video by Johnny Wilson. The project depicts a week-long journey through Upstate New York, with stops in Albany, Syracuse, Ithaca, Rochester and Buffalo.

This was unequivocally the first skate trip in the history of skateboarding where not a single person complained. No “these spots suck,” no “let’s go somewhere else,” no “pull over to this Taco Bell.” Not even a request to stop at local D.I.Y. spots, as it was deemed that skating D.I.Y. without having contributed their construction is not as #core as a #bond with the #streets. Nobody even knew what a “skatepark” was. #core ;)

Features Bobby Worrest, Hjalte Halberg, Nick Boserio, Antonio Durao, Cyrus Bennett, Q.S.S.O.T.Y. Max Palmer and Andrew Wilson. Filmed and edited by Johnny Wilson. All trip photography by Zach Malfa-Kowalski.

Alternate YouTube Link

Photo by Zach Malfa-Kowalski

The western half of New York state has a handful of cities that are just over an hour drive from one another. This includes Buffalo and Rochester, the second and third largest in the state.

The first stop was Ithaca, home of the westernmost Ivy League school and birthplace of the Tornado Spin — the subject of skateboarding’s first viral video. You really gain an understanding for how seldom-seen these cities are when a three-year-old / minute-and-a-half-long Jake Johnson Brick Harbor part is repeatedly brought up as the only reference point for the locals showing you spots.

After an Orvis catalog shoot and some cliff jumping, the spent the first night at the cement wave with white bulbs that Jake skates in said part. We managed to avoid Cornell cops that night, but didn’t get so lucky the next day, when we went back to skate a building funded by college drop-out, Bill Gates. Happy to say I’m writing this on a Macbook, because our short stint at Bill and Melinda Gates Hall resulted in a one-year ban from Cornell University property.

Photo by Zach Malfa-Kowalski

“You’re going to Rochester? There are flatbars everywhere.”

At least six thousand people told me there are flatbars all over Rochester. They weren’t lying. There are flatbars all over Rochester. Can’t figure out why the city planners have such an affinity for round, one-to-two-foot-high flat rails, but they’re literally everywhere you look in the city. Google tries to get you drunk if you ask about it. No wonder everyone upstate is hammered all the time ;)

Tag: Ithaca

‘Core:’ A Nike SB & Quartersnacks Video by Johnny Wilson

Upstate Update: Ithaca, Rochester & Buffalo