We did two overnights in D.C. this past summer with one explicit rule: no stopping at Pulaski. It was mostly because of the blazing heat that accompanies a place with no nearby shade, but the irony of avoiding the greatest spot still standing on American soil was that it forced us into one or two zones that we would’ve otherwise neglected.
→ Please sign the petition to show your support for keeping the asphalt at the Tompkins Square Park courts. This space is as sacred to skateboarding and the East Village as the Rucker or the West 4th Street courts are to basketball. It would be a massive loss to the youth and cultural fabric of the neighborhood if they were covered with synthetic turf. We are a few hundred shy of 25,000 (!!!) signatures, so please please please share the petition with your friends, and on your respective social channels.
After many years of captivity, the Zipper Ledge is finally free and dressed with a fresh, yellow paintjob, as first reported by @mini_spots. (Don’t ask for pin! That’s like asking where the Empire State Building is!) If only the park starts opening the gate at Yellow Rail, then the entire Morningside little kid skate scene circa 2003 will be in full revival.
Jesse Alba is the latest guest on The Bunt, and really happy that he no longer lives at 51 Eldert Street.
…aanndd Max Palmer is half the man he used to be in Jesse’s new #longform iPhone edit.
One of the hardest things about interviewing skateboarders is not asking the same ten things that the last few interviews they did asked. It’s special and rare when you get someone for their first one. Caleb Barnett did his first ever interview with the Slam City Skates blog.
Jesse Alba made a bro cam edit from a trip to London with Cyrus, Diego Todd + some cameos from the Atlantic Drift dudes.
Alex Olson explains why Mike Carroll is the best for eight minutes.
Naquan uploaded a five-minute “remix” of Gang Corp’s Black Business video, though it feels like a solid chunk of those clips weren’t in the original video.
A wider net for skate interviews this past week than the typical guys talking about their first sponsor type of thing — 1) The Wall Street Journal interviewed Beatrice Domond. There’s a pay-wall involved, but it seems like they let you rock on one free article. 2) “I just really like New York.” Elissa Steamer interviewed Alexis Sablone for Thrasher. 3) Skateism interviewed Forrest Kirby, in what I believe is his first interview since he publicly came out last year.
“Are we already in the Matrix?” Skate Jawn interviewed Jawn Gardner about astrology, the afterlife and time travel + they also have a quick one with Kyota that includes some rad photos.
Just because you’re a thorn in the side of every skater guy yelling at a cloud on the internet, doesn’t mean you can’t MS Paint art direct your way into having friends in high places. Facing the dilemma of promoting a Nike SB collaboration with limited Nike SB riders on their amphibious roster, the Frog team called in a couple favors.
They borrowed Numbers’ Antonio Durao (apparently on his way home moonlighting at a catering gig, so the answer to the age-old question of “how much do you pay Antonio?” is “not enough”), 917’s Nolan “Every Time He Focuses A Board, That’s $20 Out Of Alex Olson’s Pocket” Benfield, Stingwater C.E.O. Daniel Kim + several others who consistently gyrate around the Frog universe, but earn their check elsewhere — and headed down to Atlanta.
Filmed & edited by Jesse Alba Hjalte Halberg.
There’s snow on the ground, and not a ton of links to recap from the past few days, but at least we get post-7 P.M. sunsets back on Sunday. Tiny victories.
Rest in Peace Dillon
New car and live with your parents, or move to New York and live in a basement apartment in Bushwick? Jesse Alba has a new interview / Day in the Life thing.
“For Heitor what’s funny is that we saw that he’d bought shit on the website so I hit him up and told him I could send him some clothes.” Like a brand? Looking for a sponsor? Buy their stuff (using your real name!) and maybe you’ll end up riding for them and getting your entire order refunded ;) Danny Brady has an interview over on Free about his current role as the Palace team manager.
Always stoked to see footage of this dude (he has the best line of 2019 thus far, based on QS office chalkboard rankings…), but didn’t really know much about him until now: Korahn Gayle is the latest guest on The Bunt.
Any Skate Perception alumni read QS? Ty Evans and some other camera nerds created a microphone that can be plugged into modern cameras to record sound that mimics the audio from the VX1000. 300 bucks and still only available for pre-order. (No, this isn’t a sponsored post. Just crazy that’s where skate video technology is at right now.)
Kyota went to L.A. for the first time, and spent his days at skateparks, and his nights downtown.
Monster Children has a photo feature with Brad Cromer skating around New York.
Austin Holcomb has an all-New York part from the Challers video playing over on TWS.
New video blog edit from Extra Crispy, pretty much a go-to resource for anything that goes on at L.E.S. Park.
Always fun to see people take New York skate filmmaking in a direction beyond just straight up skate clips. “{SLING]” is a short film directed by M.Fig.
No matter the decade, people are gonna keep ollieing off that slanted grey wall on Water Street. Geeked is a full-length video by Bernie Leonor that looks like it’s mostly filmed on a GoPro, all throughout the city.
This dude’s organs probably began to disintegrate as soon as he walked out, because I can’t imagine how bad the curse you get put under for stealing a cat from a bodega is. No wonder he returned it.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: D. Wade with maybe the wildest buzzer beater of the season, at home, and at his final career game against the Warriors.
Quote of the Week: “Heelies were so sick.” — Troy Silwell
