There has seldom been a Manhattan spot that incited thoughts of “Well, what did you think was going to happen when you built this?” quite like Forbidden Banks did.
Located between an apartment building and the Jamaican Consulate, this maybe five-foot-high brick embankment lead up to an uninviting wooden platform. The spot was nestled between so many tall buildings that it rarely encountered natural light; there are far better parks nearby for an office worker to enjoy lunch, and few people ever chilled here.
The plaza did, however, invite an unintentional activity.
This spot had been around since many of us were kids skating midtown for the first time. It earned its name because you could consider yourself lucky if you got more than a try-and-a-half. How they hadn’t skateblocked it after decades of trench warfare with security and doormen was one of New York skateboarding’s great mysteries.
“I realized so many stories or moments that I’ve lived don’t have photos to accompany them. I wasn’t equipped, equipment-wise or mentally, to decide, ‘This moment is a photo,’ and I need to go out of my way to get it no matter what people think.” The Slam City Skates blog has an interview with French photographer, Benjamin Deberdt, about coming to New York to shoot photos of Keenan, Huf and the Cardona brothers in the nineties. (He shot the above Huf photo.)
Hopps x Quartersnacks items will be available on the QS webstore this Wednesday, October 6 at 11 A.M. E.S.T. Available at your local shop now ♥ Might be another something special dropping this week too ;)
It’s unreal how much footage John Shanahan gets. He’s got a new part out for Pangea Jeans. Heavy on the night footy, heavy on the midtown marble. Ender is nuts.
Love this new feature: Skate Jawn gives somebody a hundred-dollar bill and follows them around to see how they spend it. The first episode is with Ty Beall.
There is no chance that you haven’t caught this already, right? Naquan Rollings’ “BUSS” video for Thrasher went live last week. This, “Rerock,” Kill Bill,” and “Pre-Roll” are the de facto box set of 2020 edits that we’ll look back on for a snapshot of New York skateboarding in this year.
Village Psychic was inspired by skier style (yes, skiers are as big fashion of nerds as we are, though they’re a bit more “official” about it) to consider the ideal skate outfit. Illustrations by Abada ♥
“Jake Phelps surely embodied worlds in decline: Old San Francisco, famously non-PC, MJ1s on his feet until whatever deadstock tap ran dry, proofing a decades-old print publication with a snarling discontent any seasoned editor would recognize and respect. An artifact arguing and cussing every day for a place in a world moving some other way.” Unfortunate to link their way two weeks in a row for obituary purposes, but Boil Ocean has a way with them words.
“Though I would sometimes cross the street to avoid him, I can remember so much of what he said to me.” Patrick O’Dell also wrote a thing about Phelps over on Vice.
And here is a re-link to Willy Staley’s California Sunday profile of Phelps that originally ran in 2016, A.K.A. what BTO labeled as “secular-press skate piece top five.” Would be *so* open to a conversation about what the other four are ;)
Munchies has a mini doc on the institution that has sustained New York skateboarding like none other throughout the 2010s — of course, we’re talking about 2 Bros. They also bring up a terrifying reality re: the ten-year leases that got signed at the start of the decade ending (e.g. when everyone was still reeling from the recession), and the dollar slice soon becoming a thing of the past.
“I think the mainstream American skateboarding culture is kidding itself. They’re really dismissive of emotions in a way that is hurting itself. It’s becoming more and more inline with traditional athleticism, but also what is acceptable as a skateboarder is so narrow – you have to be cool, not talk about your feelings.” If you’re one of those idiots like me who put off watching Minding the Gap for months, here’s another motivator: Skateism put their interview with director Bing Liu online. Yeah, you need to enter your card details, but a Hulu trial to watch it is free, and you can cancel the second you finish the movie — provided you’re not destroyed for the rest of the day.
