Puerto Rico — like every other skate destination in the world — has its fail safes. Just as you can’t get through a “Summer Trip to New York” clip without someone skating the Rector Street Bench or doing a trick over the wall at Columbus Park, Puerto Rico has its unavoidable trappings that appear in every last bit of getaway coverage. You end up having to roll the dice: either make the half-hour/45 minute drive to the smaller cities outside San Juan and hope you find spots, or go where you know there’s going to be shit to skate, even if Robert Lopez Mont fakie flipped it back in some obscure video from 1974.
These safe spots are places you’ve seen throughout Puerto Rico’s current tenure as skateboarding’s de facto winter getaway — the black marble low-to-high, the ledge plaza in Rio Piedras, or the photogenic-but-apparently-really-tough-to-skate bowl in La Perla, which we avoided due to a #nomoreskateparks rule set in place.
And as tired as you may be of seeing the lil’ black marble low-to-high and bank combo spot that Conor Prunty shut down this time last year, you’d be hard pressed to find a more relaxing spot. Comes with a guy who climbs up in the tree to get coconuts for you, a nearby beach, and the world famous El Hamburger just a block skate away. Last round of extras above, #tbt below, and full clip dropping this February.
P.S. Walgreen’s out here has the fire gift sets for date night with bae.
This is our third January in a row of spending some considerable time in America’s never-ending prospective 51st state, and what Billy Rohan once coined as the sixth borough of New York City. Past journeys — short of a day trip to the eastern island of Vieques — have kept us conveniently in San Juan, where the majority of the #trending Puerto Rican winter phenomenon keeps its home base. The island is big, but not that big: driving from San Juan to the west side is like driving from New York to Philly, except you stare out the window and see rolling hills rather than…the Linden refinery.
Mayaguez is one of the main cities on the west side of the island, and with one night in San Juan, we trekked the hundred miles there. After a pit-stop for the trip’s official sustenance (Medallas and arroz con pollo), a mini concrete racetrack-type spot with a Flushing-width gap in the middle, and a spot check at an abandoned waterpark visible from the highway (we got kicked out by stoned security guars in under ten minutes), we made it to Mayaguez with about an hour of daylight left to skate one of the funnest parks any of us had ever been to.
Filmed by Johnny Wilson
One of Mayaguez’s standouts skate-wise is a gigantic University of Puerto Rico campus. Like most college campuses, you could theoretically skate it for a week and not get bored — provided you never got kicked out. We skated for two hours later than we were expecting to, and then headed towards the well-lit park in Aguadilla.
Next day was a trip to more-or-less the most scenic park imaginable in Quebradillas, where we bumped into the squad from Shorty’s. Off the parks for the rest of the trip, and in these streets talking about shit Robert Lopez Mont did. (“Yeah man, Robert fakie flipped that three story drop when he was 14, man.”)
Happy New Year to everyone. Late start to 2016. Still coming to terms with this “oh right, this is what winter is supposed to feel like”-feeling. Keep it positive this year and have a good one. Stay warm :)
Ever wonder what happened to early-aughts child star, Knox Godoy? Jenkem tracked him down. Seems like those Baker guys like drinking a beer or two, huh?
Kids worship is basically the skateboard/downtown-equivalent of rappers’ Scarface worship at this point, but still got a kick out of these unseen behind-the-scenes polaroids from it + interview via the film’s costume designer. Aanndd Washington Square is a full central spot again. Shit goes in circles bro.
After a twenty-plus year run on Ludlow Street between Hester and Canal, the photogenic bar that was most photogenically [switch] ollied over by Quimothy Cardona and most recently ollied over by Michael Carroll (also a one-time nearest spot to the G-Man’s circa 2009 flophouse residence, and the ender in the second QS clip ever), has been replaced by a much higher, un-ollieable bar (until Aldrin Garcia shows up or something…) Thanks to James from Labor for the tip.
A heartwarming / potentially tear-inducing Christmas gift from the most astute golden era Girl/Chocolate nostalgists working today: Goldfish extras, remixed.
Thanks to the crew at House of Vans for getting rid of the bowl that even people who are good at skating bowls didn’t like (i.e. Corey Rubin…the only person I know who’s good at bowls), and maximizing on all the space it freed up. If you have any New York-based friends who work for Vans, they’re gonna hate you by March ;)
“I even remember being quite shocked at the response during the premiere in Sheffield. I recall that there was a UK DC tour coming through and the same guys that owned the distribution that focused on DC – and all the USA board brands – looked heavily bummed at the impact the premiere made. It seems they might have been right, as the video was the heralding of legit UK companies.” Sidewalk with a detailed oral history on the video that more-or-less introduced an entire post-900/THPS generation of Americans to British skateboarding, Blueprint’s Waiting for the World.
Let’s end the last Monday Links post of the year off with 2015’s drunkest song.
P.S. In anticipation of #another #year, here’s one last chance to take 25% off the remaining goods in the webstore. Enter promo code “anotherone” when buying anything. Expires at midnight. Thanks for all the support throughout 2015.
Fresh off yesterday’s launch of the WE THE BEST webstore, Johnny Wilson — the brilliant mind behind Sure and Space Heater, and everyone’s third favorite Wilson brother — has #ANOTHER #ONE for you to watch in your DJ Khaled slides.
Features Andrew and Mitchell Wilson vying for first and second place in our hearts as our top two Wilson brothers: one via an N.B.D. ollie over a sizable island of slanted cobblestones, and the other with some avant garde post-wallie flip experimentation. (We could maybe call it a tie for first?) John Choi is sorely missed, while Nik Stain continues to further buildhis cultfollowing by creating manual pads in otherwise unnoticed places, and Conor Prunty visits Roosevelt Island to remind everyone that his Quartersnacks solo part is dropping in April 2016.
Features Andrew Wilson, Nik Stain, Mitchell Wilson, Stu Kirst, Max Palmer, Bobby Worrest, Nick Boserio,Ishod Wair, Genesis Evans, Pad Dowd, Dallas Todd, Cyrus Bennet, Conor Prunty, Kohlton Ervin, Mason Silva, Alex Olson, and Ben Kadow.
