I Just Left Colombia

carrol bronx

Back foot. Feeling the spike in NY-based Carroll coverage these past 12 months. Photo: Mehring.

[Really though.]

Rest in Peace Love Park. Thanks for the memories. Switch tre never went down :(

~Seven minutes of raw footage from one of everyone’s new favorites, Mark Humienik.

Joey Suriel’s Chromeball interview really puts into perspective why Menace is such a nostalgia touchstone for people two decades down the line, particularly in our current era of surging “it was the lifestyle, man”-companies. #respect to Kareem Campbell for reminding skateboarders to pay their taxes also ;)

The barred-off map manual pad at the Veteran’s Memorial [that Pappalardo first popped off in Fully Flared] is having a bit of a comeback.

There’s something heartwarming about seeing current-day footage at the Museum of Natural History, probably because Pang’s multi-level line from Mixtape holds such a dear place in my heart. Shout out to Moldy Films.

A video preview of the upcoming Big Brother book. Each issue gets two pages.

“People sometimes ask me about that in relation to skateboarding, about how it should belong to skaters in terms of an aesthetic, and that’s fucked up because it’s the genre that has stolen the most.” An interview with Palace designer, Fergus Purcell.

It seems that the boys over at France’s Free Skate Mag have joined us in fighting the good fight against redhead discrimination in skateboarding, as they premiered a new Wieger part this past week, in addition to a Strawberry Letter 23-flavored remix video.

Dr. Z v.s. H.O.V.

*heart eye Emoji* Dylan Reider interviews Sean Pablo *heart eye Emoji*

“If future pros fistfight Russian bouncers but never speak of it publicly out of an abundance of professional caution, do the busted teeth and cracked eye sockets make any sound? Wasn’t Chris Cole straightedge at one point or is this another phantom memory like Henry Sanchez’s Aesthetics pro model?” Boil the Ocean on real-time mythmaking and neatly boxed memories.

ICYMI…1) Josh Wilson closes out the new Waylon Bone montage real strong. 2) HD video blog #19 from Johnny Wilson et al. with an averted worst case scenario. 3) Nik Stain v.s. parking garage manual pads in the latest Cell Jawn installment. 4) Andrew Wilson at the Nike SB Garage, with guest trick from Conor “QS Part in April” Prunty.

The Green Zine re: the plight of the skateboard filmer.

QS Sports Desk: The Sports Desk is an anti-Lakers establishment, as are the San Antonio Spurs. With that being said, their tribute to Kobe was very sweet. Godspeed to one of opposing NBA teams’ last true archvillians.

Quote of the Week: “Dre is like the cool uncle who spoils you. He’ll give you a free board and then be like, ‘Here, take this trail mix with you.'” — Alexander Mosley

Leftover sizes still on sale @ the webstore.

Puerto Rico Update — Part 2

bobby back tail

Photo by Zach Malfa-Kowalski

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.

Puerto Rican Update

andrewbsollie

Photo by Zach Malfa-Kowalski

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 belated birthday to Cyrus 1Oak.

First Post of 2016

drake

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 :)

First Posts Time Capsule: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.

Let’s start off 2016 by still talking a bit about 2015… Some year-end lists that point you in the direction of parts and videos that you might not have caught. 1) Better Skate Than Never listed the top thirty videos / promos of 2015, with a primary focus on independent ventures e.g. Bleach is #1. 2) Café Creme blog with a gourmet selection of 2015’s ten best. 3) Boil the Ocean already had a detailed post-by-post top ten countdown, and offered some bonus suggestions.

Always fun to see what’s going on uptown. A new one from the Mira Conyo squad.

IG comp featuring the quick-footed 2015 Q.S.I.G.S.O.T.Y. contender, Dane Brady.

2016 resolution? Stfu and stop complaining about spots. Probably gonna last a week.

A crash course in skateboarders v.s. natural disasters.

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?

The dude who kickflip back tail gapped the ledge to three-stair gap at Pulaski Park just back tail kickflipped the ledge to three-stair gap at Pulaski Park.

Another year, another video blog from Johnny Wilson, and another iPhone clip from Genesis, both featuring the Most Productive Crew™ in New York skateboarding.

Four minutes of Sabotage 4 extras, and twenty-four minutes of Duzzed extras. That urban mega ramp section at the beginning is insane. Where is “2015’s reigning lord of hairball” when you really need him?

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.

Village Psychic theorizes that scenes with harsh winters produce the best videos.

Of course Pho Bang is first on this list. Of course #skaterfaves

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Jimmy Butler beat some guy named Michael Jordan’s franchise record for most points scored in a half yesterday.

Quote of the Week
Sweet Waste: “Where did my youth go man…”
Observant Gentleman: “Enid’s.”
Sweet Waste: “Shit, you’re right.”

We’ll miss you, Dr. Zizmor.

It’s the Sixth Time Getting Kicked Out

ludlow bar

Wake up, take a sip of Ace of Spaces like it’s water

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.

Speaking of which — a few seconds of new Carroll footage in New York.

This edit was sick… Marshall with a new one featuring Kevin Bradley, Sage, T.J., Troy and the rest of the Hardies Hardware dudes. Skating starts at roughly the 2:30 mark.

This is an incredible undertaking. Over the course of multiple letters sent to him in jail, the Chrome Ball Incident managed to facilitate an in-depth, fully autobiographic interview with the currently incarcerated Lenny Kirk.

Best New Jersey trick of 2015? Via Paul Young’s thoroughly awesome Bleach video.

A heartwarming / potentially tear-inducing Christmas gift from the most astute golden era Girl/Chocolate nostalgists working today: Goldfish extras, remixed.

Village Psychic and Danny Falla did a wear test for one of the earliest non-Dunk Nike SB models. Shout out to everyone who stocked up on $20 pairs of these and E-Cues from Jersey Gardens circa 2003.

Monster Children interviewed the coolest skateboarder of all-time.

Odds & Ends… 1) Jason Byoun sneaks into the Brooklyn Banks. 2) Cell Jawn #19. 3) Raw footage of J John the Don in Philly via Bust Crew. 4) New York edit via Waylon Bone featuring a handful of the names you often see in New York edits. 5) Some new Rich Homie Juan footage in the second “Futur” edit by Yoan Taillandier. 7) Some “Sequence 1” outtakes in HD video blog #17 from Johnny Wilson.

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.

Max Palmer made Skate Jawn-branded sewer caps that are kinda sorta skateable.

The Mira Conyo squad is premiering their new vid and releasing a new Heights-based skate zine uptown tonight. 4447 Broadway, off the 190th Street A train.

Boil the Ocean’s annual top ten video parts countdown is now underway.

Some progress shots of the skatepark being built in place of Fat Kid Spot.

How is this only happening now? Arizona Iced Tea officially has a skate team.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Ran off on the plug twice

Quote of the Week: “Don’t walk up to me pretending like you’re going sober. I don’t care.” — T-Bird

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.