2019 was a year where the the past was rousted up to contend with the future — we listened to new Max B off a DatPiff stream while acknowledging that our existence rests at the mercy of rats plotting a takeover of mankind. Jeremy Lin became an NBA champion, the Knicks lost the lottery, and the gods just laughed and laughed.
Here are the developments that loosely defined the past 12 months in New York skateboarding.
Past Editions: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
According to The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Names and Their Origins, Allen Street gets its name from William Henry Allen, the youngest Navy captain in the War of 1812. (Our then-recent ex, Great Britain, was beefing with Napoleon while America stayed neutral. The U.S. was trying to send a flow box to France, and Britain felt some type of way about it. Like any bitter ex who sees someone else wearing your hoody after a messy break-up, they went to war.)
Legend has it that Allen was in the English Channel on the hunt for ops, when he stumbled on a Portuguese cargo ship carrying wine. Him and the squad had a wild night with the haul, but unfortunately, got caught slipping by the British on the following day. Allen and his crew’s colossal hangover would be their last: British canons shot off his leg, and he would die on August 18, 1813.
200 years later, L.E.S Skatepark was born.
Photo via the tumbleweeds. Tumblr in 2019 is like that one ledge spot that was popping five years ago. Everyone used to meet there, get clips there, get stuck there. Now it’s chunked up, the bevel got as round as Blubba, and it sorta just sits there. Maybe a group of guys in their 30s will skate it for 20 minutes before they go to the bar. Maybe a pair of kids in #curated thrift store finds visiting from out of town will film each other do two-trick lines for their trip edit on it. The solitary man who shows up after work once every two weeks to ensure that he hasn’t lost his back tails is always a fixture. But sometimes, all three of those end up there together, and it’s fun — not fun like the old days, but enough to remind you that they existed ;)
NBC visited Tompkins to speak with Zhu and Yaje about how much that square of asphalt means to the community. Please sign the petition to preserve Tompkins Square courts as an asphalt space, if you have yet to do so.
The Canal boys have a new video coming out this fall :)
Medium has an awesome feature with Justin Bohl, a guy who has been the go-to tour guide for skate teams visiting Detroit over the past eight years. He put together a twenty-minute video entitled Mint, which features a bunch of behind the scenes footage of all the traveling skaters who have come through the city as it became sought-after skate trip destination in the 2010s.
“Ultra” from Chris Burt is up there with the Bos brothers’ “Wide Open” for 2019’s best videos outside of the Thrasher/Insta content spiral. It’s a Minnesota video with three parts, mostly filmed in the suburbs, yet somehow feels all the right ways different than a lot of the other stuff you’ve watched this past week. Ender part from Frog’s Pat Gallaher.
The New York Times has a quick profile of Alexis Sablone.
Thanks to everyone that picked up something from the webstore last week ♥ We caught up on shipping all of last week’s orders by Friday, so if you are worried something went awry, feel free to hit us up. Still some stuff left on there, and it’s supposed to almost hit 90 today, so perhaps you could use a new pair of shorts? ;)
DC, Skate Jawn and Village Psychic brought two pieces of plywood to Borough Hall, made a hip at the bottoms of the steps, and threw a skate jam last weekend. Has no one ollied the set yet?
Filed Under “It Would Be Nice If This Was 3-4x As Long” — Tom Knox and Jordan Trahan skate around London together, and Johnny put together an Insta-length compilation of Alex Olson loosies from the past several years.
Here’s an iPhone vid of Chris Milic, Nick Michel, and some other Frogs in S.F.
“But I look at it this way. If it makes us happy, it has value. If we love it, it is as real as that love. And with some love and happiness in our hearts, we might just solve climate change and cure cancer too.” Jenkem has a nice feature with Mackenzie Eisenhower that covers sixteen pieces of advice that he’d give after sixteen years of writing about skateboarding for a living. (#17: one of the greatest hacks to writing about skateboarding is not writing about skateboarding.)
Kareem & Clyde. Photo by Jody Morris.
Shout out to everyone out there who just goes for it, yaknow?
New Gino Iannucci footage. No, really. It’s not a link to Lemon Party.
“If 2016’s tale of political and social upset is one of old against young and the educated against the left-behind, actually sharing space and interacting with different kinds of people is more important than it’s ever been.” Caught in the Crossfire has an incredible piece on Malmö, Sweden’s status as the world’s most forward-thinking small city with regard to skateable public space.
You probably caught this already, but Bronze dropped a video right after #QSTOP10 had been submitted on Thursday, entitled 56,000. Best Jordan footy since the 5Boro video :) Josh Wilson looks really hot in it too ♥
Been a heavy week on the remix video circuit. After all, remixing pros’ loose footage is our version of fantasy sports, and it’s February, sooooo…
The Tennyson Corporation, skateboarding’s finest remix house, put together an incredible part of Drake Jones and Pepe Martinez, utilizing all the clips they’ve ever had in 411 videos. Does Drake Jones have the best non-Kalisian tre flip?
Can’t remember the last time the word “beautiful” came to mind watching a skate video, but this remix of all Jesus Fernandez’s footage since Pretty Sweet to “Hang On To Your Love” is perfect. Perhaps more than any other skater, Jesus has a remarkable ability to make tricks that have no business looking good look incredible.
Here’s an unofficial “pro mix” of Sean Pablo on the occasion of his first pro board.
Skateboarding x Black History Month via Mehrathon. Stay tuned for something special with the guy who opens up that montage later this week. (Not Paul Mooney.)
Someone remixed a bunch of arbitrary Johnny Wilson footage for a clip called “Fountain.” We’d like a give a special shout out to the one video blog clip a week era.
Handful of loosies from full videos also went online this past week: 1) Here’s Elijah Cole’s part from Lurkers 3, which you could buy a hard copy of over on Joe Cups’ website. 2) Zach Moore’s part from Insano, Pete Spooner’s half New York / half Minneapolis video. 3) Here’s Jersey Dave’s part (Quim cameo!) and Matt Genovese’s part from Steven Mastorelli’s Meadowlands video, a Jersey project very much in the tradition of Justin White, J.P. Blair, et al. 4) Shawn Butler’s lost part from Harry Bergenfield’s Drama video.
Genesis Evans made a nine-minute iPhone clip of skating around L.A.
Quick one of Lurker Lou and Phil Rodriguez at Brower Park.
Pretty sure we were in Spain when this happened (maybe its even older news than that), but official final R.I.P. to 12th & A. They repaved the entire court with shitty, soft blacktop. And there’s a “No Skateboarding” sign for the first time ever…at a school that once included skateboard classes in its phys ed curriculum. Cool.
QS Sports Desk: Never gave one of these to Lebron before, mainly just on some hater shit, but this is one of the most insane things I’ve ever witnessed in my basketball viewing life. Just *look* at the Wizards bench.
Quote of the Week: “Yo…actually, I like wearing wack gear.” — Ben Blundell
Happy Valentine’s Day to all the couples ♥…
…aaannnddd happy Valentine’s Day to all the singles ;) ♥
