New One From Supreme, Bill Strobeck and Grant Taylor

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“King Puppy” is the latest from Bill Strobeck, the Supreme boys and Grant Taylor, released in anticipation of the new GT Blazer they have dropping tomorrow. Highlights include a brief unofficial sequel to the Bronx bank-to-ledge session from “cherry,” switch street grabs, and Vincent Touzery displaying the finest bit of same-but-different line choreography (this website’s favorite brand of lines, tbh) since Danny Brady’s back 180 5-0 180 / back 180 5-0 shuv line at Republiqué.

BUT, the best part is Grant’s hypnotic section on the Supreme L.A. bowl. Making a three-minute section on a shop ramp look interesting isn’t the easiest thing in the world. More often than not, anybody who doesn’t know the people in front of the lens never makes it halfway through your average shop mini ramp clip. Grant annihilates every crevice, ending every line (is “line” accurate transition terminology?) by implanting thoughts of “…wait, what the fuck did he just do, why did it look so simple, and how did that light not break into a zillion pieces?” in your brain.

Previously: Pussy Gangster, Swoosh, The Red Devil, Joyride

‘PUSSY GANGSTER’ — Supreme in Paris

supreme paris

Present-day Paris is a case study in how one street spot could revitalize an entire skate scene. In the few years that République has existed, we’ve seen an indigenous sect of skateboarding emerge from the spot, company trips to Paris increase tenfold, and a jolt of energy to other places in the city that had otherwise found their way out of coverage circulation. The best spots are the ones we are left alone in, and there’s no greater compliment you could give Parisian culture — or any culture that applies, really — than to say that people mind their own business. No bust, no “you almost hit me,” no “there’s a skatepark down the block.” There’s a unanimous respect for your right to be in a public space, on a skateboard or whatever else your purpose may be.

You can stay in Paris for a week, meet up at République daily, but still come back with zero footage from the spot. It’s a vortex where modern ideas of “productivity” wither away in exchange for the joys of being unhassled in an open space with ledges. “Pussy Gangster,” Bill’s new one to commemorate the opening of Supreme Paris, treats République like he treated Love in 2001. While it only takes up a quarter of the screentime, you feel it at the origin of every clip. And when you’re back at the spot — the lurkers, the crazies, the unplanned lines, the sure-what-the-hell clips from the O.Gs and the interactions with traffic all count for as much as the wildest trick to go down outside of it.

Features Sage Elsesser, Sean Pablo, Tyshawn Jones, Na-Kel Smith, Kevin Bradley, Ben Kadow, Jason Dill, Mark Gonzales, Greg Cuadrado, Vincent Touzery and Kevin Rodriguez.

Previously: “Swoosh,” the red devil, Joyride

The QS Year in Review Countdown: 5-1

jesse columbus park

Photo by Mike Heikkila

Last post of the year. Be safe out there tonight. Previously: 10-6, 15-11, 20-16, 25-21.

5. The Year of Columbus Park

For a spot that has been around for so long, Columbus Park didn’t become the main only place people go if they leave L.E.S. Park until recently. There was Puleo’s INFMS line, A.V.E’s ollie over 5050, and the seminal 2002 “Ja$onwear Day” clip that may have been the second time the kinked ledge ever got waxed — but besides routine 2000s video appearances of the ledge, the spot was never a bustling nexus until now. In 2015, it clocked two major video enders, one magazine cover, a newly established A.B.D. docket of tricks done up the two block, and is the place you are most likely to see a group of semi-motivated skateboarders pointing iPhones at each other.

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‘Swoosh’ — The Latest One From Supreme & Strobeck

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Before the concept of a “skateboarding shoe” really began maturing and booming in the nineties, a lot of “skate shoes” came from discount stores. Nike’s GTS was a canvas tennis shoe that covered sales racks at Marshalls two decades ago. It has largely been forgotten, beyond the fact it made its way into a bunch of skate photos and video parts, mostly on the feet of dudes who paid attention to their gear as much as the tricks they were doing. Today, with about 1/5th of the kids at a peak-hour L.E.S. session trying to look like they stepped out a Marshalls in 1995, it makes sense to revisit a cult-classic — which in many ways, was a proto-Janoski.

Supreme is releasing a run of GTS Nikes later this week. In the lead-up for it, they got Brian Anderson, Kevin Bradley and Alex Olson to skate both the most iconic plaza spot that still exists, and the most photogenic new plaza spot to be built in the past ~three years. With so many new skate videos (at least the ones filmed in cities) taking a spots-that-aren’t-really-spots approach, there’s now something refreshing about seeing B.A. do his first-ever Love line in a twenty-year-spanning skate career, or Challex doing improvisational turn-around lines at Republique that aren’t far off from Stevie’s wandering Love lines in The Reason. And shit, when’s the last time a pro simply did a crook fakie on a ledge to start off a line? Like 1999? That was nice to see.

We got the shoes, now how do we bring the plazas back? :(

Previously: the red devil, Joyride

the red devil. – New One From Supreme & Bill Strobeck

kevin bradley ollie battery

Yoooooooooooooo

Out of all the unlikely things to become recognizable spots, this rail behind Stuyvesant High School maybe tops the list. Lenny Kirk 5050ed it, a over a decade went by, Jake did it switch, a half-decade went by, and now, it’s a thing that kids just skate in videos.

Word that Kevin Bradley ollied over the rail — from less than two-foot wide ledge to another less than two-foot wide ledge — has been around for a few months. Reider’s impossible over the Seaport bench was probably the last time rumors of a trick within city limits were that inconsistent with normal people’s ideas of skateboard reality. The photo verified it a week or two ago, and the footage came out today. Wow.

Joe Valdez would probably be proud, if it were thirty feet higher.

the red devil. is Bill’s new montage for Supreme, named in honor of Aidan Mackey’s vibrant hair. (Finally! It seems like our efforts have had at least some morsel of an effect on redhead acceptance in the skateboard world.) Features all the ever-progressing “cherry” kids, plus a bonus A.V.E. line. (Vans vid April?)

Previously: “Joyride“