Fall QS merchandise is arriving at U.S. & Japanese shops now. Check your local shop’s IG for availability, and our stockists page for a local QS dealer (that page actually needs to be updated, tbh.) Arriving in Canada, Australia and Europe this week and next. Fall 2019 gear will be available in our webstore next Monday, October 28th @ midnight E.S.T. (So technically Sunday night.)
You have 72 hours left to vote in the QS Readers Survey about the best parts and full-length videos of the 2010s. We’ll have the results for you in November ♥
“‘You had all these planners and architects in the 1950s and 60s saying cities need these grand, celebratory spaces — and they really didn’t.’ But apparently skaters did.” Curbed has an awesome feature about how some odious, post-WWII federal legislation ultimately lead to the creation of the sorts of public plazas that would prove to be the breeding ground of modern skateboarding.
“That might be a trick that’s been done, but it’s done differently…and with different pants on.” Vice has a video profile of Breezy and Una about growing up being two of the few girls skating in Vancouver.
The Finnish guys who made the Hard Water video that went live on the Free site last week actually also put together a trip to New York edit that we only now caught onto. Love a vacation edit when the trees are bare + everyone is still in hoodies, though I’m sure it’s warmer than Helsinki. Also impressed by their cobblestone deterrent that keeps your board from rattling down into Sutton Place traffic.
Maybe it goes through a vigorous off-screen sanitizing process — but one’s bed seems like a bad place to sort through street debris. Anyway, here is an eight-minute glimpse into the life of Bobby Puleo.
Ben “Actually, I Like Wearing Wack Gear” Blundell receives redemption after barely any clips in Courtesy. Go watch his “OJO” part over on Thrasher. Rest in Peace Dillon ♥
Gotta hand it to Europe’s Most Productive Crew™ for consistently doing something that feels so natural and different than everything else out there, year after year — especially in a country without much of a skate industry. Also ~love~ the recurring role of dogs in their videos. “Nap Mint Nap Volume 4” is the latest from the Rios Crew. We really gotta make it out to Budapest, pretty much everyone says nothing but good things…
In hindsight, it’s pretty crazy that a peak shiny suit era Bad Boy song ever slipped into an Alien Workshop video, even for 45 seconds. And guess what! Twenty years later, we get the full [re]edit: Manolo remixed two decades of Kalis footage to the complete extended version of Black Rob’s “Whoa.” FWIW, that album has some sleepergems.
“Pornography had already been done, and the skate/fetish graphic thing said all that needed to be said on the subject. Take away the black bag and the sticker about censorship, and you just have a dumb idea repeated endlessly. For nearly 3 decades.” Ted Barrow wrote a nice piece on the history of the black bag World Industries board, and everything that followed it over on Skateism.
Solange in a skate clip ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Def worth the watch from Peter Deigaard + Drew, Hugo, Ville, and all the Copenhagen boys, which will make you feel the summer even if you have no Danish travel plans :)
“DOA RMX” is a video featuring some upstate dudes (pretty sure…), and has a random ass remix of Pat Washington footage from the early 2000s at the end, which is timely given Jamal Smith reminded us about his iconic Got Gold? part last week.
Realized the other day that Tao’s “KBH MIXEN” video is the 2018 video that still gets the most revisitation in 2019. Felt Ville’s section deserved it’s own upload :)
“But after you’ve finished a project the best sign is if people come and actually use the space, often in ways you hadn’t envisioned in the design process. Skaters are particularly good at this.” If this were a tired and wired meme, the former would be Malmo, and the latter Tartu, Estonia ;) Jk, but you should read this interview with the woman reshaping the northeast European country’s approach to multi-faceted public space.
Solo has an awesome interview with ledge GOAT Javier Sarmiento about the early history of skating in Barcelona, his Powell days, growing up in a situation where terror attacks are normal, Catalonia’s political situation, and a bunch of other stuff.
Hotel Blue has a new montage with a mini Juan Virues part at the end. Even after a decade of unrepentant “Summer Trip to New York” coverage at every possible spot in the Financial District, that “lump to pole” by Rector Street has to have one of the slimmest trick lists in all of Lower Manhattan. Front big spin was sick.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Maybe the second time a college basketball highlight has made Play of the Week, but yeah, what else. And for a Duke player, of all things! (Idk shit about college ball, just know that we’re supposed to not like Duke because everyone I know from North Carolina is a UNC fan.)
Quote of the Week: “I’m O.D. good at nunchucks.” — Andre Page
This bench has made a long journey from Delancey Curb, to the front of a Rivington Street pizza restaurant, and eventually, back to its rightful community at T.F. — though none of us have been there since Thursday, and also the D.A. softball league is back, so it might be up in heaven now.
Tony Choy-Sutton has a rad new video entitled “Gas,” which features John Gardner, Franco, Pat Gallaher, and a part from Sean Frederickson full of scary spots.
Was kind of wondering how long it’d take for an all-Borough Hall part to come along. Would be shocked if someone wasn’t working on an all-Borough Hall video right now too. (Also, seeing 2k18 American footage of people doing a line at a real street spot with dozens of skaters chilling on some steps in the background is ♥♥♥)
While sifting through a box of random skate DVDs, I remembered I had these two nineties Boston videos, the earlier one of which includes a Jahmal Williams part from literally 27 years ago. Just uploaded to YouTube here.
“In the never-ending Instagram demo, perhaps the pro daily dribbling out indifferently phone-filmed park clips is not some navel-gazing lazy, tossing half-baked bones to his or her followers while too hungover to step to street spots.”
“There’s something modest to his skateboarding, in that he can realistically do anything, but rarely rolls away with flair or arrogance. It’s a very polite way to ride a skateboard.” A guy with the same name as a former Cons pro offers up a review on the Cons video, which — if you haven’t been on the internet all weekend — is now online.
The Gristedes on 96th Street closed down, which means you can now skate the bank in front of it that only Jaws otherwise skated in some Weed Maps clip…idk dude ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: This is one of those weeks where if it didn’t go to Lebron, it’d just look like some full hater shit. So it’s going to Lebron.
Quote of the Week: “This is a pretty sweet spot. It reminds me of Germany…not that I’ve ever been to Germany.” — Nolan Benfield re: a French restaurant in France
