It is December. Can you believe it? The year that began with you suggesting to a friend, “Hey do you want to go to an outdoor dining shack in 18-degree weather with snow on the ground to have a beer because if I stay inside my apartment any longer I’m going to claw my own eyes out,” and that friend going “Sure!” is coming to a close.
As we do every year, thus begins our [mostly] scene-specific Top 25 countdown of things that defined the past twelveish months.
Photo by Paul Coots
So it snowed today. It sucked. It also means that anybody’s northeastern skateboard pursuits are on borrowed time.
Below is an edit put together by Ryan Mettz — of first part in The Hit Video fame, yes — from a quick trip down to Baltimore and Washington D.C. that comprised of Max, DREWWWWWWW, Mecca, and Enzo. The latter two both got injured early on in the journey, but you can catch Enzo in The LC Video and Mecca in Group Chat.
It just snowed though. Great time to heal up ❤️
A colleague remarked that months ago, he had driven past the red Navy Yard Philly step, saw a disconfigured piece of wood up to it, and knew that it had to be a Max Palmer concoction — despite there being no skaters in sight. (That spot is also the headline image for the first Max part QS ever posted in 2011.) He was right.
The Hit Video is the year-plus in the making project by Paul Coots, a principal architect behind the BSA videos. At the premiere on Saturday night, drunkards [remembered this was actually Max Hull’s quote and he wasn’t that buzzed ♥] lovingly dubbed it “basically Max Palmer’s Wonderful horrible life.” It feels like a warm VX throwback to the sideyard era of Johnny Wilson videos, with cameos from Cyrus, DREEWWWWWWW, Conor (!) and even John Choi (!!!) along the way.
Since starting the “Favorite Spot” series, there has been one skater + spot combo that has been requested above all the rest. And with the fifth installment (second local spot in a row!), we are proud to present Max Palmer and the Canal Fountain — or just “the fountain spot,” or what we have even lovingly renamed “Max Palmer Park” on the spots page.
(FWIW, it’s technically called Albert Capsouto Park, but nobody has ever called it that. Probably not even Al’s family.)
So, this one needs no further introduction. Max is a man of sparse words (in most cases, not all), and we’re all grateful he was down to talk about this absolute mess of a spot.
Biggest thank you goes to Johnny obvs, but shout out to everybody who contributed their footy ♥
Antonio via Paul Coots. The footage of this one was in the 2018 “End of Summer” edit, but felt worth reminding everyone how insane it was. This photo does it great justice ♥ Just observe the height ;)
Jawn Gardner uses his gifts to do what nobody else can in an incredible new Earth Day part. The line at CBS is maybe the most third-eye-open choreography that place has ever seen.
What an amazing idea for a feature… “‘Perfect Days’ will interview familiar faces in the Boston and Northeast scene, and pose them with the simple question: what was one of your favorite sessions ever?” The Orchard Skate Shop blog is following the footsteps of the Slam City Skates blog in creating good, old-fashioned web content outside the Insta-sphere. Kevin Coakley is the inaugural edition. (Fwiw, all-time favorite skate day around here is probably Yume Farm with *literally everybody* in fall 2018 ♥)
