Still can’t believe it ♥
Thanks everyone for making this happen, and everyone who made it out to the rally-turnt-party on Saturday. This park is truly a magical place — we should do a similar meet-up at the end of every summer until we all dead ‘n shit :)
Wrote the full update about the turf getting called off here, if you’re just joining us.
Photos by Jason Lecras. Ok, this is the third post in a row about it, so will shut up for a while hehe.
2014. Photo by Emilio Cuilan.
Truly elated that we can begin a Monday Links round-up as we close out the summer without a link to a petition ♥ There’ll definitely be some formal news coverage of the day — which turned into a T.F. reunion rather than a rally — but caught this slideshow from Eric Cruz on IG earlier if you’re looking for pics. We should do a T.F. reunion the Saturday after every Labor Day every year, no? Like Bastille Day, but for Tompkins.
Tyshawn Jones is on i-D magazine’s cover this month, and they put their feature with him online.
The governor of New Jersey has been making the media rounds as of late. Fred Gall is the guest on honor on The Bunt‘s season finale.
Was going to write something yesterday, but was too overwhelmed once the news broke + everyone caught wind of it on social channels first.
At around 4 P.M. yesterday, Manhattan Parks Commissioner, William Castro (who actually funded the ramps at the 1989 Shut contest at Tompkins), reached out to say that the Parks Department will NOT be installing turf over the asphalt at the northeast corner of Tompkins Square Park A.K.A. the T.F.
We all low-key couldn’t believe this too-good-to-be-true news. Then, Patch — the same source from which we learned the park was getting turfed in the first place — got a statement from Parks spokesperson, Crystal Howard: “Tompkins Square Park has served as the epicenter of NYC skateboard culture for decades, as such, we have decided to leave the area previously proposed for synthetic in the park as is, and will not move forward with creating a synthetic turf area there.”
If you can’t make it out on Saturday, don’t forget to help circulate the petition to keep turf off the asphalt at Tompkins Square Park. If you’re sharing any reflections or memories of what this park means to you on social media, please be sure to tag any posts with #savetompkins.
“One thing Jones has that a lot of pro skaters don’t is a bunch of hardheaded friends who are willing to bring city life to a halt for him.” Can’t imagine there’s a single person who reads QS that hasn’t already read Willy Staley’s incredible profile of Tyshawn Jones for The New York Times, but also don’t think anything else could justifiably be the first link this week.
“The further uptown you went, the quieter and more desolate it was. And the more you could get away with.” While on the topic of #MSM #skate #coverage — never knew about this 2005 New York Mag article about Andy Kessler and the original Zoo York crew of the 1970s-80s. (So nice that we have evolved and endured enough to avoid calling things “Dogtown East” now hehe.)
Eli Gesner found this 1995 clip of Peter Bici skating in front of the Met at 6 A.M. Wonder what club they had just left ;)
Adam & Slicky • Photo by Sophie Day
“I would be on tour with all these guys and that late 90s San Diego, hip-hop style of culture was ruling at the time. And I was just a kid from Northern California who liked My Bloody Valentine.” There’s a really nice interview with Jerry Hsu about life after sponsors in …GQ? Jk, Noah knows what he’s doing ♥
Dylan Holderness put together a rad ten-minute video from ten days in Puerto Rico. Shout out to having wild horses chilling in the background of city plazas. We went to that spot and didn’t see any damn horses!
The text is in German, but the dudes from Irregular skate mag put up a supplementary article to their “Summer Trip To New York” clip that was linked last Monday, and it includes a ton of really sick photos. Shout out to everyone going the extra mile in the #legacy #content realm. Tricks can be A.B.D. — but everyone’s story is different yaknow.
The fashion mags are onboard for the cause — Dazed ran an article about the cultural significance of the Tompkins asphalt, and Paper did the same. We cannot stress enough that this is so much bigger than skateboarding, and more about the community that this small patch of asphalt has cultivated. → Please sign and share the petition if you have yet to do so. Actually, if you read QS and haven’t signed it, please focus your board and computer. (And no, we haven’t heard an update back from Parks yet, but are hoping for some news this week.)
