The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2011: 25-21

You know the drill. Five at a time, one post a week. Have a good weekend.

25. The Blue Flatbar Shatters the Record for the Longest a Loose Obstacle Has Been Left at Tompkins

Every skateboarder in New York is guilty of having once been too lazy to return a box or rail back to Autumn after it gets dark. Neglecting to bring the box back is so common that we deliberately left it off our Tompkins etiquette guide. If the Parks Department held on to all the obstacles they have removed from the park over the last ten years, then they easily have the capability of furnishing every basketball court and concrete baseball diamond in New York with at least one box and flatbar. The historical average for the longest an obstacle has been able to remain loose in Tompkins Square without confiscation is roughly 10.2 hours. This past November, amidst the 12th & A lockout, the blue flatbar was brought to the T.F. and lasted an unprecedented three weeks before being taken by the Parks Department and thrown in a trash compactor. It is quite possible that this record will never be broken.

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Skateboarding v.s. The MTA

Ever since we saw the original Zoo York crew sessioned the descending ramp connecting the A, C, & E to the L at 14th Street in the Mixtape credits, skating inside subway stations seemed like a lot of fun. (Perhaps even more fun than it actually was.) Then, Indoor Ten came around, and people started hucking themselves down that, risking a $100 summons, a board confiscation, and potentially getting your ass kicked by an angry Times Square cop stuck in a precinct with little to no action throughout the year, with Easter probably being the main exception. Subway skating hasn’t excelled much since, at least until this new clip for Slap by Colin Read, featuring Piro Sierra, Kenji Nakahira, Ryan Barlow, and Connor Kammerer. The fact that they left without a summons or a baton to the head is absolutely incredible.

Whether or not this will end up with 100K+ views like many of the other infamous MTA moments to make it on the internet this year remains to be seen, but it’s the best skate clip to go online in a long time.