Post 9/11 Skateboarding

September 11th 2001 was an important day in alot of peoples lives for many different reasons. For me it was sad that alot of people had lost family members, but the most direct impact it had on my life at thirteen years old, was the displacement of the skate community that I was involved in and around the World Trade Center. I remember the day it happened when I was in biology class and our teacher Mr. Scott, a bald gay man, with a southern drawl, was called out of the classroom. He came back in and said "Now I have some very sad news ya'll, there has been an accident at the World Trade Center, a plane ran into one of the towers." It sounded pretty unreal at the time. My friend PJ whose family lives two blocks away from the World Trade Center began to cry. It was pretty weird for me to think that his family might not be alive. I had been to their house many times.

In 2001 I had just started skating and was obsessed with it. I skated no matter what, if it was raining I had a board to ride in the rain. If it was night time and I couldn't leave my neighborhood I would skate in front of our apartment building for hours. The only problem with that is that there wasn't much good stuff to skate in the neighborhood at the time. When PJ first took me to Battery Park City is when my mind first opened up to a different kind of skating. In my neighborhood I was used to only skating flatground. In Battery Park City there were stairs, rails, ledges, I thought I was in heaven. I started going there without PJ and began to meet other skaters.

I met a kid one day while skating in Battery Park City and he told me he was leaving Battery Park City cause it sucked, and that he was going to the Brooklyn Banks. I wish I could remember this kid's name or face, but I don't. When I got to the Banks I was amazed. A skatespot that looks like it were made for skating. Banks that flowed like waves, a nine stair with a skater made handrail, some dope ledges. There were so many skaters doing so many tricks I didn't even know the name of. I started going there every weekend. I began to meet more and more skaters and it was with them that I started getting shown other spots in the neighborhood. One of them was the World Trade Center.

The World Trade Center was an awesome skatespot. You could skate the benches in the street and never get kicked out. If you went in the actual plaza you would get kicked out pretty fast. The security guards never tried to take your board, but they were adamant about us not skating there. There was so much stuff there that I just can't seem to find photos of. There was a perfect manual pad that went from low to high, a ledge over a 5 stair(the one Luis smacked his face on trying to 5050 grind), and these perfect marble benches right in front of the towers.

After the tragic events that took place on 9/11, downtown became a no mans land for a long time. I remember not going down there for a month out of fear, even though my mom worked 5 blocks from the World Trade Center. When I finally went back that far downtown it was so different. The cops had taped off the Brooklyn Banks making them temporarily unskateable. I remember going to the other spots and not seeing other skaters for a couple months. The air down there was horrible and it felt dismal. It was like all the energy in that part of city went down with those two towers.

6 months later, it was spring and people returned to skating downtown, but it didn't feel the same anymore. Cops were checking your bags constantly getting off the train, security was heightened at every building so you were getting kicked out all the time, it had changed so much. Eventually I met a skater named Ben Nazario who took me to Thompkins Square park where I would start skating everyday, and still do skate at constantly.

Twelfth and A/King of Spring

The King Of Spring contest, held annually uptown on 12th St and Ave A is my favorite skateboard competition for a few reasons. For one, it is organized every year by Billy Rohan one of the city's foremost skateboard enthusiasts/activists(Who was once awarded the title of NY1's New Yorker of the Week). I've known Billy since I was thirteen and have always thought of him as one of the city's best skateboarders and eccentric individuals. Ever since I've know Billy he's been skating his heart out and trying to use his connections to get parks built for skateboarders in New York City.

Before Billy moved here from Florida we had 2 skateparks, Riverside Skatepark and Owl's Head Skatepark. Both of these skateparks, are in my opinion, horrible and completely outdated. Riverside Skatepark has been here since the 1980's and is rusty, with nails sticking out in various ramps and obstacles. Owl's Head only has large obstacles built for someone who has been skating for at least a couple years, and has no obstacles built for a beginner skater looking to learn. Ever since Billy moved here in 2000, we have had 6 new skateparks added to our city. Among my favorites are the Tribeca park, Astoria Park, and the Open Roads park on 12th st. and Ave A.

 I like the idea of this contest so much is because they don't allow professional or amateur skateboarders to compete in it. It is all kids who don't get paid to skate for a living, most are willing to put themselves in harm's way just to win enough money for a Metrocard to get back home. In competitions like the Maloof Money Cup or Street League the prize can be as much as a million dollars. Sure this is nice for professional skaters looking to buy new homes and expensive cars, but what about the kids who do this just for fun? I think they deserve a chance to make a little money and get some exposure to the competitive side of skateboarding.

I'm most fond of this competition because it is held where I grew up, Alphabet City. Growing up skateboarding in Alphabet City, I was always often called "Tony Hawk" and "White boy." Now that it has become more acceptable to see skaters of all nationalities, this doesn't happen to often anymore. To see skaters of all different races of colors get together and skate on 12th st and Ave A , the block I grew up on, makes me proud. I highly suggest you all attend this years King of Spring Contest, once the date is announced on the Open Roads Nyc Website, and say whatsup to Billy Rohan, a true skateboard advocate.

Scharpp

Heres a link to a short skate video I made. Enjoy. The Language for the music is kinda vulgar, so cover your ears or something, if that kinda stuff bothers you.

Luis Tolentino

This is my good friend Luis Tolentino murdering it in Queens, his stomping grounds. I've always been a fan of the way Luis skates, fast and stylish. In this video he ollies a trash can then a set of stairs. It is pretty amazing.

I first met Luis ten years ago at the the old seaport spot downtown. Here is a video where the first trick Anthony Pappalardo does is at the spot, I couldn't find and image of the spot. I remember he always friendly to me which was uncommon for New York skaters in the late 90's when everyone thought they were so tough. Luis and I went to skate the benches at the World trade center one summer day. He tried to 5050 the ledge over the stairs and fell on his face. We went to Burger King after that and I bought him a slushy for his new shiner. Every time I see him he still doesn't forget that slushy. That is why Luis Tolentino will always be the man.

Shoe Review

When Converse announced two years ago that it would be doing another line of skate shoes, I was excited. For starters, Chuck Taylors are one of my favorite sneakers to wear when I'm not skating. Simple and clean, these are a shoe that will remain classics forever. I was also excited when I heard that Anthony Pappalardo would be on the team. He has been a favorite of mine ever since the Photosynthesis days, and no matter how little coverage he gets, I will always respect his accomplishments in skateboarding.

The shoes Converse make for skating tend to just be improvements upon shoes, like the Chuck Taylors, which became the CTS OX. Anthony Pappalardo's pro shoe, is just a padded version of the Converse One Stars, that Guy Mariano brought to fame in his part in Girl's classic video, Mouse. The Converse style can be described as simple and timeless. There is never anything unnecessary and the colors are always simple.

The shoes I am reviewing are the Converse CTS OX. I was lucky enough to get a free pair from a friend who gets packages from a Converse sales rep. I got these shoes three weeks ago on that first beautiful weekend, and have been using them every time I skate. I normally wear a size 11 but in the Converse skate shoe line I have to wear a size 10.5. The reason for this being, once they begin to wear in, they become extremely loose, and a size 11 starts to feel very uncomfortable. The padding in these shoes make it possible to skate off stairs and gaps, but at the same time allow you to feel your board. My only complaint with these shoes, would be that they take a few days of breaking in. In other skate shoes like the Nike Dunks, I find myself at ease as soon as I put them on. I would give the CTS OX an 8 out of 10 and would recommend them to anybody looking for a comfortable and stylish skate shoe.

Josh Kalis Epicly Later'd

I'm a week late on posting this but nonetheless, I need to post this. The Josh Kalis epicly laterd episodes on vbs.tv, vice magazine's television channel are some of the best pieces of media that I've had the pleasure of watching in 2011. Patrick Odell's cult skaeboard show called epicly laterd is as he calls it "a modest attempt at documenting all of skateboarding's history." He has covered high profile skateboarders like Dylan Reider, Guy Mariano, and Andrew Reynolds to name a few. The episodes follow skaters in their progression from children to adult professionals and everything that happened in their in life in between.

The Josh Kalis episodes are my favorite of the bunch so far. They start at his humble beginnings in Michigan and follow him from all the skate meccas he has lived in like; Barcelona, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, and currently Los Angeles. These episodes are highly influential to me because they're about a skater who has been a complete workaholic his entire career. Rob Dyrdek put it best in one of the last episodes about Kalis when he says; "He's your favorite skater's favorite skater."

Palace Comes to New York

This past fall Palace Skateboards came to New York City. Palace skateboards began as a crew of skateboarders  from London who lived with each other in dirty skate houses and skated with each other. The original name of the crew is Palace Wayward Boys Choir. The crew began to garner a cult following with the clips they put on dontwatchthat.tv . The clips would contain footage, some new, some old, of skate clips and other comical things. The clips are an homage to simpler times in skateboarding when people like Stevie Williams and Josh Kalis filmed epic parts at Love Park in the late nineties and early two thousands. The clips often feature older hip hop found on classic radios shows like Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito's on WKCR radio from the early nineties. Eventually the following for PWBC became so immense that one of the members Lev Tanju turned an inside joke among friends into an international skateboard company.

The clip Palace Skateboards made from their fall trip to NYC is one of the best web clips I've seen in a long time. It's filmed on VHS and looks as if it were made in the early nineties. The music also sounds as if it were from the early nineties. They edited it to a classic freestyle by Fat Joe and Keith Nut that was used in Zoo York's Mixtape video from the early nineties. The skating is amazing and features Chewy Cannon, Olly Todd, Rory Milanes, and Lucien Clarke. I highly recommend this video.