Introduction

In 2003, an estimated thirteen million skateboarders where inhabiting the US alone. Of those 13 million participants of the ever-evolving sport, 10 million of them identified themselves as street skateboarders, according to a 2006 Board Trac survey. That’s a whopping 78% of skateboarding's overall make up. The problem is, street skateboarders are filling up the streets with no legal places to practice the sport in which they love.

The origins of street skating

Skateboarding developed in the mid ’60s when California surfers were faced with calmed oceans and flat waves. Unable surf, wave-riders sought to emulate the turning and carving sensation of surfing by fastening roller skate wheels to the bottom of a wood plank.

These early skaters sought terrain that most closely emulated the waves they often rode upon. In addition to carving and turning on flat, street surface, they sought out various types of embankments and eventually drained swimming pools to skateboard in. Over the years, skateboarding in the streets has evolved immensely into a sport that encapsulates natural terrain, once thought to never be skated upon.

What does street skateboarding mean today?

Street skateboarding, or street skating, literally means riding ones skateboard in the street. While in on residential and/or city streets, they perform maneuvers on any number of obstacles or architecture that is commonly found in a natural outdoor environment. “Obstacles” or “skate spots” as they are referred to by skaters include, but are not limited to, curbs, ledges, stairs, handrails, sidewalks, driveway bumps, fences, walls, embankments, planters, benches, picnic tables, manholes, loading docks and practically anything that exists in a natural, manmade urban or suburban environment.

The skate spot

Street skateboarding is the act of riding ones skateboard in an outdoor, uncontained area. Skateboarders who choose to street skateboard seek out well-paved surfaces to ride that will allow a skatboard’s wheels to spin freely, without opposition from the terrain. These areas to ride upon can exist in any number of locations such as driveways, sidewalks, parking lots, public parks or schoolyards. It is at any of these areas where skateboarders go to practice and attempt to perfect the endless number of base maneuvers that make up the fundamentals of skateboard riding. Once skateboarders have perfected the many base tricks on level, flat ground, they look to expand upon these tricks, adding various stages of difficulty to each move. In order to test ones skills and develop upon each tricks complexity, skateboarders take what they have already learned to various obstacles that exist in natural, urban terrain. These obstacles can consist of benches, steps, picnic tables, walls, handrails, embankments, curbs, ledges, gaps, etc. There is no end to what skateboarders will consider performing maneuvers on. Each performed trick on these obstacles, or skate spot, lead to the creation of even more challenging maneuvers, and the potential for the invention of many skateboard tricks. It is important to note, however, that these various obstacles are not commonly found by any means. A perfect combination of elements must be aligned in order for an obstacle, or street spot, to be labeled as “skateable,” or able to ride upon. Smooth ground, ample room for achieving maximum speed and multiple angles of approach to an obstacle are just some specific examples that constitute a good, street spot that’s worthy of riding.

History of Skate Spots

Every city or small town has what is commonly referred to by street skateboarders as, a “skate spot,” or an area that contains the object(s) in which to perform tricks upon. A skate spot is commonly recognized as a particular area that has an isolated ledge, a parking lot curb cut, an embankment, a wall, a picnic table, a set of steps, a handrail or any other number of architectural components that make the area desirable to ride on. Word travels fast about each skate spots existence and in time, skateboarders travel from great distances to ride each “spot.” Many of these skate spots often achieve local renown and serve as a focal point for the area’s skate culture. Some skate spots even achieve worldwide fame, such as the Wallenberg Schoolyard in San Francisco or the Brooklyn Banks in New York, which have been featured in endless skateboard magazines and videos around the world. Many pros train at these spots and perform revolutionary tricks that become legendary in the sport. When these well-publicized spots become known through the media, it is common for skaters to travel from all parts of the world to simply ride the terrain, intrigued by the natural obstacle that man-made architecture has provided. The obstacles within these highly publicized spots very often become skill gauges and set technical benchmarks by which all skate tricks are judged upon. Eventually the obstacles become part of the fabric of skateboarding, going down in skateboard history, immortalized by photos, video and the world-wide distributed media which feature them. But in the end, many of these natural skate spots become illegal to ride upon and are eventually destroyed by officials looking to rid the city of congregated skateboarders.

Cultural Significance

When an urban area has a collection of skate spots in one centralized location, these collection of street spots or skate plazas become community meeting hubs for the skateboarding culture where skaters hang out, socialize, meet friends and plan further skate excursions. In these areas, skaters spend the majority of the day riding their boards, perfecting their sport, not to mention, spend money in the various businesses in the surrounding area for food, drink, clothing, etc.

The problem facing street skating today.

The majority of skateboarders, who are dedicated street skaters, actively seek natural obstacles found in urban environments to ride that can be found on public sidewalks, in schoolyards, public parking lots and at private businesses. With the numbers of street skateboarders constantly increasing and flooding public street to enjoy their sport, local governments and businesses naturally took action resulting in labeling public skateboarding a harshly regulated crime in the US. Skating has become so illegal in the US, however, that a recent phenomenon has developed. Skateboarders now travel overseas to cities with concentrations of spots. The current top destination is Barcelona, Spain and China, which have become famous for its street spots and enlightened, laissez-faire attitude. In essence, skaters are now forced to leave the country in order to skateboard. On the other hand, this action of law enforcement has resulted in the building of skateparks in order to appease the large street skating population. However, the powers that be have failed to recognize that practically every built skatepark features very few obstacles that emulate contemporary street skateboarding. Skateboarders want “street spots,” not skateparks that fail to provide street skating elements, and very often are built by contractors who fail to understand the basic riding components of the sport. Would you have an artist teach nuclear physics? Then why have a building contractor design a skate spot?

The Solution

The Safe Spot Skate Spot Program was developed as a subset of the largely successful, Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation. Its main goal exists in the construction of legal, noninvasive places for kids to ride skateboards. Often times, many cities and townships have the desire to create a public skatepark for its community to frequent, but essentially lack funds needed to execute any such large endeavors. Public Skateparks and Skate Plazas are huge undertakings, which require enormous financing, as well as an abundance of land in order to produce the various obstacles to ride upon. While money may be absent, many cities have a wealth of land or free, existing neighborhood space that can easily be designated for the construction of individual street skating obstacles. These individual skate obstacles would be only a portion of the giant pie that essentially makes up a full-scale skatepark. These individual skate obstacles placed in free spaces can consist of a single ledge, a bench, a rail or embankment, etc. The Safe Spot Skate Spot Program will take any donated land, regardless of how small or how big and work with the city to turn it into a fully legal, street skateable area for kids to come together and ride harmoniously. The needs of street skateboarders will be met, skateboarder interference with traffic will be eliminated and local residents and businesses will remain undisturbed. In addition to servicing smaller, rural areas, this undertaking will open doors for skate spots to exist in large cities, like New York and Los Angeles, where space is extremely limited. And not only will these street areas appease the large population of street skaters who are unhappy with the majority of traditional skateparks, they will also be built seamlessly into any environment in a tasteful, artistic manner–incorporating things like grass, trees, fountains and sculptures, blending into an already established public space. These skate spots will be a far cry from the unattractive eyesores that large, modern skateparks often exhibit.

The Result

Each skate spot that is constructed will be unique, and will contribute to skateboarding culture accordingly, allowing kids a safe, fully legal place to ride their skateboards. New tricks will be performed on their architecture, which will set new standards within skate culture. These skate spots will inevitably be featured in all major skate media facets, from monthly print and video magazines to major promotional video productions by large skateboard manufacturers. As a result, each skate spot will become travel destinations for skaters the world over—from professional skateboarders and skate media and average skaters who simply want a real street environment in which to skate, free from prosecution. This want to ride the street spot in your city will help add to your cities notoriety, improving commerce amongst all local giant and independent businesses.