California Blooper Alles
Words by Tom Miller

California and skateboarding are as close as Siamese twins. Skateboarding was born in California. California, the double big gulp's share of its industry and professional core call it home, legendary skate spots litter the state, and no other location has weather so conducive to skateboarding. If California sunk into Pacific Ocean (the dream of my home state, Arizona) skateboarding as we know it today wouldn't survive.

Unfortunately the state treats its twin like a bastard stepchild it would love to disown. Public skateparks sprout like wildflowers but wilt quickly under the scrutiny of today's standards. Worse still, these skateparks whose designs are generally so poor they beg for a return to the 1980s are managed as de facto youth prisons with tall fences, security guards, and controlled access. When it can't get any more bizarre, California actually has a full pad law that inhibits skaters' ability to skate as safely as possible (try street skating all day in knee pads if you don't believe me).

Reedsport Oregon Skatepark's Funnel Tunnel

For years the global skate community has watched the development of public skateparks in states like my adopted home state of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. In the Northwest some of the parks have terrain designed and built by skaters so function-forward a few cranky old men (i.e. over 30 in the skate world) occasionally complain they're too gnarly (and we ignore them). To cite just one example, the new park in Florence, Oregon features the "donut," essentially two bowls-one with four feet of vert, one with four feet of oververt-that connect with a tunnel. Go through, above, or over the tunnel- your choice. From our perch here to the north, we've also been watching California's skatepark development, and wondering when something more interesting and more challenging will arise in the epicenter of skateboarding.

It hasn't happened. And it appears as though it's not going to happen anytime soon. The state's most acclaimed skateparks are largely replicas of eras celebrated but long since past. Street skating continues to dominate in skate media coverage, yet Dydrek's Timbuktu hometown of Kettering, Ohio will host the nation's first full-blown skate plaza. Meanwhile skaters in San Francisco, long the heart of the street scene in my book, lose spot after spot including most recently Pier 7.

Ike breaking one off at Channel Street

At some point you have to ask yourself when the tyranny of mediocrity and disrespect will end. Here's the harsh truth: when California's skate community demands excellence and respect. If paying $10 so a pad nanny can watch you velcro your elbow pads to skate six-foot bowls and X Games "street" courses is your idea of a killer spot you've got it made in California. For Concrete Disciple readers, I'm assuming you're looking for something more, something a little closer to what the freedom and radical core of skateboarding is about. Something akin to what's happening in Reedsport, Oregon where 15 year-old kids are doing full loops on public concrete.

California needs to rise up. Maybe it's the access to pools or surf that keeps you satiated. Maybe it's vicarious piggybacking on the efforts of a proud few at Washington Street and San Pedro. And maybe I've got it wrong- maybe I'm imposing my wish-list on another state and you guys are down with annual road trips to the NW to draw lines on the latest concrete canvas.

I don't think so though. The California lifers I know are tired of seeing the newest parks revealed like blooper reels. With so much skate life in the state I'm positive something incredible can come from within. Skateboarding doesn't belong in a mall, and it doesn't always have to require the threat of a bust. Skateparks are an opportunity to create your own reality that should complement the incredible natural terrain the great state of California enjoys. Whether it's more DIY projects or more politically active skaters who power through the system, it doesn't matter. If nothing else remember this: we NW skaters want a warm, dry place to skate in the winter and you guys definitely owe us the couch space. So hurry up and get it done… we're waiting.