No
Parking
No parking. Just skating.
What else would you do
in a 10-story structure of
smooth downhill con-
crete roadway with an
elevator ride back to the
top?
There are many different varieties
of skating that fall under the
skateboard title. Each category has
its appropriate name distinction:
freestyle, bowl riding or vertical,
downhill, street, etc... As a general
rule each division utilizes a specialized
type of board. However, rules were
made to be broken, even general
ones, and in any given skate situation,
you will find a variety of board models
regardless of standards.
Just as board styles vary from
skater to skate situation, so do the
types of skaters and their approaches.
The freestylist is refined and precise,
part of a very select group. The
vertical skater usually knows of a
secret ramp or pool to shred, at the
least a good drainage ditch. The
downhill artist looks for speed and
thrills and a very specialized type of
board. The street skater melts down
many of the different elements of
skateboarding to create his own
brand of thrashing. But skaters skate
and rarely do you come across an
accomplished boarder who is so
specialized in one field that he/she
would not acknowledge a skater from
another.
A BREED APART
There is one breed of skateboarder
that hails from all these classes of
talent, yet is starting to create its
own niche. Now, no skateboarder will
readily admit to being strictly a
garage skater, yet the parking garage
enthusiast is the one who is ready to
keep going even after a long day of
skating is already behind. The one
that is ready to skate into the late/early
night/morning hours when most
common beings have wound down to
the more subtle aspects of their
lifestyle, i.e., sleeping. The one who
is ready to scale another wall or fence
to gain access to perfect skate
environments.
Left: The famous "Concourse" in Southern
California. The Upland Pipeline of parking
garage skating.
Right: Bob Denike gets acclimated to the upper
heights before a session at a "Concourse"
replica in San Jose.
33