P
CAMBRIDGE
Jake Phelps
Every year I go back to Boston and every year
I skate the pool. I came 3,000 miles to ride and it
didn't look good. This year, like the last two, the pool
was filled with about 75,000 gallons of dirty, skungy,
foul-smelling water. What had.
made me travel all this way? Well,
this pool is unlike any other in the
galaxy. It is big, kinked and gnarly.
When you have been skating
something every year for eleven
years it becomes a part of you. No
matter where you go or what you
do, it's there waiting for you like an
old friend.
I stalled on renting a pump for
about a week. By then, some local
kids beat me to it and "borrowed"
a pump from a nearby construc-
tion site. The first pump session
took out most of the water but left
the liquid slime and winter junk;
rocks, baseball, tires and even a bicycle. The crew
went to work with a wading boots, buckets and
shovels. With twenty or so people working, it didn't
take long. I said earlier that the pool is big, but the
word I should have used is monstrous. It is easily
110 feet long by 85 feet wide with a 45 foot bowl
and 3 feet of solid vert. When you push into the pool
you feel lost. The top is so far away you can't even
tell how fast you're going.
News of the skateable pool spread like wildfire.
Before long there were forty or fifty skaters daily.
The younger kids had never seen anything quite
Above: Andrew Brady tucks in air time on the face wall.
Opposite Page: Dealing with the harsh transition, Jake Phelps assaults the
Cambridge pool's lip with a sense of authority. Photos: Destabrook.
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like it-a place where you can carve and grind in-
stead of back and forth halfpipe action. The older
skaters already knew the lines and had the pool
remastered in no time. The younger kids were in-
spired by the old farts and hungrily
learned their lines.
There is always a flurry of
interaction between the skaters,
the observers and the little kids
from the nearby projects. The kids
throw rocks and call you names,
but it's definitely the worst when
they laugh at you when you eat it.
You are powerless because, after
all, it is their pool in their neigh-
borhood and little wise-asses
always have big brothers.
Skating is hard on the body and
the pool is legendary for taking out
more than a few hearty souls. At
twelve feet, a run or a slide down
the wall is like stepping off the edge of a cliff. There
were casualties-a broken wrist, a face slam and
even an exploding finger-but, as always, the threat
of injury makes it more interesting.
A word of advice for all you nomads: if you're in
the Boston area when the leaves are gold, go by
Beacon Hill skateshop and ask the boys about the
pool. They are friendly and will show you how to
get to the eighth wonder of the skate world. Don't.
go there planning to ride it like a half-pipe because
you will be frustrated. Go there with an open mind
and enjoy. Every skater knows one eternal spot. For
me and the skaters in the Boston area, that place
is the Cambridge pool. I'll see you there. ■
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