ramps, including a three-foot spine ramp and a seven-foot ramp that
just gets to vert. Also a low-pressure snake run, growing as it moves
westward, a torrential halfpipe with a high of twelve feet in most areas,
except for the four-foot extension/roll-in, and scattered street obstacles.
When it's not under water, you can see the Skatepark of Houston
at 4818 Orange Grove, Houston, TX 77039.
Texas gets a big thumbs up from me, despite our rainy misfortunes.
It's a killer scene without a bunch of big egos getting in the way. As
we headed deeper into the moss-covered South, we made a brief
stop in New Orleans
LOUISIANA
There's not a lot to skate in New Orleans' French Quarter, but the
whole area has a vibe worth feeling. We cruised down Bourbon
Street as drunk tourists gaped, hookers hooked, jazz played and
calls of "Hey, daddy, do a stunt," rang out. It all adds together to
make a pretty soulful experience. On to
MISSISSIPPI
where we drove some more. A tank or two of gas later and we
crossed the state line to.
FLORIDA
beeping our horn and throwing things around the van to celebrate
making it to the East Coast.
Our first park, Thrashers in Ocala, consisted of nothing more than a
U-shaped snake run. The lady at the front desk, however, gingerly showed
me plans for the expansions, which included an Upland-like combi-pool.
The locals were into the practice of calling runs just like at Pipeline.
"Going!"
"Next!"
"After!"
"After-after!"
"Next year!"
"Christmas!" Etc., etc.
Thrashers in Ocala, located at 3731 NE 36th Avenue, Ocala, FL 32670,
is a fun little park about to become a funner big park.The next four days
consisted of picking up our friend, Gabe, at the airport, Mickey Mouse,
rides, tourists and two of our foursome running out of money.
Of course, the simple solution to that problem was to go skating. So
we hit up Stone Edge Skatepark. Finally, a park with some decent pools!
Ramps are nice, but I was starting to itch for cement trannies and pool
coping. Stone Edge has a horseshoe pool, figure-eight bowl, a capsule,
a twelve-foot metal-layered half and, of course, a Mickey Mouse bowl.
(We thought we had escaped the little rodent when we left Disney World.)
The locals here were a pretty mellow bunch. That is, until a local
sponsor started watching. Thus ensued a most vicious snake session,
which ended with only a few egos satiated. Calling runs is also prac-
ticed here, not that it makes any difference once the sponsors arrive
A rare breed of fun cement parks, Stone Edge is at 1848 South
Ridgewood, Daytona, FL 32019.
Our nights in Florida were spent devising new and improved ways
to battle the vicious onslaught of mosquitos. If you ever stay there,
get industrial strength bug spray or don't camp out
Then it was a day of vegging before moving on to bigger and
better frontiers in skating. Kona Skatepark is a big, happenin' place.
Unfortunately, you have to get through the front office to skate it.
By now, signing waivers was no biggie, so having done that, I got
ready to pay and skate. But wait! Someone had to give my board a
thorough check to make sure it was "safe to ride on"
"Can I go skate now?" I begged.
"Not yet, the girl behind the counter smiled sickly. She then pro-
ceeded to give me a lecture on skating safely. I wondered, "Does
this person even skate?" Finally, the torture ended. I escaped into
the park.
Kona has two J-shaped snake runs, a large bowl used mainly for
launching out of since it doesn't get to vert, a mellow bank area, a
cement halfpipe with a few kinks too many, and a peanut bowl that
is very unforgiving to inexperienced pool riders. I managed to leave
a few of my own skin cells here. The locals, as in most of Florida,
were a pretty friendly, supportive crew, with a wide range of age,
skill, style and attitude. Kona's a good scene worth becoming part
of, at 8739 Kona Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32211.
Northward Ho! On to.
GEORGIA
without knowing where to go.
Joe: "What's the park's address?"
Vaj: "I don't know.""
Joe: "What's its telephone number?"
Vaj: "I don't know
Joe: "You sure it exists?"
Vaj: "I don't know""
Joe: "What town's it in?"
Vaj: "Atlanta, I think. I need new pads. Let's find a skate shop"
The gods were kind and led us to Stratosphere Skate Shop. Here
we met Tom Taylor, owner and amateur rider for Team Schmitt. Tom
generously invited us to a backyard session at his house on a couple
of ramps built with the aid of Tim Payne (Need more be said?)
A day-long session at Taylor's ramp was a nice change from the
crowded, rule-riddled parks.
Later, we managed to find the whereabouts of The Wall Skatepark
in Dalton. Another indoor creation, The Wall is hard to find, but
worth the search. The bricks that make The Wall are two three-foot
minis, an eight-foot metal halfpipe, a bunch of launch ramps, rail
slides, makeshift banisters and the ever-famous Wall, made up of two
ramps-to-wall connecting around a corner. The Wall, located
at 2209 Mountain Road, Dalton, GA 30720, is a cool set-up
worth skating, with a cool staff worth knowing. But if you
want to find it, you'll have to ask a local gas station
attendant. That's how we did it.
After an uneventful night of camping, we made our way into
ALABAMA
and Underground Skatepark Underground has cool
management, but there seems to be a widespread lack of
enthusiasm about anything from the locals. Maybe it was just
the weather. Some locals here had tales to tell of nearby
ditches which could be skated if you didn't get beat up
first. I guess we didn't ask any of the right people where
they were. Besides, getting clubbed over the head isn't our
idea of fun.
Underground's set-up seems to be a formula common to a
lot of skateparks these days: a couple of mini-ramps with
various bumps, spines and other idea-provoking obstacles,
and a twelve-foot halfpipe with two one-foot extensions. It's
probably worth skating on happier days. If you want to find
it, it's at 11805 S. Memorial Parkway, Huntsville, AL 35803. If you
want to find the ditches, look for yourself.
That evening we drove to....
TENNESSEE
camped, looked for something to do, and tried to keep Gabe
from blowing off fireworks and getting us kicked out of our campsite.
Morning rose. We did the same about six hours later.
"We're lost," somebody said.
"Pull over and ask directions," somebody else said.
"That's how we got lost in the first place," somebody said again.
A phone call revealed that Kahuna had been temporarily closed
for re-zoning. Kahuna is supposedly another Kevin Harris wonder-
park, like the one in Vancouver, BC. It will probably be worth
checking out when it's open but, in the meantime, we had to bow
our heads in defeat and move on to....
ILLINOIS
It was here we found Gabe's grandparents, who gave us our first
real food and comfortable beds since Arizona.
We took the next day off for some blatantly disgusting tourism of
Chicago. At the same time we managed to (Continued on page 114)
Clockwise from Far Left: Lateral lip lick at the Stone Edge horseshoe
Photo by Bryce Kanights. A Kona kid kicks out of the big bowl.
Backyard bliss-Tom Taylor stays home a lot. An overview of
Alabama's Underground. Photos by Joe Karnes.
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