SOUTHERN
COMFORT
eth, Joseph, and I finalized plans for a week-long trip
around the Deep South over a few beers in our favorite bar.
We were interested to see how the skateboarding scene has
been affected by the region's recent economic boom.
Stories circulating the area spoke of huge skate scenes and
new parks. We decided to visit five major cities in this New
South: New Orleans, Gulfport, Atlanta, Birmingham, and our
hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. We determined that we
would bring along our friend Matt to document the entire
journey in pictures.
We left for our first stop in New Orleans armed with
nothing more than our skateboards and some scrap papers
containing few scribbled numbers. The drive down to
contaning
New Orleans took us through Slidell, Louisiana, so we
decided to check out the Pink Panther public park. After a
few v wrong turns, we were face to face with a giant statue
of the pink cat and we knew we'd found our way.
Joe and Seth jumped out of the car and ran through the field
to the park. When I reached the park I found Joe shaking his
head as he stared at the flat cement where the snake run once
was. Sad faces filled the car for the remaining thirty miles to
New Orleans. Bad omen number one.
We reached New Orleans to find that the temperature had
dropped 25 degrees due to an arctic front that was moving
Taylor Morel doesn't
care if it's Mardi Gras
outside; he just wants, and gets, big air at Down
South skatepark in New Orleans.
into the region. People move to the South to
escape the weather we were about to face. Bad
omen number two.
Our trip's third bad omen came when we dis-
covered that the hard-partying city of New
Orleans shuts down on Mondays-including
Humidity skate shop and Down South
skatepark. So many bad omens so soon might
have stopped some, yet we were sure our luck
would change. We were right.
With no real connections, we began calling
anyone that we had ever met in New Orleans.
Seth
I was able to contact his old friend Todd
Taylor, co-owner of Humidity. Todd brought
along friends James Lapuyade and Adam
Laudan for a session around downtown.
Despite the chilling cold these guys ripped up
all over their home city.
spots
After everyone had all the cold they could
stand, we said goodbye to our new friends and
moved into the French Quarter for a taste of
the fun that has made New Orleans famous.
Joseph topped us all in the fun department as
he made friends with the Heathen from
Sweden and all the other characters that
Bourbon Street has to offer at three in the
morning. Joseph is a really fun guy, and New
Orleans loves fun people.
The next morning began slowly, as we all had
a lot of fun the night before. We struggled
through and made it to Down South skatepark.
We met up with James and other locals at the
park. Mike Landry, the owner of Down South,
has built a Masonite wonderland in the
Crescent City. The quarters and roll-ins locat-
ed throughout the park allow for
speed to be maintained with a mini-
mum of pushing. We were all having
too much fun to want to leave, but the time had
come for us to move on.
Our journey continued through the Mississippi
Gulf Coast, where we hooked up with Andrew
Blanchard and Shawn O'Keefe. A late-night ses-
sion was had under the lights of the South's Vegas.
Once again the weather was
was disagreeable-nine
degrees at the beach. I was constantly worried
that Andrew was going to shatter as he tried to
ollie a sea wall facing the Gulf. Andrew and Shawn
went all out despite the bad weather. After saying
our goodbyes we pushed on towards Atlanta.
A Motel 6 and a Denny's later, we were staring
Jackson Auditorium in Ole
Miss shows some Southern
hospitality to Tyler Busby's
good old fashioned, down-
home frontside flip.
down the skyline of the New South's capital.
Atlanta is a huge metropolis-the perfect battle-
ground for the never-ending war between skate-
boarders and authority. We couldn't wait to meet
some of the local guerrillas.
We began our search at the Skater's Extreme
skatepark. The park is located in a strip mall right
outside of Atlanta. We were a little disappointed
at
the size of the park, but the inclusion of a real-
ly nice mini-ramp and small bowl made up for it.
There were very few skaters at the park so we
decided to check elsewhere.
Stratosphere skate shop is where we eventually
THE PERFECT BATTLEGROUND FOR THE
NEVER ENDING WAR BETWEEN
SKATEBOARDERS AND AUTHORITY"
Down South skatepark
fixin' to be ripped.
The Heart of Dixie:
Ramp 'N' Speed skatepark in Birmingham, AL.
Forget about fried okra, grits, or boiled peanuts-
Ronnie Hodges says he'd rather eat this 23-stair handrail,
caveman style, for dinner. Jackson, Mississippi.
83