AAA
$1.00
1978-1998
CED
CED
hooked up with owner Thomas Taylor. Thomas
also owns Torque skateboards and is a super
nice guy. All of his other good traits are piled
on top of his incredible skateboarding ability.
Thomas rips.
Thomas took us to a ramp he knew of in a
loft built by a group of local punk rockers.
He proceeded to take the ramp apart piece
by piece with his endless list of tricks. A few
hours with Thomas and we were all ready for
bed, so we said our good-nights and holed up
for the evening.
Driving through downtown Atlanta the next
morning, we ran across a lone rebel skating
what looked like an abandoned underpass.
After a closer look we discovered the concrete
transitions and banks that had been built up in
the spot that Nathan Sharon was skating.
Nathan said the spot was named Crudside-
due to the thoughtful gifts local bums leave in
front of the ramps. A good-but smelly-ses-
sion was had by all.
We stopped by Stratosphere later in the
afternoon, only to learn that Thomas was out
having his foot X-rayed. We never got to see
him again, so we hope that everything
turned out OK. Goodbye and thanks for
everything, Thomas.
We met up with Nathan and some friends
met up
later in the afternoon. Atlanta is brimming with
good street spots and we were eager to get our
fix. The biggest drawback to Atlanta is the high
number of security guards-sneak attacks
proved to be the best technique for street
skating there. Once again we said goodbye
to our new friends and continued on
our journey.
We arrived late at our
friend Victor's
Travis Womble's
outstretched arm
on this ten-stair
ollie seems to say, "Ya'll come back now, y'hear?"
house in Alabama and were all ready
for some much needed rest. We had all
heard good things about Birmingham
and were excited to get skating.
We began our visit to Birmingham
with a visit to the newly built Ramp 'N'
Speed skatepark. Owner
Dale
Campbell builds extremely nice ramps
for his park. These nice ramps led to a
great session among the boys despite
the lack of locals. A few hours into our
session, we were all in love with Dale's
mini-ramp. The additions to the mini
that Dale was working on had all of
us eager to get back to the park
as soon as possible.
soon
With plans set to return
to Ramp 'N' Speed as
as possible, we
drove to Birmingham's
Faith Skate Shop in
hopes of hooking
up with some
locals. Things were
looking up in the
weather department-the temperature
had risen to a much more southern 65
degrees. After an hour of phone games
and waiting, we decided to skate
Birmingham on our own. Downtown
Birmingham hi
has some really incredible
places to skate if you are able to elude
the omnipresent security and police. A
must when in town is the park at the
end of 20th Street; ask the good people
at Faith for directions, but beware of
the police.
We all began to sense our close prox-
imity to home and decided it was time
to move west towards Jackson. Seeing
the lights of Jackson sparked good
memories of our hometown and got us
all excited about the next few days.
All good sessions in Jackson begin at
the city's planetarium. The ledges,
stairs, and gaps there provide endless
hours of fun for all. Another good thing
about skateboarding in Jackson is the
Nathan Sharon says,
"Frankly, my dear security
guards, I don't give a
damn." Plantation-sized
backside 180° where Tara
used to be.
relatively low number of busts. The last few years have
seen a newly relaxed attitude circulating among the city's
authority types.
The reunion and skateboarding went on for several days.
It was nice to be among Jackson's skaters and realize how
much I had missed these people. It was good to be home.
A few days later, as I was returning to school, I reflected
on the events of the past week. It was good to see that the
skateboarding scene in the Southeast was growing. It was
especially
nice to know that there were good parks in
the area for everyone to skate. The South has
changed a lot in the past ten years. Things are
getting better.
-Josh Schooler
Sharper than a yellowjacket's sting: Nathan Sharon lets
loose with some true Georgia tech on this blindside flip
in the ATL.
Look out, Jim and Tammy Bakker: hometown hero
and Georgia peach Thomas Taylor gets one stalefish
closer to heaven at the punk rock ramp in Atlanta.