ALL PHOTOS THIS SPREAD OGDE
Alameda, CA
Clockwise from Left: Diego drifts a dope shift
over the ledge onto the flat bank hip. Chop
chop! The fruitbooter/BMXer's cries of "big
bowl!" aren't as rampant at Alameda as they
are at say, Petaluma, but if Eric Jay is chargin
a frontside air you better stay the fuck out the
way. Puffin' in the parking lot's-eye view.
Curtis Hsiang broke himself trying to make
this frontside 360° out of the big bowl, and th
intensity shows on his face. With his ponytail
flapping in the breeze, Brendan Leung blasts
off a fat transfer as the crowd goes wild and
the HP posse clocks mad BGP.
ERE'S WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THE ALAMEDA
skatepark: it's got a killer view of the City, and
it's pulling people out of the woodwork.
Located on the tip of Alameda, a little island off
e coast of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay, the park
as built on an evacuated naval base in 15 days for
50,000 by volunteer labor with donated materials. It's a
t better than anyone imagined it could have been.
here's a bowl, a pyramid, a twinkie, a volcano, ledges, a
iveway, and a bunch of little corners and hips. It's pret-
fun, because whatever you've got, the park's got to
ve, whether you've got big guns, you're a yar-dog crust
ck, or just Joe Skater. Come on out; it's a chance to ses-
on with Chris Senn, Joe Lopes, Max Schaaf, Sam
anningham, TG, Ron Allen, Pancho Moler, Jim
iebaud, and a million other ripdogs. Also it's the oppor-
nity to dodge swarms of BMX bikers and little kids on
lerblades. Get hurt. Or bring it.
The best thing about the Alameda skatepark, though, is
at it's ten minutes from where I work. 4.5 out of 10.
-Curtis Hsiang