The
Impire
trikes
Back
Words and phoros
by Scan Peterson
0.000
93000000000000
64 THRASHER
Salba sinks into a frontside cruncher over
the stairs in the heart of the Central Valley.
HE INLAND EMPIRE IS heavy
in history, and the importance50000000
of historical preservation is
inherent to the area. Without
understanding the diversity of the people
of the area, one cannot understand the
diversity of the skateboarding here. The
skate scene is big now and has fluctuated
according to skateboarding ups, downs,
and trends. It's a great place to skate and
offers some interesting lifestyles.
The Serrano Indians graced this piece of land
with their presence until the Spanish settled the
area and converted them to Catholicism. Along
with a higher conscience of godliness and mod-
ern farming techniques, the new settlers also
brought disease and increased warfare to the
passive people of this region. The Native
American population of the area was quickly
depleted and surpassed by immigrants to make
way for progress. The land was cleared and
processed into farmland consisting of grapes,
oranges, lemons, and other agricultural special-
ties. The intense farming brought many migrant
workers; thus the population increased, com-
merce increased, and jobs became more abun-
dant. More and more humans, businesses, archi-
tecture, and skate spots came into existence:
The IE is located approximately forty minutes
from Los Angeles, and is basically the cheaper
suburbs of LA. It's a hot, dry Mediterranean cli-
mate which offers too-hot summer days, great
summer nights, and a non-abusive winter, pro-
viding year-round skateboarding but a lazy
atmosphere. People in the area happen to be the
craziest, funniest, and scariest to party with. If
you know the Inland Empire, then you know of
Fontana; or maybe you know it as Fontucky. It's
pretty tore, but many are proud to claim resi-
dence in this run-down old steel mill town. It
does offer some fine pool skating, and used to
have some awesome fullpipe offerings. Its
school skating ranges from okay to excellent,
and it does contain some cool spots in a middle-
of-nowhere sort of way.
San Bernardino County contains almost the entire
Inland Empire, and is about one-quarter of
California's land mass. Its boundaries begin between
Upland and Claremont, perfectly parallel to Baldy
Pipe. From a historical standpoint, Baldy Pipe is one
of the first, and possibly one of the oldest, skate-
boarding spots around. The San Antonio Dam was
built in 1955 and skateboards began to utilize it in
1969. That's 30 years of skateboarding that this
governmental masterpiece has provided.
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