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Belly of the Beast

Shred it like Eddie Van Halen

Rise to the occasion

I am not sponsored.

On a few occasions I’ve driven past this grocery store and noticed the adjacent ledges. Yesterday I made the trek and it was worth the drive.

Over the years you learn that schools, churches, banks and grocery stores somehow provide the best stuff to skate. They just do. These ledges are not really chunked up too bad and there’s potential for a Jamie Thomas “grind through the credits” 50-50 here.

I had fun doing long nose-slides on the higher part of the ledge. There’s also a pretty fun gap. I divided it into three difficulty levels:

“Bro Level” You just ollie the curb into the sidewalk.
“Shop sponsored bro” aka “Hometown hero” aka “Bobby Fever” clear the parking curb and the little ledge to the sidewalk.
“My name is on the bottom of a board” clear the bench.

Here’s the real rock n roll Ralphs: 12842 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA

May 6, 2012 | Categories: Hometown Hero, K Grinds, ledges, long ass ledge, San Fernando Valley Skate Spot, skate spot, The Valley, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, unsolved mysteries | Tags: bobby fever, fernando valley, hell, hometown hero, nose slides, rock n roll ralphs, toy machine | Comments Off

Wall Crawler

Metta World Wallride

If there’s one thing in this life that is fulling its a wallride. Just something about getting up on those walls feels great. I stopped for gas the other night and saw this awesome wallride spot, people tripped out on me taking pictures more than the skating. Its a gas station so you’ve got pick your battles with this one or go late at night. Fun tip, when you’re doing a wallride your body will follow the way your head is looking. Try it next time you do a wallride, you’ll get higher and won’t fall flat on your back.

Does anyone remember Gonz grinding that rainbow rail at a gas station in Real’s Kicked out of Everywhere?

If you need to fill up on wallride footage take it to the 76 Station at 2193 Hillhurst Ave. LA CA

April 30, 2012 | Categories: Great White Buffalo, Hollywood, Hometown Hero, Public enemy, The Temple of Stoke, wallrides | Tags: dinosaurs, gas, hipsters, los felize, metta, peak oil, wallride, world | Comments Off

An open letter from my skateboard to me

Reach for the stars

I woke up this morning and checked my e-mail and saw that my skateboard had written the below e-mail. My response will be posted in an upcoming post.

Dear Frank,

This is your skateboard. After 25 years of loyalty and friendship I’m afraid I’m having concerns about your commitment to our relationship. You see in the last few years I feel like you’re taking me for granted. I’ve always been there for you. No matter what. It was always me, you and a Pennywise tape in the deck. But these days you’re spending an awful lot of time with your fiance? You’re getting married?! What happened to Mr. “Girls are a rainy day activity?” Huh? Where’s that guy? Also I see you’re spending quite a bit of time with the golf clubs. I’m less than impressed. You used to hate all sports with pride, remember the jocks in high school calling you a “skater wuss?” All those times you stood up for us and now you’re golfing?

We’ll I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve decided to take some tricks back until you prove your commiment to this relationship and start riding me more. Fakie backside heelflips? – gone. Kickflip body varials? – nope. Backside 180 nose grinds? – bye bye. Backside smith grind? – nada. Do you think you’ll ever be able to ollie a garbage can again? – uh… no.

My point is I”m going to keep taking back tricks until you start riding me more. Don’t give me that your knees and ankles are destroyed, we all know if you skate more it won’t hurt as much.

I miss you.

Sincerley,

Skateboard

These benches are all over Hollywood Blvd. After an ill advised attempt at a boardslide on the top I realized my board and I need to make amends.

March 11, 2012 | Categories: Airwalk NTS, Blind Jeans, Hollywood, Hometown Hero, Metal, nothing but good times, Rails | Tags: acme skateboards, airwalks, Donger, everslicks, knees, pressure flips | Comments Off

E.T. Phone Stoke

The defiant ones

As fun as it looks

Set phasers to stoke

I picked up a new board the other day at the Pharmacy shop here in Hollywood and saw this awesome jib at the Post Office. I just noticed my last post was at a Post Office as well. I guess the State is too broke to afford to knob these curbs and that is A-Ok.

Remember back in the days of pre-email? When you had to memorize your friends’ numbers or wait by the phone for them to call you back from their pagers. Is it harder to be a full on skater now then it was then are there too many distractions? I wonder how many dudes get lured away by the the Xbox who would have picked up the board 17 years ago? Do you think MJ and ET had a baby?

I like old phones and if I could I’d just be all land line. I’d rock a dope ass rotary phone.

This jib is fun as you can drop in off the top or if you’ve got quick feet get a grind in. You’re only gonna get about a half a push on this so its a bit tricky on the run up. Also its a Post Office so I recommend going when its closed. It looks big but the ledge is pretty low.

If you want to land on planet stoke set the coordinates to 1615 Wilcox Los Angeles, CA 90028.

February 18, 2012 | Categories: Aliens, Charles Bronson, Great White Buffalo, Hollywood, ledges, long ass ledge, nothing but good times, Rails, stair sets, Uncategorized, unsolved mysteries | Tags: bean, bryant, kobe | Comments Off

The Bermuda Triangle of Stokage

Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries"

In life we all have choices

Popping out of a boardslide is tricky

If you’ve been following the blog for the last year it should be apparent that I like ledges and out of the way skate spots. This one delivers on both. Located at the Post Office just one block off La Cienega on Pico it’s really easy to fall off the map here.

I’ve always had a kinda nerdy fascination with the Bermuda Triangle. My favorite case is about the USS Cyclops, a fucking oil tanker just vanished. Oil tanker cruising along and then poof! Gone. My theory is the weird forces at the Triangle are caused by a crashed spaceship. The aliens were trying to escape their planet that was completely populated by rollerbladers. They were blasting Pantera and were not paying attention and splash! They left the ship and swam to Florida where they run an indoor go kart track.

This spot is fun as it is sketchy. I have no idea why this corner is just sketchy but there are lots of vagrants in the mix here. Just today I went to move an El Pollo Loco cup to find out it was this gentleman’s most prized possession in the World. This ledge is awesome as you can skate the long one or the shorter side right off the curb. There’ also a fun super low manny pad which is great for learning tricks on.

Pull out the sextant and dial in the compass to true north to destiny with this ledge: 1268 South Alfred Street, Los Angeles 90046, 1 block east of La Cienega on Pico. Park anywhere.

December 11, 2011 | Categories: Beverly Hills, bigfoot, Bring water, cryptozoology, funbox, K Grinds, ledges, long ass ledge, Metal, nothing but good times, skate spot, smith grind, unsolved mysteries | Tags: bermuda, grind on my brethren, skate, spots, triangle | Comments Off

Melrose Place

Sure are a lot of things to skate here

The Danger Zone

I've got more spots than a leopard

So the last post I did was pretty aggressive. Note to self – do not drink malt liquor, blast Norwegian black metal and blog at the same time. Damn that was pretty nihilistic and enough F-bombs to make Too $hort proud.

Well that was then and this is now. I’ve had my eye on this spot for a minute and finally was able to scope it out. I don’t know how it is for you but when I skate ledges or benches that are real close to glass I try and play it safe. I once jumped on a bench that went right through the front window of a store. This window looks pretty tough but given the location a lot of people will notice some dude pushed a skate through this window.

However, located about 20 feet away is nice curb cut. I like this one as you can see if there’s any cars coming up the alley and it’s set up backside for goofy foot into the street. My all time favorite trick is the backside heelflip and this curb cut lends itself really nicely to those.

I drug my corpse up to the top of Runyon canyon this morning and snapped this picture which I though I would share.

Like Johnny Cash you can walk the line here: 6851 Melrose Ave. LA CA 90028.

November 30, 2011 | Categories: bigfoot, funbox, Hollywood, Hometown Hero, K Grinds, ledges, Metal, nollie nose noodle, Ollie bumps, Public enemy, shady lanes, skate spot, The Temple of Stoke | Tags: melrose, skate, smog, spots, Too $hort | Comments Off

Oh Fuck, whatever

Surfs up. Slash Grass.

The Wheel of Fortune! I'd like to solve the puzzle: "Fuck You Pat Sajack"

This curb and I go way back. First spot I found when I first moved to Hollywood. I swore I wasn’t gonna blog about this one but I was skating there tonight and it just needed to happen. So without further ado my homage to the curb that sits in the shadow of that famous Hollywood High handrail.

You’ve seen the Hollywood high rails in every mag and every video. It’s a man spot. Those rails are pretty gnar and everyone gets gnar on them because the run up is perfect. This crusty skate dude I worked with tried the boardslide the small one and tore is ass open. Just around the corner from these benchmarks of the skate industry is the best curb I’ve ever met.

This curb is about 35 feet long and its crushed with wax. The material is some weird soft crete so it grinds forever and doesn’t really get chunked up too bad. One bonus is there’s about 7 feet of grass between the curb and Sunset Blvd. so if you miss a trick its not flying into traffic.

The best / worst / best thing about this spot is the people. You will see more fucking weridos than you can imagine skating here. I’ve seen it all, last time I had a whole group of these full on yuppie types talking shit and I called them out. Today I had this guy on a long board all wasted try and crowd me over and I didn’t move and he crashed. I told him that “Life is hard Bevis.” Not mention the endless stream of posers coming and going from In and Out to Musician’s Institute or the various film schools. This guy had on freaking lament M.I. badge and a Slipknot shirt with white boy dreads. I wanted to hockey punch him so bad.

Anyways, what do you give back to this World you take so much from? Go skate. Do something, anything. If you’ve got it, you know you’ve got it. If you’re not certain get into banking or insurance.

If you want to run into me on any given Sunday then take your skateboard here: 1521 North Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90028

P.S. I know some fools are straight biting my blog. Fuck you guys, come up with your own ideas. You know you who you are, only dude I’ve ever met that let his girlfriend do the fighting for him. Punk bitch. But I digress, Hollywood is full of posers and try- hards.

P.P.S. The author may or may not have been drunk writing this post and/or listening to black metal really loud at the time.

November 27, 2011 | Categories: Hollywood, ledges, long ass ledge, Metal, nollie nose noodle, nothing but good times, shady lanes, skate spot, zombies | Tags: of fuck whatever | Comments Off

I have seen the top of the mountain and it is good

One front blunt coming up.

Seriously, this thing is epic. Bump launch to gap lipslide?

I'll take a Bigfoot steak, medium rare

Bigtoot is blurry

Ok so this is in Seattle but since I’m paying for the server space I get to blog about whatever I like. Ever park your car, turn a corner and see a jaw dropping skate spot? This recently happened to me when I was up in the Pacific Northwest. I was there tracking Bigfoot when I came across these unbelievable marble slabs. You can tell there’ s not a lot action going here by the feeble attempt to skate proof them. In L.A. these things would be annihilated and blown out in every blog, video and magazine from here to Woodward Skate Camp.

You can’t really tell from these pictures but it started raining really hard (rain in Seattle?) so I didn’t get a chance to put down the board. However I was successful in finding, killing and grilling up a Bigfoot. It tastes like buffalo with a hint of cod and I washed it down with Red Hook IPA. If you ever get the chance to either eat Bigfoot steaks or skate these ledges I highly recommend both.

I’m coming back to the NW with a vengeance in a few weeks and might even post some actual skate flicks this time.

For my Sounders fans push the skates here: 777 108th Avenue NE Bellevue, WA 98004-5152

November 20, 2011 | Categories: bigfoot, Charles Bronson, cryptozoology, funbox, Great White Buffalo, ledges, long ass ledge, nothing but good times, Public enemy, Seattle Skatespot, skate spot, unsolved mysteries | Tags: harry and the hendersons, Marble Ledges, rain, Seattle Skate Spot | Comments Off

LA’s Hottest Newest Skatespot

WHL of PJL (You either get that reference or you just started skating)

At this club everyone is a VIP

In the 80s if you boardslide this it was a super hammer

Wow! I’m back. I bet a lot of you thought I quit skating. I got a new job and I’m getting ready to get hitched so the ol shred stick has been parked for a minute. I did however find this awesome spot in the people’s neighborhood of Koreatown.

LA’s newest hottest skatespot has something for everyone: ledges, manny pads, stair sets, rails, a man sized gila monster playing hackeysack. You get the picture, it’s epic. This recent heat wave has been sweet for the night sessions. Something about skating sweet wedges at night is so fulfilling. This thing is pretty new and not totally waxed up yet. It does slide ok and is super fun to hop on and off of. The little four stair is well just that, some dudes can probably blast over these rails which would probably more fun than what I’m tossing down.

I promise I’ll keep it more consistent with the posts! Also got a new Taikonaut single coming out to bang in your ride….

Go ahead and skip the velvet ropes of Hollywood and drop your stunt wood down here: 604 Western Ave. Koreatown CA 90020

November 2, 2011 | Categories: bomb sniffing dolphins, Charles Bronson, Donger, Hollywood, Hometown Hero, Korea Town, ledges, Public enemy, Rails, shady lanes, skate spot, stair sets, The Temple of Stoke | Tags: Choi, fujimoto, Hosoi, hsu, KTown, Lieu, Song, ueda | Comments Off

Night Skating in Long Beach

Perfect place to pull a darkslide

Power through the curve!

This one was just asking for it

I know I’ve been a bit off the radar. But the good news is I was able to peep these sweet ledges and bench out when I took a trip down to Long Beach.

There is so much good stuff to skate down there that I could start a site completely dedicated to just Long Beach skate spots.

I’ve always been very partial to night sessions. Something about the glow of the street lights and the cool night air, I just love it. At any rate after a few shots of Jagermeister we went out to see what the town had to offer. I will tell you that Long Beach is a very cheap place to drink. Being from Hollywood I’m pretty used to jacked drink prices at most establishments and since we were out celebrating I offered to pick up the first round, typically a $40-$50 purchase for four drinks. No way dude. We were drinking top shelf booze and it was only $20. That coupled with the dope spots made the stokage go up.

As far as the spots are concerned they just fun. The bench could def. be a bust if there were cops around but none were in the mix that night. The seawall ledges are the same at every beach. Little sand on the grip tape and they’re all made of that smooth ‘crete that just lends itself to grinding.

The seawall is waxed up at 25 54th place Long Beach CA and the bench is on the corner of Bay Shore Ave. and South 2nd Street.

September 22, 2011 | Categories: Hometown Hero, K Grinds, ledges, Long Beach Skate Spot, Metal, nollie nose noodle, nothing but good times, Public enemy, skate spot, Steve Rocco | Tags: bite, Colors, Cross, dog, doggy, don't, Ekco, Invisible Skateboards, Jnco, long beach, my, please, snoop, swag | Comments Off

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CALI SKATE SPOTS Skate spots around Los Angeles and California