Oregon Sees Skatepark Construction Boom

I stood in awe under the bridge seeing it for the first time. Portland Oregon's Burnside. I won't call it a skatepark. Burnside is the real deal. A genuine grass roots effort built by skaters from the dump up. Portland skaters took this place under the Burnside Bridge and made it their own. Burnside is full of hips, vert walls, bowls, and concrete coping that is hit up by hard core locals who rip burley grinds across its lips. Like Bob Dylan "I must admit I felt a little uneasy..." standing there watching these guys rip but they really didn't seem to mind. The local skaters are probably used to it judging by the pics I've seen of crews hanging out partying in the lot above the vert walls. Just don't park your car up there as the parking authority comes through about every five minutes. You can park on the street below the park. That's what we did. I didn't want to seem like a wide eyed little kid but seeing Burnside in the 'crete was a pilgrimage of sorts.
I had to pay my respect to gnarl and was mindful all the while of the North Shore or Venice Beach type code of a spot like this. Locals Only. Respect the code. I took it all in and split. I felt like a wide eyed gawking gaper of a tourist just standing there. And I really wanted to ride those walls.

The Portland area is now home to a handful of public parks which are popping up, or digging in, at an exponential rate. Living in the Mid Atlantic region I can't help but be a little envious. So much concrete...you know the cliche'. I can only hope to go back soon and that won't be soon enough. Last summer we witnessed the phenomena known as the Oregon Trifecta. The Trifecta is a bowl riding competition spread out over the weekend at three different local parks. Last years' events took place at Lincoln City, West Linn, and Newberg. Only during the Trifecta weekend can one behold the spectacle of bowl riders scene. Duane Peters threw down layback grinds to revert. Omar Hassan went fast. Really fast. Jim Gray is one of the coolest skaters you may ever meet. Salba does push ups before he drops into the bowl. Stay way out of Lord Salba's way. I could go on and on but it is too much like Ron Jeremy's "Name Drop Meter". Not to fan out or anything but seeing the likes of Chris Cook, Dave "Daggers For Life" Duncan, and Olson, not to mention Benji Galloway and Rune Glifberg, just ripping those parks to pieces was perhaps a once in lifetime occurrence. Some historic skateboarding goes down in Oregon and the locals are a living testimony to that fact.

If you're going coastal then check out Seaside's new concrete park. Having ridden the horseshoe shaped humps at Cannon Beach all I can say is that the new park at Seaside looks smooth. Real smooth, like smooth with fatty parking curbs worked into the coping in spots smooth. I still appreciate the aluminum quarter pipes that serve as skateparks in my area. At least I have some coping to grind. But a concrete park...In Charleston, West Virginia? That would be the day. However, if you're a skater and you want a park built in your town then you should study Portland. These new public parks like Pier Park and Battleground weren't constructed because city officials thought it would be a good idea. Skaters made these parks happen. Either through the proper political channels (as proper as political channels can be) or by their own hands it was the skaters who made these parks happen.

If you want to check out more Portland area skateboarding then look up Mark Conahan's site Antigravity Press. Conahan's site features tons of skating pics and cartoons drawn by Mark as well. It is an excellent site if you are into pool or vert. Other favorites include Dan Hughes NW Skater site and Skate and Annoy. These Oregon based sites provide plenty of links to other sites as well such as Cold War Skateboards, Rebel Skates, and Dreamland Skateparks. I respect Cold War and Rebel Skates because, like Five Points Skateboards, they are simply not afraid to put a shovel nose on a board with a square tail. Yes, there was a time when decks didn't all look like a snowboard. But if that's you're thing I can respect that. I don't like it, but I respect your decision to let corporate skateboard magazines tell you what's cool.