austin skate notes

Paul Zimmerman has accomplished the skatepark advocate’s dream: He successfully convinced a developer who was installing a concrete ditch to make it skateable. People in city and county government have often mentioned the possibility over the years. Specific cities strongly considered the idea, but it never happened anywhere. Now there’s an example that can be cited to give decision-makers more confidence in attempting this type of installation.

More information about Paul Zimmerman’s other skatepark advocacy successes can be found at the El Paso Skatepark Association website. More photos are in the Austin Public Skatepark Action Committee gallery.

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After a months-long hiatus, as of February 17, 2009, Austin Skate Notes is back with a higher definition digital signal thanks to the national change-over required by federal regulation. While we agree that the result of this switch is going to provide a better viewing experience for Austin Skate Notes readers, it is regrettable that skaters still depending on analog rabbit ear antennas will be left behind. In order to help those skaters receive premium ASN digital content, we have partnered with the FCC to provide these coupons that can be used to purchase digital signal conversion hardware to enable older browsers to work with the new system.

In anticipation of the national signal switch-over, ASN staffers have been hard at work behind the scenes upgrading the website to the new digital format. During this effort, we’ve been editing and reviewing content for the maiden digital broadcast and have selected some real gems to share as we step across this exciting threshold together.

A few weeks ago, Micah Shapiro of Grindline’s skatepark design staff visited with some friends from Seattle. Chris, Scott, and Micah ripped several concrete spots in the Austin area and were captured in these photos. After one session, we visited some drinking establishments downtown on a Saturday night. As we were ordering food at a roadside stand, a man ran away from the ordering window and Chris set off in pursuit. The rest of us had no clue what had transpired until Chris returned a few minutes later with the tip jar and all the money it contained. Chris chased the culprit only a dozen or so yards before he surrendered the loot to the leather-jacketted Seattle crime fighter.

We also hit up the Alien Pod where condo construction inspires everyone to skate like it might be the last session.

Sometime Austin resident, Quentin Tarantino, has completed principal photography of his ‘guys-on-a-mission-flick’: Inglourious Basterds. Here’s a trailer for the movie, which seems to draw more inspiration from the Last Rambo than the original Italian movie of the same name. (more…)

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In the past five or more years, San Antonio’s skate scene has enjoyed two really great skate spots that attracted skate nomads from around the world. Shallow Hal and the Claw Ramp no longer exist. The improbably small pool that was improved upon by Fields Hammond to great effect was recently filled in with dirt. Like every plywood skate behemoth eventually suffers, the Claw Ramp was dismantled in October. Check out the footage of Indy Pros skating these spots during their final sessions on the 30th Anniversary Indy Tour video.

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Shawn Rylander, Editor & Publisher of Disposable Camera zine, lost all of his belongings earlier this week when a fire gutted the house he was renting with Bryan Rogers. It’s assumed that Bryan also lost all of his stuff in the fire. Nobody was injured in the blaze that took place while nobody was home. Apparently someone visited the couch on their front porch while they were gone and left a cigarette burning on the piece of furniture, which then caught the rest of the house on fire.

Bryan is currently out of town, but Shawn has been given temporary housing by Chris Summers. Both of these guys could probably use some help recovering from this tragedy.

A photo of Chris Smith grinding @ Patterson is in competition for the ‘best photo of the day’ on the Statesman website. It’s #11 in the series of photos embedded in that flash presentation.

Jason Schmale has taken in a homeless cat that just gave birth to some kittens. He’s looking to adopt them out to good homes. Check out the cuteness.

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This past weekend was busy for Austin’s skateboarding ghouls. On Saturday evening, longtime Austin skateboarder, John Weiss, married Jessie. Many of Austin’s skate luminaries were in attendance including Andy Rihn, Adam Young, Kevin Trayhan, Michael Sieben, Sandy Carson, and Joe Rich. Well-wishers enjoyed a photo booth, vegetarian food, and a stack of donuts that would have burst all the buttons on Homer’s pants.

Last month’s issue (October 2008) of the skateboard mag featured my photos from the Houston Public Skatepark grand opening. Thrasher’s current cover is emblazoned with a great photo of Christian Hosoi’s backside ollie-tail grab that’s similar to my photo, but to clarify, that photographer was about two feet to my left. It’s not my photo. Speaking of Independent’s 30th Anniversary, this trailer showcases some Independent legends skating in San Antonio.

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The SPoSM (Skatepark of San Marcos) group is gearing up for two events in south central next month. The fifth annual Broderick Memorial Contest will be held on November 15th at the San Marcos skatepark. Street and best trick competitions on that day will be followed by a ditch contest at CFAN the following day. Maybe Aaron will post some more details on the SPoSM site as they become available.

As I’ve been travelling around the country, big-time scene builders, Nathan Black and Jared Ficklin have picked up the Patterson Park revegetation responsibilities and achieved stunning results. This has required multiple visits every day to manage water sprinklers, repair broken hoses, replace stolen timers, and clean up remaining building materials. This amount of time and effort has been invested to give the grass the best chance possible of survival so the spot doesn’t turn into a dust pile like Mabel Davis. There will be some ongoing issues to address, such as keeping BMXers from doing airs off the sides of the ramp onto the grass berm, and hopefully visitors of the ramp will become good stewards of the skate spot so we can maintain a positive scene there and create more in other parks throughout Austin.

So when will the miniramp be open? Well, Jared has been working with Austin PARD to have them inspect and sign-off on the project, which will hopefully happen in the coming week. In the meantime, you can early-vote.

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