After seeing some of the most recent sale deals coming out of HUF is was no real surprise to learn today that Keith Hufnagel is closing the HUF San Francisco store next week according to N-SB.org.
The store brought a lot of previously unavailable brands to San Francisco and became the platform of many collabo’s and eventually a full clothing and footwear brand. The Huf skateshop was already closed but now the store will completely disappear from the streets of San Francisco. The Huf brand and the Huf store in LA will continue business.
Guess this is what can happen when a successful retailer attempts to launch their own brand in direct competition with some of their strongest suppliers.
On Friday, March 11, 2011 Concrete Wave will be hosting what Publisher Michael Brooke calls the “world’s first longboard trade show” at NYC’s Longboard Loft.
Thirty-two national and international companies will showcase their products as part of this one-day only multimedia event. . . This exposition is designed to give longboard dealers and riders a chance to see what’s new in the industry, as well as an opportunity to connect with consumers in the exploding east coast market. “The longboard market is growing rapidly and this expo is long overdue”, says Brian Davenport, founder of Pushculture.com, a revered longboarding website.
An 18-year-old skateboarder from West Travis County, Texas died Saturday afternoon (March 5, 2011) after he fell while skateboard towing, according to a story on KXAN.com.
A spokesman with the sheriff’s office says the incident happened shortly after 1:30 p.m. in the 4900 block of Cypress Ranch Boulevard. Investigators say the teen was holding onto the back of a truck while riding his skateboard uphill when he somehow lost control and fell.
The skateboarder was flown to University Medical Center Brackenridge where he was pronounced dead. Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends.
Not surprisingly, Alli Sports (the website of the Comcast/Viacom/Pepsi Co joint venture responsible for the Dew Tour) has a Paul Zitzer story on their website explaining exactly why skateboarding contests matter again. Apparently it’s all about the money. Paul writes:
When $150,000 is riding on your favorite skater’s last attempt at a kickflip, you’ll notice that even people that “hate” contests sure seem to talk about them a lot. But, as the credits roll on this write-up, maybe the raddest thing about contests is that you get to see what used to take two years and a kajillian tries happen live on TV right before your eyes in an afternoon. That’s nothing to complain about…so long as no one decides to add a halftime show.
We don’t exactly disagree, but it is fun to read a skate contest hyping piece on a site whose entire business model relies solely on contests and competition mattering. If contests don’t matter, then the Dew Tour doesn’t matter. No duh, right?
Laguna Beach, Calfironia’s 210 AR4T Space is hosting an artist reception for their show Futureland on Saturday night, March 5, 2011.
The show features a collection of posters from the future by some of action sports’ finest working graphic designers.
Their art works for FUTURELAND are provocative, witty, sarcastic, and just plain fun to look at. They’ll get your brain moving in new directions. Which, when we look at it in focus, is what makes them so perfectly suited for their day time talent – keeping the world awake.
Featured designers include Michael Jager, Sherwin Yumul, Greg Stenson, Jay Floyd, Blake Gantz, Thomas Bradley, Ryan Davis,Brian Nally, Shoam Thomas, Jeff Bartel, Peter Stow, Carl E. Smith, Patrick Carrie, John Antoski, and Corey Smith.
With all the talk of “union busting” going on as many states attempt to come to terms with their budget crises, the Baltimore Police Department is showing the world just how tough it can be to take action against a police union member, and more importantly, how difficult it is for a police commissioner to reign in a police force that appears to believe that roughing up kids is a good way to interact with the public.
As many will remember Baltimore Police officer Salvatore Rivieri was caught on video back in February of 2008 being an abusive, authoritarian ass to a 14-year-old skateboarder. Thanks to Youtube the officer was suspended. Then, two years later a police board found the officer ‘not guilty on charges of using excessive and unnecessary force and uttering a discourtesy.”
Now, On Monday, February 28, 2011, a judge has reportedly upheld the firing, according to a story in the Baltimore Sun. But apparently this entire issue is not over yet.
The ruling by Judge Sylvester B. Cox sets the stage for an appeal, which lawyers said is likely, promising continued debate over Salvatore Rivieri’s actions and his vitriolic lecture on parenting and youthful indifference that was watched by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube. . . “The court is not here to second-guess the police commissioner,” Cox ruled after hearing arguments in a courtroom filled with Rivieri’s family and former colleagues on the force. “The commissioner acted well within his discretion. This court is not going to disrupt his position.”
The original video has now been viewed over 5 millions times. Sounds like former officer Rivieri should hang up the badge and get a reality TV show. People obviously enjoy watching him lose it on video.
Last night (February 26, 2011) in Portland, Oregon skateboarders and snowboarders gathered at the corner of SE 20th and Hawthorne for the grand opening party of Jen Sherowski and Lance Normine’s new indoor skatepark Commonwealth of Skateboarding, according to a story on Yobeat.com.
Click the link for more photos, or Follow the jump for some video.
On Friday night (February 25, 2011) Bend, Oregon’s Division Street Skatepark Project will hold their third annual PUSH Art Auction at the Old Boomtown Building. It a great evening for art, skateboarding, and inbibing refreshing beverages from the Deschutes Brewery (if you know what we mean).
PUSH features custom skate deck art from over 50 local, regional, and national artists, such as Aaron James Draplin, Kellie Talbot, Quincy Quigg, Wes Youssi, Jesse Lockwood and Dana MacKenzie. . . The PUSH Art Auction is a family friendly event and will feature complementary food and beverages from Deschutes Brewery, Typhoon, Parilla Grill, and Whole Foods. This year’s event will also feature a raffle including a complete skateboard complements of The Skateboard Store, a complete longboard complements of The Longboard Store, a Nitro snowboard, along with other swag from Blood Wizard, Shnar Skateboards, and The Company Skateboards, just to name a few!
A warm, dry place to skate in the OC might not be a bad idea for tomorrow night (February 25, 2011). Ambig is throwing a little party in celebration of the release of Zine 7 with free food, BBQ and Drink. But most importantly the skate park will be open to the public.
Portland, Oregon’s newest indoor concrete skateboarding/art gallery facility Commonwealth of Skateboarding will be celebrating it’s grand opening on Saturday, February 26, 2011 beginning at 3 PM.
The afternoon/evening event will feature a photography show by Jon Humphries, Garric Ray, and Bryce Kanights along with “grinding, spracking, music, friends, beverages,” and “good ol’ conversation.” As they say:
We built this park with our own damn hands so that we and our friends and all Portland skateboarders would have somewhere to go when it was too hot, too cold, too we–didn’t feel like driving to a park or spot. . . Without your contributions this place won’t last too long. . . We are for quality over quantity and creative a kind of community here–so membership has it’s privileges, and doing a drop-in definitely isn’t the cheapest method. . . But we’re down if you’re down.
Memberships in the park are $750 for a year, $80 a month, or $9 for a two hour drop-in. And helmets are not required (if you sign the waiver.
After seeing some of the most recent sale deals coming out of HUF is was no real surprise to learn today that Keith Hufnagel is closing the HUF San Francisco store next week according to N-SB.org.
