Williamsburg’s KCDC skate shop got a smooth write up in the New York Times last Thursday (September 22, 2011) and we missed it. Owner Amy Gunther did it well.
If KCDC’s name is cryptic (Ms. Gunther wouldn’t say what it means), its philosophy is simple: Nurture the skateboarding community, and it will nurture you, a symbiotic relationship that has flourished since the store opened in 2001, when Williamsburg was not as hip, or as safe. . . “We’ve grown organically,” Ms. Gunther, 37, said. “Skaters who used to come here as kids 10 years ago come back as adults today.”
In the words of LA Reid: Amy Gunther is the truth.
We’re sure the US Goverment will find some way to militarize MIT student Charles Guan’sLandbearshark treaded all-terrain skateboard. We’re pretty sure he could put a rocket launcher on it, but it would still be nearly impossible to ollie.
From the photos it would appear that this BurtonAnalog & Gravis sponsored gathering was a pretty A-List. We know quite a few people who weren’t invited and couldn’t get it. . . click the link to check it out.
Proving that stadium rock action sporting is still not dead in Europe Zurich’s Freestyle.CH packed in 32,000 people on September 22-23, 2011 for a multisport hucking contest (featured here is snowboard semi-finals action).
Halidor Helgason won with snowboard big air with a Frontside Double Cork 1080° with Seppe Smits and Ståle Sanbech in second and third. Pierre-Luc Gagnon won the mega ramp skate event with a backside ollie three. Follow the jump for the skateboarding semi-finals video. [click to continue…]
Yale Cousino rocked a nice wig all day, but it didn’t get him into the money. Click here for more photos.
Over the past eight years Bear Mountain’s Hot Dawgs & Hand Rails event has become both the official summer snowboarding ender, and SoCal’s winter kick-off (opening day could be a month away).
On Saturday, September 24, 2011 thousands of shred fans arrived at Bear Mountain to see some rail riding, hang out, and pick up free stuff from dozens of the action industry’s most famous brands. We’ve never seen Bear Mountain’s parking lot so full. In fact, we had to park halfway up the mountain on a rutted, grassy slope surrounded by some of Southern California’s finest shred tailgaters.
After what seemed like hours (3?) of rail jamming on all fronts of the delicious setup, judges JP Walker, Joe Sexton, Lauri Heiskari, and Seth Huot handed the $10,000 first prize check to Minnesota rail slayer Ryan Paul (maybe his frontflip wall ride to 50-50 had something to do with it).
HDHR Results
1. Ryan Paul $10,000
2. Brandon Hobush $3,000
3. Jesse Paul $1,000
Tack up 28-year-old skater Chris René as another in the long list of ridiculously talented Santa Cruz surf/skate ghetto addiction survivors. Only 70 days out of rehab René blew away the judges on Fox’s new reality singing show The X Factor with his own song Young Homie. Talking about doing Santa Cruz proud. . .
“We were notified recently of a skate park that was built with wood and concrete in one of the drainage canals that parallels Interstate 8,” said Caltrans spokesman Ed Cartagena. “Accidents can happen, so in terms of exposure to liability, we try to limit that by making certain locations illegal to place things.”
Nice to know that in this California State budget crisis that CalTrans has more than enough money to destroy skateparks up and down the Golden State. Someone’s priorities are obviously confused.
Nothing says skateboarding like a nice, smooth glass of Kenny Likitprakong’sHobo Wine. Will be interesting to see what Dylan Rieder and Thunder Trucks adds to the mix. Let’s just hope it’s not a cab.
Skateboarder Simon Brooks, a 19-year-old Southern Oregon University student was found unconscious in the middle of an Ashland, Oregon street Thursday morning September 22, 2011 at 2:15 AM according to a story in the Ashland Daily Tidings.
The initial investigation indicates Brooks suffered a serious head injury after he fell from his skateboard. He was northbound on North Mountain Avenue on his skateboard before the accident occurred and was not wearing a helmet. No motor vehicles are believed to have played a role in the accident, police said.
For the past three weeks we’ve had these two photos sitting on our desktop, but we couldn’t seem to post them. When Keala Kennelly first uploaded the left photo to her facebook page we, like the rest of the world, gasped in horror.
We were amazed that Keala was still able to throw that famous twinkling glare in the face of a terrible injury. Badass, right? At the time we didn’t really care how it happened, we were just glad she was still able to keep those piercing peepers pointed in the proper direction and that there appeared to be no permanent damage.
Today, in an interview with Billabong Girls Team Manager Megan Villa, Keala tells the whole story.
It happened 2 days after the tow day during the AI memorial heat right before the final. It was a pretty regular looking wave. I took off and it kind of had a bit of bump that kept me from pulling into the barrel straight away. I had to make some adjustments and then saw that the next section was going to throw so I bottom-turned and parked it in the barrel. I traveled for a bit, had to negotiate the foam-ball and that may have thrown me off and made me have to draw a higher line than I would have liked. I thought I was coming out but the lip just clipped me in the head and threw me straight into the reef before I even realized what happened.
Strangely, each time we see these photos we can’t get that old Poi Dog Pondering lyric out of our heads: “. . . wear with pride the scars on your skin, they’re a map of the adventures and the places you’ve been.” Click the link for the rest of Keala’s interivew.
Williamsburg’s KCDC skate shop got a smooth write up in the New York Times last Thursday (September 22, 2011) and we missed it. Owner Amy Gunther did it well.
