St. Louis, Missouri has it’s own DIY skateboard park at the corner of Kingshighway and Bischoff. St. Louis Today gets all the details.
The skatepark started out guerrilla-style in 2009 when a friend of DelCortivo’s, Kyle Crandall, was scouting urban skate locations. Crandall found the bridge and started pouring concrete under the south end of the bridge, attempting to build a bowl. . . Word leaked fast in the tight-knit skate community, and soon enough dozens of skateboarders were helping convert the seamy underside of a bridge into something practical. Jones said the scene under the bridge before work got started was borderline post-apocalyptic. . . Burning mattresses, drug users, squatters and extensive trash and graffiti were all part of the environment. . . Most of that left with the arrival of the skatepark, although keeping the area graffiti-free requires constant vigilance.
Urban renewal thanks to skateboarding.
[Link: St. Louis Today]
