This year at the annual Tony Hawk Foundation Standup For Skateparks benefit at former Source-Interlink owner Ron Burkle’s Beverly Hills estate, T-Hawk, Shaun White, Lincoln Ueda, Mitchie Brusco, Matt Hoffman, and Bucky Lasek put on a skate demo, the Black Keys played a private show and the whole gig raised $755,000 to help build free public skateparks in low-income neighborhoods.
“It was our best event by far,” said Tony Hawk. “The auction items were one-of-a-kind, and the skate demo was one of the best sessions I have ever witnessed (or taken part in). The Black Keys were the icing on the cake—the crowd was in awe.”
For more info, and a complete list of celebrities that we missed rubbing shoulders with, follow the jump.A Perfect Storm Of Awesome
Action sports descend upon Beverly Hills for 8th-annual Tony Hawk Foundation benefit.
Mat Hoffman over Tony Hawk over Lincoln Ueda during the Vert Demo—one of the best yet. Photo: Jody Morris
10/6/11 (Vista, CA) – Within the span of an hour, a Vert Demo with Tony Hawk, Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Mat Hoffman, Mitchie Brusco, and Lincoln Ueda was followed by an intimate set by the Grammy-winning duo The Black Keys. If you were there, you will remember it forever. If you weren’t, you have a chance to experience another memorable event in just a few weeks.
The DaGeDar Presents Stand Up For Skateparks benefit took place Sunday at the home of Ron Burkle, Green Acres Estate, in Beverly Hills, California. In addition to the Vert Demo and The Black Keys performance, the family-oriented event featured interactive activities for kids of all ages, great food, and live and silent auctions. Auction items included a custom Triumph Scrambler 900 “Hawkized” by Roland Sands Design, a Tony Hawk Edition Customized Ford Explorer by Galpin Auto Sports and DUB, and autographed skateboard decks from Tony Hawk and other top pros like Chris Cole, Ryan Sheckler, Nyjah Huston, and Shaun White. Other auction items included a Kelly Slater-autographed surfboard, as well as autographed guitars from Jane’s Addiction, Green Day, and Rancid, plus luxury vacations and much more.
The benefit raised $755,000 for the Tony Hawk Foundation’s mission to build free public skateparks in low-income areas, providing local, at-risk youth an opportunity to participate in a fun, safe and healthy new activity.
DaGeDar Presents Stand Up For Skateparks was Co-Chaired by Tony Hawk and fellow THF Board Member and skate legend Mike Vallely, with other notable supporters including Andre Agassi, Michael “Flea” Balzary, Ron Burkle, Chantal and Stephen Cloobeck, Jamie Lee Curtis, Patrick Dempsey, Jon Favreau, Perry Farrell, Leeza Gibbons, Brian Austin Green, Robin and Danny Greenspun, Ben Harper, Mat Hoffman, Terry Kennedy, Anthony Kiedis, Bobby Kotick, Chuck Liddell, Howie Mandel, Sal Masekela, Lance Mountain, Andrew and Trina Pascal, Andrew Reynolds, David Spade, Bill Walton, and Shaun White.
“It was our best event by far,” said Tony Hawk. “The auction items were one-of-a-kind, and the skate demo was one of the best sessions I have ever witnessed (or taken part in). The Black Keys were the icing on the cake—the crowd was in awe.”
Many celebrities and their families were among the guests, including Mark Wahlberg, Jon Favreau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Walton, Perry and Etty Farrell, Chuck Liddell, Kat Von D, Mike ”Rooftop” Escamilla, Fred Durst, Rob Machado, Tillman the Skateboarding Dog, dance troupe Chi-Town’s Finest Breakers, Kevin Staab, Jason Ellis, Jamie Thomas, Stevie Williams, Holly Robinson Peete, Lance Mountain, Chris Cole, Stefan Lessard, Rodney Mullen, and Legoland’s Darth Vader.
In keeping with tradition, a pledge drive was announced at the event to benefit a local skatepark project. Youth from the challenged Canoga Park community in Los Angeles were present as Tony and event Co-Chair Mike Vallely rallied the crowd to support their skatepark. Donations for this important project are still being accepted. Through October, contribute $300 or more to the skatepark effort in Canoga Park and receive an autographed Tony Hawk skateboard deck. See the video about this project and make your contribution at www.skatecanogapark.org.
The Tony Hawk Foundation launched its Stand Up For Skateparks fundraiser in 2004 to support its mission to help create free, safe, legal skateparks for youth in low-income communities across the U.S. To-date the Tony Hawk Foundation has helped fund 493 public skateboard parks in these communities, which now service 3.5-million youth annually.
DaGeDar Presents Stand Up For Skateparks was made possible through the support of Ex Drinks, Activision, Mondrian Los Angeles, Kohl’s, T-Mobile USA, Quiksilver Foundation, and Tech Deck.
If you missed the Beverly Hills date, DaGeDar Presents Stand Up For Skateparks travels to the Red Rock Casino ~ Resort ~ Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, November 5, 2011. More information about tickets and sponsorship opportunities is available at www.standupforskateparks.org. There you can also view some one-of-a-kind auction items, including signed memorabilia, unique experiences, and much more. To place a proxy bid on one of the amazing auction items, please contact Lily Schwimmer at lily@tonyhawkfoundation.org or (760) 477-2479. For media inquiries, please contact Kelly Reeves at kelly@klrpr.com or (949) 509-1888.
