Super Rad Times

The Bake and Destroy Skateboard Riot of 2012

THRASH! Let me just start off this post by saying that the Bake and Destroy skateboard “riot” was both rad and bad.

Having an event that gets this many skateboarders in the community together is rad no matter what. This video premiere didn’t have skateboarding included in the schedule of events. Nor did it have a riot planned, but that doesn’t mean an adrenaline rush wasn’t about to be experienced by all 500 eager skateboarders waiting in line to see the Bake and Destroy video. The excited skaters lined the streets to see Baker Skateboard’s first video in 5 years.

I’m sure that being among the crowd of 500 skateboarders with 100 cops in riot gear and 3 helicopters hovering above, that had to have been a pretty rad time.

Now with that being said the whole thing kinda makes the whole skateboard world look pretty bad. As far as riots go this was extremely tame. Cops showed up and people for the most part didn’t know what to do.

Usually when you see a riot on TV cars are being flipped, burned and cops are forcing people off the streets with their riot shields. This DID NOT happen here.

Unfortunately people will not look at it that way. They will see the videos of everyone chanting “fuck the police, fuck the police” and just think we are all punk kids. There were also kids running over cars, shop windows were broken and bottles and rocks were being thrown.

Here’s how the day went…

Saturday October, 13 2012 The Bake and Destroy video was premiering on Hollywood Blvd. A crowd of around 500 skateboarders waited outside lining the Hollywood Blvd, some of them there all day. “I got here at 7:30 a.m. If you get here 2 hours before your fucking up,” said the guy in the front of the line.

With 2 showings planned, the first was an industry premiere for all the pros and company owners. As the first showing was underway kids in the back of the line and people who had been waiting all day started to get bored. Unfortunately bored, skateboarders and kids don’t all go together too well.

Laser pointers were being flashed into apartment windows. Someone in an apartment started shining a laser pointer right back. There were then kids throwing rocks and beer cans at cars and buses.

It wasn’t long until police were dispersed. 2 police helicopters arrived to spotlight the happenings and 100 officers in full tactical swat gear arrived making a perimeter and shutting down Hollywood Blvd.

People threw rocks and bottles at police officers and it took officers around 3 hrs to disperse the crowd of 500 skateboarders. No injuries were reported and 2 cars were reported damaged during the incident.

As all this was happening outside the premiere, inside the industry viewing was underway. “This is a fucking skateboard video! You live and die for skateboarding! You want some? Get some! Bake and fucking destroy!!!!” and with that being said the “play that shit” button was pressed and the video was under way.

In the middle of the industry viewing the people inside the theater started to hear about the riots outside the theater. At the end of the video security started to let everyone out the back doors of the theater.

As people filed out the back doors a police helicopter spotlight lit up the back exit. “That’s when we knew it was going down out front.” Police officers in riot gear quickly shut down that exit figuring that letting these people out would only add to the chaos.

After all was said and done this was just another night in the skateboard world. Bake and Destroy will be sent out with the next issue of Thrasher Magazine and it will be available on the internet in a couple months for free. Skateboarding rules! – Leecifer

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SDDRL Full Moon Fever #duex

Meet at the park after security locks the gates. The road closes to cars and it becomes ours for the night. With the bright moon shining down from above and the surrounding tree’s, half the road was lit up and quite visible while the other half stayed hidden in the night. Unexpected curves, cracks and bumps waited for riders too make the ride more fun….and scary.

If you are familiar with the road leading up to the top of Griffith Observatory then you know the road I am talking about. Impossible to skate during the day. Police at the bottom and park rangers at the top. Good luck!

The event was pretty loosely organized and no one at the bottom had skated the road before but there were already skaters lurking at the top including the event organizers.

A group of around 20 skaters began marching up the hill. Helmets, gloves and skateboards. Soldiers of downhill ready to bomb the windy mountain road, most of us unaware at how fun and gnarly the road was going to be.

The road wound up the mountain farther then most people thought and my stokeage level and anticipation level was growing. The road seemed pretty gnarly and there were several hairpins. I didn’t know what was going to happen besides the fact that I was going to go down that hill on my skateboard really fast and have a lot of fun doing it.

We could see the Observatory lit up on top of the hill marking our destination and the beginning of where we would begin our downhill descent back down the mountainous road.  Looking out across the valley you could see all the lights shimmering from the city below. Somewhere up the road orange lights began flashing. 20 skaters dissipated into the bushes, ducked and waited to see what was going on. A car drove past. Once the coast was clear we continued our journey up the hill. Soldiers marching into the darkness ready to tackle the hill. Ready to bomb it.

We did end up running into some park rangers at the top.

“Park is closed guys, you need to leave,” said the ranger. We started going down the way we came.”You need to go that way,” said the Park Ranger pointing towards the non closed road.

“Um, I don’t know where that goes, my car is at the bottom of this road.” I replied.

“There are no cars at the bottom of this road,” said the Park Ranger.

“Well I parked at the bottom in the parking lot and walked around the closed gate and just walked 3 miles up this road. My car is at the bottom of this road. We’re just skating man, it’s not a big deal. We didn’t want to do it when there were cars on it,” I said.

“Alright but I don’t want to see you guys when I come back around later.” said the ranger.

We started gearing up and we all started bombing the hill. I think almost everyone crashed into the sandy right hand corner with the guard rail on it. That turn sucked. With darkness surrounding us everything felt faster then it was. Turn after turn, we picked up speed quickly and nighttime flew by. Everyone made it to the bottom smiles on their faces, some missing skin and wanting to do it again. It was an epic bomb and I hope that we get do do it again sometime soon!

Apparently there were multiple groups skating throughout the night even after we left the hill. I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did! This was an epic night I will never forget. Oh, the stories skateboarding makes for us.- Leecifer

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El Toro Full Moon Ride

 

Boards, helmets and riders lit and seen with glow sticks embarked on a journey that most riders didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. I didn’t even know what I was getting myself into. A large group gathered at the top, Chris De Guzman shouted out the rules, what was going to happen, what the course was like and where the ending was. After a quick group photo everyone gathered at the start and go go go!!!

Chinese start, everyone at once jamming down the narrow path which is also the fastest part of the course. I only made it probably 500 feet before I could see glow sticks flying everywhere in front of me, the sounds of boards scraping, bodies hitting the ground and feet slamming against the concrete as riders tried to run it out. It was about 2 seconds after that I hit either a person or board and landed on someone else and then hat at least one board and two other riders run into me. After the huge pile up and everyone scrambling to find their boards everyone continued back down the hill.

The path was rad especially following an army of glowsticks tucking hard pushing and pumping. The speeds were hard to judge at night but the path was a little over cruising speed the whole time. It took several dips under pitch black bridges and tunnels. Swooped through the valley and next to a creek. This event was actually probably one of the most fun events that I have attended big thanks to Chris De Guzman for hosting it and spreading the stoke. The night ended with Max Capps winning it! – Leecifer

A Need for Speed

The Need For Speed downhill reunion at The California Surf Museum(link) was nothing short of incredible. OG skaters reunited with old friends, reminisced to their race days and looked back at the boards they used to ride.

The Downhill Skateboarding Reunion, held at The California Surf Museum in Huntington Beach, Ca was one very memorable night for all who attended and it was witnessed by only a couple hundred people.

Legends of skating and people who helped start it all were in attendance along with some legendary surfers. Basically the event was a meet and greet and it was a showcase for their newest display called A Need For Speed. It was a tribute to downhill skateboard racing and there was a whole section dedicated to Signal Hill, which is where the first sanctioned race ever was held.

Wheelbase Magazine 1 year Anniversary Party

After finding the warehouse, parking, showing the bouncers the California drivers license I arrived to a pretty rad scene and saw a few familiar faces. The first thing I noticed was the keg to the left and the band preparing to play. In the middle of the warehouse with skaters flying by was a long table full of food. After dodging some skaters and scoping the whole make your own burrito situation (which was delicious) I quickly realized that the bowl was going to be the spot to watch all the shredders. More and more and more familiar faces kept coming through the door.

The party was awesome whether you wanted to get your shred on, or your lurk on. Saw many familiar faces and many new ones. Had a great time. Thanks Marcus Bandy and Wheelbase magazine for everything!

 

 

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