skate spots

So is this the end? Hardly. We’ve all moved off that strip of Market, but those experiences have shaped all our lives. Eating tuna and ketchup…apartments with no windows, and skating to stay sane.

Here’s the information I have right now.

Ethan is still in SF as well as Jimmy and Dennis. I haven’t heard from or about Chris forever.

Josh has moved with his GF to greener pastures.

Kev is home skating like a champ, making movies and enjoying the Midwest.

I’m finally hitting my stride, making work, training for track, skating, body boarding…Thank you Market Street All-Stars for all the wonderful support and friendship. I wouldn’t have been able to make it without you.

CALIFORNIA!

H Skate is coming, a new art-board keep the eyes peeled for www.hskate.com

Kev Rules, I’m going to miss him when he goes back to Ohio.

‘S been a while the last few times Kev and I have hung out there has been more work on the art making than the skating though last time we were at Wallenberg, I got a 50-50 grind on a *tiny* rail on the ground…

And last night had a MAJOR BBQ…very nice indeed

Still working on the ollie 180, and last Sunday went to Novato with Kev, it’s been a while since I skated there, so I wasn’t that fast, but I did get a sweet front-side grind…

Now that school is over, I gotta hit more parks…

Skated with Kev today after a Cherry Blossom Parade with Jacquie…

We hit up Wallenberg, and it was the perfect day, not too hot, but warm enough to wear shorts in SF!!!

That doesn’t happen too often so we were stoked. I did a few ollies and tried to work on pop shuvits and then Kev asked me if I could Ollie 180…

I never tried, so he showed me how to wind up, and after a few falls I GOT IT!

sooooooooooo happy.

Today I planned to skate at Berkeley with Casey and Brian for an early session…well, the cobalt is back, and it was on lock-down…so we went to Oakland Museum. We had no idea where it actually was, and we stumbled on it quite by accident at 10AM. The slight problem was that it opened at noon. So we had two hours to kill, luckily we were right next to Laney College (I hadn’t heard of it either) and we skated their cement quad with benches etc…we had fun there till the sheriff drove by and we went on a quest through China-town to find an Internet Cafe…no luck, though we stumbled upon the sweetest thing ever, a swap meet…

First stop was the snow cone vendor…and then Brian and I got some cameras, for 10 bucks each!!! I got a medium format Foldex/20 and also a Konica auto S2.

Then we went to the show, and searched out the Almeda park after (in a NAVY base of all places). It’s the first park I’ve ever been to where bikes and boards share…I was told by a biker *who was like 40* that because we’re not in Berkeley or the City, people aren’t mean ’cause no one has to show off…

We had a scare, Casey slammed his head and he was allright *(thank goodness)* and from that point on, kept his lid on.

I had a few nice carves and did a tail-stall, other than that, it was warm and sunny…like *real* California.

(this is the 7th consecutive day of sun…the most I’ve ever witnessed in SF, I’ve worn shorts for a whole week!)

I went to the Daily City ramp with Kev, and it was amazing who I ran into…Jason Salfi…he’s from Comet, and it was great to see him again…

The ramp itself is rad, already, and they’ve cleverly used the fiberglass fun-box and turned it on its side and made a 4′ extension…the thing is wedged up on the platform of the metal ramp with 2×4’s and filled with railroad ties…

…Oh those intrepid skateboarders!

so anyway, Kev was a tech guy, and I concentrated on my first wall ride on vert, and after about 20 tries I go it.

Psyched…

I met with Don and James today, and was stoked to have a little pow-wow in my place. I am really excited about this project, as it’s skateboarding and art. You can’t beat that. Things are finally picking up around here, this year has been ultra hectic as far as school goes, and it’s quite nice to have a respite from all the stress…that’s what skating is about.

Right on.

Finally got to skate again with Kev, he met me at work *which was awesome* and we walked back to my place, and went down to SOMA. We found this great spot at De Haro, where we would come down a hill, hit a bump, then off a drop, to a ledge. I just went ollie, ollie, ollie….

Kev, was kickflip, ollie 180, nollie nose slide…wow…

or ollie 180, ollie 180, ollie, manual 180 out, nollie flip, ollie 180… hit the 5 trick goal….

IN other news, I’m inspired by one of Kev’s buddies who went pro at 30. There’s still hope for the skater who started at 21… (ie me)

So Sunday we went to Novato, Casey and I did anyway and we hit the bowls for a while, and he was working on a bunch of grab airs out of the pipe…I wish I could do that stuff, but I’m so concerned about slamming my knee again, I’m even wimping on the rock -n- roll to fakie…

I did really pump the bowl fast, and tried to get some footie, but I was zoomed in with the wide angle (don’t ever do that) without knowing…anyway, after a little lunch at Mc Donalds, (and I accidently ordered a Mc Grillrather than a reagular Mc Chicken (for an extra 2 bucks)! I won’t make that mistake again. We stopped at the headlands on the way back and just chilled at the beach for a while, watched the surfers and stuck our feet in…very, very cold.

We checked out the center for the arts there as well, and the studios are gargantuan, and my goodness, they even had industrial toilets, and a kitchen where the resident artists get FREE FOOD!!!

So Casey is applying next year…

For Comet things are coming along, I’ve started doing the preliminary drawings of the Bomb Squad, and the new decks should be out soon, I’m looking forward to rocking on one of the new beefy park decks…Word on the street is 38 inches of twin tail/carbonfibery goodness…

So I haven’t been skating a whole bunch, as Kev has moved out, and he’s the one I skated with mostly. Plus I’ve really been concentrating on getting a job. I have been working with Comet for a few weeks, on just some little things, but that should be picking up soon…

I’m looking forward to it.

I went to Novato on Sunday again, with just Casey, I rode the new Proflex- it was awesome, but took a while to get used to such a big piece of wood. I also taped up the new park deck, and I really like the way it’s got a more angled nose and tail.

Casey and I were really lethargic, so we got energy back at Mc Donald’s…and then finally got a bit better, he did a really sweet disaster slide and I just had a great time ripping around the bowls…although I’m still a bit shaky in parts.

Yesterday Casey and Brian and I went up to Novato, I brought the new clunker, a 8.5 in piece of maple with 57mm spitfires and a pare of 180 Randall II’s It’s fast as all get out in the bowl, and and we just had an amazing time.

Casey just wore one elbow pad to protect his “second elbow” and dispite Brian’s Knee pads, he couldn’t come unstuck from his 7 dollar griptape, and twisted his knee, which swelled up like crazy.

After a fun day, we went to eat on Van Ness, and just ate like champs.

Today Kev, and one of the guys I met at the pier, who goes to school at the Art Institute, Colin went back to the HS and skated ledges. While we were there we bumped into this guy in my painting class named Donald, so again, the worlds of Art and Skating collide. Coincidence, I think not. On the way back I bombed McAllester, there were hardly any cars, and it’s got lots of stop signs on the side streets, so you can tear down it.

Monday Kev and I went to Haight and skated ledges at a high school whose name slips my mind right now…I had a great day working on flatland stuff, got a nollie for real, worked on skating switch, and almost got a pop shuvit down…Kev massive trey flips and a few crazy switch things that I didn’t know what they were.

I got a front side grind, and Kev had a bunch of nose slides and after all that we hit this one part where it drops pretty steeply to a curb, we ollied into it and it’s super fun, kinda like a natural roller coaster.

It was excellent ’cause we didn’t have to worry about 5-0 at the school yard.

Casey and Brian and I all piled into “God Bless John Wayne” and rode up to Novato, I got so into talking about computers that Casey and I didn’t see the exit and we were in the middle of the sticks before we caught that one…blame Brian…

Anyway once we got there, it was pretty empty, and we just hit the half pipe for a while. Casey really digs his new stick, and it shows he was ripping some pretty pop out rock to fakies and some major grindage, but all of us are still working on pumping the bowl.

*break for Jack in the Box*

After we got back the bowl opened up a bit and C and I were trying to get around at a little higher speed, with minimal success…guess we’ll have to head back this weekend.

We came back pretty wrecked; tired, and busted, hippers on both sides and a new elbow for C, and a slam on the sore right knee for me *from over committing on a 50-50 drop in* and a busted left hip from trying to pump-it a bit too hard.

Crocker Amazon with Kev tomorrow.

I was at Novato again with Kev, we filmed a huge kick flip, and I got some front-side, and worked on the backside grinds, I wanted to stay a bit longer, but it didn’t work out…Noodles on Haight as always.

Today I went with Jon Hittner, and Casey Logan to the “new spot” down by the hood on Army and Indiana. It was a lot of fun, so I think we may be gong to Novato on Saturday if we can figure a way to get there.

Wheeeeeee!

Went out with Josh and Kevin the other day just over to the library, no worries…but then when Josh and I went yesterday night and yikes…we were kicked out of the library, then went to the opera house steps…then fox plaza ledges, on the way back to Market…we were literally 100 feet from our house and the cop takes our skates, and takes our ID’s and gave us a lot of trouble. Luckily we didn’t get tickets. I can’t believe that at 11:30 skating home *(on the flat)* we got busted….and the cop knows where we live now ’cause I was stupid and opened my mouth.

*sheesh*

Yesterday I hit up the streets with Josh, he got new kicks and was working on breaking them in…we went to the McAllaster ledge and then to the library, when we were hopping down the big steps, there was a dude that looked like he was taking a pee…turns out he was doin’ a chick…ewwwwwwwwy.

Never saw that on the street before…it was a short session, cause Josh had a hot date, and I was not landing anything…Session tonight with Kev when he gets back.

Went to a new park today Novato, rollin in the golf…very nice indeed to see the landscape. I had a few nice runs, but I could really tell that I hadn’t been to a park in over a month…Kev pulled some nice stuff out despite being a little under the weather.

The day was pretty gnarly, overcast and cold…so much so that I had to skate with a hoody, built up a sweat then got cold…wierd.

Anywho, there was some Dogtown/151 guys there that were really charging and Bullskating, super annoying when the Groms and I were just trying to skate this one little part of the park, it was like a 6 foot pipe and they kept tearing through there. Kev ate shit once ’cause he was concentrating on another guy’s line not his own.

I came back a little bloodied today, took a skate to the right ankle and got a hipper on the left side, all in all an alright day, but I want to skate that park again, I really like it it’s got nice transition stuff. Then noodles on Haight…sweet.

Bad news today, Renee’s car was broken into in the parking lot on mission, I think it happened in the day, ’cause I was up from 2-5 working on the video. Last night Dennis, Chris, Josh and I went to play pool, at Kennedy’s and on the way back Josh tweaked his ankle but he’s feeling a bit better today.

Went to skate the library on a solo sesh, and there were about 8 skaters there total, one named Colin that I met before at pier 7 who is an undergrad at SFAI. He was in a car accident in Colorado over break, but he’s still out skating with his hand all bandaged up.

Raining a lot…for three days off and on, no time to dry out really, and it’s tough to get to school, walking is OK I guess…if you can’t skate.

So it’s spectacular to be back, major session at the library…Kev and I were the only ones out tonight, but we worked up a good sweat before treating ourselves to some Thai on Haight…

Almost got a nollie today, and hit a big set of 4…

Back in Illinois, no urban landscape to skate…just wind, cold and the river…for fun I can ollie the speed-bump in the alley…mmmm longing for SF skating and chillin’ with the other MSAS…

Back in Illinois, no urban landscape to skate…just wind, cold and the river…for fun I can ollie the speed-bump in the alley…mmmm longing for SF skating and chillin’ with the other MSAS…

Snowskate libe slope…amazing! Hope it snows tomorrow.

Skated 4 then 5 steps at the library on Tuesday night…nice…bought a snow skate today…It rocks…Thanks to the crew for taking me to O-town.

Rain…yuk, no skating today…

Big day today for the boys at MSAS. Josh, and I along with two GUEST STARS Casey and Bryan went to the Berkeley park for an early morning session. The problem was that Josh was a bit sluggish getting out of bed, and I said that I would meet the others at Civic Center at 8am. Well we waited for Josh for a bit, and then ended up in Oakland, and had to get another train to North Berkeley. Casey hit a nose manual on the escalator (footie a bit later).

Once we got to the park, there was hardly anyone there, and was the first time in a LONG time that Casey had been on a board. But he seemed to adjust pretty well. Blunts, 5-0 grinds, and rocks to fakie.

Josh was his usual self, and hit the rails for a bit and returned to the bowl, and worked it for a while with a back truck grind around the corner.

The real stars today were the 30-40 year olds who were pulling HUGE frontside and backside airs in the deep end, as well as krook grinds. Lots of good shots thanks to Bryan.

I had a pretty sweet day too, frontside and backside grinds, as well as rock to fakie, rock to regular…sweet!

We rode back to SF and hit up the Etrade steps, Josh had a HUGE ollie over two sets, and I did one set, and finally made it down the complete set. Casey kept trying this crazy flip thing that I don’t know the name of, but it looked pretty sick.

We rode back to the home base, and had double Foreman action, and lots of ground beef and sausage. Ate like champs, and talked about skating for a long time…

Kev, just called from the Valet spot, he wants to hit it when he gets off at 11. Here we go again…

So guess who graced the 513 today…N. Jones, no wait, that’s too obvious, Nate J. Anywho, he rides for REAL and was in my apt. checkin’ out the MSAS site, hot. After he stopped by, Kev and I went down the back alleys between Mission and Market, Stevenson alley is pretty Gnarly, especially the little piss-park, a three stepper that REEKS…

So we went to EMB and skated flat there for a bit, I’ve been working on a nollie, and Kev hit up the sculpture and you can get the sequence here soon. Then we went to Pier 7 and good things happened, I got up on the big ledges no problem today 2 times in a row, ollied on and off the steps, and on the way back nailed two other 3 step ollies…*stoked*

Kev nose-manualed the entire ledge, shuvit out…nice. Stopped for a starbucks, and Kev headed to work, and me to do this essay….

Berkeley tomorrow at 7am…Casey Logan will be making a guest appearance…SFAI HOLLA!!!

Kev came over around 12:30 excitited ’cause he made $150.00 at work today driving’. We decidied to go to the federal building because he wanted to get a tail stall 180 out, but he was too tired. He must have gone up that wall ride 50 times today with limited success. We wet over to the library, and I worked on my nollie, and may have them by the end of the year.

When we got back Josh was just coming home and we peeped the footie and some newer stuff as well, all the while Kev’s got the Fierce melon Gatorade, and the peanut butter…

Greetings all from the heart of San Francisco. Here you will find recent developments of the crew of the MSAS from their home base between 6th and 7th Street. Enjoy.

Sweet session tonight, Josh, Kev and I went out to skate the wall ride at the federal building on Golden gate. It was a quick bust, but not before both J and K went right over the “no rolling” bronze square…choice.

The the 5-0 rolled out of the parking garage and pointed his spot on us, we all froze, and over the megaphone he was all “SKATEBOARDERS, THIS IS FEDERAL PROPERTY…” He never actually kicked us out, but we got the hell out of that sitch ASAFP we headed to the library, but it was just power washed so off to a well lit parking lot.

We skated there for a while to get some footie and kept the camera on the ground and ollied over it, the wheels on pavement sound like jets…pretty sweet.

Then we went to a short set of 4, and Kev got a nice kick flip and I ollied landed it twice…Josh bailed after that great film job, ’cause he had to work tomorrow, then Kev and I went to the postoffice at Fox plaza and the long 4 there. He ollied and I filmed and he worked the ledge there for a bit too.

After a stop at the liqour store for some fierce mellon, we headed home, chilled and watched the night’s work…