San Gabriel High School – San Gabriel, CA

High Schools are like a box of chocolates for skateboarders.  *Forrest Gump Voice* “You never know what you’ll get.”  You can almost be guaranteed that you’ll find at least one thing that you can skate.  Whether it’s a dinky waxed curb or some ridiculous 20 stair set.  They’re all skateable.

I don’t think that you’ve seen this school in any of your favorite skating videos before unless you’re from the SGV (San Gabriel Valley) area.  This school has ledges and ledges upon ledges up the ass.  Just make sure to bring some of your favorite wax when you come and visit because these ledges are chunkier than that one girl you hooked up with this past weekend.

San Gabriel High School
801 South Ramona Street
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Directions

Abijah Martinez – Frontside Bluntslide

Located in the back of the school near the tennis courts are these double-sided ledges that you can practice your pop in/out/over tricks on.

Double-Sided Ledges

In the center of the school is the Stage Area that you might have seen our boy Mark Villero doing a line at the 1:15 mark over HERE.

Stage Area

They also got this Circular Manual Pad thingy to balance on.

Circular Manual Pad Thingy

Probably the most popular spot in this school is the Long 6 Stair.  Don’t mind the tiny little handrail in the middle.  It was just lying there and I was too lazy to move it for the shot.

Long 6 Stair

Abijah Martinez – Backside Tailslide

Abijah Martinez – Switch Backside Tailslide

Abijah Martinez – Switch Frontside Crooks

Like I said, “Ledges and Ledges upon Ledges”.

On your way out of the school you can try to hop this Bump Over Rail Over Sidewalk if you’re feeling up to competing for the the Olympic Long Jump.

Bump Over Rail Over Sidewalk

Skateboard

ATLAS Ledges – Rosemead, CA

First and foremost, there’s a reason why we aren’t leaking the address to this spot for our latest Spotcheck.  Bottom line, it’s not our spot and we don’t want to blow it up online to our visitors.  We already told you the city where this is located in, so if you were smart enough and did a little bit of homework aka “Google Maps” then maybe you’ll be able to find this spot on your own.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve skated this spot before.  In fact, if you’ve checked our blog on a daily basis (Which you should be doing anyways.) then you might have already caught shots and glimpses of this spot back in 2008.  Back then the only things that were skateable here in this abandoned lot were 2 ledges with coping about 40 feet apart from each other.  After a couple months of just those 2 obstacles, I guess the locals got bored and revamped it to a new and improved skate spot.

Drop In Of Death

Right as you enter the spot you’ll see a makeshift Double-Sided Ledge created from side-by-side, stacked parking and cinder blocks.  I’m not sure if you remember Cory Kennedy’s Girl ad in the Thrasher/Transworld/Skateboarder Mag/Whatevers with the Frontside Bluntslide to Kickflip to Frontside Boardslide?  Well shit, if memory serves me correctly this ledge below is the same one?  Our boy Damian had to drop a Backside Noseblunt Slide on it in less than 5 tries.

Damian Trammel – Backside Noseblunt Slide

Right after the Double-Sided Ledge, is the Banked Ledge.  It’s the original ledge that was there, but slightly revamped with a concrete bank towards one side of it.  Perfect for those Noseblunt Slide transfers.

Justin Maruco – Frontside Lipslide

I don’t know the exact history behind the “name of” and “the coming of” this skatespot, but what I do know is that our boy ATLAS CBS always has hitups on these ledges every time we come and skate here.  That’s mad BGP’s (BackGround Props) in skate videos if you haven’t already seen it.  With that said, we’re unofficially calling this spot the “ATLAS Ledges” even though rumor has it that Jason Hernandez (skater/filmer) was actually the one who created this.

Just a couple of feet from the Banked Ledge is another one, but this time with Pool Coping to top it off.

P-Rod Skatepark – Pacoima, CA

Just 6 months ago in the Summer of 2009 the Pacoima area recently collaborated with professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez in creating a new skatepark in the Ritchie Valens Recreation Park called the “P-Rod Skatepark”.  As you may or may not know, skatespots are popping up everywhere in and around California (as well as around the world) right now with replicated streetspot skateparks; like this one.  If you’re in or around the Pacoima area this is definitely one of the spots to hit.

P-Rod Skatepark
10736 Laurel Canyon Blvd
Pacoima, CA 91331
Directions

“These…Nyjahs”

The entrance of the park is reminiscent to the Griffith Park banks.

They also got some buttery back-to-back benches to get your skate technicalities on.

The main plaza has a replicated Sylmar High Blue Handrail as well as some Hubba Ledges on the other end.

Brick Pyramid anyone?  You remember our boy Steve Cuellar dropping a Nollie Backside Heel on this right?  Yah you do.

Hollenbeck Skatepark – Los Angeles, CA

Just got back from a nice little getaway trip at Huntington Beach this past weekend and currently playing a little bit of catch-up.  That’s probably why you haven’t seen our latest CLIP OF THE WEEK posted at the moment.  Probably see it later on tonight.

What was suppose to be a “Weekend Rager” partying all day and night at the AGENDA Tradeshow this past weekend, ended up being a “Weekend Skager (Skate+Rager?)”  We did happen to stop by the the RVCA/AGENDA & JSLV parties Friday night, but decided to make it an exclusive, all weekend, skate mission instead.  FUCK IT.  Our first stop (the next day) was at the newly reconstructed and renovated Hollenbeck Skatepark plaza by Rob Dyrdek.

This skatepark’s a legit warm-up spot.  All you see is “Street Shit”.  No transitions and ALL LEDGES.  Right as you enter the skatepark there’s a huge (but mellow) launch ramp to toss your carcass off of.  That’s the only transition that they have.  Dustin Semenza aka “DUSTONEY” demonstrates how to Tre-Flip it in less than 7 tries after waking up from partying the night before.

Hollenbeck Skatepark
415 S. Saint Louis St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
Directions

DUSTONEY – Tre-Flip

Towards the end of the park is a 9 stair handrail to get your “Chris Cole On”.

They also got a Big 3 here for those Switch Flips.

A nice sized Manual Pad to perform your balancing acts.

After landing his tre-Flip, it was highly recommended (by me) that he try an Inward Heel off that thang thang.  Ummm, bad idea.

“Final Dustination” – Inward Heel

“Fucken RICKS”

Man Down

“Rock You Like A Hurricane”

Ross Norman – Fakie Backside Nosegrizzle

Steve Cuellar – Frontside Smith Grizzle

Some Dude – Back Teezy

Aaron Snyder – Nollie Backside Shifty

BETOven

Mini Rampage

Located in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles is a newly built miniramp by skateboarder/filmer/artist/videographer extraordinaire Mike Manzoori.  (Don’t bother asking for instructions on how to get to this spot cause it’s by “Invitation Only“.)  The crew helped out with applying the finishing touches of Skatelite onto the transitions and gathered up enough energy to shred this savage creation afterwards.  The miniramp has a quick transition with little to no flat bottom.  I think that it’s safe to say that this spot is for the “Advanced Users” of the skateboarding gene pool.

Justin Maruco

River – Frontside Tailslide

“Laid Back”

Gabriel Martinez – Frontside 5-0

Frontside 180 Beefage

Blunts to Fakie

Abijah Martinez – Frontside Smith Grind

This is the owner of the ramp, Mike Manzoori.  I’ve never met the dude before until this past weekend, but I’ve always been an avid follower of his skateboarding waaaayyy back in the day when he was a sponsored skater for eS and appeared on various VHS tapes of 411 video magazines.  What you know about that?

Mike Manzoori – Backside Air

This particular spot of the mini ramp looks easy to hit but is probably the gnarliest thing that you will ever encounter.  50 bucks says that you can’t even pull a 50-50 stall on this vert extension, first try.  None of that mattered to Mr. Manzoori though.

Mike Manzoori – Low to High Frontside Tailslide

Sapporo

Desserts

“Sexting”

Santa Barbara City College – Santa Barbara, CA

It’s been a while since we’ve done a “Spotcheck“, so to start off the new year of 2010 we decided to share with you a spot that’s a couple hours up north from LA in a city called Santa Barbara.  Santa Barbara City College aka “SBCC” is home to an abundant of skatespots, however, you can’t really skate here unless you’re A.) Very Lucky, B.) Skating it on a holiday or maybe weekend, or C.) Very Very Lucky.  Don’t be surprised if you get the boot here before even trying a trick on film; or better yet a ticket from the security guards.  It’s a highly secured area by the “Skate Nazi’s”.  But (on occasion) there are those days where you can just come and shred as long as your little feet can handle it aka “Skate this shit on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day.”

The first spot that we skated was the 4 and 6 stairs.  As you can see from the photo below there’s also a tiny flatbar rail towards the left and a buttery lunch table down the 4 stair towards the right.  Countless hours of fun in this little area alone.

Santa Barbara City College
721 Cliff Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
Directions

4 Down & 6 Down

Moe – Frontside Bluntslide

Moe – Backside Hurricane

Right around the corner from the 4 & 6 stairs is a nice and beefy 12 stair squared rail that you can try your luck on.  Our boy Beto already did a noseslide on it years ago so don’t bother with that trick.  Unless it’s switch.

12 Stair Rail

On the same side of campus is the “Drop-In of Death”.  Need I say more?

“Drop-In of Death”

If you feel like testing your long jumping skills you can always skate the 3 and 3.

3 and 3

While skating the 3 and 3 you can look over towards the right of you and see a smooth hallway with a high 7 stair to give your knees the impact abuse that they deserve.

7 Stair

Or just mellow out and skate this ledge.

Ledge

This is Jacob and Moe.  These guys were nicknamed “The Germans“.  Jacob rides for a German company called “Holiday Skateboards” and Moe skates for another one called “GoodStuff“.  They came all the way from Munich, Germany to come shred the USA for 2 weeks without knowing where they were going to skate, or stay.  Just packed their bags, brought some money, and took a flight to California expecting the unexpected.  (Word of Advice: That’s the way roadtrips should be.)

Jacob & Moe

Vinnie Lopez – Kickflip Back Tailslide

Even though there was a language barrier between us and the Germans, we both did agree on one thing: After we were done skating we were gonna go grub at In-N-Out!  I guess they don’t have In-N-Out’s in Germany and they were superstoked to eat a Double Double along with the fries and free refills.  Something that’s not common in Germany.  (Ahhh, the life of being an overweight American.)

Moe – Fakie Frontside Crooked Grind

Jacob – Backside Nosegrind to 180 Out

Posted

FLYAWAY

Just a couple of blocks away from “The View” is the FLYAWAY ditch.  FLYAWAY for short, is most recognized through Chad Muska’s Frontside Tailslide on the bar to drop into the bank in one of the very first Shorty’s videos; about 8-10 years ago.  Alot of shit has gone down on this before but most recently Sean Malto did a Frontside Crooked Grind Transfer on this beast of a bank/wall.

FLYAWAY

Testing 1-2-3

Angles

Jeremy had something for this badboy.

Hang On Tight!

Garret below just bought a brand new Canon 70D to play with.  Full HD video and camera shooting, WOW.

Garret Curtis

CANNON

“The View”

During our little trip up to Santa Barbara we stopped at a school that had a couple of entertaining skateboard obstacles.  It has almost every other thing to skate except for one of our favorite pastimes; ledges.  WTF?  The school’s best feature is probably the Bump Over Sidewalk Gap near the front entrance.  (Other then the 8-10ft long handicap rail that’s located inside.)  Make sure to look out for some footage of the tricks that went down on the Bump Over Sidewalk Gap in the upcoming CLIP OF THE WEEK.

Rallo

Bump Over Sidewalk Gap

Inside the school is a 4 Stair Handrail that you can bust tricks over as well.  Our boy Dustin Semenza aka “DUSTONEY” Crooked Grind and Kickflipped over the handrail just for kicks before he broke his board.

4 Stair

10ft Handicap Rail

Mark & James

Campers

Treats

“No Peanuts Allowed”

Trinity Baptist Preschool – Santa Barbara, CA

Another school that is located out in Santa Barbara is the Trinity Baptist Preschool.  There’s nothing much to skate here except super smooth ground and L-Shaped Benches that are grindable within the insides of them.  Since the benches are bolted to the ground (retarded) you have to hop over a bench to slide the insides of the other bench.  Confused yet?  You just need to peep the photos to know what we’re talking about.

Trinity Baptist Preschool
1002 Cieneguitas Rd
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
Directions

Posted

L-Shaped Benches

L’s

Right outside of the school is a bump over fire hydrant that’s pretty beefy.  You need to haul ass (from almost what seems like a block) in order to get enough speed to hit the bump; that really doesn’t launch you at all.  You might have already seen our boy Vinnie busting a kickflip of over this already.

Vinnie Lopez – Kickflip

Bart

Peabody Charter School – Santa Barbara, CA

Located just about 1.5 hours away from Los Angeles is a city called Santa Barbara.  Over Thanksgiving Break we were able to go visit some of the homeys and skate the schools around the area.  The first school that we hit was a spot called Peabody Charter Elementary.  Peabody Elementary has these above knee high, blue, metal benches scattered throughout the playground.  The benches have this weird plastic coating applied to them making them easily slideable, but hardly grindable.

Peabody Charter School
3018 Calle Noguera
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Directions

Foot Sweeper

Beto Guerrero – Switch Crooks

Blue Benches

The most notable spot to skate here is a 25 foot bench over a dirtgap that is made out of composite plastic.  The ledge is superslick to slide, but (there’s always a “but”) has these annoying little rivets every 8-9 inches making your trick attempt sound like you’re farting throughout the whole slide.  You might have seen Jeremy’s Backside Nosegrizzle on this thing a couple of days ago.

Beto Guererro – Frontside Tailslide

Jeremy Cannon – Frontside Lipslide

Located inside the pavilion of the school is a “2Down/2Up Stair Gap” that you can clear.  It’s roughly about 6-7 feet wide with little to no runway.

2Down/2Up Stair Gap

Fresh Off the Boat (FOB)

They also have a mini, waxed-up ledge that’s fun to dork around on.

Jeremy Cannon – Frontside Tailslide

CHEW

Mini Hubba Hideout