There's one sound that totally sticks in my head from the few times I got to ride Pipeline skatepark. That sound was when I was sitting on my bike by the roll in to the full pipe, and Steve Alba would come up the the wall right there, doing a huge, wheel squawking frontside carve, over vert, in the full pipe. There's nothing like that sound. This video above is a hilarious history of full pipe skateboarding, with Jeff Grosso, Steve Alba, and Duane Peters. This is a must watch. RIP Jeff Grosso.
Being the homeless bum I am right now, I'm not going to make a trek to take a photo of these pipes, because I don't have a car. To the best of my knowledge, even Steve Alba doesn't know the Westminster full pipes exist. First of all, they're small, about 8 to 9 feet diameter. There are four full pipes, that I know of, in Westminster, California. You can see the ends of two of them from the corner of Westminster and Bolsa, right off the 405, by the Westminster Mall. Go out on the sidewalk, in front of Chase Bank, and you can look down into the ditch and see two small full pipes. But those aren't the ones I rode in the early 90's.
While living in the P.O.W. House, on Iroquois Street, in the early 1990's, I found two other full pipes, the same size, 8 to 9 feet in diameter. Those two had a much better access route. If you watch the video above, there's a tiny metal full pipe at the very end, just a little section of pipe, that's about the same size as these. So you can't carve high up the walls, like a 14, 16, or 20 foot diameter full pipe. But these are still fun if you sweep out any debris, and roll down the length of them, carving back and forth on the walls. You can air out the end, too. I rode these a handful of times in about 1992-1993, while living in the P.O.W. House (Pros Of Westminster). While I lived in a house with a bunch of top pro BMX riders at the time, nobody ever wanted to go ride these pipes. So I had a few solo sessions in them. I thought about putting a bunch of boxes in one, as crash pads, and trying to barrel roll it, like ride a corkscrew line through it. There are definitely riders today who could do that. But back then it seemed nuts. I never got motivated to find a bunch of cardboard boxes, drag them to this location, and try it. So that never happened.
Here's how you find two Westminster full pipes that I did ride. There are actually four pipes, all parallel to each other as they go underground. The two in the middle are circles, and the other two are about six foot high ovals. Those might be fun to skate. But they were too small to ride a BMX bike in. Using your GPS, find 13722 Hefley Street in Westminster, California. It's real close to Springdale and the 405, but back in the neighborhood. Head south to the big ditch. There is a fence to jump, so it's trespassing to go into these. Use your own discretion there. But in that ditch, you'll see the ends of the four pipes, two circles, two ovals. There's a truck ramp down into the ditch, so access is pretty easy.
These are not big like Baldy Pipe, at 14'5" according to the video above, or the old or new Pipeline skatepark pipes, at 20 feet in diameter. It's not the same kind of pipe skating or riding, with huge wall carves. But they are pretty fun, and they're a short drive from Huntington Beach skatepark, and the beach itself. So here's another one of my old spots that no one knows about. Like the Studio City Monter Wall that I showed you in a previous post, these pipes have never been in a bike or skate magazine photo or video, as far as I know. To get you amped to go skate or ride, here's a vintage Salba section from the Santa Cruz video, Wheels Of Fire, including him shredding Pipeline Skatepark.
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