A skateboarder who went to law school. TED Talk by Josh Nims, and his long push to build an official skatepark in Philadelphia.
In the last post, I embedded the documentary about Love Park, the heart of Philadelphia's hardcore skateboarding scene. With the demise of Love Park, skaters took their drive in different directions. Josh Nims was part of the group that took their DIY skateboarding energy into official channels, trying to get city hall behind skateboarding projects. In this TEDx Philadelphia talk, Josh speaks about how a widespread group of supporters came together to build a series of skate spots, even using some of the original granite pieces from LOVE Park.
The result was the Paine's Park skatepark. It's not just a skatepark, but a nexus point for people from many backgrounds, converging in Philly. It's an official skatepark for the hardcore skaters of Philadelphia, and for those cruising through the area on bikes, or walking or jogging.
Now I'm out on the West Coast, with no chance to visit all the places I'm blogging about, right now. As I dig into the videos and websites about different spots, I'm learning more about the scenes in different areas. Just because you build a skatepark, bike park, or climbing gym, doesn't mean you have a scene of people using it. From what I can see, Paine's Park is less popular now than many spots in Philly, but it's a part of the web of skateboard spots in Philly, which has a thriving skateboard scene.
Here's a look at Paine's Park, in a video uploaded around 2016. It's a sunny day, and there are no skaters in sight at that particular time. But there's some great terrain to skate.
Here's a more recent video of Paine's Park, from late 2021 or early 2022. It's still pretty empty, but now covered in graffiti. The great terrain is still there, just not crowds of skaters. This could be a slow time of day, or it could be less used than some of the other skate spots, which there are several around Philly.
No comments:
Post a Comment