A look at a handful of classic street skating spots by the Skate or Died YouTube channel.
I'm not the only guy who has looked into the history of classic skate spots, though I haven't seen anyone do this for BMX spots. In this video, this YouTuber shows us history behind El Toro, Wallenberg, the Carlsbad Gap, Hollywood High Rails, and the gigantic Lyon 25 stair set. This video shows the best tricks landed down each, and a solid history of some of the best known street skating spots seen in skateboarding videos over the last 25 years.
For a group outside the skateboard industry, Vox produced a really cool look at many of the best known skate spots, and how obscure urban places become famous worldwide in skateboarding. I am, by no means, the first person to look at the history of action sports spots, and how obscure places like a ditch, a set of stairs, or some dirt jumps, become legendary worldwide, in one sport or another.
In this blog I want to not only dig into the history of legendary spots, but find some new ones, and also look at the effects these spots have on action sports culture, and even mainstream culture later on. That's a lot to dive into, but I'm now over 2,500 posts into my 14 year long blogging career, so I'm used to looking at subjects piece by piece, over a long period of time. I have no real idea where The Spot Finder blog/concept is headed, and that's half the fun. We'll find that out together. In the meantime, this 13 minute video is a good primer on spots made famous by skateboarding, and how skaters, and other action sports people look at the urban environment, and the whole world, differently from average people. Enjoy.
The YouTube algorithm tossed tis one at me. The title just says "L.A. 1970's skateboarding." I have no idea who these skaters are, what year, or where the pool and huge ditches are located. But they rip, for that era, and these are some cool spots. The channel has one 70's surf video, and a bunch of short films, so the guy looks like a filmaker. Good vintage sktaing, though. Enjoy.
For over 35 years, the China Banks have been skated up in San Francisco. It's a legendary spot, skaters around the world and across generations have seen photos and video from there. Here's the story of the China Banks, courtesy of Thrasher magazine. This 28 minute mini-doc speaks for himself.
Looking for a new project, as we were coming out of the Covid era in the last couple of months, I ran across this video. What struck me is that it's a short documentary about a skate spot, a location. There have been documentaries in skateboarding, with Stacy Peralta's 2001 Dogtown and Z-Boys leading the way, back in 2001. Mark Eaton's Joe Kid on a Stingraytold the story of BMX racing and freestyle. Steve Rocco's World Industries story was told in The Man Who Souled the World. Later Stacy Peralta did Bones Brigade: An Autobiography. But this China Banks video above, was the first solid documentary I've seen about a skate spot. Not only is this just a great video. but as a blogger, and video guy back in the day, I thought, "these sports are old enough now that spots, locations, have their own stories to tell now." That thought kind of stuck with me.
Anyone who skated or rode bikes, or any action sport, hears about, and sessions, different spots, some local, and some that are well known in that sport, that world. And some spots just take on a life of their own. Kenter School Banks. H.B. Pier Bank. Baldy Pipe. Camp 4 at Yosemite. Joshua Tree. Pipeline Skatepark. Kona Skatepark. Venice Beach. Embarcadero. Calabassas Jumps. Brooklyn Banks. The Spot in Redondo Beach. Posh. Hueco Tanks. Sheep Hills. Ocean Beach. Whistler. Mount Baker/Batchelor. Hollywood High Rail. El Toro. BMXer's skaters, snowboarders, climbers, and the rest, all have stories of their favorite spots. Many also have stories of a trek to some well known spot, like Baldy Pipe, or wherever.
This documentary about the China Banks made me think of all the other spots out there, and all the stories people have of all the spots. At the same time, I had just taken a break from 5 1/2 years of scraping by with my Sharpie Scribble Style, mostly while homeless, I've been looking for another way to make a living, using my weird collection of creative skills. I really suck at a lot of aspects of creative work, but I've become a good, if not profitable, blogger, and a few other things. I've been looking for a new direction.
As I said in the third post, a few days ago, I was sitting under a bridge, as a homeless guy, getting out of the heat, looking at this bank no one skates or rides, across the road. The pieces fell together in my head. Maybe it's time to cover the spots themselves. This video of the China Banks, above, was part of that equation, I've watched it 4 or 5 times now. It showed me that a spot, a location, can have a great story itself. So I'm getting this blog going with several of the documentaries that already exist, compiling them with some of my own thoughts here and there. I'll throw in a few streets spots I've stumbled across, as well as checking out skateparks and other riding spots.
There are websites that tell people where some of the street spots are in places, and there are guides to where the skateparks are located. I'm going to collect stories from spots in multiple sports, and throw some art spots and other stuff in here and there, and we'll see where this all goes. One thing us Old School Has Been/Never Was BMXers, skaters, snowboarders, and others know from experience, starting down a direction that you're stoked on can, and often does, lead to things you could never imagine at the start. So... Thanks for checking out this blog. Where is this leading? I don't know either, that's half the fun.
Colby Raha with a new edit of a crazy jump at an epic spot. 116 foot downhill dam gap jump. This boy is crazy... in a good way. Subscirbe to Colby's YouTube channel, "Raha." Do it right now, I'll wait.
I first heard of Colby Raha, not from the X-Games, but from a photo I shot at Sheep Hills. I had a pic of someone busting a big backflip on a BMX bike, and wasn't sure who it was. I'd been back east and out of the action sports world for over 10 years, and didn't know who all the younger riders were. I posted the photo on Facebook, and somebody said, "That's Colby Raha, the FSMX guy." So I looked up some of his videos, and his riding blew my mind. He wasn't just doing cool FSMX tricks, he was going BIG, and setting up weird and interesting street spot gaps, as well as free riding in the hills and tricking off ramps. Progression on multiple fronts, that's what I saw in his videos.
It's 6:32 am right now, the sun isn't even over the horizon this morning, and I came to McDonald's to start this new blog idea. I was going to write the first post explaining why me, as an old, fat, ugly, homeless guy, am doing a blog called The Spot Hunter. I opened up YouTube to find a song to wake me up, and this brand new video popped up of Colby. This new blog is all about spots, locations where people do cool stuff. Mostly it's going to be BMX, MTB, skateboard, and art spots, but any cool spot fits the bill. And this dam where Colby hucks over this crazy downhill gap is one of the most amazing "street" spots I've ever seen. So Colby Raha, you get post #1 on my new blog, well earned with an epic series of jumps at an amazing spot. I'll explain the thinking behind this blog in the next post.
For those of you who haven't heard of Colby Raha, here's a good video to see what he's all about.
Not the greatest photo, but here's the pic I shot of Colby Raha at Boozer Jam 2019, at Sheep Hills, that led to me learning who he was. BMX roots. #steveemigphotos
