San Leandro, CA – Skate Industry Thoughts: Are Skateparks Destroying Skateboarding Culture?

Skateparks vs street spots?

It’s a matter of preference… Or is it??

In the 70’s we had pools. In the 80’s we built vert. The 90’s came, street skating exploded, then in the 2000’s, skate stoppers and security guards tried to take full hold of the streets.

“Go to the skatepark! It’s right down the street!” The common thread most skaters would hear from the middle-aged over weight rent-a-cop. So, while the average person looks at all of the skateparks popping up in athletic centers, the small plaza style pop ups in the suburban farms, and the occasional metal mini ramp behind the local basketball court as a “good” thing for kids and skaters alike, some skateboarders might disagree.

Personally, I look at all of the skateparks as a good thing for the individual skateboarder, but a major addition to the degradation of the true culture of skateboarding. Some of the greatest innovators in skateboarding have come from areas and time periods where nothing for skateboarding existed. It forced creativity. It forced an internal hunger and an iron will to find something and anything to skate. When I first started skating there where no skateparks. You had to learn how to build your own ramps, or find spots to skate on the street. Countless hours searching and planning. We had determination to find spots and appreciation when we were not kicked out after 2 tricks.

The new generation of skateboarders just have to figure out what park to skate today. They only hit the streets when they are filming.

Let me be clear, skateparks have created a generation of killer skateboarders. These kids today are throwing hammers younger and younger. Like I said, for the individual it’s a great thing, these kids have amazing talent, but do these young kids have the will to sustain the culture of street spot lurking and debating with security guards for that one more try?

Only time will tell. 

Photos/written by Keith Halterman