4 ms·

My first trip to SF was a solo trip (20 years ago) to skate all the classic spots in the city. EMB, Hubba, Pier 7, etc. I remember getting off Bart in the mid

by dylanz 8y ago

My first trip to SF was a solo trip (20 years ago) to skate all the classic spots in the city. EMB, Hubba, Pier 7, etc. I remember getting off Bart in the middle of the city and having no idea where I was. This guy skates by as I’m standing there looking clueless and asks if I needed help finding any spots. Once he realized it was my first time in the city, he spent the “entire” day showing me around to every spot. At the end of the day I bought him a sandwich and he pulled out a giant blunt (I used to smoke). One of my favorite memories of skateboarding and of SF.

johnpowell 8y ago
Similar story in San Diego in 1996 (I had just turned 18). Except I was planning on moving to San Diego from Eugene. I thought I had it all worked out. I managed to sell my Performa 6214 and playstation and came up with 1200 bucks. Enough for a bus ticket and and a hotel for a night once I get there. In the morning I will find a room to rent and a job. Surely I can do that in a few hours. That didn't work.. I ended up renting a really bad pay by the week hotel where I had to sleep with the lights on because the roaches were aggressive. It took about 36 hours to realize I would quickly run out of of money and end up back in Eugene living on my sisters floor. So I just rolled with it. I would catch the bus from downtown to La Jolla and skate back downtown. I loved the long stretches of smooth path that ran along the beach. It is nice to just do flip tricks going pretty much as fast as you can without a tree root messing up a sidewalk. Like butter. But I broke a kingpin about four days into what was now my vacation. So I was at the skateshop getting a new one and ran into this kid I met a few months earlier in Sacramento when I was on my way to The Tibetan Freedom Concert in S.F. So we hung out for a few days and he showed me some lesser known spots in San Diego. He also called in a favor to get my stupid broke ass back to Eugene. I was 30 when I discovered I could no longer skateboard. Nasty handrail thing and I was just done. I could have kept going but I wanted to go out on the top like Seinfeld. So I gave my board to my sisters son who had been rolling a Razor scooter. I would no longer hurt myself daily and maybe he would get a girl to talk to him. Now I just think about what I would do with stairs and curbs when I walk down the street.

by dylanz 8y ago

johnpowell 8y ago

Similar story in San Diego in 1996 (I had just turned 18). Except I was planning on moving to San Diego from Eugene. I thought I had it all worked out. I managed to sell my Performa 6214 and playstation and came up with 1200 bucks. Enough for a bus ticket and and a hotel for a night once I get there. In the morning I will find a room to rent and a job. Surely I can do that in a few hours. That didn't work.. I ended up renting a really bad pay by the week hotel where I had to sleep with the lights on because the roaches were aggressive. It took about 36 hours to realize I would quickly run out of of money and end up back in Eugene living on my sisters floor. So I just rolled with it. I would catch the bus from downtown to La Jolla and skate back downtown. I loved the long stretches of smooth path that ran along the beach. It is nice to just do flip tricks going pretty much as fast as you can without a tree root messing up a sidewalk. Like butter. But I broke a kingpin about four days into what was now my vacation. So I was at the skateshop getting a new one and ran into this kid I met a few months earlier in Sacramento when I was on my way to The Tibetan Freedom Concert in S.F. So we hung out for a few days and he showed me some lesser known spots in San Diego. He also called in a favor to get my stupid broke ass back to Eugene. I was 30 when I discovered I could no longer skateboard. Nasty handrail thing and I was just done. I could have kept going but I wanted to go out on the top like Seinfeld. So I gave my board to my sisters son who had been rolling a Razor scooter. I would no longer hurt myself daily and maybe he would get a girl to talk to him. Now I just think about what I would do with stairs and curbs when I walk down the street.