Quiksilver is doing a digial zine of all the trips the guys go on this year. The first chapter is Brazil. It’ll have a second Brazil chapter added in a couple weeks, and a bunch of guys are in Australia to get footage for an Australia chapter.
Vista, CA& The Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza foundation is pleased to announce it has begun development of its first "Safe Spot, Skate Spot" in Los Angeles' Lafayette Park this January. The Lafayette Safe Spot Skate Spot will be completed by late February 2009.
The Safe Spot Skate Spot is a program developed by The Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation to support legal and safe skate spots for communities interested in developing skateable terrain for their skateboarders. Based from the skate plaza concept, the Safe Spot Skate Spot program will provide an alternative option for communities to develop real legal street skating locations given limited budgets or space restrictions.
The Lafayette Safe Spot, Skate Spot was developed in partnership with the Foundation, Newline Skate Parks and California Skate Parks. At just over 7000 square feet of skateable terrain the spot will contain ledges, benches and stairs that flow through the park's natural landscape. Funding from a generous donation by CKE Restaurants, Inc., parent company of the Carl's Jr.® hamburger chain to the Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation secured the development of the Lafayette skate spot.
"I'm excited to see the first Safe Spot Skate Spot come to life," said Rob Dyrdek, the Foundation's Founder and Director. "We realized that cities want to help their skateboarders but are often lacking funds or space and this concept provides the perfect solution for both. Skateboarding has always been defined by great spots and I hope that we are on our way to creating the next great, legal spots for skateboarding."
Lafayette skate spot is expected to open in late February 2009. For more information and updates on the Lafayette spot, the Safe Spot Skate Spot program and The Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation, visit the new updated website at www.skateplaza.com .
The Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation seeks to promote the sport of skateboarding by assisting municipalities with the design, development, and construction of locations that maintain the integrity of terrain occurring naturally in urban environments and where the sport of skateboarding in its purest form is encouraged rather than discouraged.
One of the perks of working in skateboarding is that sometimes little treats come across my desk. I get lots of crap, too. But every so often real collectible gems and memorabilia come my way as well.
Earlier this week, I got a great addition to my skateboard historian's library in the form of a new title, "Made For Skate." The book, systematically breaks down the history of skate shoes from our surf roots (surf brands like Makaha and Hobie made some of the earliest skate shoes) and winds its way through boom and bust and boom again to our present-day saturation of abundant footwear and its crossover appeal to street wear culture.
Best of all, the book is stuffed with nostalgic photos of skate footwear eras gone by. Does anybody reading this remember the Etnies Skrews or Sheep Shoes or even Airwalk Enigmas and NTS? Well, then you can relive your glory days on the coffee table with this bad boy.
Nike SB played a hand in getting this book to print and their influence shows in a strong Nike presence throughout. Haters can hate, but one the thing the book does do is show Nike's prevalence in skate culture from the '70s onward. The book doesn't shy away from Nike's ill-fated attempt to break into skating in the mid-late '90s either. It also gives even play to Consolidated's attempts at keeping the larger brands out of skateboarding. And ample respect is given to the originators and innovators like Vans who's Half Cab is still one of the best shoes to actually skate in on the earth (sure that's just one man's opinion but that doesn't mean it's not a correct one).
Overall, the authors go out of their way to be thorough, fair and balanced in their presentation of this unique and essential part of our history. It's a good read and will have a place of prominence on my shelf for years to come.
For those of you who don't have the coin to shell out for a serious hardcover book, you're in luck that the entire tome is available in pixel form here. If you do have the means though, I highly recommend picking one up. It is sooo choice.
