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| Washington Street Skatepark Overview - Photo by Mike Kassak |
If you think I'm going to say one negative word about this park, you are out of your mind. The majority of the park has been poured, and the crew is working on some finishing touches. Actually, the great thing about this place is that it's likely to evolve and change with time and, therefore, it will never be 100% completed.
The park can be broken down into four primary sections: the flow bowl section; the center bowl; the snake run section; and the pool. The main action occurs in the flow bowl section of the park, which features the S-shaped pump dong surrounded by a vert cinderblock punk wall on the left side, the big vert wall with the U-channel in the middle, the loveseat corner on the right side, and smaller bowl sections topped with pool coping, parking block coping, deathbox, etc. The bigger walls are about 9-11 feet tall, while the front of the flow area is about 5 feet tall, with tight tranny, pool coping, and a long loveseat in the middle of the wall. In the front right corner of the flow area is a small curved wall that shoots you into a 4 foot high vert wall. Very fun.
You could say that the parking block spine, located in the front left corner of the flow bowl section, separates the flow section from the snake run section. You could also say that all of this stuff is connected together. Whatever. The spine leads into a tight "shallow end" pocket, a cinderblock wallride, and some flat banks that form a hip. Directly in front of the wallride is the gnarly center bowl, which is capped with pool coping, has about a 9 foot deep end, an uphill shallow end pocket with nice blue tiles, a deathbox that few will master, and an extension of about 3-4 vertical feet. Yikes. As you skate from the wallride to the bowl, be sure to pay your respects to the OG rail - your only opportunity to hit a "street" obstacle.
But wait, there's more.
The snake run portion goes around the center bowl and towards the pool in the back of the park. The highlight of this section is the oververt semi-cradle corner, which must be about 16 feet tall. In the snake run, you'll enjoy some tight turns, pool coping, hips, waterfalls, and a deathbox, until you reach the bowled end, which is tight and slightly oververt.
The self-contained pool sits directly behind the U-channel in the main section. The pool is an amoeba shape with two sidewall pockets that form rounded hips. The deep end is about 8 feet, with a little bit of vert. The signature feature of the pool is the shallow end hip that is formed into one of the round bridge pillars. The pillar creates a challenging vert extension in the shallow end.
The park also boasts a number of distinctive artistic elements, including the cool mosaic that greets you, the nice rebar art welded into the fencing, creative use of tile accents around the entire park, and the BBQ and miniature pool that serves as a sink or ice chest. The BBQ might just be the best feature in the entire park.
Hats of to the WSVT crew for building this place, for fighting the fight with the city folks, and for creating such a novel design. This will be the best and the most challenging skatepark in SoCal for many many years.
- M. Tak.
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