Ratt Pool
Ratt Pool Session from Jeff Greenwood on Vimeo.
San Fernando Valley Pool Fiends.
Music by Yellow #5
The San Fernando Valley is home to packs of marauding skateboarders. It is an urban jungle expanse from Burbank to Calabasas about 21 miles across of the best and worst of Los Angeles’ backside. For the most part it is residential, there are 36 neighborhoods and it is home to well over 1.5 million people. It’s also very hot! Since people started moving to the Valley from Los Angeles in search of cheaper living they have dealt with the heat by building swimming pools. Lots and lots of swimming pools.
The mystery to me is why there aren’t more pool fiends in ‘the valley’. The kids have been brainwashed way too much to focus on street skating and there seems to be only a few core valley pool skaters. There are many pool fiends from outside the valley that partake daily, but still, the number is quite small. It means there’s lots of pools that go to waste out here.
Corey Philips comes straight from the IR to start wrecking himself again
This pool was in Granada Hills and was permission for a little while as there was some reconstruction going on in the house. These guys hit it repeatedly as a meeting place and warm up spot. This day I got the call from Ozzie to go skate another pool, but first meet us here at this little 6 footer we call the Ratt Bowl. My first impression was its a completely miniature pool except for the full size wedding cake staircase. A bit like Alice in Wonderland. But taking a few spins around it and it gets real challenging to get a grind.
The guys were already working up a sweat as it was getting hot by 11 am when I arrived. Morning brews were being enjoyed in the shade as we each took some turns in the little beast. the construction crew up stairs overlooking the bowl must have though we were crazy, but they looked on and occasionally shook there heads and rolled their eyes.
Feast for your eyes:
This pool only lasted a couple more weeks til the crew was chased out. So it’s been about 4 months since this session went down. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you will see some more pool skating again on CD (I have been lacking for a long time). Thanks to the Pool Fiends that are still going strong.