Laguna Niguel Skateboard Park - Laguna Niguel, California, U.S.A.

Thanks to Sun Diego.com for the Pics

"Wally Holiday" designed park. A Lucky Three-Leaf clover bowl (5-6ft deep with a vert+extension section) tucked down in the deep end caps off this bowl-lover's buffet! There are an assortment of ledges, boxes, and rails for the street set, but the main attraction will be all the big-bad trannys and smooth-finished bowls, rollers, and extensions. Kiddie-sized bowls and rails at the top of this kinda small park provide reason for tykes to stay away from the big-dog zones. However, the number of obstacles and features may be a little too closely positioned for their size in this space. Street-flippers have their own little bowling alley-way with ollie-ledges, seemingly designed to keep stray boards (one hopes) out of the deep end bowls. We'll have to see when the gates swing open, hopefully soon! Heard rumor of one-time skater application fee ($25?), but the park has overhead night lights and probably will feature a snack bar, music, and on-site potties when completed. Park has a Big Mean looking fence designed to repel the late-night commandos, and this park will probably have full pad rules tightly enforced by the predictably harsh monitors... Hope this place gets going with a cool open vibe and not too uptight by the operators... ROCK ON! PUNKASS!

No snack bar, as previously mentioned. Parking lot is still under construction. This park will have "registration" fees: $20 for locals, $30 for non-locals.

I'd actually give Laguna Niguel a 7+ or an 8-rating. It features a fun vert clover bowl, a mini flow course, lots of good street obstacles, and a good measure of tranny obstacles.

Cons - pay to play; strict supervision; photo ID cards required; big time prison look and feel with gates, fences, and pad nannys on the loudspeakers; crash up derby when it's crowded; poor design results in the "street" skaters crowding the bowl entry point.

Pros - neat and clean; spectator bleachers and an upper deck; tons of fun when the flow area is uncrowded; unique bowl shape creates challenging lines; lights.

My initial review of this park was harsh because at the time they didn't allow drinks, videos, or pictures in the park. WTF?!!? Well, the city saw the light and changed those ridiculous policies.

Make no mistake, Laguna Niguel is a solid park. Very much worthy of a road trip that includes Etnies and/or Vans Orange, both of which are relatively close.

- a Takahashi review -