New York has an urban culture that most people do not know about and if they do, they do not know enough about it. The culture is appreciated by many people, a good amount share the experience, but only a handful take it seriously to the point where it has become a “way of life” as some would say. It has spread from California from where it started about 50 to 60 years ago and amazingly made its across the country to the east side. The practice I am discussing is skateboarding and it has a home for the borough of Brooklyn. The home is called Skate Brooklyn.

The most influential spot at the time, and still is today, is a long inclined wall under the Brooklyn bridge called the Brooklyn Banks. When skateboarding first brought to New York for some reason it started with this dirty spot under a bridge, some would say it became a mecca to skaters. This is one of the best skate parks if you are ever in New York mostly because it was never suppose to be a park, the city has helped with renovating the area and stopping it from getting shut down more than once.

“You start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it.” – “City Limits” by Colson Whitehead
This quote relates to my essay because I feel the skaters pay attention more to the city than anybody else. A skater could tell you about any spot in the city from the private New York in their head, from the stair-sets, rails, ledges, smoothness of the ground, and security in the area. There is a whole list of details in a skaters head and they can explain to you every crack and crevice just from a few seconds of staring at a spot.

With all this going on the Brooklyn skaters needed a stable and legal area to be in peace. This is where Skate Brooklyn comes in.

To reach this location from Prof. Rosen’s class you must make your way down the Namm Hall stairs and exit the building from main entrance. The first turn you make is a right and walk along Jay Street and turn left onto Johnson where you will see a dead end but don’t worry because once you hit the dead end you make another right. When you make that right you will come to this huge open area with many trees in the middle, head toward the trees and you should see a cafe called Cafe Metro, you want to leave this area through the exit located next to that cafe. Once you leave you will come to a street called Flatbush and you need to start heading to the right on that street, you will know you’re going in the right direction if you notice that the buildings go from large and extravagant to small and dingy. Soon you will arrive at a giant clock tower and now you have made it to the Atlantic Shopping Center which is the central point of all business in Brooklyn. You then have to take a right on 4th avenue where you will see a little building surrounded by tiny concrete columns protruding from the ground, don’t worry you are almost there. After about 4 blocks when you walk down 4th avenue you will hit a street called Saint Marks Pl then you turn left and congratulations you have made it to the Brooklyn skater’s abode.

This is the entrance.

You enter from the back of the garage.

Most people see this place and think “Oh wow, a clothing store” but a skater sees an opportunity. One of the greatest juxtapositions you will ever find in skateboarding is the people who love what they do against the people who just do it because they just had an impulse to buy something here. This local skate shop gives the few who are passionate a chance to get known, get coverage, and a chance to progress. This place sponsors and supports local skaters in Brooklyn with free merchandise to continue skating because it can get expensive have to continuously buy boards and shoes. The shop also has a mini ramp to help people improve their vert skills. There is so many people that call this shop their second home and have so much love for this place and the people inside, then there is the regular consumer who just comes in to buy a board every year or so and maybe a few shirts. It is very easy to tell the difference between the two types of people that walk through that door.

“My dream was to write a bookshelf of volumes, so many that one day I might drown in them, paper and ink suffocating me in an ocean of my own thoughts.” – “Fort Greene Dreams” by Nelson George
This quote relates to my essay and why I chose Skate Brooklyn because George said this to express his passion and how he just wants to surrounded by it. I feel that when in Skate Brooklyn a skater really feels at home and the feeling being surrounded by something you love is such an indescribable feeling to explain to someone.

Sources:

Branch, John. “To Fix Bridge, Skateboard Mecca May Be Lost.” The New York Times., 13 May 2010., Web. 16 October 2013.

Whitehead, Colson. “City Limits.” The Colossus of New York: A City in Thirteen Parts. New York: Random House, 2004. 1-12.

George, Nelson. “Fort Greene Dreams.” City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success. New York: Viking, 2009. 176-187. E-book.