Gabriel Algabyali

Project 4

The Brooklyn Banks or, “the Banks”, has been a well-known area to the likes of many groups and became increasingly popular as the word got out. Some groups benefited from this place in good and bad ways, some gave the place a terrible name, and a group that saw no significance to this piece of land.  The Banks has a rich history and people who are emotionally connected to the structure, here’s its story.

Firstly the Brooklyn Banks, although that being its unofficial name, is an area under the Brooklyn Bridge. It spans about three blocks and is filled with a type of sloped architecture with a small bank and a big bank, smooth bricked floor, the occasional bench, ledges, and different stair sets of various sizes.  The name confuses many because it’s called the Brooklyn Banks but it is in Manhattan, it was given that name by a small group of people who first saw this place as a scared ground to develop their skills.
The skateboarders.

The skateboarders first chose this spot as their home as early as the 1970s because of how skateboarding started in California. Since people in Cali were the ones to create skateboarding it was only natural that they had a lot of influence over the people who wanted to skate also. When the people in New York started skating all they saw was people skating empty swimming pools and inclined surfaces in Cali, the Brooklyn skaters envied their scene and landscape. The closest thing they had to what the people in Cali had was the Banks. This is where word of the banks got out and soon would become the largest meeting point of skaters at any given time.

Skateboarding was still very young at this time and with the banks being the only vertical spot there were some innovations that took place by creative minds. New York is, for the most part, an extremely flat area and if you weren’t at the banks there was nothing to do. Until a new form of skating started that was called freestyle. This form only involved you, your board and flat ground which give the skater more variety when performing tricks. However, this did not last long. The freestyle skateboarding was quickly evolved into an entirely different style that would take freestyle and apply the city in with it. Only to be taken up another level by the introduction of a new skill the Ollie. The Ollie is where you are able to jump by slamming the tail on the ground and sliding your front foot up the board, this birthed modern street skating by the Brooklyn skaters taking this move to the Banks and using it to skate obstacles in a new way. The Banks blew up with skaters showing their skills and exclusive city style at the Banks only to be given more publicity with an influential video, which initially featured the banks, called “Future Primitive” by a skate company named Powell Peralta. People then immediately started to come to this place from all of the boroughs and other states with the nationwide attention.

With the evolution of skateboarding the Banks has remained a central point where something was always being developed or improved.  This became a home for all the skaters of New York, out of state, and even the whole east coast and being referred to as a “Skateboard Mecca” by Cole Louison of Red Bull USA in 2012. Even though the skaters were the ones that mainly inhabited this place there were many people that had different views on the Banks. There were derelicts would come about to the Banks and this abandon building in front where they would start to live in and see the Banks as a home and they even stole electricity from a nearby street lamp to make their stay more comfortable while running a secret chop shop inside of the building that authorities were unaware of for several years. There was another group of people who saw the banks as a quick way to make some money, they were the ruffians from nearby projects. These hoodlums would come to the banks with hockey masks with bats attempting to rob skaters. Finally the city officials had a completely different view from all of the other groups, they saw the Banks as an insignificant piece of land. With this opinion the city officials started to do something that shocked the community of skateboarding.

In November of 2004, the city decided the Banks would look nicer if it were green and was a park. The city began to close the banks down, set up a fence and start construction but not without a hassling from Steve Rodriguez, a Bank skater since 1983 and owner of 5boro skateboards. Rodriguez found out who was the leader of this project and began to give a heartfelt speech about what the place meant to the skaters. According to the article “To Fix Bridge, Skateboard Mecca May Be Lost” by John Branch of The New York Times, Rodriguez goes on to say “If you’re going to make some changes, you should work with the people who use the space.” He then started giving the city ideas that not only would they save money by replacing a few ledges to make them more useful for skating but that they would give a safe place where people could skate without getting harassed. According to the New York Times article “Under a Bridge, and on Top of the World” by Justin Porter in 2005, Mr. Redmond, who was the director of the renovation project, said “Since this was so popular with the skateboarders, we felt that that was a good activity at this location.”  The city finally accepted the deal but not soon enough as a part of the banks were already destroyed, this saddened many but no one was happier than the skaters that have their home salvaged. Only to be taken away from them again.

In the summer of 2010, the city again shut down the Brooklyn Banks to paint the bridge but since then it has been 4 years and is now a parking lot for construction equipment. Steve Rodriguez is playing his role in trying to make sure the Banks are as untouched as possible but not much word is going around now. There are rumors that the park will open again in 2014 but nothing is promised and even if it does open there is no way to be sure that the place isn’t damaged by the weight of construction vehicles and the oil that drips from these machines. According to an interview I had with store manager Chris Liu, manager of Skate Brooklyn, on November 26 says “I remember skating the Banks as I grew up, so much going on and it really made me feel like I belong. Such a shame it’s behind bars.”

Sources:

Louison, Cole. “Red Bull USA – Sports & Entertainment News | Teams & Athletes.”The Brooklyn Banks Skatepark. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

Porter, Justin. “Under a Bridge, and on Top of the World.” The New York Times. N.p., 24 June 2005. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

“15 Things: Brooklyn Banks.” Skateboarder Magazine. N.p., 22 Mar. 2006. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

Branch, John. “To Fix Bridge, Skateboard Mecca May Be Lost.” The New York Times. N.p., 13 May 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Interview conducted by me to the manger of Skate Brooklyn, Chris Liu.