“We caused the opposite of problems. We were causing a solution.” DIY skaters created an iconic piece of San Pedro in a forgotten parking lot — twice. Inside their eight-year fight to save Channel Street Skatepark:
No one wanted to claim responsibility for the old parking lot. A small patch of rutted pavement, dank and filthy, it sat forgotten beneath a freeway overpass near the San Pedro docks.
As word spread, the spot attained cult status. Regulars pooled their money to buy concrete and chicken wire from a Home Depot down the road, fashioning a rough, gray bump for doing ollies. Things sort of took off from there. Trouble started innocently enough: The overpass needed widening, so Caltrans fenced off the area and told skaters to come back in a year. Workers filled the quarter pipes with sand to stop anyone from sneaking in on weekends.easement controlled by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. When freeway construction ended in 2015, port authorities hesitated to let the skaters return and suggested they find another city department to assume jurisdiction.
When contractors noticed Harris and his friends working on the spot, they dropped off concrete and rebar left over from construction jobs. A nearby pizza joint occasionally brought over food.. learned how to fundraise and earn money by renting the site for television commercials and music videos. The group transitioned from lugging sacks of concrete to ordering by the truckload.
“Respect and manners,” says Russo, still a regular 21 years later. “They were like father figures, you know?”Clementine Pickens, 6, of San Pedro, skates at the Channel Street Skatepark. The councilman assigned the case to his new planning deputy as more volunteers came aboard. A structural engineer and several architects set about reverse-engineering construction plans for something already built.Skating is not just for white kids in the suburbs. People of color have become top competitors and more women and the LGBTQ community are joining in.
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