Lester gets inverted at the Sadlands in Anaheim, California.
You would always see the Sadlands in photos and wonder about the place, especially if you didn't live anywhere near California. It seemed like something that wasn't real, but had to be because Neil Blender was always skating there.
Here is a bit of the story behind the spot from a Thrasher interview with Lester conducted by Rick "Spidey" Demontrond:
Where have you been skating most lately?
At Sadlands. I go there almost every day with a couple of friends. We'll get some food and go out and skate, find some pools, find some ramps, whatever's going on.
Is it valuable to have a spot like Sadlands where you can go every day?
Oh, yeah, you need something like that. You've got to have a spot.
What's the Sadlands story?
It's been around for years. It was around before I started skating. I remember seeing a photo of it in an old, old Skateboarder. They built it for no reason, just to resemble the moon. We call it Moon Park or Brookhurst Park. They used to try and stop us from skating it, but we didn't pay any attention. They never bothered to change the terrain to stop us.
And you guys keep it cool around the park, don't bother the family picnic?
Yeah, we're pretty cool to everybody. We take care of it. We're the Sad Posse. A lot of gang people think we are a gang, so they come around to check us out. We're just skaters, not a gang. I don't want to be associated with that so we don't do any more hit-ups (paint on walls) to encourage them. If some gangs come around and spraypaint stuff we just paint the parts over. The gang activity in our neighborhood used to be pretty heavy, but we haven't seen that much lately. I'm tired of the gang scene.
Any hot underrated locals at Sadlands?
There are a lot of shredders. The young guys come, we call them the Dream Team, because they're not ripe yet, they're just coming up. They rip the Sadlands.
*
Grant Brittain took the photo.
For the quotes: Thrasher - October 1989 Volume 9 Number 10
This is a scan of a poster that was included with an issue of Transworld from 1989.
4 comments:
Awesome to hear some stories about Sadlands. Crazy that it's not a skate park, just some concrete they threw together to resemble the moon. It looks so gnarly and quick.
The gang thing also seems kinda funny... you don't often think about Anaheim and gangs lol
Got to skate Sadlands a few times as a kid. Saw Lester there once and always hoped to see Blender but never did. It was at a park so we'd get dropped off and stay all day skating and running around.
The transitions were all pretty tight but were different heights so some were easier to skate than others. I was just a grom so mostly stuck to the ones with platforms up top. Good times & memories.
DAAAAAMN!
Sadlands would have to be one of those places that we all should make a pilgrimage to at least once before we die, i.e. EMB, Love, Pulaski, etc. too bad it's no longer there.
Man what I wouldn't give to have had at least one crack at that place in it's heyday, not like I would have been able to do much but just to be there and take it all in and of course hopefully catch a Lester or Neil sighting.
Totally had that poster on my wall from 1989 until 1992 or so.
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