Walmart.

"The sun is the enemy of all skateboarders. It brings onlookers, who bring security guards, who bring ignorance. And it's too damn hot. The night time is a refuse from society. It's pure freedom at 3 am." - Paco Leche

This is a head scratcher of a spot. We used to skateboard here at night during the summer of 1996 or 97. I think it was 96. We'd go at about 9:30 PM, roll for a half hour, and then go elsewhere. We might have even done some shopping. What makes it puzzling is that we never got kicked out and nobody said anything. It was usually my friend Paul and I. Our friend Kyle and maybe a random college student who skated would come, too.

There were red curbs and a sidewalk all the way around the front of the building. We would skate the part of the sidewalk that was roughly where the Walmart sign is. There's an entrance immediately to the left that isn't in the photo. This area was set back from that entrance so it wasn't really in direct traffic and you could hit the curbs. Not that I remember there being many cars. It might have been the fire lane area. I also don't recall if the store was open 24 hours at the time or not. There would be the occasional employee out on a smoke break and that was about it for human interaction.

They remodeled the building into a super center about ten years ago to give it a completely flat and curb free front. Just another example of how architects are designing buildings to eliminate skateboarders from the environment. Thanks for the slappys on the red curbs and not kicking us out, Walmart.

Note: I adjusted the levels in the photo to add a bunch of yellow to give it the lighting I remember and not the sterile white light of the present day.

For the quote: Wrench Pilot No. 18 - Transworld - July 1991 Volume 9 Number 7