Stockwell.

The last time I had a vacation.

Since the Stockwell park has a bunch of coverage in the latest issue of Thrasher, I figured this is a good moment to write about when I visited the place.

At the end of the 1990s, my friend Rob went to England as part of a college study abroad program. He wound up liking it and staying there. In the twenty years he has been in the UK, he found a job, got married, and has three kids. The move worked out great for him.

A bunch of us hopped across the pond for Rob's wedding in February of 2004. Although Paul and I brought our boards, we never really got to roll. I wanted to skate with the kids doing tricks on the curb at the bus station in Wales when we first arrived, but nobody else shared my enthusiasm. It might also have been slightly raining. Anyway, we had a fantastic time in the Welsh countryside and then being tourists in London.

We stayed at Rob and his wife's flat while they were on their honeymoon. They lived very close to the Crystal Palace area, which I recognized immediately as the home turf of former Schmitt Stix and New Deal pro Steve Douglas. Even though it was February, the weather was decent enough that skateboarding could have happened. Rob lived a short bus ride away from Stockwell. Paul and I missed out simply by being clueless about our exact location.

I went back to England in August of 2006 for a vacation. Rob was still in the same neighborhood so I planned a little better this trip. I got the last crack at the guest room because it was slated to become a nursery shortly after I left. I knew Stockwell was close by and worked out how to get there. I spent a Saturday afternoon carving around the bowls and doing some ollies.

It was cool to skate an artifact of skateboarding history. Stockwell was built in 1978 and has had a few surface upgrades and mild remodels over the years. The park is surrounded by houses and an apartment complex. It is similar to a snake run with a kind of deep bowl at the end. That's the part you see in photos where guys are doing tricks over the wall and into the street. The locals started to add some DIY quarterpipes and ledges as that was becoming a trend in the middle 2000s. The surface was a tad strange. It was sort of grippy and the ground felt oddly hollow when you would ollie. It took a little bit of getting used to. I really enjoyed the park and wished I had more time to skateboard at it when I was there. It's totally worth checking out if you wind up in that corner of the world.

Tony Hawk #11.

Blown Out Again.

Tony recently dropped a new video part for Steve and Eric's skateboard training facility. At the age of 51, he's still got it. The Birdman obviously focuses on the transition sections of the park, but he hits up a couple handrails, does a few flip tricks, and even ollies the four block. There's a nice touch with the music by using the same song from Peter & The Test Tube Babies that Tony skated to in the first Birdhouse Projects video from 1992. They even recreated the same Toaster graphics from Feasters.

The photos are by Mike Blabac.

Transworld - December 2001 Volume 19 Number 12

Josh Falk.

"Skateboarding is just about feeling good, whatever that means to you. Do what makes you feel good, whether it is a two-stair handrail or a 50 foot gap."

Josh is from Rochester, Michigan. He moved out to San Francisco and then Portland for skateboarding. He survived a serious motorcycle accident as a teenager. His repertoire includes a mix of transition tricks, technical flips, and street gnar. Josh has been sponsored by Anti-Hero, Lib Tech, 151, Spitfire, Indy, Vans, and IPath over the years.

The photo is by Jon Humphries.

For the quote: Slap - August 2000 Volume 9 Number 8

Thrasher - February 2001 Volume 21 Number 2

Jason Adams #16.

"I guess punk rock music. There's a lot of different kinds. Lately I've been listening to The Muffs every day. Screeching Weasel, Rancid, NoFX, Green Day's rad. Black Sabbath, that's different, metal or whatever. I could go on for like ten years. Oh, Operation Ivy. And KPF, San Jose."

The Kid busts out a nosegrind. That's a trick you don't see him do very often.

I always try to find quotes from interviews to spice up the photos and I had to go with this one about Jason's music tastes from 1993. I was into some of those same bands at that time, too. I suppose a few aren't so hot these days or have done things that warrant not listening to them, but interviews were an easy way to find new tunes in the era before the internet happened.

For the quote: Transworld - December 1993 Volume 11 Number 12

Thrasher - April 2001 Volume 21 Number 4

Jason Dill #15.

Stranger things.

I'm not sure which is more bizarre, that Dill was on Quicksilver or that he's doing an inward heelflip. They hid a bunch of good stuff in the back of those 300 page Transworlds.

Transworld - September 2001 Volume 19 Number 9

Al Partanen #7.

Parts grinds the gnarly park in Ecuador that the Hellride crew visited a couple of times. This is from the Illenium days before Creature was resurrected from the dead. Jake Phelps' graffiti on the edge of the pipe from three years earlier has been painted over.

I got a new pair of shoes that need to get broken in ASAP as my current ones are losing their grip. I went with another pair of Accel Slims, but I realize I maybe should have at least looked at what the relaunched version of Fallen was offering.

Thrasher - June 2001 Volume 21 Number 6

Ed Templeton #28.

Overhead projection.

What's funny is that even with shooting this on film and using a projector of some sort for the effects, the film would still be scanned into Photoshop to create a file to be used in a page layout program. Although in 2001, the design program most likely would have been Quark XPress. Ya just cannot escape Adobe.

Ed does have hands, he's skating in black gloves, as was the style at the time.

I think there's a new Toy Machine video on the horizon.

Thrasher - July 2001 Volume 21 Number 7

Anti-Hero Team 2001.

The Eagle squad circa 2001. I think Pete would have just gotten on after the demise of 151.

Thrasher - November 2001 Volume 21 Number 11

Lori Damiano.

"Historical figures vs. BMX local legend, who will be the winner?"

That's a great concept and title for a work of art.

Lori has done board graphics for Girl and Toy Machine, along with shoe graphics for éS over the years. She was an illustrator and columnist for the Skateboard Mag, too. Her artwork has been used by a variety of companies, musicians and publications, including the New Yorker, Poler, Bonnie Prince Billy, and Volcom. Lori holds degrees in film and animation and is currently a college professor teaching animation.

The article is by Tiffany Morgan and the photos are by Michael Burnett.

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Diego Bucchieri #4.

"Your last name, it's too hard to pronounce. You are from Argentina, you love meat, and your hands look like knives when you skate. You are the Butcher. Chop-chop." - Jake Phelps

Diego slices up a set of stairs with a half cab.

For the quote: Thrasher - June 2019 Volume 40 Number 6

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Dustin Dollin & Jim Greco.

The kids those days.

Dustin had been riding for Stereo and Jim had been riding for Zero before Baker became an actual entity with products beyond a bootleg VHS tape of 100% raw street skateboarding. They both turned pro in 2001. Both are also still riding for the same company, although Greco is on sister brand, Deathwish. I picked this one because I like how simple, yet bold, the layout was.

Deathwish is making stickers of that first tape now:

Thrasher - May 2001 Volume 21 Number 5

Rob Pluhowski #5.

Favorites Tricks:
360 flip
Nollie flip
Backside tailslide
Nollie heelflip
Kickflip

Favorites Spots:
Love Park
Brooklyn Banks
Midtown Manhattan

Favorite Skaters of All Time:
Mike Carroll
Fred Gall
Anthony Van Engelen
Anthony Pappalardo
Gino Iannucci

Smoothest Style:
Gino Iannucci
Stevie Williams
Keith Hufnagel
Scott Johnston

Best Video Part:
Mike Carroll - Plan B Questionable
Fred Gall - Subzero
Gino Ianucci - Trilogy

Favorite Music:
Rolling Stones
Bob Marley
Gang Starr

Favorite Movies:
Trainspotting
Casino
Gladiator
Road Trip

Favorite Videos:
Plan B - Questionable
Alien Workshop - Photosynthesis
Blind - Video Days
Any Eastern Exposure video

Another occupation you'd pursue if you weren't skating:
A scuba diver - whatever the hell they do - or a marine biologist.

Influential People:
Jason Dill
Joe Castrucci

It's a quick list of Rob's favorites from 2001.

For the list: Transworld - July 2001 Volume 19 Number 7

Thrasher - February 2001 Volume 21 Number 2

Anthony Pappalardo #8.

Slice of pizza.

Anthony takes a backside lipslide down that famous gold handrail in Australia. He's wearing a pair of the first Mike Carroll pro model shoes from Lakai.

The photo is by Mike O'Meally.

Thrasher - July 2001 Volume 21 Number 7

Ben Krahn #3.

"For skateboarding, I think that people should practice and respect all forms of skating. Because you know how there's little trends of skateboarding. Like for the past couple years, it's been handrails and crazy street stuff. And now all of a sudden it's cool to skate pools and everything. It's all cool, you know? There's never any one kind of skating that's cooler than the other."

Ben is an all around ripper who has been shredding transitions, parks, and streets for a long time now. He's one of those underground favorites who you are stoked to see a new part from whenever it pops up. Blood Wizard has been making boards with his name on them for the last few years. He had a Big Brother cover at this same secret Phillie ramp.

The photos are by Rob Erickson. The trick is a pole jam to backside nollie out.

For the quote: Big Brother - January 2003 Issue 92

Thrasher - December 2001 Volume 21 Number 12

Chris Roberts.

The Nine Club.

Chris is from Malibu, California. He got on Chocolate by virtue of skateboarding with the guys on the team and them liking his style. Chris turned pro in 2007 and is still on Chocolate. He started the Nine Club with Roger Bagley in 2016. Kelly Hart is also a cohost. The show features very nicely filmed long form interviews with pro skateboarders. I've seen a few episodes of it and enjoy the Nine Club, but I decided a few months ago that I'm not watching or listening to any podcasts. There's simply too much media that is available instantly that it is impossible to keep track of everything. Rather than try, I opted for the easy solution of partaking in none of it.

Thrasher - September 2001 Volume 21 Number 9

Stacy Lowery #5.

The Program.

The former Santa Cruz pro with the massive pop has partnered with Michael Sieben on a few companies over the years. This includes Bueno, Roger, The Program, and supposedly a second round of Roger. I wish I had grabbed at least a t-shirt from Roger at some point. I do have a Program shirt, which still gets worn somewhat often. It looks more like a church project than a skateboard company.

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Chris Senn #8.

Already been done.

I had posted the Toy Machine ad back in November and recently found the Revolution Wheels ad while thumbing through the back pages of the magazines. I thought it made for an interesting coincidence. Same guy, same spot, same trick, three years difference. I suppose it makes sense because I imagine the 50-50 feels pretty good to do, so why not do it again when you are back in town? It's not like a death defying triple kinked rail that you would only end up doing once.

Revolution Wheels: Thrasher - August 2001 Volume 21 Number 8

Toy Machine: Transworld - September 1998 Volume 17 Number 9

Ben Gilley #3.

Everybody's favorite Alabama Barbarian crushes that poor handrail at the synagogue in Florida with a hurricane.

I picked out a bunch of random stuff from 2001 for this batch of scans.

I've been kind of chilling a bit on skateboarding the last two weeks. I felt I needed a break. I got slightly bored with the local park, too. I'm planning to get to back rolling tonight. It feels weird not skating as much, especially since it is warm out now.

Thrasher - October 2001 Volume 21 Number 10