The story of Embarcadero in 3 parts as told by Slap magazine.
Act I: Birth Announcement (April 1992)
Act II: Police Blotter (June 1995)written by Sam Smyth
Act III: Obituary (June 1999)
written by Greg Carroll
There can never be another spot like Embarcadero. It was the perfect place at the perfect time. Street skating was just starting to explode and the punk kids were leaving their backyard ramps and coming down to the city. SF had a rich skateboarding history and a fresh crop of unbelievably-talented locals that needed to congregate and explore this new technical street steez that was being developed. We always look to Gonz and Natas as the Godfathers of Street (and rightfully so) but the EMB-era is probably as equally-important in their building upon this foundation and stretching its capabilites.
Its impossible to do a blog focusing on 90's skateboarding without Justin Herman Plaza... I know this joint is soaking in it. I'm not sure if today's skater realizes just how important that mystical place with the infamous red bricks was back then. It was, straight up, the capital of our universe and its influence (skating, slang, music, fashion) is immeasurable. Sure, other cities had their versions (and some of them were even better to skate), but all those satelites were based on the Embarcadero model, the mothership. It made people, it broke people and its legend will live on forever.
peep Jacob43's videos... or click just about any video link on this site.
5 comments:
sorry that shit's kinda hard to read... i blew up the pages as large as i could but blogspot seems to have a limit on image size and it looks like i'm at it. plus, i don't know what slap was thinking with the layout of the smythe piece.
some real good articles though if you feel like getting your squint on.
chrome ball x slap magnifying glasses coming soon.
Great triple set of articles.
I remember seeing the EMB a million times in vids and mags. We all pooled our cash (about $125) hopped in my piece of shit Escort and spent the next 17 hrs motoring from LV to SF. Parked what seemed like 20 miles away and had to follow some locals to find it, which looking back was harder than I thought it should have been so maybe they were trying to ditch us. Seeing the Hubba and Gonz Gap in person made me feel small, real small. I remember the whole ride singing that I'm gonna 180 the gap, and 50-50 the ledges and all this hype and when it was in front of me I was humbled. Those fucking brick were murder on "REAL" small wheels and it took 200 pushes to even get enough speed to carry your ass. Best 2 days of my life, left with 2 broken decks, serious road rash and a new stoke on skateboarding. r.i.p EMB
I always wanted to skate that place. Paul Luna's part from Girl Trouble was that first time I saw it.
SICKKKKK, gnarly photos nice blog never take this down
Post a Comment