Skating Street

What does 'skating street' mean in skateboarding?

For skate boarders street skating is just right out your front door. A lot of guys in LA have to travel a lot to hit different spots because there is a lot of security involved with getting kicked out of spots all the time. But it's just anything from the front door on out... this is something that we see as skate-able, there is a lot of different types of terrain that street skaters are attracted to. And a lot of the stuff is geared towards the architecture of different buildings and the way different cities are built. Different cities are known for different types of terrain, whether it be banks or hills or driveways, stairs or hand rails. What ever is available, empty swimming pools, reservoirs, drainage ditches, pipes whatever, it's just were you are at. Street skating is just exactly what it sounds like - it is skating on the street.

What do skateboard street tricks usually involve?

I think more technical tricks for the purist kind of like street skaters is that they are doing technical tricks on handrails and down stairs and on the sides of buildings and stuff like that. But for me it is more like about just transportation like going from like your house to the beach or whatever. You have got to bomb some hills, you have got to hit some driveways, you have got to hit some gaps, you have got to dodge buses and pedestrians and stuff like that. That is true street skating to me, not stopping and hitting a handrail for like ten minutes. That is for the kids. You know, but that is cool. That is their deal, whatever. More power to them.

Are a lot of skaters considered street skaters?

They are considered street skaters because that is what they live in. They live in an urban environment. And when you live an urban environment, the first thing you're going to have accessible to you is the street. Whether you have a skate park near you, or an empty pool, or a drainage ditch, or whatever else you going to adapt to, it depends on where you live. Most street skaters live in the city. And that is why they skate street. Because it is accessible to them. It's free. You do not have to pay to be a street skater. You just go and get a board and go out there and do it.