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Pascal Lieleg - Skate Photographer Interview

Interview with Pascal Lieleg, Photographer. | by Sebastião Belfort Cerqueira

The man behind Official Bowlshit is one cool dude. Read on if you want to know the origins of the mysterious tribe of the SkateoFaris, the secret reason why people start skating transition, how to successfully mix beer with skating, and lots of other fun bowlshit.

As one of the most active photographers in the Trucks and Fins community, there’s quite a few things I’d like to ask you. However, first of all, I was looking online and I was trying to figure out if you were a professional photographer, I mean, do you do photography for a living?

Mmm... I don’t like to use that term. It’s hard to tell when that point comes when you’re a professional. Is it just because you earn money from it? I feel all the time like I have to learn a lot of things when it comes to photography, I’m not finished yet. I wouldn’t call myself a professional, just very ambitious. Plus, I don’t like the pressure. You know, when someone says “oh a professional photographer is coming”... I’m just hoping I can make them happy with my images, but you never know. Sometimes people like them, sometimes they don’t, photography as a lot to do with taste. So, yeah, I do it, but my normal profession is as creative art director for a hotel brand. In my semi-professional way I try to get better at photography and earn some money while I’m at it. One day I hope I can say I make a living from it. That would be the dream.

Because I saw you have a whole different side to your photography, outside of skateboarding, like shooting real models and for brands like Adidas and some others...

Yeah, I’d say it’s all about context. I do a lot of running and so I came to Adidas because they have a running group here in Hamburg and that’s how I got the connection, cause they said “hey, we need a photographer”. It’s always like that, that’s why I got to work for Men’s Health and Adidas and sometimes for other big brands.

It’s always cool to be at the right place at the right time. But let’s get into skateboarding – I always like to ask people when and where did they start.

I guess I was 12. Yeah. Now I'm 33, so I was 12, I was in school. One of my classmates had a board. We were at this school for the whole day, it was like nine hours and then you went home. And the school had great conditions, like big sports facilities, and we also had a little skatepark. It was one rail and two quarter pipes and the bank, that's it. But at least we had something back in the day. And, yeah, we shared this guy’s board because he was the only one who had one.

I was so addicted from the first moment that I was wishing I could also get one. And then I got one for Christmas. Yeah. For Christmas, I got a complete. And it was not the typical first board you get when you tell your parents you want to start skateboarding. They’ll usually go to a big Walmart or something and buy a board. But my parents went to a good skate shop and bought me a really good board. So that was quite cool.

Since then I had just a few breaks from skateboarding. In my hometown we didn’t have a skatepark, not a real skatepark, we had some quarters. But the city was always trying to put these quarters where we wouldn’t annoy other people, so it was hard for us, it would be like in some industrial parking lot somewhere. Until eventually this guy that was involved in looking out for the youth of the city decided to organize the community and we got our first real ramps and an official park.

How old were you then?

I guess I was 16 or 17. But before that sometimes we had the chance to go to this big skate hall. That’s one good thing about the area, a forty minute drive would take us to one of the biggest skate halls in Germany. It’s really huge, with 3,200 square meters of skate area. At first, when I was just starting, it was a pretty shitty park, they’d build ramps on pallets and everything was really DIY... but it had a lot of character. But then they got some support from the city and from some big companies and they started improving the ramps until it became a really good park. Nowadays it's called Playground Skatehall.

One good thing about it was that, when they were starting, they had miniramps with different sizes, they had huge transition and a half-pipe. Now they have completely re-done the park about four times, I think it’s in its fourth version, but the cool thing is that they still kept some of those first features and my favourite one was the bowl. We didn’t have one in my hometown and so I was always eager to skate it when I went there. And the funny thing is none of the locals ever seemed interested in skating it, most of the times I’d be the only one in the bowl.

Yeah, I didn’t have any type of transition around when I started skating, it was just street. So nowadays when I go to a skatepark I just suck at it.

It's really funny. I love both. I also do some street stuff. But the main reason why I chose transition was I just had to drop in. Because, back in the day, I was pushing mongo. I wanted to hide it, and when I dropped in nobody saw that I pushed mongo. So I have the theory that most of the halfpipe and bowl skaters are secretely mongo pushers, that's the reason why they start. Mongo pushers are also good at fakie. But, yeah, actually it was just two or three years ago I decided I’d teach myself how to push normal. It was a hard pressure to put on myself but I kept at it and now, even though I’m not as fast as I am pushing mongo, at least it doesn’t look as stupid as in the beginning.

It’s really tough. Especially when you’re older and you only have those precious moments to go skate and you know you can have so much fun doing it the way you’re used to. It’s a hard decision. But anyway, I wanted to talk about something else. More than once, when you sent us pictures of skateparks for Trucks and Fins you also sent us little articles about them that were really cool. It’s more than just information about the park, it helps us get an idea of its environment, the people who go there, and so on. Do you have any more of those planned?

Yeah, unfortunately some of the parks are closed, and that’s kind of annoying. But when I send you any stuff I always try to ask myself what I would find interesting when I go to a park. And for me it's always the people who are in the park and, like, trying to get to know a little bit the community surrounding it. Because... I don't know, maybe it’s the same everywhere, but at least here in Germany every skatepark in every town is like a community thing. It's not just that some mayor of the city said “Oh, I want to have a skatepark.” It's never like that. It's just the community.

In Jever, the town where I grew up, which is famous for its super bitter beer, when we first got our shitty ramps, we formed a group, we called ourselves the SkateoFaris, and we took care of the place. The city let us have a space where we could have the ramps and we wanted to make our little park grow. The city didn’t want to spend money on it so we had to earn it ourselves. We gave skate lessons to kids, we did demos whenever there was a public celebration in town and asked for donations, we sold SkateoFari t-shirts, we invested everything back into the skatepark, and that’s how it grew. And nowadays... it's really, really funny... The skate group still exists 12 years after we founded it. And they, the actual members of that group have no idea who it was that founded all that. They know Joshua Dings but they don't know me and Kevin Kellermann. They still call themselves SkateoFaris, but they have no idea about the history behind their crew. That's pretty funny.

It’s a great story. Sometimes we hear about a community getting together in order to convince the local authorities that the town needs a skatepark, but it’s not everyday that people actually take it upon themselves to make money and invest it into their town’s skatepark. It’s pretty inspiring. Moving on, and since you mentioned beer, I really liked your “Beerics” video. I thought it really had some production values to it, and the rhythm is really well-managed. I wanted to ask you, did you shoot it and direct it all by yourself?

Yeah! People have asked me that question a couple of times but, yeah, it was all very spontaneous. Tom [Tieste], the skater, has been working for some time as a trainee in this small brewery in Bremen, learning how to make beer. One day he asked his bosses if he could skate the brewery, you know, along the different parts of the process. It was quite funny, because he knows I do some video stuff and he told me about the idea and asked if I could be there to shoot two or three days later. I asked him how long he thought it would take to shoot and he said maybe one and a half to two hours. I have to say he was well organized, he had a good plan. But it was only when I got there that he told me exactly what his plan was and I was like... “ok... fuck.”

I had to think about a lot of things. And I guess in the end we were there for four and a half or five hours. Which was okay, yeah. It was okay. But in my head I was always like “you have to remember when he comes from the left side where he goes to, so then the next cut he must come from this side...” Because otherwise you get confused, you know, when he comes from one side and next scene he’s coming from the wrong direction... I had that in mind all the time so the pressure was really high. Yeah, I'm still a little bit proud of that one.

Well, you should be, because it looks like something that was made for a big skate brand by two or three photographers or filmers. Speaking of that, are you planning on doing more youtube stuff in the future?

How should I put it... yes, I do plan to do more of that stuff. But in the end it's always the time. I love to edit a video but I hate it at the same time because it takes ages. For me the hardest part is to find the beginning and to find a way in which I would like to tell the story. When you have the raw material, you have a lot of options. I want to entertain the viewer and to find my style, but in video editing I don't feel like I've found it yet. I experiment a lot and I try to use new techniques or to adapt stuff I see on skate videos. But there's a lot of things I have to learn. That said, I want to do some artsy stuff, but it's hard to do artsy stuff that everybody understands. I want it to be artsy, but understandable at the same time.

But actually I am working on some things right now. Last year I went to the DIY Sintra spot with Joshua [Dings] and I want to edit some video of that trip, I’d like to do it like a travel movie, because I took a lot of photos and I’d like to combine them with the video. Plus he also did some hard tricks there, he did a darkslide, we also have this one with another guy, Chris, who showed up at the spot and was a very good skater. Josh did a blunt to fakie on the quarter while Chris did a backside alley-oop wallride over him. I can’t wait to show that to people.

Can’t wait to see it. Now, we’ve recently prepared a short interview we do to every new photographer who joins Trucks and Fins, but since you were onboard before that, I’d like to ask you a couple of questions that we put on there. The first one is more of a request: choose a photo you took that you really like and tell us why.

Ok, I have this one I really love. The thing is, when you see it too small, like on instagram, you can’t feel the image. You need to look at a big version in order to understand what’s going on. This circle is like a full-pipe, it’s an art object made by this artist called Karolina Halatek. It’s seven metres long, I guess, and it's five metres high and the surface, the inner surface is completely like a led stripe. It’s a plastic full-pipe and it’s completely lit up. It had been standing outside the art museum in Bremen for some weeks and it was completely unprotected, there was no security, I had seen people riding bikes through it. So I went there at night with a couple of friends from Bremen, Louis and Gino, and I asked them if they could do a double. I wanted them completely on the sides and I shot it straight from the front because I wanted the image to be as confusing as possible. It looks flat but then the skaters are not on the same plane. I left a little step that was in front of the sculpture just barely perceptible, but otherwise there are no clues, it’s completely dark. I thought when I dropped it on instagram every skate magazine would be like “What? What is this?”, but it never happened... [laughs]

I’m sure it’s because there are not many magazines anymore and they must all be pretty busy. Anyhow, I’d seen that picture on your Trucks and Fins profile page and always thought it was really strange. It makes sense that it’s an art installation, you don’t just find that kind of stuff out there in the wild.

Yeah, and you know what’s funny: I really liked the installation so I found Karolina Halatek on instagram and sent her the picture. I thought it was a good picture of her work. But she was really pissed, she was commenting on the post like if she was shouting “NO SKATING ALLOWED!” and I had to say “sorry, we didn’t know, there was no security, nothing...” And then what’s even better is that the Bremen museum organized a competition of the best photos taken at the installation and mine was considered one of the top ones. I also have another good one there where Louis is doing an ollie into it and it looks like he is falling into nothing, like that big wide hole is taking him. The only thing is that his ollie is not that perfect. That's why the shot is not that special but the idea is nice.

Sounds cool. Now let me ask you another one from our short quiz: if you could choose a combo to shoot, like any skater doing any trick in any spot in the world, what would your dream combo be?

Ooh, that’s a good one... It’s really hard... but there’s this new guy that no one had heard about until Thrasher put his part out, this super sick bowl skater, John Worthington.

I know, I think he’s on Creature now.

Watching his part I was like “what the hell?” I’d love to see him destroy our local bowl in Bremen. There are these really hard stairs, like in this tight pocket, it took me months to be able to get around them, I was super stoked. I actually met one of my best skate buddies there once. He’d come from Stuttgart and he had a to-do list – he wanted to do all the stairs in all the bowls he could find in Germany. He’d saved Bremen for last and it took him one hour of straight tries. He told me those had been the hardest he’d ever done, and he’s definitely more talented than me. But anyway, I’d love to see Worthington hit those stairs, he’s so skilled at doing hard transition and shallow ends that I imagine he could probably do a backside or frontside air over that pocket. I’d love to take a photo of that.

I see you really know your bowlshit...

You know, it’s a funny thing, there’s a cool side to not using my real name in my work as a skate photographer. First I can go to the skatepark incognito, people may know Bowlshit but they don’t know that I’m the guy who’s taking all the photos. Some people think Bowlshit is a company, I’ve gotten messages and emails wishing me and all my team the best of luck and stuff like that. It’s funny. You see, when I started doing photography in college I naturally started shooting skating, because that way I could go skating and still get work done for my courses. In my group of friends there was this Swiss guy who used “bullshit” a lot. Anytime he was pissed off he’d say everything was bullshit. Only with his accent it sounded like “bowlshit” and I just thought that was the perfect name for my photography projects. Then we had to build a website for another course and design a logo and I just made everything look like it’s a brand. It’s like one big joke. I can act like I’m this big company. Newspapers that have used my photos ask me for the copyright and I tell them the copyright is “bowlshit”. Having an official newspaper write that the copyright is “bowlshit” is just funny as hell.

It’s a great joke. Before we wrap this up, is there anything you’d like to add? Any new stuff in the works?

Yeah, there’s one thing I’m starting right now... it was planned for last year but because of the whole corona thing it got postponed... maybe for October or November of this year, anyway, I’m working on a photo book. I’m choosing the best photos from the past four or five years of skate photography and putting them in a book. I’ll probably try to do it through crowd funding or like a pre-sale. Just do one run, for the people who let me know they want it, and when it’s done, it’s done, no second edition.

Sounds like a good idea. Be sure to let us know when you get that pre-sale going, we’ll help spread the word.

By Sebastião Belfort Cerqueira

PUSH Skate Festival: The Final Schedule is Here! Get Ready for an Epic Week in Leiria!

BREAKING NEWS! We now have the final schedule for the PUSH Skate Festival, which will take place in Leiria from February 17 to 22. For the eager and skate culture enthusiasts, the doors will open two days earlier with an exhibition celebrating 40 years of skateboarding in Leiria. This will be the kickoff to an action-packed week! Mark your calendars, everyone is welcome! PUSH Leiria - Program February15 to 28 – Exhibition “40 Years of Skateboarding in Leiria” Location: Artur Manuel dos Santos Auditorium – Mercado Santana Cultural Center February 17 to 21 – Free Skateboarding Lessons – National Skate Associations in partnership with Leiria Schools Location: Schools in the Municipality of Leiria February 21 Location: Mercado Santana Cultural Center 18:00 – 20:30 – Exhibition of projects and works from various national skate associations20:30 – 21:30 – Screening of the best national skateboarding videos of 2024 21:30 – DJ Tista – Gasoline Barreiro February 22 Location: Mercado Santana Cultural Center 10:00 – 18:00 – Skate Association Exhibitions Location: Mercado Santana/Fonte Luminosa 10:00 – 11:00 -  Photography Workshop – Pedro Raimundo 11:00 – 12:00 - Video Workshop – Emidio Silva 12:00 – 14:00 - Lunch Break Location: Miguel Franco Theater Skate Talks – Moderator: Maycon Douglas 14:00 – The Importance of Skate Associations for Local Communities (Allboard Association – Setúbal | Santo André Skate Plaza – Vila Nova de Sto André | Couto Park – Couto – Barcelos) 15:00 – The Role of Media in the National Skate Scene (Pedro Raimundo – Surge Magazine | Emidio Silva – Ementa SB | Tiago Batista – Skate Snake Zine) 16:00 – Skateboarding as a Profession (João Neto – Despomar | José Sousa – Screw | Nuno Gaia – Kate Skateshop)17:30 – Skate Session at Fonte Luminosa Dinner Break 21:00 – Premiere and presentation of a documentary on skatepark construction22:00 – Awards Ceremony 22:30 – Concerts at Mercado Santana (Overcrooks – Estoril | Manferior – Leiria | Alien Squad – Leiria)

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Adrien Matei: Capturing Skateboarding One Frame at a Time

From Skater to Photographer – How a Passion for Skateboarding Turned into a Mission to Build Memories “This is all about building memories” From Rio Maior, here’s Adrien Matei, 25 years old. He was born in Romania but moved to Portugal at the age of 8, which is precisely when he started to skate. As a professional photographer, capturing the most vibrant tricks is what drives him to go out every weekend for the past seven years in search of the best shots. When and how did you become a skate photographer? I’ve been skating since I came to Portugal from Romania when I was 8 years old. I started photographing about seven years ago, using my mother’s camera. What began as a hobby became more serious, although my main job is as an event photographer. I’m also a videographer because I can do both, but if you ask me what I prefer, I’d say photography. Capturing the right moment is all about building memories. Skater Wartilom GomesHow do you showcase your work, and who are your inspirations? I use Instagram and Facebook to promote my work. I’ve always tried to build my style based on my inspirations, the big names whose photos were published in skate magazines. Street skating is what I love to photograph the most. Sure, we go to skateparks to catch special tricks, but the streets offer the diversity I need to explore my point of view and capture the best vibe. Am I more of a photographer than a skater? Yes, for sure. Skater Ricardo FonsecaWhat are your thoughts on the PUSH Skate Festival? I think it’s awesome. It’s something new in Portugal. I’ve been following skateboarding for a long time, and I’ve never seen an event with this level of organization, fully dedicated to celebrating skateboarding culture. Thank you for that.Skater Ruben CarlosSkater Wartilom GomesVisit Adrien Matei on instagram.

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Hugo Cruz: Capturing Skateboarding Through the Lens of Passion

Through the Lens: How Hugo Cruz Stays Connected to Skateboarding “When I take a picture, it’s like I’m one of them” At the age of 46, the body doesn’t let him do all the tricks he wishes he could. So, what’s the best way to stay connected? By taking pictures and displaying his talent, something he started doing eight years ago. Hugo Cruz has crafted his own style, recognized by his peers, and works with some key players in Portuguese skateboarding. Here’s Hugo Cruz, from Póvoa de Varzim. Skater Filipe CruzSkater Victor SimonWhen did you become a skate photographer? About eight years ago. I wish I’d had this spark earlier. Cameras were always present in my family, especially with my uncles and cousins. My father also had one, but it was the ‘father’s camera - do not touch it.’ Until one day, I picked up an old camera, went out to the street, and started shooting. I liked the outcome, and my family’s feedback was good too. From that point on, I started to create my own style. I don’t have an academic background, I’m self-taught, learning through trial and error. Skater Duarte ZellerSkater Sergio FernandesIs skateboarding the only thing you take pictures of? I only use my camera when I go out for a skateboarding session. Besides, I’m 46, and my bones aren’t the same as when I was younger, so photography is a way to stay connected. I can’t stand watching a three-hour skateboarding session without doing anything. Taking pictures means being involved - their tricks are my tricks. It’s like I’m one of them; I’m part of the process. When I come home and look at the photos, it brings me enormous joy. I work for the Portuguese national skate magazine Surge, and I do some projects for distributors and brands. I’m also doing some product photography at my home studio. Skater ZedoSkater Pacal TeixeiraWhat do you think about the PUSH Skate Festival?It’s a great initiative. It’s nice to have a neutral entity that can bring people together from all over the place. Portugal isn’t a small country when it comes to the skateboarding scene, it’s very difficult to unite different communities. I’ve experienced this firsthand when trying to create a local event, there are always incompatibilities. This will be an opportunity to exchange ideas and celebrate something we all love.Skater Rafaela CostaCheck out Hugo Cruz on instagram

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From Fashion to Skate: Fernando Paz’s Unexpected Journey in Portugal

A professional photographer’s love for skateboarding, the Portuguese scene, and his vision for a global skate photographers’ association. “I would like to create a skate photographers’ association” Life is full of surprises, especially for people like Fernando Paz, aka Adarle, a professional photographer who works mostly in the fashion industry but has been passionate about skateboarding since he was 15 years old. Portugal came into the picture when he was searching for a place to live in Europe, tired of the “American mentality.” Without realizing it, the house he rented was very close to one of the major skateparks in the country - pure destiny, and a starting point for a new activity. A love, not a job. Skater Mika GermondSkater Dabadie Théo How long have you been in Portugal, and what brought you here? I was born in Mexico and lived in New York for 16 years, but I got tired of the ‘American mentality.’ Living in Europe was something I’d wanted for a long time, not just for myself but also for my son. Portugal was one of our choices, along with Spain, Italy, France, and Denmark. But when we arrived here for the first time, it was like love at first sight. I found friendly people and, most importantly, a large community of skaters, which helped me develop my skate photography portfolio. I’m almost 50, and I can’t skate all the time, but I love how I’ve been integrated into the community. That’s why I take far more pictures of skaters now than I did when I was living in New York. My main income still comes from working as a fashion photographer and art director for some American companies. Skater João AllenSkater Alex FurtadoWhat do you like most about the Portuguese skate scene? Well, first, I should say I was lucky because I found a place to live in Estoril without knowing there was a skatepark or any skate facilities nearby. Fortunately, I’m close to Parque das Gerações Skatepark. When I went there for the first time, I met a lot of great people who introduced me to others. “This is the capital of skateboarding,” I thought. Publishing my work in magazines like Surge and others in Europe happened naturally. Creating a skate photographers’ association is something I’d like to do in the near future - something worldwide, but maybe starting in Portugal. Making a living solely from skate photography? Far from it. But if it ever turned into a real job, I’m afraid it would lose its magic. Skater Dabadie Théo Skater Mika GermondSkater Alex FurtadoWhat do you think about the PUSH festival?This may sound bizarre, but being recognized as the best photographer or as the person who took the best photo isn’t something I’m comfortable with because it all depends on so many circumstances. For example, a photo session feels different if a videographer is there too because the skater will behave differently. This isn’t a one-man job. But I admit, of course, that this festival is a great opportunity to showcase the work of many people and to celebrate those who are often anonymous but very important to this industry. I believe it will inspire others to become skate photographers and videographers.Skater Gabriel RibeiroSkater Yurii KorotunCheck out Fernando Paz on Instagram

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The Unsung Heroes Behind the World's Best Skatepark Map

Documenting the world’s skateparks, one spot at a timeEvery great project is built on the dedication and passion of its people. Today, I want to dedicate this article to the real pillars of TrucksandFins—the skatepark hunters—the people who have made this project what it is. These legends deserve way more recognition than I’ve given them so far, and it’s about time I change that. TrucksandFins has become the world’s most complete and detailed skatepark database. People from all over the world use our site to find parks because we have the best skatepark content out there. Every one of the 22,000 skateparks in our directory is mapped out with specific details, allowing users to filter parks by obstacles, making it the most advanced and useful skatepark finder in existence. The feedback I get from users is clear—this is the Wikipedia of Skateparks. And what’s crazy? This entire project has been built in my free time, with my own savings, and with the help of people who believe in this wild mission—to visit and document every skatepark in the world. Five years later, alongside our top 10 best skatepark hunters, we have physically visited and documented 2,051 skateparks. That means with just 10 people, we have covered 9.3‰ of all skateparks in the world. That’s an insane number! Meet the Legends: The Top Skatepark Hunters 🛹 Jaime Soto – A fresh recruit, but already making waves. In the last six months alone, Jaime has documented 40 skateparks, focusing on Idaho and parks he visits on his travels. Parks visited 🛹 Pascal Lieleg (aka Bowlshit) – A professional photographer from Hamburg, covering Germany and skateparks worldwide. Thanks to Pascal, we’ve checked 88 parks off our list. Parks visited🛹 William Montgomery – Holding down California while also documenting parks worldwide, William and his dad have personally contributed 101 parks (0.46% of the global total). Parks visited🛹 Martin Bommeli – Representing Switzerland, Martin has visited and documented 386 skateparks (1.76% of the world’s total). Absolute legend! Parks visited🛹 Patrick Peeters – The master of Belgium, The Netherlands, and the UK, Patrick has added photos to an incredible 448 skateparks, accounting for 2.04% of the world’s parks. Hats off, sir! Parks visited🛹 Haroun Cherif (Founder of TrucksandFins) – Leading from the front, I have personally visited and documented 888 skateparks (mainly in Portugal, Spain and France), which is 4% of the world’s skateparks. This mission has consumed my life, and I couldn’t have done it without the incredible support of our community. Without all the other hunters I would have given up ages ago, but I just kept going because I feel that I owe everybody who has helped me out. This project has to stay online. Parks visited These are just the top contributors, but there are so many more people out there helping with photos and data. If you’ve ever sent in photos or updates—you rock. You make me believe that this crazy dream of visiting and photographing every skatepark in the world is actually possible. The most mind-blowing part? None of these legends have ever been paid a penny. They do it because they believe in the mission—to create the best skatepark map in the world. So, to every skatepark hunter, contributor, and supporter—thank you. You are making history, and together, we are building something that will last forever. Cheers to all of you! 🛹🔥

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Flower Shop DIY Skatepark: San Francisco’s Hidden Skater-Built Gem

San Francisco’s Underground Skater Haven The Flower Shop DIY Skatepark is a renowned skater-built spot located at 1105 Tompkins Avenue in San Francisco, California. Established around 2007, this hidden gem has become a significant part of the city's skate culture. The skatepark was developed by local skateboarders seeking a unique space to practice and express their creativity. The collective effort of the San Francisco skate community played a crucial role in its establishment and ongoing maintenance. The Flower Shop is characterized by its tight transitions and challenging structures, making it more suitable for experienced skaters. Its secluded location adds to its allure, offering a space where skaters can hone their skills away from crowded public parks. Over the years, the park has hosted various informal events and sessions, fostering a strong sense of community among local skaters. Its DIY nature encourages skaters to contribute to its evolution, adding new features and maintaining existing ones. The Flower Shop has been featured in several skate videos and publications, highlighting its significance in the skateboarding world. Notably, it was included in Confusion Magazine's article, "The (almost) Complete Guide to Nor Cal’s DIY Spots", underscoring its status as a key DIY spot in Northern California. Additionally, the park has appeared in various skate videos, showcasing the skills of local and visiting skaters. For instance, the video "Awaysted's 'Purge the Mind'" features clips from the Flower Shop, capturing its unique terrain and the vibrant community it supports. Visiting the Flower Shop DIY Skatepark For those interested in experiencing this DIY skatepark, it is located at 1105 Tompkins Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94110. Due to its hidden nature, finding it can be a rewarding adventure, reflecting the underground spirit of DIY skate culture. The park is tucked away behind a wooden fence, accessible through a hidden route, which adds to its underground appeal. The Flower Shop DIY Skatepark stands as a testament to the creativity and dedication of the skateboarding community in San Francisco, offering a unique space that continues to inspire skaters from around the world. Photos Courtesy of William Rye Montgomery (2023), who visited the park and took photos for our website.Visit Flower Shop DIY Skatepark on our skate map

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