Why Vancouver Changed its Mind About Skateboards
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2021
- I had the pleasure of making this video for the Vancouver Park Board who's currently asking for public input on a new skateboarding strategy for the city. Check out shapeyourcity.ca/skateboard-a... to learn more.
Much of the footage for this video was also shot by Chance Swainson who was a wonderful person to work with and a great videographer in his own right. Check out his channel here: / chanceswainson
His instagram is chanceswain...
If you want to be kept in the loop about future things:
/ aboutherevideos
/ aboutherevideos
/ abouthere
Another benefit of skateboarders: I've heard some police officers express their appreciation of skateboarders, saying that they are the eyes and ears of a park.
rats
narcs
Ew. My homies don't talk cops.
@@shmooveyea shut up
@christopher vigil you just help people hate the sport.
This is the part that I like about Vancouver: the stance of "If you can't ban it, embrace it". I know that not everything in the city is like this, but it's great that there parts where the city allows for liberty - not all places in the world are so open to new ideas
Also: First!
Vancouver was one of the 1st cities in North America (and the 1st in Canada) to decriminalise marijiauna.
Ummm they are one of the most Draconian evil cities in the world. The lockdowns reinforced that.
@@zonzillamagnus5902 the most draconian? I can prove you wrong, I just dont care about you being wrong that much, but you are.
I don't understand how your channel isn't really 250k subs. The quality is unmatched and I'm always learning something new about the city
Well, Vancouver isn’t that large of a city tbh… it’s too bad though!
Subscribed to him for well over a year.
Nothing is worse to a creator than saying "you deserve more subs".
@@thecrowfliescrooked should I be saying that the content is terrible and they should quit when they're ahead?
@@Russell132 no it's like telling a fat person they need to be thinner. You don't think he knows he should have more subs? He's not stupid. You stating the obvious.
I've always admired the community aspect of action sports as a whole. That's what made bouldering so appealing to me
Super insightful video! Did not know Vancouver had such rich skate history. Very interesting because in Korea, there was a whole drama recently where the city was trying to tear down one of the most iconic street skate spot, ‘Cult’ and obviously skaters were not happy about it. They should share this video to the city 🙂
1000% thank you for making this. Jane Jacobs called for eyes on the street way back in 1961. If skateboarding had been a thing in NYC then she would have been talking about skateboarders too. They make the often underutilized city centers of places like my hometown in Ohio safer and better.
When other skaters ask me why I think this Olympics was a good thing, this. This is why. It's helped change so many opinions on the validity of skateboarding and skateboarder along with all the peripheral sports. It made a big difference ince that was announced. Now a lot of city officials view it as a means of bringing positive attention to their community rather than just as a hindrance. Helped change some attitudes.
The beauty of skateboarding is that it never had to be validated to know that it was a good thing
As a skater, this literally gave me goosebumps! After years of kick-outs and hate from police and security to see cities including skateboarding in future plans is life-changing for us.
No it isn't. Skaters have been having parks built all over BC for decades. Skaters got hate from security and police for riding and destroying private property, aka all the buildings in van with the best rails, ledges and stair sets. That is not going to go away except on international skate day.
I grew up skateboarding in my teens in the 90's. People sure hated skaters for the most part because of where we would skate but there was barely any skateparks back then and a lot of the ones that were there sucked because they would be bowls but we just wanted to skate "Street" People got it easy nowadays who skate.
Someone finally realized that if they encourage street skating, you'll actually stop people from skating street
Vancouver: How do you do, fellow sk8ers? We know that "skate is life", so we welcome you to land radical tricks in our streets!
Skaters: Ugggghhhhh I'll just stick to the skate parks
I doubt this is remotely accurate
I miss street skating. It's true form
What the hell are you even talking about Ronnie? Street skaters like street spots, not skateparks.
@@JulianGoddard it definitely isn’t. I can almost guarantee you that Ronnie hasn’t skated lately…
Being a skater in Van in the 90's i knew all those street spots well, you could often see those exact same spots in 411 video magazine and other pro skater VHS tapes. Best memories were doing the biggest rail at Commerce Place.. would have been 15 at time! Another one a friend and i went to the first slam city jam, on day two we made fake wrist bands and we managed to sneak onto the main floor where the pros were hanging out... good times! Thanks for the memories.
Really awesome video! You should definitely try to Ollie some more or even just ride around more! Skating is a wonderful activity
Uytae for mayor!
I'd so totally vote for this man.
Amazing video like always Uytae. I feel like I have close connection to the Hastings skatepark even though I barely can Ollie. Working at the PNE id usually go sit while on my lunch and watch the skaters, always awed me. Keep up the great content dude
You didn't mention it but slam city jam back in the 90s was an event every single teen/preteen wanted to be at back in the day. It's too bad there isn't events like that anymore.
I have been a subscriber and fan of these videos for a good while now, and very much appreciate the content. As a skateboarder in Vancouver I am grateful for this representation and portrayal of our community. Thank you!!
Turned out so great! Thanks for helping amplify our stories!!
man i knew vancouver had done history with skateboarding what with it being a level in a tony hawk game, but didn't know it was that big. awesome videos, new sub here ^^
Skateboarding encourages positive social bonds, personal development and creativity. Its is a wonderful global community to be a part of. As a skate rat of the 90s sub culture, to see so many young people engaging it for those reasons is amazing. It is not a sport, as no one is completing in anything, Skaters support each other. We understand one persons personal achievements is as valuable as someone else's. Who cares if its to land your first ollie, or lip-slide a handrail for the first time. It is all just setting your own goals and enjoying it with friends.
I love how your videos randomly appeal to me. I live in North Carolina, USA. I teach and skate so somehow your videos happen to have information I enjoy even though I live far from Vancouver.
Love your videos man!!!!!
Nothing makes me happier to see Vancouver partnering with you. This is so great
Fascinating video, I didn't know this much about my own city's skate culture! Always a treat when you upload. Great work!
Vancouver is home to all my fave skaters, something in the water over there obviously. You might be interested in the work of Alexis Sablone, olympic skateboarder with a masters in architecture, she designed a skateable plaza that went up in Mälmo, Sweden, that doesn't actually look like a skate park. Also in Sweden there's a school that runs skateboarding classes in lieu of gym, there's an episode of Post Radical about that hosted by Vancouver's finest, Rick McCrank
Props for using so many local Vancouver skater clips!
This is very cool, I recently moved to Rhode Island and I saw that providence has a mini skate park in the heart of the city next to a parking garage, it’s a pretty neat idea and there are usually a few people doing tricks
Really well done video on the history and future of Skateboarding in Vancouver!
As someone who recently fell back in love with the sport, its really great to see the city embrace it once again and can't help but appreciate
those amazing clips of the 80s and 90s era of skateboarding. Keep up the amazing work dude!
The fact that I know where these places are makes this video even better to enjoy
Nice to see you supporting skateboarding!
Great video.
Dam, that hardflip back 50 was clean af...
Every one of your videos is just so good! I hope this channel keeps going for a long time! Bravo man
I’m glad we’re finally accepted.
But……….I’ll never forget all those years when we were treated like shit, like criminal hoodlums, like nothing but a nuisance. My life as a skater-and for most people who’ve been skating for close to 20 or more years-has been molded and shaped by all the abuse we received for just wanting to practice our sport, create our art, and have fun. I’ll never get those images out of my mind, from watching videos of other fellow skaters around the world also getting abused by cops, security, and Karens. Skaters have had to fight for our existence in one way or another, the whole time up until recently. The OGs fought in the 70’s and 80’s. The 90’s rippers fought. The Y2Kers (myself included) fought. The 10ers fought, and were the ones to finally see the tide turn. Now it’s so “mainstream” that we’re in the Olympics. It’s been such a long battle, and I salute those that fought alongside me, and those that fought before my time.
All part of the concrete tribe DonJulio 🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼
Dude you will be treated like that still if you are street skating on private property and destroying a businesses ledges, rails etc. I have been skating in van for a bit longer than you and have talked to politicians and been a part of groups to get parks built. We have more skateparks in BC then every other province and most states, that was done to get the scene off the streets. The mentality has not changed however. There are also a ton of other issues within this - ie, parks could easily have a mandate change, if a stakeholder decides to sell like they did in northvan - goodbye skatepark, or the city wants to get rid of say a viaduct - goodbye the best urban street park the city has ever seen.
I grew up skateboarding in my teens in the 90's. People sure hated skaters for the most part because of where we would skate but there was barely any skateparks back then and a lot of the ones that were there sucked because they would be bowls but we just wanted to skate "Street" People got it easy nowadays who skate.
@@corail53 Leeside still there?
Love your channel! Amazing high quality stuff. And this topic hits home for me as a skater in his mid 30’s
This is such quality content! I love your videos and will always be excited for the next ones
I lived next to plaza back in 2012-2014, I skated all the time as much as I could! I miss it soooo much, Van is the shit!!shout out to Tyler Burke love you dude!
I live in New York and have zero connection to Vancouver, but these videos are such great quality and informative. Keep up the great work!
You're content is amazing!
This is an amazing video man!
Great to see. I really didn't enjoy running from security as a kid in the 90s haha.
Great piece, thank you.
This channel is amazing!
I'm not from Vancouver but I watch your videos because I appreciate your communication style and because many of the things you choose to focus on reach beyond Vancouver's borders. I AM however, a longboarder - so I'm now interested in keeping tabs on Vancouver's skate scene to see how these new laws pan out. I think it's a step in the right direction compared to my town where all skating is illegal on streets.
Nice video! I’m excited for the future of skating in Vancouver.
Vancouver has always been a skateboard Mecca. This video brought back some serious memories
Hey I just found this channel and it makes me think of Johnny Harris. Very slick editing.
Fantastic video about a policy I had no idea was being drawn up. Let's just say that I'm pleasantly surprised.
3:25 I feel one of the most underrated aspects of skateboarding, is that it is essentially the only sport where you can do it where ever you like, whenever you like, however you like, at which speed/rate of progression you like. There are no coaches, opponents, score boards, time limits, expensive barriers to entry, or direct paths of progression. It doesn't matter if you want to learn transition, rails, flat ground, freestyle, etc. whatever interests you, whenever it interests you, is what you choose to do when you choose to do it. There is really no other sport like that, and I think that's why I was drawn to it as a teenager when I was playing competitive hockey 10 times a week, and why many other people are as well.
What? What about BMX, scooters, roller blades, break dancing, ice skating, flat ground tricking, parkour etc.
It's not even close to being the only individual sport. What a foolish thing to say
This was a really well put together video. I grew up skating, got chased away from every single one of those spots you mentioned, worked for Slam City Jam, and now at 44 have a daughter, sit on a professional Board of directors, and own a tech company. There's lots of people like me who are all pulling for the expansion of safe harassment free spaces now that we're of the demographic influencing things from the top down.
I would suggest that the about face is a little less miraculous and more that the older demographic of our parents generation have just aged out being able to shake their sticks at those little tyrants on boards! ;)
Appreciate your content! Keep it coming!
cannot talk about the Vancouver skate scene wo mentioning Skulls Skates and Red Dragons
If you haven't already, you should really check out what Copenhagen and some other Scandinavian cities are doing on this front. Not only is street skating encouraged there, but new spaces and infrastructure are designed so as to actually facilitate street skating as well as other creative and community-centric uses. There is a good video on it on youtube. I know the downtown of Sydney, Cape Breton for one is beginning to adopt the same approach in Canada.
Amazing editing!!!
Really great quality!!!
another great video as always. Looking forward to you next video Uytae
Hey I’m a scooter rider from Melbourne and they are doing a similar thing here by making street spots it good to see that the change is world wide
Great video, first one of yours I’ve seen, surprised you don’t got more subs, I’ll give you one cause I can tell you put a lot of effort into this
I remember getting hassled by cops for skateboarding on the way to slamcity jam 99; so cool that in 22 years the city is now thinking about ‘ how can we encourage public skateboarding instead of preventing it’ - more mini parks like the one at Strathcona please!
Wow this little mini Strathcona park is so cool, seems so cheap and effective to implement places like this! Thanks for the mention. West End Skate Park in Falls Church, Virginia, US is a different layout but same principal.
@@franksonjohnson Exactly - we dont need always huge million dollar 'skateparks' - skate spots like a ledge and a few banks are fine too
Unless you want to visit other city in Canada, like where I lived in Toronto we have 15 outdoor skate park and 2 indoors. Some are even use community center gym as a skatepark. Some outdoor ones I seen are really nice. Some are share with BMX
The popular skate spot you showed in the beginning of your video was called ‘sweet spot’ and was one the best spot back in the early 90’s you could see the local Vancouver pros like Moses, Colin and Slugo. Don’t forget the Clubhouse a few blocks from main and terminal for those old school skaters in the 604
New Spot
I never connected the hostile architecture of those little notches on rails/benches to skating.
I wonder what other things things are out there to dissuade groups of people?
stuff that also hurts homeless populations and disabled people's ability to commute
skate makes these kinds of discrimination visible
homeless people get these too to stop them from sleeping on benches and doorways
@@tugger putting skate stoppers on a privately paid forledge is not discriminatuon
they also do similar things to discourage homeless people from sleeping on benches, etc.
Epic new video and seeing you ride a skateboard!
Such good videos mate even as a local the video was super interesting
Something in me says "masking the lack of cycling infrastructure and human centered spaces with some nice edges". Hopefully these efforts will lead to more than that and return the shared space to people rather than cars
I think we have it more than great to cycle in. Helps to gt your L if you're confused by the road rules.
As a skateboarder. Thank you.
This video was very well put together, I really often see video about skating without the terminology of skating.
I have the sneaking suspicion that you said skateholders on purpose!
Love your videos
Montreal, and most suburbs around Montreal, banned skateboarding on public streets and sidewalks in the 1960s. I grew up in a Montreal suburb the 1970s, and had no idea what a skateboard was. When I was 7 or 8, I found one of my friend's older brother's old skateboard, and we had no idea what it was. In the 1970s, people were into speed bikes, and the more gears the better. I had a 10-speed bike, and some people had 18-speed bikes. By the 80s people were into mountain biking. Skateboarding made a modest revival in the 1980s, but was really popular from the 1990s on. I think it was because of the introduction of monthly student passes and the switch of many school boards from using yellow school buses for their high school student to just supplying them with monthly student transit passes instead. Then teenagers could get around the city any time anywhere by combining public transit with skateboards, and it was much easier to bring a skateboard onto a metro or bus than a bike. I've noticed in the past 2 years scooters have become popular. I'm talking about the kind of scooters that my generation used when we were 3 to 5 years old, before we learned to ride a bike, except that modern scooters have the same wheels as skateboards and they fold up. They seem to be especially popular with pre-teens, who haven't yet fully mastered the art of skateboarding.
Seriously good story telling. Fuck yeah for citizen journalism!!
The greatest positive impact is a connection to people!!! Of course it’s a sport activity but to be socialised and to get more friends and to communicates the crucial thing! This is a real life! Not that one in your cellphones or computer games and social media!!!
I live and skate in Vancouver. A few years back, the VPD stopped me from bombing the hill at east Hastings and commercial drive to inform me it was illegal to skate on the road, sidewalks and all public property. They told me to CARRY my board to the skate park hahahahaha i skated off in defiance. As if im going to walk my board, i wasn't even going to the skate park lol guess no one told the VPD about the amendment to the bylaw or they straight up lied to me!
Great video. Cheers
Fantastic video
it's wild how people can overblow the dangers of skateboarding while totally ignoring the danger of cars
Wish my city had more parks and street stuff to skate, we got like 4 parks in my city
ok I think you coined a new term: "Skateholder" a stakeholder who skates. Great video BTW for a non sk8er
well done.
Awesome video and great intentions! Whoever I wish Vancouver’s government respected this by keeping the “Vans” sponsored permanent skate ledges longer than two weeks. I get that people complained about noise but it’s a city there’s noise. If you live anywhere near gastown or Hastings you’ve come quite accustomed to the herion howls and odd night fireworks but it’s not as simple as pulling the plug on a cool skate spot that benefits the community. Again not wanting to be a negative Nancy. I enjoyed the vid and retro footage cheers!
The Vancouver Skateboard Coalition is why.
can tell you did a lot of research before this video, props mate enjoyin the content
Vancouver: "Dude" capital of the world. Gotta love it!
Good spenny footage
Awesome video as always, I was losing hope when they skate stopped the art gal but you showed me how that’s not really the case
Having spent the majority of my 41 years in and around Vancouver as well as skating for 30+ of those years it has always confused the heck out of me when I see architecture/obstacles built in parks or out of the way areas that would be perfect for skateboarding but are skate stopped? What does this accomplish? For the most part skateboarders and the culture is respectful to neighborhoods and those who live there. Continually pushing youth farther and farther away from the public eye doesn't benefit anyone in the long run. Creating multi use/multi purpose areas in and around Vancouver should be our goal going forward.
Depends on what we are talking about, lots of surfaces are waxed for skateboarding and this presents a safety hazard for the general public, any damage caused by skateboarders (chips, crackes, sharp edges) can cause harm and make a local council/government liable for damages, also skateboarders have and may even still sue local governments for damages when they hurt themselves on said obstacles. It also increases maintenance costs and most skateboarding kids aren't tax payers and do not contribute to the repairs/replacement of said structures.
Like anything in life, local government often opts to deal the lowest common denominator because they think it will solve the problem.
Obviously there will be ways to deal with this but it requires a conversation to be had by all and firm interest from all parties to find a better way to move forward. Skate parks were the original idea to try and get people away from doing things on the street, a more controlled environment and signage pretty much stating it's all at your own risk etc.
I've been riding BMX for a decade so I've spent plenty of years in the streets. Riding street spots makes them look like shit objectively. There's no way around it. We destroy shit. Skaters and bike riders wax the shit out of ledges and rails and chip the ledges, not to mention piss off potential customers going into buildings and sometimes hurt them.
It's easy to sit here on RUclips and say, "gee, why isn't more architecture skate friendly? Why does this $200k sculpture have stoppers on it? The skaters should be able to skate it!"
It's a whole different story when you're the one who has to pay for these ledges/rails/sculptures. This shit is not cheap at all.
If you've been skating for 30 years and still don't understand why stoppers exist, maybe it's time to put the board away and talk to an actual business owner.
@Andrew M you completely missed the entire point of my comment. Good job 👏👏
@@the6ig6adwolf maybe you should consider the fact that your "point" was either nonexistent or stupid. Why don't you explain what you're trying to say instead of using feminine emojis.
@@AMM1998 bmx is far more destructive than skateboarding. this is part of the reason why many skateparks dont even allow bmx bikes. there are famous skate spots that have been skated for decades without falling apart.
man, i could colour grade this awesome video and it would be 20/10
that is very true, an area with skateboarders are usually a great indication that the area/neighborhood is alive and thriving.
my two fav things
Similar thought here! RUclips's algorithm finally matched the new urbanist skateboarders XD
Spencer Hamilton made the video! Hell yeah.
Uytae doesn't miss!!!
Can you do a piece on the Vancouver Community Network. It's a part of the city's history providing Internet access to those who are on a budget. They started in the early 90s (I was a volunteer back at the very beginning) and they are are still going. They still provide a dial-up service if you can believe it.
Very Nice Video :)
No mention of the indoor Richmond Skate Ranch that opened in the 80s and hosted the 86' competition.
Forward thinking!
Woh, very cool. :)
Uytae Lee for Vancouver City Major!!! You have my vote.
Skateboarding is so strongly tied to my idea of Vancouver as a city. It would be so much poorer culture wise without a vibrant skate scene.
Everytime you upload, I miss it in my sub box :(
I grew up skateboarding in my teens in the 90's. People sure hated skaters for the most part because of where we would skate but there was barely any skateparks back then and a lot of the ones that were there sucked because they would be bowls but we just wanted to skate "Street" People got it easy nowadays who skate.
Not sure how much you know about Robson square and how the hip hop and street dance community has used the covered rink area for decades as a communal area for dancers to gather, practice, and session. It has a long vibrant history for the Van dance community.....and the City of Van is trying to shut it down now. I see parallels with this story - a hub for community to gather and engage in a healthy activity....why on earth is the city trying to stop that now???
Maybe a story for you to explore? Let me know if that interests you. I can put you in touch with the people who are organizing against the city's actions.
IT HIM ✨
I lived in Vancouver for a couple of years around 2012. The impression I got of the society there was you were allowed to do anything you like as long as you were not being a dick about it. I remember one time they shut down Granville St on a wendsday so they could run a
Skateboard competition. A wendsday! I miss that place
I love the Britannia courts. The locals there are the best people in the city.
Great video as always! I know you briefly touched on it, but I think there should be a tad more emphasis on the fact that it recently became an olympic sport, further legitimizing it as an activity that governments should nurture.