Photo: Sunset on the Skate Park

Photo taken at the Venice Beach Skate Park.

Skateboarding Dog in Venice

Photos taken in Venice Beach, CA. The skateboarding dog's name? Bony Hawk. --Stef McDonald

Video: Over Venice

You can get a great view of the Venice skate park on this video, taken with a camera attached to a remote-controlled toy plane.

Seven Ply Skateboard Design

I heart Etsy in a big way and can pass hours clicking around the site. With the holidays looming, I got a little lost today, adding a lot of fun items to my cart for some loved ones on my list. Search the site for "recycled" or "repurposed" or "upcycled" to find artists and other crafty types who sell items that might otherwise end up in landfills. (Also try searching the stellar vintage section.) Seven Ply is a seller who offers jewelry and other trinkets made from discarded skate decks (above, earrings).--Stef McDonald

Venice Skate Park: Website

There's a networking hub on the web now for the Venice Skate Park, where users post photos and videos and connect with one another.

Stephen Colbert on a Skateboard

I keep finding more reasons to love Stephen Colbert, from Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." Here is the latest; watch 'til the end to see him skate with a California Congresswoman.--Stef McDonald

Read All About It: Skateboard Art

Celebrating art you can ride, "The Disposable Skateboard Bible" by artist Sean Cliver has almost 400 pages on the design of skateboards. Cool Hunting has a Q&A with the author, who also has a blog on the subject. --Stef McDonald

Skating's for the Dogs

Go, doggy, go!

Artsy Cool Skate Clip

Art plus skating equals cool.--Stef McDonald

These Shoes Are Made for Skating

...and that's just what they do.... Ah, shoes. I won't reveal how many I have but there's a good reason for owning every single pair and a large percentage are flippies for the beach and sneaks for sport. Here's a book that celebrates shoes for skating.--Stef McDonald

Venice Skate Park: Dogtown Graffiti

During opening day of the Venice Skate Park, I took photos of this graffiti work, honoring Venice's skateboarding heritage: Dogtown.

Read an interview with Peggy Oki, the sole woman of the original Zephyr skateboarding team from the Dogtown days, on our Surf Like a Girl site.

For more graffiti art in Venice, see posts on the subject on my other blog, Sideshow by the Seashore.)--Stef McDonald

New Venice Skate Park: Open for Ripping

Below, photos from opening day at the Venice Beach Skate Park. I biked down to the park early, with my morning cup of coffee in hand, and took photos before the official opening. Then I returned in the afternoon to see the action. Hundreds were there to take to the concrete. The action shots below capture a couple of girls ripping.--Stef McDonald

Weekend Fun: Venice Skate Park

The new Venice Skate Park opens Saturday, October 3 (the photo above was taken last week), with expected appearances by Dogtown Boyz Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Jessie Martinez, and Geri Lewis. Photo of the finished park after we visit.--Stef McDonald

Doing Good: Skateistan

The LA Times has a slideshow of kids skateboarding in Afghanistan, who've learned moves from a non-profit organization called Skateistan. From the site: "...we’ve seen that Afghan youth of all ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds love to skateboard. Skateistan brings them together, equipping young men and women to lead their communities toward social change and development." That's rad.--Stef McDonald





More video clips at the Skateistan site.

Skate Stunt: Tetris Time

Via Boing Boing: Skaters "playing Tetris."--Stef McDonald

Cool Recycled Find: Skate Chair

I've been looking for some wood chairs for the yard and stumbled upon this cool skate deck chair from Treehouse Designs on the Craftzine blog. Looks like an Adirondack chair and seems to be a great way to repurpose old skateboards.--Stef McDonald

All Girl Skate Jam

Empowering Girls Through Skateboarding
All Ages, All Abilities, All Girls
All Girl Skate Jam at Vans Warped Tour
August 22nd Cricket Wireless Ampitheatre San Diego, CA
August 23rd Home Depot Center Los Angeles, CA

Following the LA stop:

Patty Segovia Solo Girls Skateboarders Photo Exhibit

445 E. Wishire Blvd Fullerton

For more information go to the All Girl Skate Jam website.

Coming Up: ASA Supergirl Jam

Go, girls! The Supergirl Jam takes place August 15 and 16 in Oceanside, CA, then it comes to Venice Beach on September 6. For more info, check out the schedule on their site. . . And now for some dish: Check out this story in the LA Times on the new Venice Beach skateboard park and how there was a battle over who would use the park first (oh, the drama!).

Update: More info on the drama here at the Yo! Venice blog.

Venice Beach Skate Park

Sneak preview of the Venice Beach Skate Park being built.

Spotted: Skateboard Mama

We saw this woman on the road in Santa Monica--check out those wheels! We had to learn more about her and found this video on YouTube. One comment: rad.--Stef McDonald