The day I left for California was the beginning of a very interesting and super fun trip. It all started in San Diego with the ASR Trade Expo. As I arrived early afternoon I dropped my bags at the hotel and took off for a downtown skate of San Diego. The
Skateboarding In California By Brandon Moore
The day I left for California was the beginning of a very interesting and super fun trip. It all started in San Diego with the ASR Trade Expo. As I arrived early afternoon I dropped my bags at the hotel and took off for a downtown skate of San Diego. The weather was great as it always is in southern California, and within the first hour of being there I was pulled over by the police. Immediately they assumed I was one of the many skateboarders tagging road signs with stickers which I had not done such a thing. After explaining to them that I had only been here for an hour they let me go and across the street an ice cream store hooked it up with a free gormet sunday! They said it was their welcome to San Diego gift since the police were giving me trouble. I called it quits early that night being tired from the jet lag and crashed out so I was rested for the show tomorrow. Breakfeast on the rooftop started day 2 and off to the show I went. Three days of ASR is very tiring but also fun and you get to meet a lot of people. The show was great and the contests were greater, lots of big names showed up. When Expo was all over, my good friend Drew Stanko arrived and took me to Long Beach, where we stayed the rest of the night. That night we sessioned a killer concrete park in the ghetto of Long Beach, super sick! We woke up the next day and took off to Hollywood. Traffic was mellow today andd we parked by the Chinese Theater and skated down Hollywood Blvd., where we found many sidewalk bumps and famous people to kickflip over. The surface was very smooth and was great to skate on. From there we drove to the top of Beachwood where the famous Hollywood sign can be seen at the best view, took some photos, and bombed the hill. The area onn the hills was great, beautiful scenery and the houses were amazing. We hit up some more spots that day and headed back to LB. If you get the chance, hit up Hollywood, it's good skating. Being that I only had 100 dollars spending cash, I still ate steaks every night! Drew made sure to hit up grocery shopping before I came which I'm greatfull for. Waking up the next day, we hit up the worst concrete park iv ever skated. Transitions were bumpy and like wedges, and the rails were ankle high. It had much potential and looked fun as hell but the contractors didn't spend much time on it I guess. From there we traveled to the LA River and had an awesome session while gagging from time to time from the smell of the water. The banks were steep but just so much fun to skate, openings here and there to bust tricks over and a bum under each overpass. Later in the day, Costa Mesa was calling our names. A very expensive place to be but an extremely nice place to live. Costa Mesa has one of many Volcom parks which had good flow and sick obstacles. Also where I ran into some guys I met at Expo that were skating there, so it was a sick session. Peacing out we headed to the OC, where we went to a Vans park at the Block at Orange. An indoor park at an outdoor / indoor mall. The Vans park was good and has a great mini, helmets required. After, we called it a night. The next morning, everyone slept in, way in. Chilling around the house all day, finally were motivated to get up and out, drove to Signal Hill and bombed it. Crazy San Fran style hill! Then drove to San Pedro to Miraleste School. This is the school in Tony Hawk Pro Skater and it deffinatly had tons of stuff to skate. It was dark but we managed to hit some sick stair sets before we left and drove into downtown LA. First stop was the car wash banks, which is seen in many videos, by the Staples Center. A good little session grew about until my skateboard shot into traffic, which I ran after and somebody decided to speed up and swerve at, running it over and snapping it. I was super bummed and pretty much had to call it a night after that. The next day was time to fly back to New York. If your a skateboarder, get out west to Cali, it's where it's at! The most fun iv had in a while, happened out here in CA. So check it out and check out the ASR coverage on the site,
- The flight to San Diego was good, lots of leg room
- The view from the Convention Center over San Diego Bay
- The Convention Center where ASR was held
- Skating down Hollywood Blvd., lots of good sidewalk bumps to skate and it's really smooth
- The Tin Man stopped us for a photo, these people expect tips...
- Bombing Beachwood, this hill is very long with the famous Hollywood sign at the top
- The Los Angeles skyline from below as we drive through
- A local mall in Long Beach, where the security is not very skateboarder friendly
- Skateboardrev.com!
- Drew Stanko, helped make this trip possible by providing hospitality and transportation
- Brandon chillin at the RA restaurant after a long day of skating Hollywood
- The weakest handrail in skateboarding, ankle high...
- Bombing the LA River Bank, just don't lose your board in the water, it smells horrible!
- Drew posing for a photo just to show you how steep the bank is
- This fountain was tight! Again security came after us after we snapped this photo
- Signal Hill, where you can get a great view of Long Beach and Los Angeles
- Head out of the sunroof doing 100 down the freeway
- Miraleste School, the school from Tony Hawk Pro Skater
- Car Wash Banks in downtown LA by the Staples Center, very famous spot
- Front Rock on the banks, they are really steep but so much fun
- Brandon staring into the LA skytop after someone ran his skateboard over
