Go Skateboarding Day and Wild in the Streets: Detroit
Posted on Saturday, June 23, 2012 by Rob Meronek
By Rob Meronek
Schaefer, HiDefJoe, and I spent Go Skateboarding Day in Detroit for a Wild in the Streets push through town with the Emerica team. What a day...
Schaefer, HiDefJoe, and I spent Go Skateboarding Day in Detroit for a Wild in the Streets push through town with the Emerica team. What a day...
| We're at Hart Plaza downtown right now the day before just to check out the site. That's Dee Ostrander trying king sized heelflips off the blocks while Andrew Reynolds watches. |
| Behind us is Canada across the water. I feel like I'm going to get detained in Customs just for being this close. |
| Welcome to Detroit, knuckle pounds, bruh. |
| We're just getting lost skating around the city right now. Pause for an @dailybs Instagram post. |
| HiDefJoe's on the Zip Zinger ready for tomorrow's long skate. |
| We didn't go in since it was the middle of the day, but I do wonder what the strip bars are like here. That's a wacky name. |
| Most of downtown is pretty empty. With so many closed businesses it's hard to just get a cup of coffee. There is one block that's got some life, though. |
| One of the few corners downtown with an open business. |
| More playing in the streets. |
| It's now Go Skateboarding Day and we're back at Hart Plaza. I'm sure that's some kind of gambling boat. |
| Every block at every level is like a diving board right now. |
| Look at how many firecrackers have destroyed the bottom lip. |
| Back there is downtown where we're about to push through. That's Luke Hampton on a switch bigspin. He's rolling with the Emerica team on this tour. |
| This guy's got a classic street grab down that thing. |
| You'd like to think all of Detroit looks like that back there, like any large American city. It sure isn't. I'll have a whole separate set of photos and banter regarding that. |
| Don Brown has some good Instagram photos from the weekend. The local news has no idea about this partying jailbird they're interviewing. |
| The whole Emerica team is here to make the long skate through town with us. Brandon Westgate will probably just crack one giant ollie from block to block. |
| I spy Andrew Reynolds. |
| Nice shirt, son! |
| It's all getting started from here. |
| I looked over and found Leo Romero leading the pack. Which side of the road would you start on? Flowing with traffic or going directly against it? We picked against it. I want to see the cars coming at me, not try to fly around them from behind. |
| Packed streets, confused drivers, bewildered pesdestrians, hyped skateboarders, hell yes. |
| Even longboarding hippies are in on it. |
| Some sections of town have some pretty harsh ground. |
| Going through the foot traffic going to the old stick and ball was crazy. This cop was so pissed he was clotheslining any skaters he could. |
| There's some more of that amazing East coast ground for you. |
| I spy Jerry Hsu. |
| Ed Templeton's Instagram is amazing. |
| We're getting cheers from the Anime Cafe staff. |
| First stop was this set of stairs that had the police on scene pretty fast. Andrew Reynolds got a clean kickflip in before it was broken up. See my cell phone edit from today for the rest of what went down. |
| Now we're over at these tennis courts with a bunch of DIY spots. That's Mark Davenport smith grinding up a very bouncy rail. |
| The tennis courts are between several large abandoned buildings. It's amazing how there are miles and miles of buildings like this that have all been left to rot. |
| Several people went up into the buildings to watch, break stuff, and throw things out the windows. |
| One crusty launcher. |
| An accidental dedication to Fabrizio Santos with the one foot crook up. |
| I took a walk up the stairs in one of the abandoned buildings. Past this point of entry, it's pitch black going up the stairs. |
| The view of the DIY tennis courts from one of the abandoned buildings. |
| Some people went all the way to the top. |
| Homies of Ryan Gaynier, a detroit local who died in a car accident. Another reminder: Get wasted, slap your friends and do silly crap, hang from the ceiling, laugh your ass off, lose you inhibitions, but just don't drive while you're doing it. |
| Don't drink and drive, fools. |
| We had a bike with us so we could cover the event better. Schaefer's getting a tow from HiDefJoe after a long, long skate through town. |
| Later that night, the autograph sessions are still going on with Leo Romero scribbling sharpie. |
| There's a straight up club room at Modern Skatepark. |
| Good night P-Stone and everyone in Detroit. We're waking up at 5:30am to get back home. Thanks to Emerica, Modern, and everyone who was a part of this crazy day. I know you're all already back on the wood and wheels. Thank you skateboarding. |
