Our first stop once we landed in LA was to stop by an old familiar place to us, Venice Beach. The new stuff they built there reminds me of all the terrible skate parks that cities built early last decade trying to mimic anything extreme. I thought we made it out of that phase of skateboarding? To your left is a double set with no run up, knee high handrails that are three feet long, etc.

Even your grandpa knows how to build a bowl so no one can mess that up, even the gub'ment. They built two there that are going to grow some local tranny chompers for sure.

Everything else at Venice Beach Skatepark is looking real pretty.

You can't go to Venice Beach without taking one freakshow photo. Who's going to believe you when you say you saw a naked black dude holding two snakes dancing on a barstool at high noon on a Friday? Yep, photo needed for sure.

We had some time to kill so we took a trip up the hills to the Hollywood sign.

Turn around when you're at the Hollywood sign and you see there's this huge lake on the mountain. Amazing.

We are not the only ones on tourist mission. In these crazy neighborhoods that are nestled into the mountain, there are tons of tourists pulled over and just hanging out trying to be Hollywood.

How often do you do tourist stuff in your own town? I bet all our friends from LA have never even done what we're doing right now. Here's a small sample of the crowd you see buzzing around the sign.

Okay, enough tourist mission. We're at the best plaza I think I've ever been to, Stoner Park. It's amazing that there's no carcass toss section either. Ronson Lambert was there warming up on the ledges with this backside 5-0 frontside 180 out.
Skater Profile: Ronson Lambert

Jimmy Carlin - frontside flip.
Skater Profile: Jimmy Carlin

It was a pleasure watching Dustin Dollin make gross tricks look good.
Skater Profile: Dustin Dollin

That switch flip down the triple set in the Carroll 5 Lakai commercial was Sebo Walker (pronounced "see-bo"). He was killing it and making new friends left and right from being the nicest dude you ever met. That's a nollie cab heelflip he made multiple times all day.
Skater Profile: Sebo Walker

I just met Jose Garcia, a local at Stoner. That's a tailslide frontside 270 out.

Kelly Hart has a damn good looking 360 flip, clean and classy, no manufactured limb flair.
Skater Profile: Kelly Hart

Gilbert Estrada is growing up and getting more grown man tricks on lock like this varial heel.
Skater Profile: Gilbert Estrada aka Lil Gee

Jordan Maxham is one of many who are out here from the East living the dream. You and I dream of doing hardflip backside tailslides on hubbas. Jordan does them when he wakes up.
Skater Profile: Jordan Maxham

What kind of names can we make up for Nate Principato's hardflip 360? Difficult flip? Complicated flip? Sophisticated flip?
Skater Profile: Nate Principato

Sebo Walker was the champ of the wedge to wedge - nollie backside flip.
Skater Profile: Sebo Walker

Sebo Walker - nollie half cab heelflip.
Skater Profile: Sebo Walker

After this nollie heelflip crooked grind, Sierra Fellers did a 360 flip frontside nosegrind on that thing.
Skater Profile: Sierra Fellers

DJ Wade and Vern Laird, polar opposites as far as party-time goes, at least at this point in their lives. Everyone goes through phases. Vern's currently straight edge while Wade edge is crooked as a politician.
Skater Profile: DJ Wade

Watching Kelly Hart skate flatground is like a good TV show.
Skater Profile: Kelly Hart

Heath Kirchart has been showing up to more and more things lately. It was nice to see him killing it out there without even trying. That's a kickflip.
Skater Profile: Heath Kirchart

This is Aaron Snyder's local park.
Skater Profile: Aaron Snyder

Heath was nollie backside flipping that little wedge gap with power.
Skater Profile: Heath Kirchart

Speaking of power, who names their security guard company "Power Security?" They're probably owned by Ultimate Authority Management.

I did a lot of Heath watching. That's a backside tailslide over the hip, pushed extra hard so that it overextends like that.
Skater Profile: Heath Kirchart

Who dat on the ledge? I don't know, but he had balanced, smooth nosegrinds across the whole thing.
Skater Profile: Who Dat?

Joey Brezinksi, as far as I know, is the third member of the Skatepark of Tampa Party Team to retire from the sauce, at least for now. That's a backside 180 fakie 5-0, frontside half cab out. Already a hard trick, but much harder if you were still on the Party Team.
Skater Profile: Joey Brezinski

If you were in this crowd, thanks for coming to Skateboarder Mag's shindig. See you next year.

David Gonzales - 360 flip. The Tampa Kit stays strong.
Skater Profile: David Gonzalez

Sierra Fellers and Casey Rigney with the new copy of Skateboarder.
Skater Profile: Sierra Fellers

A few people that skated in the Contest. Thanks for coming!

Micky Papa and Nate Principato. If you had to guess which one was from Canada and which one was from Boston, you'd likely have them switched around.
Skater Profile: Micky Papa

Theotis makin' more people be likin' him.
Skater Profile: Theotis Beasley

Jordan Hoffart won it overall and got a $2,500 donation in his name to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Check the Results Page for the full breakdown.
Skater Profile: Jordan Hoffart

We went on more city lurk after the Contest before our quick flight home and ran into Stevie Williams.
Skater Profile: Stevie Williams

We drove by this spot. It's definitely one of those ones that makes your jaw drop when you see how truly gnar it is in person.

If you're of certain "fly around all the time" status, there's a lounge in the airport that has self-serve booze and beer. If I discovered this years ago, I would have been on the FBI No Fly list immediately. Luckily these days, I can keep it somewhat mature.
Skater Profile: Colin Clark

On our overnight flight home, Colin and I were the only ones awake and still having some drinks. Clem was passed out next to me and some poor stranger was next to Colin, so he had to climb the seats like a kid every time he had to empty the bladder.
Skater Profile: Colin Clark

Since all the flight attendants were also asleep, Colin took it upon himself to raid the liquor cabinet and snag us a bottle of wine. The self serve alcohol continues in the air. What a great weekend. Thanks to Skateboarder Mag for having us again. We'll be back at Stoner Park next year for the third annual.
Skater Profile: Colin Clark