Skateboarder Magazine Hollenbeck Jam Benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation

Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek

“It’s a great place to be at night if you’re a bullet.”

That’s what Big Jeff, the DC security guard, told me about Hollenbeck Park. Apparently Hollenbeck has a pretty bad reputation of gang violence, shootings, murders, and so on. It seemed pretty mellow to us, but then again, we were on site during daylight hours.

The skate park is one of Rob Dyrdek’s “safe spots.” The location is an old slab of concrete that used to house some fenced in, pre-fabs ramps with a pad nanny that checked to make sure you were all geared up. I don’t know how they made it happen, but those ramps were removed and a modern skate park consisting of ledges, rails, stairs, and gaps was created. The best part: No pads, no helmets, no fees, and basically no rules at all. I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but that’s exactly how all public skate parks should be operated. Here are some random happenings and facts from throughout the day:

• The Linda Vista Community Hospital is right across the street from Hollenbeck. It has been closed for many years, but is now supposedly haunted. Google it. I can tell you that it sure looks creepy.
• The people that live in the area must get issued a pit bull with every home purchase. Those dogs are all over the place.
• Despite hearing that we were in a gang-ridden area, I am disappointed to report that I didn’t see any official gang-bangers. So I just Googled “Hollenbeck Park gang” for some stories.

First time events are always tough. You never know what type of participation you’re going to get. I saw a lot of super-stars hanging out (Lance Mountain, Koston, Mariano, Welsh, Biebel, P-Rod, Rick Howard, Mike Carroll, Appleyard, Darrell, Berra, and many others), but none of those guys actually skated. However, their presence was greatly appreciated and what good is your event if the right people don’t show up, right? By the way, Sheckler was there, too, and even skated a bit.

The course was broken into two different sections with 30-minute jams on each. It was simple, fun, and laid-back…just how your Saturday afternoon should be.

Section One:

• 1st - Anthony Pshebelski - $750 - big heelflip off the bump, switch big heel off the bump, kickflip back smith the ledge, kickflip front blunt on the ledge.
• 2nd - Paul Flores - $500 - kickflip crooked grind pop put on the ledge, backside nosegrind the long ledge shuv it out, frontside half cab flip off the bump, switch frontside flip off the bump.
• 3rd - Billy Davenport - $250 - nollie half cab flip off the bump, nosegrind 180 out up the bump, back smith up the bump, backside flip off the bump, frontside flip off the bump.

Section Two:

• 1st - Andrew Pott - $750 - big flip front board the rail, 360 flip lip the rail, hardflip over the rail.
• 2nd - Mikey Sanchez - $500 - hard flip the stairs, 360 flip the stairs, switch big heel the stairs, half cab flip down the stairs.
• 3rd – Kurtis Colamonico - $250 - switch flip the stairs, noseblunt slide the rail, back tail fakie the rail, switch 360 flip.

We had an extra hand-made trophy from MAW, so it was given to Billy Davenport for being the overall ripper...dude killed it. And all money raised was donated back to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant the wish of a kid that might not be as fortunate as you and I. Thanks to Skateboarder, DC, World, Warco, Welcome, Broadcast Wheels, Native American Action Sports, DLX, Analog, Gravis, Stereo, and Volcom.