Kevin Krahel
Skates:ranny primarily- bowls, ramps, pipes, etc..
Started: 1987

Skate and Annoy Scene Reports

Denver Colorado

Submitted by: Kevin Krahel

Report Date: 02-02-05

Editor's note: Here they come at the staggering pace of one scene report every other month! What's round on the end and tall in hte middle? O - Hi - O! Even though it contains no Devo sightings, we're happy to post our first report from Ohio. I know there's more of you Midwesterners out there, so let's hear from you. -K.ed

Columbus Ohio

Thanks to breaking my goddamn leg riding this ridiculous wooden toy, I am able to give you this scene report on Columbus Ohio. What's Columbus, Ohio have to offer, you ask? Well, I'm gonna tell you. First impressions might not seem too promising, but beneath the surface there's much to experience. There's the obvious spots for the street skaters, downtown is full of stairs, ledges, and everything else Dyrdek wants in his plazas. You can try to avoid the cops and roll through the arena district, or brave Columbus State college, CCAD, or even Ohio State, if you are feeling frisky. I have to admit, in my younger days, I rolled through the streets with the best of them, but now, I'm much older and tickets aren't for me. Seems that circa 2000 the surrounding suburbs of Columbus caught the skatepark bug, and there are now many legal places to ride, and still new parks being planned and built every year.

Located downtown, Dodge park is the oldest and only park that Columbus proper has to offer. It's pretty old and weathered, but a hell of a good time when you get the right crowd there. Once in a while the planets align and the old guys who ripped the park as teens all seem to show up and give her taste of the old days. There's Dublin's park that is pretty much a turd, but good for a session maybe once a month. The clover bowl looks pretty good, but is kinky and really hard to manage. Worthington is the usual hangout for our crew. It's small, but being tucked in the woods, beer isn't much of a problem, and the sessions can get pretty crazy there. The bowl is open, and goes from about 4' to 5'ish. Small, but really fun and you will find the friendliest locals killing it all day long.

Westerville is the newest park that's officially open, and it shows. It's crowded as hell whenever schools out, and there are as many lurkers around as there are skaters. I must admit, it's a pretty fun park when it's empty, which leads us to weekday afternoon sessions. There's a small bowl there, and some banks and tranny, euro gap, ledges or whatever. There are a few mobile parks located around the city, one in Gahanna, Pickerington, Pataskala but we don't need to speak of them. Reynoldsburg has a wooden park that is alright for the occasional sesh. There's a 4' half, and many street elements and it's lighted till 10 pm, although I have left after midnight with them still on.

Last summer we heard of Team Pain coming in to do a park in the nearby town of Powell, and man did they do it. Officially, the park isn't open till spring, but we have gotten VIP passes from the Team Pain guys and ridden it a few times. Pool. A real Pool in Ohio. It's nice and tight in the shallow, there's 2 deathboxes, a loveseat, stairs, pool coping, tile... Hell, it almost makes you want to fill it and take a swim. I have a feeling that will be our home next summer. The street area is pretty fun too, with lots of banks, some quarters, a lumpy "surface of the moon" section, and a crete jersey barrier.

The City of Bexley, just east of downtown is demo-ing their current crap-wood park and upgrading to a cement bowl done by Velocity skateparks, a local park builder (more on them later.) I have seen the designs for the bowl and it'll be a good one for sure. If I remember correctly, it'll be around 5' in the shallow and 9' or 10' in the deep. Grove City, just south of town is looking to build also. There's an indoor park called The Flow for those rainy days, although it's primarily a bike park, so you gotta watch for the BMXicans at all times.

The crowning jewel right now is what is commonly referred to as "The Warehouse". This is actually headquarters for Velocity Skateparks (www.m3dskate.com) , and home of the now legendary O.M.S.J. or old man slam jam. It it a privately owned and operated facility that is available for rentals or whatever, but never just "open". It's got a giant bowl type monster ramp that is 6',7',8', 10' oververt with chunnel, and a 13' wooden cradle. There's some hips, corners, pool coping and a lot of love and sweat on this ramp. There's also a 3' ramp and a smaller street area that's a ton of fun too. Velocity is the place to be in town, but you better know somebody, or know someone who does. (Contact me--we'll get you in there).

The notable shops around town are Sunsports recently relocated on the far North end of town near the Polaris mall, and Old Skool, downtown Westerville. Sunsports is the oldest and you may remember the old park they used to run (ref. G&S Footage) out East. They are a bigger shop peddling other merch such as snowboards, but a really great staff eliminate any misconceptions about being a bigger shop. Old Skool is owned and operated by Wally Carl, and he'll tell you whatever you need to know about skating around town. His shop is exactly what a skateshop should be. Small, friendly and a place to get whatever you need, and kill 6 hours if you want to.

Columbus is also home to Five Points Skateboards, run by Tim Birt. He's been getting international acclaim, and really doing big business lately making custom skateboards. www.fivepointskates.com for more info. I personally run a small outfit called 70-71. It's mainly just my website www.70-71.com where I try to be the local know it all. I just post information about whats going on around town in the skate world that people might be interrested in. We have a pretty decent little forum, I sell some boards, and soon clothing. I've been pretty successful, and 70-71 puts on a jam/party every so often at The Warehouse, and hopefully a contest or two in the coming year. I also put on what is known as "Quantity Day", a trip through all the parks in the Columbus area from sun up to sundown. It's really a good time, and actually has a pretty amazing following.

There are other crews around town doing things, but I don't know enough about where they are coming from to post about them. Columbus is located pretty much in the center of the Buckeye state, 1 hr from the Grindline park in Athens, 3.5 hrs. from Louisville, 1.5 hrs from Skatopia. If you are ever through here, drop a line and we'll skate the best the city has to offer.

Reporter: Kevin Krahel, 70-71.com

Photos: Andrew Frehs, Martin Malley, Rob Behler, Kevin Krahel, Adam Lowe, Andy Collins

Local Web Site: www.70-71.com