Skateboarding
Skateboarding
City Lights: Greetings From Melbourne!
Meet the local skateboarders shaping Australia's capital of youth culture today.
Now: effusive though we might have been in our righteous praise of Sydney in our skate guide to that splendid city- Melbourne is the Australian city which perennially tops the worldwide ‘most-liveable’ polls.
Melbourne is considered Australia’s cultural capital: if anything, more so where youth culture is concerned. Drawing not only the bright young things of that utterly gigantic country but the world into her orbit, ‘Melbs’ (don’t you love Australians?) is a city famed for a mellow pace of life and progressive attitude towards both youth and being outdoors.
It has, naturally enough, a longstanding-ly ballistic skate scene made up- as all great scenes are- by locals and adventure-seekers who, in time, become locals themselves.
Blake Harris- Backside Overcrook
© Marcello Guardigli
Skaters who came up in Melbourne and then rocked the world include Nick Boserio, Geoff Campbell, Jon Fitzgerald, Bryce Golder, Shane O'Neill, Hayley Wilson, Lewis Marnell (RIP), Jason Ellis, Kurt Winter, Renton Millar, Callum Paul, Jack Kirk and Morgan Campbell- all of whom have all left their indelible marks on the city.
Individual skate spots like Library have become so iconic that some locals have tattoos of the sculptures located there.
Tristan Evans- Nosegrind Rag Off
© Marcello Guardigli
Sergio Reinhardt - Front Blunt
© Marcello Guardigli
Zion Wright- Crook Pop Over
© Anthony Acosta
Ale Morandi- Lipslide
© Marcello Guardigli
It is worth noting just how progressive Melbourne is about skateboarding, here.
The city council’s website has a page devoted to skateboarding and the city which begins: “Skating is a popular activity in the City of Melbourne, with hundreds of local and visiting skaters using the city’s skate parks and other public spaces each week.”
Included in the page is a spot map, code of conduct, emergency number and more. As we say: what a people.
Yet More Australian Radness
What makes Melbourne the world’s favourite city? Notwithstanding the lifestyle, the city is spacious, easy to navigate, safe and because of the desire to be out of doors whenever possible, there is always something free to do at night in the Arts Precinct and around.
Chris Joslin - Backside Flip
© Sam McGuire
Below, we’ve listed the main locales you might want to explore for yourself as a skateboarding visitor- but wherever you go, be sure to pass by the Melbourne Museum/ IMAX forecourt in Carlton at least once in the evening to see a living example of shared youth culture space.
01
Crosstown Traffic: Getting Around
Flinders Street, Melbourne
© KEO FILMS/Red Bull Content Pool
If you’d like to cruise around and see different parts of the city in the least strenuous manner possible, you can hire an electric bike- available all around the city. Let’s you move from spot to park in no time. Pack a rucksack and make a day of hopping from spot to spot, is our advice; skateboarding is a fantastic way to experience much of what makes Melbourne the one place everybody lucky enough to visit forever raves about.
Shem Bragg- Tailpick
© Marcello Guardigli
Jacob Martin- Nosegrind
© Marcello Guardigli
James Moore- Frontside Nollie Heelflip
© Marcello Guardigli
Barry Mansfield- Hurricane
© Marcello Guardigli
02
Where The Wild Things Are: Melbourne Skate Terrain
Alex Sorgente – Tre Flip
© Anthony Acosta
Riverslide Skatepark
Since it was built in 2002, located next to the Yarra River and lying eight hundred metres away from Flinder Station, Riverslide is the most heavily-frequented of Melbourne's skateparks. It's hosted most of the international tours and is the best meeting point for crews to warm up before hitting the street. 1,800square metres of smooth concrete with everything you need for a fun session.
The YMCA have been looking after it since day one, and run courses at any entry level.
Best places to eat in Melbourne? Soy 38, China Red and thirdly... Good Times
Zepp Heyes- Stalefish
© Marcello Guardigli
St. Kilda Skatepark
This famous skatepark can be found in St. Kilda Marina Reserve, one of the best-looking locations you could ever ask for a skatepark. It was built in 2013 by Convic Skatepark, and hosted the Vans Park Series in 2016. The main feature is an open bowl, which varies from five to seven feet deep with an eight-foot extension.
It connects with the rest of the park which is composed of banks and more transitions; the pool coping is all granite, with banks, ‘noping’ (which is to say- no coping!) and normal steel coping in the other sections.
It has a lot of flow- but if you are after some rails or ledges, it's not the right park for you. There are always good skaters and older crew having big sessions. It can be busy during the summer and school holidays, plus occasionally has to be swept of wind-blown sand from the nearby beach.
Alan Young and Nick Maughan- Doubles
© Marcello Guardigli
Brunswick Skatepark
One of the best bowls in Australia is located at this skatepark, featuring as it does a clover bowl with sections of four, eight and eleven foot depth connected via waterfalls. There is a roll-in opposite the deep end which has been destroyed with insane transfers by Kieran Woolley. There are also a few street obstacles like a Euro gap, a nice hipped bank, a rail and a Hubba ledge.
The skatepark is in Clifton Park, surrounded by grass and trees, a perfect location to chill after the session. It's situated only five hundred metres away from Brunswick station, and twenty minutes from Flinders via the Upfield line. Every Saturday morning, a mad old-school crew meets up for some shredding while blasting loud 80's-to-90's punk rock.
Pat Roberts- Fakie Front Crook To Forwards
© Marcello Guardigli
Uni Square
Uni Square was built as a replacement for Lincoln Square, one of the best Melbourne spots where skaters used to hang out every day. A few years after it was made un-skateable, the council created this smooth, slightly-downhill plaza with ledges and out-ledges everywhere.
Even though it is located only three hundred metres away from the old spot, this area is not very busy- no solid crews really hang out here on the daily.
The spot has hosted a fair few demos since it was built, it appears in a lot of videos and has been defined by locals like Ben Lawrie, Gabriel Summers, Sean Paul, Sam Owbridge and many more.
Kristjan Rowell- Boneless One
© Marcello Guardigli
Corio Bowls
Built in 1978, Corio is Australia's second-oldest skatepark. There are two main bowls; one looks like a paint tray and the other is a keyhole. Featuring 'noping' once again, rough concrete and tight transitions, this park is special and takes some adapting to, so pads are a good idea. In the late 1980’s, American pros used to stop and skate there on their way to the Ramp Riot contest hosted in Torquay. Around 1989, Lester Kasai became the first one to air over the channel of the keyhole, which still today is an outrageous trick.
Nowadays it doesn't get ridden very often, most of the time you can have your private session with your mates in the middle of Fountain of Friendship Park. Take a broom with you in case there are leaves from the surrounding trees, or occasional random dirt clods inside. It lies just outside Melbourne but if you like rugged old transitions it's an absolute must.
03
Credit To The Nation: Skateshops
Hemley Skateboarding, Melbourne
© Andrew Peters
If you are around Fitzroy don’t forget to pass by Hemley Skateboarding for a visit. It’s an awesome skate shop run by skaters, located in Brunswick Street only a few minutes away from Fitzroy skatepark. They support Australian brands and carry a great range of imported hardware and clothing.
If you are around the CBD, Fast Times is the go. They host all kinds of events and stock a massive range of local and international brands.
In both cases, you will find no better starting points for your exploration of the Melbourne skate scene.
Melbourne’s sick ! It’s a small city that seems big- endless spots and parks are being built constantly. The city is continually changing, too. My only tip is to skate as much as you can- and if you see a spot, skate it. It might not be there next week.
