Well you can always leave it to yahoo answers to get good reliable answers. So this answer might be close, but what does it really cost to build a skatepark?

Mike McGill developed the McTwist, which has become a standard move in skating and snowboarding. McGill, who still owns and runs McGill Skate Shop in Encinitas, first landed the trick in 1984 at a summer camp in Sweden.

Realizing he needed to spin his body around one and a half full times after leaving the lip of the ramp, McGill knew he had to perform the trick a few feet in the air. One day, he decided to go for it. Suiting up with wrist guards and hip pads, McGill tried the move for only 40 minutes before completing the full 540-degree spin and landing it on all four wheels. No one had a video camera. This was 1984; pre YouTube, pre cell phones with video cameras, and pre cell phones period. The next day, McGill convinced skateboard legend and good friend Lance Mountain to bring his camera and take a sequence of his newly discovered trick.

After seeing what it actually looked like himself, McGill started flipping his body over mid-spin three months later. “It just felt better and looked better,” he said nonchalantly. Teammate Rodney Mullen called it the McTwist. The name has stuck ever since. Since then, the move has become almost a requirement for skateboarders and snowboarders to be able to compete at the highest level. “After I did the McTwist in competitions, you had to do it to qualify and a lot of guys didn’t like me for that,” Mcgill said laughing.

With Shaun White winning the gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics with two McTwists in a row, one can only wonder what the Double McTwist will turn into next Olympics.

Skate decks eventually see its life shortened by snapping, cracking and/or wearing out. Purchasing new decks is a never ending cycle and this was evident by the tower of old decks that were reaching to the ceiling of my room.
We can’t throw away these decks because they hold sentimental meanings to us. I looked at these unusable decks every day and thought there must be something I can make with these. I decided to make some accessories with the old decks and this was the birth of Harvest. The works of Harvest are through the perspectives of a skater and as an artist. As a skater, I want to take responsibility of reusing skateboards when they were no longer useable.
Also, as an artist I want to explore the possibilities of what can be done with skateboards. We see the care and effort that a skater can have for his/her deck and we also acknowledge the origins of a skateboard. We believe that if the small things we do can connect to sustainability then we’re doing something right. We’d be satisfied in our effort when people look at products and start thinking of ways to recycle.
Images and Text Courtesy Haroshi

On Sunday, January 17th, the youth of Long Beach, California got a brand new facility where they can exercise their passions and distract themselves from the hardships of living in what 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia called “one of the most dense and poor communities in Long Beach.” The new skatepark, which replaced existing equipment and expanded upon the site’s footprint, is a 8,000 sq. ft. hybrid style skatepark, consisting of TrueRide ramps and pre-cast Spohncrete features.

I am a long beach local myself so I went downtown today and to my surprise I found a skatepark that was actually rideable and it had a mini ramp. I don’t remember what was there before cause i just drove through and had no desire to hit the few ramps they had. Now there is a fun mini ramp, a street course behind it that the young and the old (like myself) can have fun on. There are some concrete features built throughout the park that are mixed in with the above ground park and it was a nice use of space. There is also a kids section that is completely seperate which keeps them out of harms way.

After skating the mini ramp for about an hour or so I decided to roll through the street course with about 15 other guys. To my amazement I had no accidents and didn’t even have any close calls. The flow in this park is excellent in my opinion. Now I don’t have to go Houghton Skatepark or the El Dorado Skatepark if I want to ride transition in Long Beach. Here is the address. 1390 Pacific Ave, Long Beach, CA, United States

Here is what the kiddy course looks like.

Here is a shot of the street course.

Another view of the street course. This was shot from the mini ramp.

The mini ramp is about 5 foot tall and really fun

Random Skateboarding At the Downtown Long Beach Skatepark

Rolling Through The New Long Beach Skatepark

Downtown Long Beach Skatepark Kids Section

The New Downtown Long Beach Skatepark Tour From The Outside Of The Skatepark

This would be an advanced skateboard trick. You will have to know how to ride vert pretty good or probably be an am or pro. What you do here is drop in and launch off the side of the vert ramp and go up and over the spine and land on the side of the spine in the transition.

Carpet Boarding is typically used for practicing ollie tricks without having to worry about your skateboard shooting out from underneath you. . Most people think that busting ollies while standing still is a lot harder than while rolling, but practicing like this can help your body learn how to do it. Pretty much the worst thing that can happen to you is you land on the edge of the board and roll and ankle so you can still slam but it minimizes the chances of that happening.

This Is Carpet Boarding

We went ahead and found a few clips on youtube so you can see what we are talking about.

Sure, skateboarding was invented in the ’40s, and came into its own as a sport in the ’70s, but the ’90s were really the best time to be alive and skating, Need proof? Here are the top ten reasons why…

1. The Best Videos Where Made

Let’s see….Video Days. Questionable. Trilogy. Welcome To Hell. Goldfish. Spitfire video. Skypager. Soldier’s Story. The End. Uno. Lick. Eastern Exposure 1-3. Stars And Bars. Yellow. Life In The Fast Lane. Love Child. Tim Dowling’s Listen. A Visual Sound. Color video…. I could go on for days. Basically , there ain’t no comparison.

2. The Level Of Talent Will Forever Go Unmatched

I don’t care what anybody has to say. If it weren’t for cats like Eric Koston, Danny Way, Pat Duffy, Kareem Campbell, Daewon Song, Tom Penny, Guy Mariano, Chad Muska, Mike Carroll, Alphonzo Rawls, Jason Lee, Andrew Reynolds, and Jeremy Wray (just to name a few), there ain’t no telling where or what the hell skateboarding would be like now. Those guys literally changed and are partially responsible for the game as we see it now.

3. The Best Contests

I mean, is this even debatable? Just the level of excitement that joints like Back To The City, Brooklyn Banks, Munster, Houston Pro, Tampa Pro, Slam City had…and then we had the illest amateur contests imaginable. You go to any NSA district, regional, or finals, and they were better than most Super Bowls! And here’s another great thing–the street guys would actually stay and root for their vert comrades. I’mtelling y’all, 90s was the best.

4. The East Coast Explosion

Good googly moogly. I remember this like it was yesterday. It was like when Snoop Dogg (Ricky Oyola) and Tha Dogg Pound (Fred Gall, Matt Reason, Donny Barley, et cetera) thought East (West) Coast was biased about their music (skating), and came through and kicked over the buildings in the “New York, New York” (Eastern Exposure0 video. Sorry if y’all don’t get that, but that’s the easiest way I could reference the “takeover.”

5. World Industries Was Created

It took on dude to change the face of the skateboarding industry, and that one dude was Steve Rocco. He didn’t give a f*ck about what the industry thought of him. He didn’t give a f*ck who he made angry. And he didn’t give a f*ck about the way the industry perceived the way he ran his business. He was a real bawss! Don’t wanna run my ads? I’ll start my own magazine! I don’t like you. I’ll take your riders and make them superstars. Plus, he gave more minorities jobs than the damn Job Corp. As I said, BAWSS status.

6. Vert Skating Was At Its Peak

The level vert skating was at back then was so ridiculous that there was street dudes incorporating it into their video parts. I’m saying, when you’re watching a video and you see a dude do a backside 360 tailgrab fakie nosegrind revert or a fakie 540 heelflip indy grab, you’d wanna skate vert too! It was like these cats were literally doing ledge, mixed with the hardest flatground tricks, on eleven-foot ramps! And oh yea, the 900 was done in the 90s too. And it ain’t even fair to discuss when Bob Burnquist hit the States.

7. There Were No Manufactured Pros Or Ams

See, unlike nowadays, you had to actually be at least somewhat well-rounded at skateboarding to even be taken seriously. There was no such thing as a “video skater” or a “rail guy.” There seemed to be a common, unspoken level of wackness that was just not accepted as much as it is now. Teams had variety. Skaters had real personalities. All in all it was doper.

8. Graphic Design Was At Its Peak

The 90s was the premier era of design. Guys like Sean Cliver, Marc McKee, Marty Jimenez, Natas Kaupas, Andy Howell, Ron Cameron, Ed Templeton, and Thomas Campbell (just to name a few)….these guys were at the forefront of art. Galleries were paying attention. Companies were literally ripping off skateboarding logos. As Russell Bongard said, “The new bible of cool was written in the 90s, from and aesthetic standpoint.”

9. The Best Shoe Companies Were Created

And when I say “the best,” I’m speaking in terms of teams that these companies were built around. And with that said, I think we can just stop at both DC and Etnies (yes, I know Etnies is technically from the 80s, but that was really just Natas). These are our “Nike” and “Adidas” of our sport. They’ve both been built around solid teams, have always had solid products, ads, branched into other sports and genres, and furthermore, have withstood the test of time. Say what you want, but these two companies will be around until they wanna be.

10. Trends Were Actually Being Started, Not Followed

When the hell did skateboarders start following trends? Real talk. Since when was it “cool” to dress like anything other than a skateboarder? If you look at the history, half these other “action sports” stole our tricks. Half these bands/rappers stole our looks. It’s like, we Benjamin Buttoned our whole existence and now we look as if we’re emulating other people…and accept it! We let money and sheep define our current existence. ‘Scust. Now I know why my folks always say, ” The good ol’ days.”

The options for putting a piece of sandpaper on your board are getting a little out of control!

Griptape is the gritty, sand paper layer that’s put on top of a skateboard deck. This adhesive backed friction-surfaced material helps that skateboarder stick to the top of the skateboard deck.

Griptape comes in different forms but the most common is in a sheet. You just peel off the backing and stick it on the top of your new board. Griptape also comes in rolls and more recently, companies are making 4 little squares so its even easier to apply.

Over the years griptape companies have worked with different colors and even putting graphics on griptape to give it that custom feel. Here are some of the options that are now available.

Screen Printed Griptape

Die Cut Griptape

Bright Neon Colored Griptape

Crazy Patterns On Griptape

Griptape With Stripes

Skateboarding: It's all in the arms

Daniel Pelletier, a teenage skater who’s paralyzed from the waist down, can skateboard better than most people that give it a shot. He is able to do this by using an amazing combination of crutches, coordination, arm strength and of course a whole lot of heart.

The legends of skateboarding dropped in for their contest runs today in front of a VIP viewing box packed with cheering pro skaters who were barely walking when they were busy dominating the skateboard scene.

Skateboard Park Legends contest, which ran solely as an exhibition jam session at X Games 14, became a medaled event this year. The chance for gold and glory stepped the excitement level up, with the old-school pros showing themselves to be every bit as competitive now that they’re over 40 as they were when they were under 20.

1980s vert dominator Christian Hosoi, who regularly used to compete against Tony Hawk, and Planet Earth founder Chris Miller shined in the finals today, one-upping each other with stylish old school and new school tricks. Hosoi took the title in the end, going huge on his transfers and getting almost upside down in the cradle, to the delight of his many longtime fans.