Spott Dreams of Skateparks

Monday, 16 June 2025

West Lincoln/Smithville

West Lincoln/Smithville, ON

177 West St, Smithville. ON

Welland, ON

Lincoln St across the canal from the Welland Community Wellness Complex.

Sunday, 15 June 2025

Street Spots and Skatepark Features

Notable Skatepark Features

Skateparks feature a bunch of different obstacles. Rails, ledges, Quarter Pipes and Banks. The first skateparks were built to mimic the natural features of ditches, school yards and pools.

Some skateparks have bowls that mimic pools with tiles, concrete or stone pool coping, stairs and deathboxes (fake filtration openings).

There are a number of skatepark features take their name from famous street spots.

Hubba

A Hubba is an angled ledge. All angled ledges are now known as Hubba's from San Fransisco's Justin Herman Plaza. This area is known as Hubba Hideout. The Plaza features a set of six stairs and an angled ledge leading to a secluded area that was known for Crack Cocaine consumption. One of the street names for crack is hubba.

Skater Paul Rodriguez at Hubba Hideout.

Hubba Hideout Replicated for a skateboard competition.

Big Hubba's at Fischer-Hallman Skatepark, Kitchener, ON

Small Hubba's at the West Shore Skate Spot, Pickering, ON.

Pier 7 Ledge

Pier 7 is another famous skate spot in San Francisco (this will be a theme). The Pier 7 street spot is a flat and wide concrete pad that is used as as a ledge or manny pad. It is bordered by two steps on each side ( or a bank, there's a few ledges at the spot) making one end on the ledge higher than the other. Over the years, it has been skate-stopped in a variety of ways but skaters have always been able to resurrect the spot.

Check out Maxim Pictures Video HERE

House of Vans - Toronto 2017 with a Pier 7 replica

Pier 7 style Ledge with a beveled front for wallies.

I am of the opinion that skatepark Pier 7's should have at least 30" (roughly one board length) of of ledge on the upper flat. WSSS (above) has more than that while Paris (below) only has about a foot.

Paris, ON got a phase 2 Bowl and Pier 7 style Hubba.

The China Banks

The Chinese Cultural Center in SF features concrete ledges backed by a tight transition to brick bank. In my opinion, 'China Banks Style' refers to any Ledge/Manny Pad that sticks out from a Quarter Pipe or Bank.

The China Banks. There's a 30ft drop to the street below.

China Banks style mini at Brant's Crossing, Brantford, ON

China Banks style feature at Tamworth.

Big Hubba, Pier 7 (in the back) and China Banks style features at Toronto's 8th street Skatepark. There's also a Big 3 Block very reminiscent of MACBA's Big 3.

Big Blocks

Big Blocks are basically giant stairs and street 'Big Blocks', like this one at MACBA, are found around the world.

Courtice also features a Big 3.

Brick Banks

Another feature found around the world are Brick Banks. The steep banks of LA High are perfect for wallies and slappys into various tricks. The more mellow Brooklyn Banks of NYC were just re-opened after a long restoration project.

LA High

Stouffville features a steep brick bank.

Brooklyn Banks

Big Brick-stamped bank at Akwesane Skatepark. PS - It is not a China Banks.

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

RIM Skate Spot

Waterloo

Located at the Manulife Sportsplex at RIM Park

2001 University Ave

The 4th recent addition to Waterloo's Action Sports Facilities network, RIM Skate Spot is a carvers paradise.

A long ditch with QP's, banks, hips, rollers and more.

Edit of the Day

Starting at the far end, there's front and backside QP pockets & rollers. There's a banked hip, speed bump and a fantastic slappy curb.

There's a second hip, banked pocket and an extension.

The Park is super smooth. The surrounding concrete has a slight texture to it that feels cool and separates the features from deck. The extension is deceptively challenging with a change in the radius as you reach the top.