Skatepark Opens After 20-year Struggle
Andy Harris was a young skateboarding photographer when he first showed up at this newspaper, snapping pictures and getting his college degree. Many years later, he’s employed full-time on the docks, as a steady gear-man at Pasha Terminal, married with two kids, and now the OG of the San Pedro Skatepark Association.
On Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, just short of the 20th anniversary of when he and his comrades, Bob “Yamo” Yamasaki, Gabe Solis, Robbie O’Connell and April Jones kicked off this idea with no money or a clue about how to accomplish it, the Channel Street Skatepark opened. It had resounding support from a very diverse cross-section of supporters, young, old, boys and girls of all colors as the park was officially pronounced “legal.”
What follows is the brief accounting of the struggle to open this DIY project by Harris who had the fortune, skill and guts to pull off this project and in the process earn the respect of all who were pulled into his orbit.
— The Publisher
SSpeech by Andy Harris, CEO of the San Pedro Skatepark Association kateboarders, community members, and Channel Street locals, welcome to the Channel Street Skatepark, legal for the first time in its 20-year existence.
This has been a long and winding road to get us from our humble beginnings, building concrete bumps and quarter pipes out of bag-mix concrete and chicken wire bought at the local Home Depot, to what you see here today: A thriving community of skateboarders and artists turning this former lot of illegally dumped trash and vagrancy into a place for physical activity and creativity.
Back in 2002, when we first started messing around down here, we had no aspirations of building an 8,000 square foot skatepark on land that wasn’t ours. We simply wanted a spot to skate, out of the sun, and where we wouldn’t get kicked out. Sure, we’d been to Burnside up in Portland (The holy grail of DIY skateparks) and we’d seen the beginnings of Washington Street down in San Diego. So, yeah ... we had some ideas of what was possible, but look, with Harbor Division LAPD a few blocks away, we figured it was [only] a matter of time before our little spot got squashed.
In fact, it almost did! In 2003, right after we had graduated from bag-mix to ordering full trucks of ready-mix, we were visited by a bunch of city and port departments, and right while we were trying to finish 10 yards of concrete! It did not look good for our little spot that day, but a phone call was made and Caroline Brady from the office of then Councilwoman Janice Hahn came out and somehow convinced the various departments to back off and let us be. I still think to this day
that that woman has magical powers.
Soon after, a fence was put up between us and the railroad, and we were off to the races. By 2004, we had formed the San Pedro Skatepark Association, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity, and soon after received our first grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation.
The years from 2004 to 2013 were a flurry of building, fundraising and skateboarding. We watched kids grow up down here, going from little groms who couldn’t drop into absolute rippers who could skate anything. At the same time, the San Pedro community watched us grow as well, and the skatepark became an accepted part of town. While there are countless DIY parks in the world these days, I truly believe it is the make-up of this Pedro town that helped this particular park survive. Channel Street and this effort does not happen in Torrance or PV. This town is pretty tight-knit. We’re a union town with a long history of doing things our own way. In that respect, Channel Street is very Pedro.
As you may know, however, the next several years were a darker period in our history. The park was closed in 2014 due to a freeway widening project that involved overhead construction. We were told by the port (which owned the land) and Caltrans that we’d be back in business in about a year. This, of course, did not happen. Instead, we found ourselves mired in a sea of bureaucratic red tape that only a port and a city like LA can produce.
But the council office, now under the leadership of Joe Buscaino, had our back. The port made it clear that they didn’t want to be in the skatepark business, but they were also willing to part with the property. Thus began the long process of transferring the land within departments of the City of LA. Without the help of some key people affiliated with council district
15 in navigating the
Planning
Department and LA Department of
Building and Safety, we as an organization would have been lost and the skatepark’s existence put in jeopardy.
So, here we are, seven long ass years later with COVID mixed in there for good measure. We’ve completed our tasks, cleared the hurdles and as I said before, we are legal and we are open!
So now we gotta get into some thank yous and there are a lot of them:
To my family and all the families with loved ones who have worked down here for all these years, thank you for putting up with us! Lots of long hours on the weekends and after-work sessions paid off. We love you!
To the Channel Street Familia! There are too many to name here, but
I’m talking about all the people who’ve spent hours down here cleaning, maintaining, building and skating the park. This has been a collective effort, and every one of you is part of the reason we are here today.
Now to mention a few soldiers… Transitions. The best little
Pedro skate shop that’s not in Pedro! Bud and
Keisha, you’ve supported all of us for years, decades actually. Your generosity is truly appreciated.
Yamo, Bill Sargeant and Gabe ... you guys had your hands in a lot of this concrete behind us. We’ve worked, skated, designed shit, laughed and argued for decades.
We thank you for your dedication, craftsmanship and friendship.
April Jones, straight outta Burnside. April came out of nowhere with a plan to make a film about the struggles of the SPSA to get the park permitted. A couple of years later, she’s a member of our board of directors. She’s proven herself to be a true hessian who can get shit done. April has made the last couple years of getting this place legal much easier. Thank you for the organization; the drive; the willingness to wear many hats.
Big Rob, Robbie O’Connell. It’s been you and me since day one, OG! Many have come and gone and some leave and return, but me and this dude have stuck to this since October of 2002. Twenty years later and we’re still friends! I speak for everyone when I say thank you for your sarcasm, your frontside rocks, and all the amazing pieces of this park that you designed in your head and made a reality.
And the thankyous continue!