Last full day in New York! I had set my alarm for 6:30 so I could get out and skate before the family woke up. When the alarm went off I hit snooze and thought I might just bail on skating altogether. I had thought about all the ledges I skated the day before and wanted revenge. But when I started waking up I wasn’t feeling that anymore and decided on a different spot. Thanks to Quartersnacks for mapping out this spot. So there I go skating for over two miles through some crazy jewish neighborhood where all the men wore traditional outfits. There was seriously like 20 men on the sidewalk at any given time looking like this. I arrived at the park before 8am. There was a couple dudes sleeping nearby which I felt bad about, but it’s right by an interstate and it’s NYC so it’s super loud. I started out SUCKING. I should expect that considering I skated or walked over 13 miles the day before (at least that’s what my iphone says). I eventually pieced a line together of f/s halfcab on flat, noseslide to fakie the granite ledge against the fence, switch john brandow the little ledge, then boardslide the end of the long ledge. Then I went for another line of f/s halfcab flip, crooks the ledge and ollie the stairs. Darn near did it first try, but shot out on the 4 stair. Took me awhile to get back to the 4 stair, but when I did the ollie felt rad and I topped it off with a sloppy 360 flip on flat. I ollied down a set that Brad Cromer kickflipped up. Ha. Lets also not forget that this is a PJ spot too! I started trying another line of halfcab flip then front 50 on the little ledge then something on the granite ledge. But the front 50 proved troublesome. Again? Ugh. I moved on to fakie bigflips and managed one bad front 5-0 that was supposed to be a 50. I then moved on to starting with 360 flip. I landed quite a few 360 flips and still struggled with the front 50. If I didn’t land the 360 flip I would try a varial heel in the exact same spot as PJ. I got a couple over-40 makes. It hyped me up to do another ‘same trick at the same spot’ as PJ and I am fully aware of how big of a nerd I am. I would eventually get a 360 flip and then a front 50 shove out that felt so easy it bummed me out it took that long. I was going to try another line hopefully involving a front 180 down the stairs, but I got a text from Liz that they were up and moving. I decided to check out a nearby spot that Rob had told me about.

This spot was only a couple blocks away. It’s also got a bunch of 3 stairs and a gap to rail that is gnarly. Pretty much all four sides of the statue are waxed on every stair. I started with some long 50s because it was fun grinding granite. I eventually did a rather fun line of ollie down the 3 (yeah I started from the top), slappy crooks, back 50, front 5-0. I also manualled the low step, ollied onto the low step and front 50’d the second step. Then I took the long haul back to our apt.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj stratford 533)

The rest of the family had already bought tickets to go on a boat tour with India’s ballet class members. I was supposed to go skate with Rob, but he opted out leaving me on a solo mission. I woke up not feeling great after having a couple drinks and everyone was tired and had to rush to get out of the house. I went towards the financial district. I walked around a ton through crowds of tourists for awhile and felt kind of hyped to see the stock exchange and stuff. I ended up at this spot across from where the slanted granite ledge in Battery Park apparently used to be. I didn’t think I would last long at all and I felt super nervous about getting busted for some reason. I did a few different stall tricks and would ride down the double set of two stairs. After about 15 minutes a lady came out resembling security so I just skated off. Went down the park on the water for awhile which had some decent looking spots, but too crowded for me. I was definitely getting sick of the crowds of people EVERYWHERE and the constant honking.

I ended up at these ledges. They are perfect. I am not. It was a battle to get started. I got a few crooks, a few noseslides, one front 50 in about 30 tries, close to back 50. Horrible right? I saw a penny sitting on the ground and somehow immediately knew it was from 1973, the year I was born. Pretty cool. I thought my day would get better, but it didn’t really. I did manage a line of noseslide then crooks.

So much marble, so little pop.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 1, 2015 at 2:56pm PDT

Some people sat down on the far bench to eat so I went about 30 feet to this spot. The cracks between each brick is kind of annoying, but really this is beyond perfect spot. Well, except the fresh dog shit that I constantly watched people unknowingly step in as they passed through. I really was not skating well. I took a lot of tries to noseslide across the grate in the front of the photo. I wanted to front 50 going back, but I never committed. Either the ledges out here are taller (I really think they are) or I’m getting older (duh) or my legs are super tired from walking so much (totally broh). I did get remotely close to manualling it though. I know I’ve seen footage of people manualling around them. So cool.

I didn’t get the boot at the angled bench spot, but I could see this ledge less then a block away and wanted to check it out. There are actually tons of these ledges. Most are knobbed. All were mobbed with tourists walking to their boat rides to the Statue Of Liberty or whatever dumb stuff they were doing. The crowds really got to me. I tried to front 50 a different one for awhile and didn’t have the pop. UGH. Then I found this one. Look familiar?

So hyped. I did some boardslides, noseslides, noseslide to fakie, crook and then a family sat on it and I left.

More #skatetourist action. This spot has stood out for me ever since Markovich bigflipped down it in a line in third eye vision. Got the boot before I landed any lines. Doh.

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 1, 2015 at 10:12am PDT

So I walked back up the little hill to this spot. I got a yummy smoothie on the way. I was all set to give this spot a go, but there was a security guard camped out about the stairs. Ugh. I walked around the building a couple times.

I saw this thing around the corner that PJ back 180’s all easy in his Brick Harbor edit. The hill is steeper then it looks in the footage or the photo and the switch front shove he does is gnarly. I decided to just skate the stairs anyway. I locked up. I don’t know why I was so anxious to skate there. I wanted to do front 180 up, halfcab flip, ollie the 5. But the front 180 weirded me out. It seriously took me like 5 tries to get the 180 up. Got the halfcab flip, posed an ollie and realized it should be pretty easy to ollie the stairs. Did a horrible front 180 up, even worse halfcab flip and was going to turn around, but saw the security guard coming down the upper set of stairs to kick me out. I knew it was my last try so I committed to the ollie. I misjudged how steep the landing is and shot out, but I was still pretty excited that I committed. I begged for one more try, but they weren’t having it. 3 other security guards swarmed in to make sure of that. They were nice at least. I sat there and instagrammed the photo. Neat.

Then I went site seeing for awhile. Saw Brooklyn Banks and was super bummed it’s unskateable for now. Saw the courthouse drop. It’s crazy. The drop wasn’t as high as I thought, but everything else about it was gnarlier then I thought it was. I was able to go up above it and can’t believe what quick foot Suciu did there.

Seeing all the sites today

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 1, 2015 at 11:16am PDT

I dropped in on the black hubba. There were tons of people around. I bailed out and somehow still almost collided with an adult on a scooter. Ha.

I finally found a place to skate without a crowd. It was nice while it lasted. I just did some flatground for awhile. I didn’t skate it very well, but it was nice to get a few flippers under me. I didn’t get very far in my list before a large group of people came in and sat on several of the benches. Obviously I could have kept skating, but I figured it was a sign to move on to another spot. I headed toward midtown and found nothing. Seriously walked/skated like 5 miles and found nothing to skate. Found the Pier 62 skatepark. Without a doubt this is the worst skatepark I have ever seen. Well, I guess the bowl looked decent, but the rest of the area looked beyond stupid. I went back to the apt after that. What a long day. It was frustrating mainly because I skated horribly, but also because I wasted a lot of time skating/walking with no idea of where to go. I wish I had stayed in the financial district. Oh well, maybe next time. I was hyped to almost get that line on the 2 up 5 down spot at least.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights (I have to admit I’ve been obsessing over low trucks again doh) thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj stratford 533 cream)

@corpoglenny might be on the team 🌐 Who owns your favorite companies? @null_skateboards OG on the OG logo and tee by @43shifty in the city #repost and photo creds to glens homie.

A photo posted by @crisis_skateboards on Jul 30, 2015 at 11:56am PDT

Another early morning mission. Met up with Liz’s sister’s boyfriend Julian at a train station on the way to Queens to hit Flushing Meadows. We peeped the big grate ledge then moved on to the nearby Maloof skatepark. What a bizarre skatepark. It doesn’t flow like a normal skatepark at all. But if you treat it like a street spot (which I guess it is supposed to be) it flows alright. Julian doesn’t skate much and got wrecked right away so sat out the rest of the session. My first few ollies hurt, but after that I felt great. Manualled the top manny pad. Did a couple tranny tricks on the weird bowled in corner. Front 50’d the ledge off the curb, noseslid over the grate right away. Then figured more then anything I wanted to grind the ledge over the mini grate. I got crooks pretty quick then front 50 too. Both felt neat. I did quite a few of each. Took awhile to ollie the 3 stair, but it felt great.

Then we hit the main ledge. I tried to noseslide it for awhile. Got about halfway a few times and realized I probably didn’t have it in me to do the whole thing. Tricks over the grate are also way gnarlier then I thought. It’s a solid 7 foot flat gap. I posed ollies and b/s flips over it.

3 flip to end an awesome session. 📷 @thejulianthompson

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 30, 2015 at 11:34am PDT

Then we found this crazy spot. Absolutely perfect flatground and this weird ledge. I started doing lines with a flip trick, front slappy on a waxed curb you can’t see in this photo then ollie onto the ledge and ride down it. It was so fun. I was rattling off my flippers. Halfcab flip, treflip, heelflip, nollie treflip, fakie bigflip. After ollieing onto it a few times I would try manual, but I never got too close to that. Tried a line of b/s flip, halfcab flip, ollie on then front 180 off the last part, but that was scary. Ended with an amazing feeling treflip in front of the fountain while Julian snapped a photo. It was the icing on the cake to a great session (for me) and so awesome to see these famous spots that are a part of skate history. The long ledge over the grate is literally 20 feet long. Any trick that has gone down over that is amazing.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# stratford 533 cream)

Didn’t sleep all that great, but still woke up early. I got ready to skate slowly. I wasn’t really feeling like going to LES it just seemed like the best option so I did it. Got there around 8am. It was hot already and there were quite a few dudes there already. I started off pretty good at least. Manual and nose manual the pad. Wallie manual the mellower banked ledge. Kickflips over the b/s hip, front smiths on the qp. Went into one of my slow skate no energy modes for a bit. Crooks a metal ledge, front slash the qp, try to kick back tail the curb. Couldn’t get into the kick back tail. Tried it in a different line with wallieing the bank on the back the tall ledge, but still didn’t get it. Started trying back 50s on the metal ledge and it felt really tall. Took awhile, before I got a couple slow ones. Tried to line it out with a halfcab flip over the hip, back 5-0 on the bank, but never got the back 50 too (but I did get into it at least). Also got fakie bigflip over the hip and once again took too long to b/s flip the hip. Added front 50 and hurricane to my qp tricks. Ended while trying noseslide 270 shoves one way and front 50 shove the other. But the front 50 wasn’t working and I just gave up and left to meet Liz and Ollie.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj stratford 533 cream)

#skatetourist #theseledgesaretall

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 28, 2015 at 9:02am PDT

Around noon I got out to skate for a bit. Thanks to Quartersnacks I knew this spot was close. I went by a couple other playgrounds that showed up on google maps first, but they were overrun with kids. I just wanted a shady spot to do flatground without tons of people around. But this is NYC so that isn’t a possibility. I ended up at the Fort Greene spot. There were so many no skateboarding signs. People were working out on the structure or chilling in the shade next to it. I was a bit weirded out, but I still skated it. Poorly. The ledges are quite tall. As you can see in the photo they are technically 4 stairs high, but it’s more like a 3 stair height. I did a few crooks that felt cool on the lower ledge. Then tried to ollie on, front and front 50, but couldn’t get the juice. Flatground was going bad on about everything except treflips where I landed almost every one of them. I managed to ollie up, crook and back 180 off very badly. I was a little bummed how tall the ledge felt to ollie off of. Still felt like I did something though. Then I got sick of the people doing martial arts staring at me all weird and skated off. Thought I might find something else to skate, but I didn’t and ended up back at the apt.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj stratford 533 cream)

Yes!

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 27, 2015 at 4:58am PDT

Woke up early, went to Manhattan to finally skate LES. I arrived to an almost empty park with two people skating. Both left shortly after I arrived (not because of me ha), but others showed. For about 3 hours the park was just 2 or 3 people. The last hour there was maybe 10 people there, but for that park 10 people isn’t much at all. I skated for four hours non-stop and was a sweaty mess. There is a drinking fountain at the park thankfully. I started on the transition stuff, it was funner then I thought it would be, maybe because it’s all small. I had actually taken a day off skating so my legs felt good. You have to push a lot at that park, things are spaced out, it’s kind of awesome. I got front 5-0 and front 50 shove on one of the ledges. Very low wallride on the bank to fence. Took awhile to crooks the ledge. I thought east coast ledges were supposed to be slicker? I also did a few back lips (kind of) on the little manny pad. Got manual, nose manual and a first try kickflip manual. This was when I began realizing that I was skating exceptional for me. I was doing a lot of tricks first try and cruising the park surprising myself. It ruled. I did spend some time trying to get a b/s flip over the hip. It took a bit, but when I landed it it felt incredible. This would mark the first time I’ve ever done the same trick on the same spot as PJ. Yes, I am a nerd, but man I was hyped. I went on to do halfcab flip and fakie bigflip over the hip pretty quick. Tried varial heels coming the other way, but couldn’t get the flip. I tried a front tail on the bank to curb above one of the ledges for awhile. It was really hard, but the approach was so fun. Roll in, go over the pump bump and a big push. I would eventually land one. Tried to do nosestall or boardslide on the bank to ledge for awhile, but couldn’t get that. Did some more cruising around. Ollies over the hip, kickflips over the b/s hip, front smiths on the qp. Had a fun line where I rode up the bank of a tall ledge, dropped onto another, then down again, then cali grind off the kicker, front tail the bank, kickflip the hip. Manualled the long manny pad. Tried to kickflip pivot the bank to pool coping, but never got close. I was getting pretty tired and wanted to cross f/s halfcab flip off my list too. But rather then just do it I kept lining out further and further. But oh was it worth it when I finally got my line. Front smith on the quarterpipe, front 50 the metal ledge, slash to fakie the qp (or whatever you want to call the weak thing I do), then f/s halfcab flip over the hip (it wasn’t popped, but I was so beat). One of the funnest times I’ve had at a skatepark.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# stratford 533 pj cream)

#skatetourist

A photo posted by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Jul 25, 2015 at 1:32pm PDT

Had a couple hours where I could go skate. We were at our new apt we’re staying at in Brooklyn. I used Quartersnacks to find directions to this manny pad as I knew it was a Brooklyn spot. It looked pretty close on the map, but didn’t feel close at all. I kept skating, walking, skating, walking for what seemed like forever before showing up to this spot. It was quite hot out. Spots are always different in real life as there is a slight slant to this spot that makes skating it from the left side harder then it looks. Oh well. I started with some grinds on the low curb. Grinding granite is the best. Then I went for manual and got it in a couple tries which kind of surprised me. Next was nose manual which took quite awhile, but felt good to do it. I got my first feelings of regret for setting up a smaller board. But then I went for kickflip manual and loved how good it popped and felt good about it. I got a couple with tiny tilts. I felt cool. Not as tech as PJ in Brick Harbor, but still hyped. If I landed the kickflip without the manual I would do 180s off. I tried to front 50 or 5-0 it, but the crack in the middle really messes with that. Had some slappy crooks on the first step on the way up. Or some back 50s, almost back 50 on the 2nd stair. Then I got a text that I needed to head home. On the way I saw this weird little volcano thing, skated it for a second before realizing I was at the Thomas Greene skatespot. Took a spin around it and headed back.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj statford 533 cream)

I’m in NYC! Everyone was resting so I went out for a quick skate. Turns out these were around the corner. The traffic was heavier then the photo shows so transfer tricks were scary. I only got some manhole ollies and wallrides. Then I met with Julian (Liz’s sisters boyfriend). He showed me the ledge spot. So amazing. But he talks a lot so I never got in the groove. I got crooks, front board pop out, front 50. Julian had some noseslide and front 50s. Such a sick spot that I wish I could have skated more. The smaller board felt good in the city.

(Setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb# pj Stratford 533 cream)

Went out to Rampy a little before midnight after having one of the busiest evenings ever unloading boards and getting ready for NYC. I chose to setup an 8.1. It seemed really small and that’s cool. I skated for about 10 minutes and didn’t get too far into the list of basics.

(setup 8.1 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb+ pj stratford 533 cream)

After enjoying my smaller setup yesterday I decided to go even smaller. So I subbed in my 8″ hangers instead of the 8.5s. After a fun dinner visiting with my old friend Tricia, Ollie and I drove the two blocks to Westminster park. Ollie didn’t skate at all. I mostly just rolled around mostly, did a front feeble on the little qp, tried switch noseslides down the hubba and did a few kickflips that felt good.

(setup 8.25 null venture lights thunder bushings 52mm stf v3 nb+ stratford 533 pj cream)