The Story

In June 2005, exactly one year after breaking ground, construction crews put the finishing touches on the world's first Skate Plaza, located in Kettering, Ohio.

The Skate Plaza, an aesthetically pleasing public facility for street skateboarders, is a result of a foundation formed early in 2003 called the Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation. The Foundation's main objective is to change skate park construction by addressing the majority of skateboarders' needs.

Rob Dyrdek conceived the term Skate Plaza because his concept is completely different from the current idea of a “skate park.” A Skate Plaza is an area made for street skating that resembles a public square or similar open area in town or city. As Rob says: “The idea of the Skate Plaza is basic. It’s a park to skate in, not a skate park."

He continues: "Street skateboarding is so illegal that a majority of pro skaters have to travel to places like Barcelona, Spain, in order to skate what they want. Every photo in every magazine is an illegal photo that was shot on private property. Every single ad is shot in an illegal skate spot. But places to skate are the future of the sport, because everyone wants to skate what they see in magazines or videos. So let’s give street skaters what they want to skate: real street spots.” Rob has spearheaded the formation of the Foundation, and has taken an active and passionate role in bringing it to life.

Why the Skate Plaza? What’s wrong with skate parks? Local communities have responded to the overwhelming demand for areas to skate, and across the U.S., local governments have constructed many public skate parks, with more planned for the future. Unfortunately, the problem is that they’re building skate parks with a limited perception of current street skating.

The areas of most skate parks that reproduce the kind of obstacles found in street skating are afterthoughts, ill planned and poorly designed. Who is this affecting? According to the 2002 Board-Trac survey, 78% of skaters identify themselves as street skaters. This means that many skate parks appeal to a certain segment of skaters, but fail to please the majority – or roughly 10 million – who want to skate street.

The bottom line is this: skaters want to skate what they see in the magazines and in the videos. They want to skate like their favorite pros. They want to skate street. Why aren’t skate parks built for the current street skater? The majority of parks are built for a minority of skateboarders. Can this be doing anything other than hurting participation?