Archive for September, 2008

Just found Mike McDermott’s first boards over at SkateNewSpot.com. Have a look…

We just put up a SNAPS feature courtesy of V.I.A. contributor Jennilee Marigomen over at Mumble. She shared some of these photos with you all a few weeks ago, there’s a bunch more in the series here…

I was going through a huge box of old photos the other day when I came across this one I shot of a little kid wearing Koston 1′s, a Girl Skateboards patch on his knee, doing a benihana finger flip out of Griffin in North Van. I was like “shit, I don’t remember taking a photo of Jordan Hoffart!” and when I saw him a couple days later and told him about this amazing photo from 1999 that I had found he said “Put it on the internet!” with such enthusiasm that I couldn’t not. So here you go.

Please welcome Jordan Hoffart(.com) to the team of V.I.A. contributors!

In case you didn’t see the ads in the magazines this month, Mike McDermott has gone pro for Habitat! This is such awesome news! Head to Antisocial on October 4th for the release jam…

Surely you’ve driven from Vancouver to anywhere in the province North of Merritt in the past 22 years? And surely you’ve paid the $10 fee at the toll booth on the Coquihalla Highway that was supposed to be lifted after the road had been paid for? Well, it’s been more than two decades and they’ve now collected a total of $845,000,000, almost enough to cover the entire cost of the construction. On Friday, Gordon Campbell announced that the toll was going to be removed… like NOW! So get out of the city or, if you don’t live here, come for a visit!

More here. And here’s the view as of a few minutes ago looking north and south from the now-defunct toll booth:

I couldn’t be more stoked on Sarah….

For those who don’t know her, she helped run the Clubhouse back in the day, and is one of the longest standing members of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition.  Last weekend she was nominated as a Vision Vancouver candidate for Park Board.  She got more votes than anyone….full on SLAY ‘EM ALL… For me this feels like seeing one of your homies turn pro.  If skaters in Vancouver never had anyone or anything to vote for…they now do…and you can count on me to remind you.  

http://votesarahblyth.blogspot.com/

You know when you think of this great idea….then you see it….then you tell your friends you thought of it first and they say….’fffff…..who hasn’t thought of that…’ and you question if you’ve ever had an original thought of your own….

Well…here’s another one of those…and it’s in my hood….

OK….I love taking the ferry….I hate the lines…the price…all that stuff but actually riding on it…going for a walk around the deck….eating at the caff (I LOVE caffs….)…checking out the gift shop…and most importantly…the massage chairs….

Sometimes I’ll spend like $10 (alot of money!) on the massage chairs…because I know it’s like the only chance I’ll get all year to be in one. Once in a desparate moment after my two minutes was up I thought…’if only they had a place where I could get one of these to myself all day’….. The idea has haunted me…even during a couples massage at the posh Spa Utopia…the scented oils…the eucalyptus steam room….the free beverages….all I could think of was the massage chair…

When I saw the $4 massage sign on Hastings, I was skeptical, it was like the ‘extras’ they offer you at the massage places on Kingsway but reverse, how could a massage be $4? I should have known though…this is my hood and it’s awesome!

These chairs are next level….they got this leg squeezer attachment and the rollers instead of being like little fists…they are like giant man hands. The $4 charge is good for a whole half hour (great VALUE!) and the dude who runs it says you can spit on his shoes if you aren’t satisfied.

The first few moments sitting in the chair I couldn’t hold back the jealousy…’I THOUGHT of this place!”, but before I could hear the voices of “Dude who HASN’T thought of the massage chair store”, the lower back attack cycle kicked in and all was forgotten….

tell me this doesn’t look like i’m shitting my pants…

in a good way…..

So… we launched the first annual HOOD WAR contest on the 11th of August, asking each participant to post two entries per week. Some have been on it like a bonnet, posting often, some are a little bit behind and others have disgraced their neighborhoods by signing up but not making a single post.

We’re extending this friendly war for another couple of weeks (we want to see the rest of your hoods Dunbar, North Burnaby, North Shore, Kits, etc!), at which time we’ll be casting a ballot then dropping the next V.I.A. Challenge. In the meantime, have a click through all of the entries to date:

Carina Nilsson’s entries for Dunbar:
1. Waterparks, architecture and tree cover.
2. Horses and lemonade.
3. A small university.
4. Yard sales.

Kelly Litz’s entries for Shaughnessy:
1. Lawn bowling.
2. Max’s Deli.

Gerald Belmont’s entries for Granville Street Give Or Take A Few Blocks West:
1. The Art Gallery.
2. Organized convenience.

Matty Dyer’s entries for Kitsilano:
1. Overview.
2. Space center.
3. Kits Beach at night.

Jesse Lockhart’s entries for East Van:
1. Flowers, cats, kids.
2. Car show.

Trevor Clarke’s entries for the North Shore:
1. Capilano Salmon Hatchery.
2. Dundarave.
3. Grad tradition.
4. The beach.

Ryan Narita’s entries for North Burnaby:
1. The Viking.
2. View point and Burnaby mountain.

Scott Radnidge’s entries for Mount Pleasant:
1: The pool.
2: The triangle.
3. Semi-industrial.
4. Antisocial.
5. Architecture.
6. The streets.
7. Wires.
8. Uranus.
9. Kingsgate Mall.
10. Papa’s Pizza.

Calen Knauf’s entry for Bacon Lane:
1. Delorians.

DJ Science’s entry for Robson:
1. Cops with big guns.

Jeff Choy’s entries for Hastings Sunrise:
1. An overview.
2. Skate girls.
3. The scariest Sev.
4. The PNE.
5. R.I.P. Puff.
6. Slots.
7. Delis.
8. The Race Track.
JEF CHOY’S HIJACKINGS!
Kits!
Railtown!