The Vancouver Park Board has released a video about skateboarding that has some people who are familiar with the sport (specifically me, a middle-aged man who previously worked in the skateboard industry) pleasantly surprised that it's not super cringe-inducing.
The seven-minute-long video was commissioned by the board and was produced by About Here, a local company that creates video features on civic issues.
It dives into the history of skateboarding in our city, offering a look at how the sport gained popularity, and the bylaws and decisions made at City Hall that have hindered it, and helped it, over the decades.
Meant to spark a conversation around the Skateboard Amenity Strategy and get people taking a survey on the Shape Your City mini website, one of the best parts is the old and new skate footage. It includes present-day clips of Spencer Hamilton and other still-relevant pros and amateurs as well as a hidden easter egg for old skaters like me: footage of a once-well-known semipro who disappeared from the sport in the late 90s after falling into a life of drugs and crime. There are multiple 1990s clips of him peppered throughout this video.
If you have any interest in the subject of skateboarding, parks, and local history, watch it below.
