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A Few Clouds Long Beach opens new skate park
Hosts first Bowl-a-Rama Skate Jam
Long Beach officially has a new skate park, as the recently constructed facility opened for business on Sunday. The city celebrated its opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony, free clinic and skate demo, as well as its first Bowl-a-Rama Skate Jam Contest, presented by Skudin Surf.
The skate park was designed by California-based firm Spohn Ranch, which utilized input gathered form Long Beach residents and skaters at two public engagement meetings held earlier this year to construct a park tailored to the wishes of local skaters. The structure was designed to accommodate skaters of all ages and skill levels, officials said.
“I’m thrilled to be adding another component to our Rec Center,” Councilman Anthony Eramo said. “Some kids aren’t necessarily into team athletics or surfing, so this is another avenue for them to be active and stay out of trouble.”
“It’s amazing, I guess you could call it a dream come true,” said Joe Rockman, a local skater who grew up in Long Beach and has been skating in the community since the early 1970s.
More than 100 skaters came out to the Sept. 6 opening, Eramo said. The new park is located on National Boulevard at the bay, closer to the Recreation Center than the previous one on Magnolia Boulevard.
The old park was significantly damaged by Hurricane Sandy and many in the skateboarding community have called it outdated. Rockman said that new park has switched from modular ramps to concrete ones that require less maintenance, among other improvements.
Plans for the new park called for an amoeba bowl, a combination horseshoe bowl and mini-ramp, a speed hump and numerous handrails and stairs. Its approximately 15,000-square-foot L-shape more than doubled the size of the old park, officials said. Representatives from Spohn Ranch not only took community input when designing the initial plans, Eramo said, but also took the time to redraw them and continue tweaking them after their first design failed to impress the Long Beach skaters.
“What I really like about the skate park is that it is exactly the park that the community asked for,” Eramo added.
Rockman said that local skaters asked for a 50-50 split between street and transition skating styles for the park.
