Skaters want a park near old Zephyr shop
OCEAN PARK LIBRARY Taylor Lane and his friend Cory Micas look up to the guys who helped create the modern version of skateboarding and would like to see their history honored in a way befitting the Z-Boys.
Taking an interest in what might become of the rundown building on the corner of Main and Bay streets, Lane, 13, and Micas, 16, both of Venice, attended a community meeting on Thursday night, expressing their desire to see a new structure that would welcome skaters by incorporating elements like a rail or staircase.
“The Z-Boys wouldn’t want a museum or a plaque,” Lane said of the site of the former Zephyr skate shop. “They would want something you could skate on.”
During the first community workshop, a dozen or so people threw ideas around on how they would like to see the cultural history that occurred at the former Zephyr shop commemorated. The building today houses Horizons West Surf Shop and artists studios.
Holding a copy of the Santa Monica Daily Press from Jan. 11, Jerry Rubin quoted a story where former Z-Boy Nathan Pratt is quoted as saying he would like to see a skate park created to honor the memory of the Z-Boys. Both Lane and Micas, sitting a few rows behind Rubin, nodded their heads in agreement.
The teens are hopeful that a new proposed building for the site, planned as a mixed-use “green” development, somehow paid homage to the skate-boarding pioneers by actually encouraging a new generation to take part in the sport.
If not, the young skaters would like to see a park built near Main and Bay streets.
Since skaters are known for filming other skaters in motion, a skate park dedicated to the Z-Boys could also memorialize the history every time anyone filmed on the site, Micas said.
The first part of the two-workshop series, the second of which will be held on Jan. 25 at the Ocean Park Library, focused mainly on the building owner’s plan to construct a green mixed-use complex. At the conclusion of Juli Doar’s presentation on the potential future of the surf shop, several ideas were thrown around, including a mural and a skate park.
One idea that drew some nods from the audience came from community activist Abby Arnold, who organized the workshop along with Doar, the granddaughter of the building’s owner. Their idea was to create a skateboarding walk of fame, where original Z-Boy skateboards would be embedded into the sidewalk, creating a trail from the new building to a new skate park on Bay Hill.
Several people in attendance seemed opposed to tearing down the existing building and suggested landmarking it instead.
Jacob Samuel is concerned that the intersection at Main and Bay streets is losing its character, with a relatively large scale development being erected directly across Main Street. But what the developer is doing, in reaching out to the community and designing a green building, is admirable, Samuel said.
“Skateboarding is an ongoing cultural phenomenon,” Samuel said. “For me, Main and Bay is the last piece of beach corner we have in this city.”
Ocean Park resident Shannon Leavey said she would like to see the building landmarked and can’t imagine how the developer would be able to capture the history of the building with a new structure.
“People come to Santa Monica just to see the shop,” Leavey said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 13, 2007. Read the original PDF.