Visit
This Sponsor Now!
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
KICKASS
SKATEPARK BUILDERS |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| FDR
Skatepark - Philadelphia, PA |
 |
Pics
& Review by The Chraveler - Submit
your park here!
|
My first week skating at FDR, I hit one of the drains and sprained both my wrists upon impacting the wall. I slid out on a frontside air, and bashed my skull into the concrete, leaving me with an egg on my head the size of a baseball. I collided at high speed with a with a stranger, who turned out to be a fellow Mainer. I did a front flip in the air and landed hard on my ass. Finally, a pidgeon shit on me as I waited to drop in. The shit looked like pesto. Upon leaving, I relayed these highlights from my week to a local guy, who responded with a smile and said: "That's FDR, man..." |
 |
| FDR officially stands for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whom the surrounding community park is named after. But to me, FDR stands for "Finally Done Right." To me, FDR is a sublime skateboard paradise; it is the soul of skating. The only rules that exist there are the rules of common respect for one another. Other than that, you are free to go. No pads, no fees, the place is strictly a skateboard community project, policed and maintained by skaters. Well, the cops do show up every once in a while, but they just watch for a few minutes and then leave-they have much heavier shit to worry about in that section of Philly. It officially opens and closes with the rest of FDR park, but staying late or even overnight is commonplace. It is primarily a skatepark, but it is also a meeting place, a bar, an art gallery, a daycare center, and last but not least, a proving ground for the latest and greatest in pyrotechnic fireworks display and testing (Especially on the park's observed birthday, July 4th!-see above foto). |
 |
| As for the park's terrain, it is the gnarliest shit on the east coast, if not the World. It started with two crappy city-built pyramids (which are still there), and has expanded in numerous phases to the behemoth it is today with the initiative and D.I.Y. ethic of the proud locals. I won't try to explain all the features of the park (go to fdrskatepark.org for that info), it is just pure burl. To the non-skating eye, it looks like the bombed-out ruins of a city block that someone smoothed out and painted a million different times. Since its creation it has gained the Sean Miller Memorial vert ramp, and most recently a four-foor mini ramp and a paved parking lot. As of Summer 2002, a roll-in to the main section and some new small quarterpipes have been built on the platform of the Indian Wall bowl - little things to mess around on. |
 |
| FDR skatepark is at most times, not for beginners or young children. It is an advanced park designed and used by advanced skaters. If you are a toad and want to use the park, come early when there is not much of a crowd and feel free to enjoy yourself then at your own risk. Do not come on a Saturday afternoon in the summer, send little Johnny out into the fray, and then go back to your mini van to read Danielle Steele. One of the big guys that fly around that place will involuntarily collide with little Johnny, and he will die, or the big guy (or girl) will wreck himself trying to avoid him. (Usually the second, but the first is still a possibility.) If you want little Johnny to skate, and I recommend that you do, either let him practice his transition skills on either the vert ramp or the mini ramp, or take him (or her) to the Vans Skatepark over in Moorestown, NJ, 360 Skatespot Skatepark in Willow Grove, or one of the crappy beginner parks in Bucks County. If you still do not believe me as for the risks that a visit to FDR holds, re-read the first paragraph. |
 |
| Fees: None / Pads: None Required (but you still might want to wear them!) Hours: Dawn to Dusk (official) whenever you want to leave (unofficial) |
 |
| DIRECTIONS: Take I-95 to Exit 14-the PATTISON ST exit. You will be on BROAD ST., FDR park will be on your left, and several large stadium-type buildings should be in plain sight on the right. If they are not, then either some serious shit has gone down in Philly, or you are hopelessly lost. Immediately bear left into the PATTISON ST. WEST lanes, and turn left at that light. Take the first left and enter into FDR Park. Turn right (it's one way, so you have to), and follow that all the way around until you see the skatepark underneath I-95. Lather, rinse, and repeat. |
|
|
|
|
Pact
Skateboard & Snowboard Shop 1867 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111 (215) 725-5760 |
Skatenerd
142 North 2 St, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (215) 922-2180 |
| Subzero
520 South 5 Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147 (215) 925-9376 |
|
_01.gif)
 Random Programming |
Most
of the crap on this site is ©2002-2004 The Sideways Guide Use, link & share this content to your hearts desire, just give credit, beeyotch! |
|
|
The
Chraveler is responsible for this entire mess... |
 |
|