We’re addicts, really.
People call skateboarders all sorts of names: slackers, loiterers, vandals, nuisances, extreme athletes. But only one word accurately describes the craving we’ve felt inside from that first moment on a skateboard.
Addicts. Twenty-four-seven skating: We watch skate videos, talk boards, think up moves—textbook addiction.
But we’re lucky. There’s an entire city, Sacramento, at our disposal—a complex and sprawling grid of art and architecture where we feed our dependence, often to the point of overindulgence, sacrificing health of body and bank account for mere seconds of levity.
That moment, rolling away from a trick, is a high few things can compete with.
And while skateboarding is at the height of its popularity, too, the average Sacramentan really doesn’t have any idea how the local scene came about. MTV and ESPN have fooled the masses into believing skateboarding is Life of Ryan, gold medals and mega ramps, but the soul of skateboarding is and always has been in the streets.
A day trip of Sacramento’s most popular skate spots: Southside Park.
PHOTO BY DON BUTTON
For local professional skateboarders John Cardiel, Matt Rodriguez and Omar Salazar, the streets of Sacramento led to successful careers.
For they and many others, skating is rock ’n’ roll, their movement. But what people don’t realize is that Sactown has been fanning this revolution’s flames since the beginning, standing on its own, a tear-jerking peppercorn on skateboarding’s palate.
My buddies and I are Davis locals, so planning a day in Sactown begins the night before, when we map out where we’ll skate. “Set alarms for 9 a.m., be on the road by 10!” is usually the plan, but that wake-up call never feels reasonable the next morning amid blissful slumber.
We call this hour “skate AM.” I think most people just call it being late.
But no matter: We’ll spend the entire day outside in this great city doing something we love more than anything. Our bodies will ache, our clothes will be soaked and dirty, and our elbows and hands will be bloody. But that’s skateboarding, and that’s how Sacramentans have been doing it for years.
