The birth of the Venice Beach Skatepark
Venice, California, is arguably the birthplace and crib of modern skateboarding. From the Dogtown era and Z-Boys to the days of the Pavilion, torn down in 2000, it's where the first street skateboarding stars launched into stardom.
It's still difficult to understand why such an iconic neighborhood took so long to honor its skate culture roots.
The Venice Beach Skatepark opened in Venice, California, on October 3, 2009. It can be easily spotted at a distance, lying over the warm sands at 1800 Ocean Front Walk near Windward Avenue.
The public skateboarding facility cost $3.4 million to build, funded by the sale of excess city-owned property in Venice and development fees.
The total riding area is 16,000 square feet (1,485 square meters), and its privileged location against dramatic sunsets makes it a gorgeous site for amateur and professional skateboard photographers.
The renowned Los Angeles skatepark features a series of steps, rails, ramps, and bowls that mimic the look of empty swimming pools where vert skateboarding started during the mid-1970s California droughts.
The Venice Beach Skatepark is also called the Dennis "Polar Bear" Agnew Memorial Skatepark in honor of the famous original Dogtown skater Dennis Agnew, who passed away in March 2005.
It is open exclusively to skateboarders every day from 8 a.m. to sunset - no scooters, BMX, or bicycles are allowed in the skate plaza.
The only exception to its regular riding times occurred in April 2020, when the park was filled with sand to prevent crowds from gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Years of Lobbying
Today, the concrete skate arena built in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles welcomes several hundred skaters every day, meaning it is mostly always busy.
Before its creation, over 20,000 people walked the boardwalk every weekend. After the inauguration of the skatepark, those numbers soared.
But the road to its construction was long.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a group of Venice locals led by Jesse Martinez launched an initiative to create the Venice Beach Skatepark.
The movement intensified the lobbying after the destruction of the once-historical Venice Pavilion.
"In 2000, they finally determined they were going to tear it down when they re-renovated the beach area," original Dogtwon Ray Flores once explained in a 2023 documentary by Bart Saric.
"It was both good and bad when it got torn down."
"I knew what was going down since 1989, but a lot of people didn't listen until that Pavilion was knocked into dust."
An Ice and Roller Hockey Rink? No Way!
Jerry Lewis was the executive director of the Venice Surf and Skateboard Association (VSA) from 1998 to 2009.
Lewis accompanied the process of building the Venice skatepark way before the Pavilion was demolished.
"The city knocked it down because it wasn't being used for its original intended purposes," noted Jerry.
"The city government wanted to give us an ice and roller hockey rink," something the skateboarding community would never approve.
Jesse Martinez revealed that "the hardest thing was the wait, getting the funding for the park and having our voices heard - that this is what we want, a skatepark here."
"We went through three city council terms, different representatives, watched mayors and city councils come and go."
"A lot of politicking and dirty politics. A few times, if we didn't make an unannounced meeting, there'd be no skatepark out there today."
Jerry Lewis stressed that "this park would not have been built if it wasn't for the efforts of VSA members. It just wouldn't be here."
"The VSA members did everything - from lobbying, campaigning, construction, design. Everything."
Built Over Water and Old Oil Fields
The cost of the Venice Beach Skatepark was an issue among the community.
"People ask why the park was so expensive. But this isn't like digging a ditch. You're right on the ocean, on the sand. The water table is only 20 feet below," added Lewis.
"Secondly, the area was an oil field, so it had to be remediated - all toxic pollutants cleaned up, and wellheads capped 250 feet below the surface."
"These were engineering feats that haven't been done for a skatepark before. It's definitely a unique park, and I'd say we're in the top three, location-wise, being so close to the ocean."
On October 3, 2009, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman Bill Rosendahl cut the ribbon of Venice's new skateboard arena.
Tony Hawk and Jay Adams were there, too.
The opening ceremony attracted thousands of sidewalk surfers eager to be the first to ride over the brand-new concrete waves.
"It's a great day. Now, skateboarders from all over Southern California and the world will come to Venice to get a slice of this unique community," Villaraigosa said.
And the truth is skaters are not the only ones who are coming.
Venice Skatepark also became a landmark in the laid-back surf-and-skate neighborhood and a tourist attraction for the thousands that snap pictures of riders getting airborne in the main, 9-foot deep concrete bowl.
The Design
The Venice Beach Skatepark was designed by Zack Wormhoudt, RRM Design Group, in cooperation with local skaters, city agencies, and community groups.
The first sketch was reviewed by Jesse Martinez, Pat Ngoho, Christian Hosoi, and other Venice riders, who provided inputs for corrections and improvements.
The suggestions, for instance, included changes to the bowl, such as a softer hip and a more pronounced curve added on the opposite wall from the hip.
The contractor chosen to build the facility was California Skateparks.
The final design unveiled a skatepark with four main sections: a pool, a mini-bowl, a snake run, and a street section.
The snake run - the park's focal point - is a throwback to 1970s skatepark designs. It starts with a square-shaped 3-foot basin and ends in a 7-foot kidney-shaped half-bowl.
Critics argue that a more practical choice would have been a set of modern bowls with coping instead of this retro design.
The street section mimics urban environments with various obstacles.
Detractors feel that the place is overcrowded and poorly designed, with too many obstacles packed into a small space, leaving skaters without enough space to gain speed or land tricks.
The mini-bowl at the center of the park is usually a consensual feature that is often praised for its well-built construction and fun rideability.
The 9-foot-deep pool and its design also honor the Dogtown legacy, even though its coping is mostly chunky, unmaintained, and difficult to skate.
Overall, despite some outdated or poorly designed elements prioritizing nostalgic aesthetics over functionality, it's still a fun experience to try out a full run at Venice Beach Skatepark.
It's surely one of the most iconic skateparks on the planet.
Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com