If you ever skated Skatenight then the photo to the left probably looks familiar. The old "Training Facility" was home to many in the DC area. Something that started from just a flat rail and a manual pad ended up becoming a huge thing with a full street course including handrails, hubbas, and more! Skaters from all over visited and took their skills from the park to the streets. Like you've heard, all good things must come to an end. With that said, Barton Damer follows up with a few regulars of the "Training Facility" to get some thoughts about what used to go down in those days.. -Bradley
Barton_Back in the day, how did you hear about Skate Night and what was your first impression?
Curtin_My brother told me about it. I didn't know what to expect but i was hyped on the set up.
Barton_Which did you prefer: Skate Night with the blue waffle floor or Skate Night with the plastic wood floor?
Curtin_I dont know, they were both a struggle. Waffle ARM!
Barton_What was your favorite obstacle at Skate Night?
Curtin_Umm..probably the handrails. Mini gold was tight.
Barton_ Who were the up & comers you would see at Skate Night?
Curtin_Sam Weinzten, Adam Graham, Alex Hansen, Shaun Gregoire, John Igei, Andy Honen, Daniel Kim, Gordon, Darren Harper, Bobby Worrest, there was a lot that came thru to check out the set up and see what the hype was about.
Barton_Did you ever see anyone at Skate Night that you wouldn't expect to be there?
Curtin_Henry Sanchez.
Barton_Tell us a little bit about doing demos at Skate Night. What was the best demo you remember from Skate Night?
Curtin_Umm.. the first one I did with Lucky Skateboards I'll always remember. Before the demo started I slammed into some kid and hit my head in front of everyone. And Henry Sanchez was ripping. The demos would get better and better tho, especially when we were getting paid for the Skate Camp. Thanks for hookin those up Bart.
Barton_Tell the unfortunate rest of the world what "private sessions" were and include something you filmed at a private session that stands out to you.
Curtin_Private sessions were the best becuase we could set up the spots however we wanted. We could do lines or try new tricks we never did before. I learned so many tricks at skate night and built my confidence on rails. Umm. one i remember is the sw. heel flip bs 50 on the c shaped ledge.
Barton_How did you feel about Skate Night being part of a church and having an alterior motive of being able to preach from the Bible to skaters?
Curtin_At first it was different, sumthing that i never really seen before. But after I got used to it I would listen and appreciate what you guys were saying. It was cool because they didn't force anything upon the kids, but the positive message was there for the kids to listen to and use.
Barton_Name one or several tricks you landed on mini gold rail first, and then filmed on the real gold rail afterwards.
Curtin_Umm.. I think pretty much all of them. Nollie front board, nollie nosegrind, nollie noseblunt, sw. fr. feeble, switch front blunt, sw. back lip...I wish I still had the rail to practice on before stepping it up cuz I got some new ones to try!
Barton_Any last words or thoughts on Skate Night.
Curtin_I probably wouldn't be where im at without all the time and practice spent at that spot. A big thanks to Bart and the Church for putting up with all of us adn hooking it up. Lets start another one!
Barton_Back in the day, how did you hear about Skate Night and what was your first impression?
Worrest_Haha, I heard from Jimmy Mcdonald and Erick Hynek, I was hearing about this kid from there , who just happened to be Billy Roper.. I thought it was sick!
Barton_Which did you prefer: Skate Night with the blue waffle floor or Skate Night with the plastic wood floor?
Worrest_hmmm, I was so used to the blue waffle that I think I prefered it more, even though the plastic wood popped better there were areas that felt slow compared to the waffle floor.
Barton_What was your favorite obstacle at Skate Night?
Worrest_My favorite obstacle was probably the original yellow rail, because it felt like a handrail yet it was low enough to learn tricks on, then it was the mini gold rail because I actually felt like I was skating a rail, skating that rail all the time definantly built up my rail skillz.
Barton_ Who were the up & comers you would see at Skate Night?
Worrest_The up and comers I would see at Skate Night were Gregoire, Ropes, and The Wolfpack..
Barton_Did you ever see anyone at Skate Night that you wouldn't expect to be there?
Worrest_Nope, it was always the same krew.
Barton_Tell us a little bit about doing demos at Skate Night. What was the best demo you remember from Skate Night?
Worrest_I dont think I was ever at a Skate Night demo, oo, there was that one five boro, and another one that was a christian board company, help me out bart, I dont remember.
Barton_Tell the unfortunate rest of the world what "private sessions" were and include something you filmed at a private session that stands out to you.
Worrest_The private sessions started off on rainy nights where I would just call up Bart after school and be like "yo lets skate tonight at 8" and then we would have private sessions every rainy night or a night that was too cold.. I basically filmed my entire skate night part during a few private sessions.
Barton_How did you feel about Skate Night being part of a church and having an alterior motive of being able to preach from the Bible to skaters?
Worrest_I didn't really mind that skate night was part of a church; However, my personal opinion about the whole preaching bible to skaters was that I was not into it.
Barton_Name one or several tricks you landed on mini gold rail first, and then filmed on the real gold rail afterwards.
Worrest_Haha, back tail, kickflip back tail, switch tail, switch lip, back noseblunt, back smith, front feeble, back tail shuv, kickflip front board, I can't remember any more.
Barton_Any last words or thoughts on Skate Night.
Worrest_I wish Bart would bring it back, and I promise I will help set up and help put the ramps back this time, not like I never did it before, haha except for maybe a few times.
Barton_Back in the day, how did you hear about Skate Night and what was your first impression?
Ropes_I can't really remember where I heard about it, but when I fist went there I was sooo siked... cause you could skate it when it was to cold out to skate, even though the floor was CRAZY at first.
Barton_Which did you prefer: Skate Night with the blue waffle floor or Skate Night with the plastic wood floor?
Ropes_The plastic wood for sure, but the blue is O.G. with the waffle imprints whenever you fall.
Barton_What was your favorite obstacle at Skate Night?
Ropes_I think at one time or another I favored them all, it was more of a ok I did these tricks down this obsticle... now lets move on to this.
Barton_ Who were the up & comers you would see at Skate Night?
Ropes_Jack was deffinatly one of them, I remember the first time I ever saw that fool. He was doing nollie crooks on the small flat rail, im sure Bart will tell you the same.
Barton_Did you ever see anyone at Skate Night that you wouldn't expect to be there?
Ropes_Kids from like Richmond and areas where it took like 2 hours to get there. I would always trip out on those kids like "what the hell are you doing here"?
Barton_Tell us a little bit about doing demos at Skate Night. What was the best demo you remember from Skate Night?
Ropes_The demo's were sick because it wasn't like a demo... it was like skating with your freinds without the 100 lil kids wandering around everywhere. The best demo? I don't even think it was a demo, it was like a best trick contest and it was just dope because everyone was just vibing off of each other like pushing one another to keep stepping it up. I think EB one that shit.
Barton_Tell the unfortunate rest of the world what "private sessions" were and include something you filmed at a private session that stands out to you.
Ropes_Private sessions were sessions that you were mostly invited to... or sometimes just call Bart and arange it. It was sick cause you could put anything you wanted however you want it, thats probably all the footage you would see in the skatenight vids and be like "When did they set up that"? The trick that stands out the most to meduring a private session was probably the nollie back nose grind 180 around the C-ledge... I surprised "myself" with that one haha.
Barton_How did you feel about Skate Night being part of a church and having an alterior motive of being able to preach from the Bible to skaters?
Ropes_I didn't mind it at all... I respect Bart and everything he stands for.
Barton_Name one or several tricks you landed on mini gold rail first, and then filmed on the real gold rail afterwards.
Ropes_Switch blunt, Kickflip crooks, and I think thats it.
Barton_Any last words or thoughts on Skate Night.
Ropes_ Wish it was still there, it put a major slump on my back lips since it closed, so that sucks. It deffinatly helped me take my skateboarding to another level and I guess you could go skate the same shit at the tennis courts but it's deffinatly not the same. I wanna say thanks Bart for filming me and letting me in on the private sessions and hopefully the DC area will have another dope indoor spot to skate sometime in the future.
Bart_Back in the day, how did you hear about Skate Night and what was your first impression?
EB_I forget how I heard about it, but I remember the first time I got to skate it was during a 5boro demo. I completely sucked and wasn't used to the floor at all. It was pretty embarassing.
Bart_Which did you prefer: Skate Night with the blue waffle floor or Skate Night with the plastic wood floor?
EB_I definetly prefered the blue floor, cause that was skate night at its best. whenever you fell, you would get the squares in your skin. I think it rolled a little better than the plastic wood floor did, too.
Barton_what was your favorite obstacle at Skate Night?
EB_I was a fan of the classic black rail, that thing was the best. I also liked when the yellow rail was going down that ramp. that was a good time too.
Barton_ Who were the up & comers you would see at Skate Night?
EB_A lot of people man, shaun gregoire was always destroying shit, billy roper of course, bobby worrest and whenever jack curtain came through, lil ben would rip too. there were alot, everybody ripped.
Barton_Did you ever see anyone at Skate Night that you wouldn't expect to be there?
EB_A lot of the pros that came through, Rodney Jones was there alot too.
Barton_Tell us a little bit about doing demos at Skate Night. What was the best demo you remember from Skate Night?
EB_It was cool, I was very excited to be asked to skate in them. I always skated shitty though. One time, I had just broken my toe and I was trying to skate in the skate camp one. It was really hard. I think the best one was Chris Coles one man demo. I wasn't even there, but i saw the footage. He filmed a part practically.
Barton_Tell the unfortunate rest of the world what "private sessions" were and include something you filmed at a private session that stands out to you.
EB_ Private sessions were the best man. Raining? Call bart up, get some people together and shred. I filmed a few things during those sessions, I don't really know what trick stands out, one time I did a back smith to fakie on the yellow rail going down the ramp and I had cornrows, that was pretty cool cause I can't really do that trick.
Barton_How did you feel about Skate Night being part of a church and having an alterior motive of being able to preach from the Bible to skaters?
EB_Never really thought much of it. Although I don't agree with all of it, they were doing a good thing and it got peoples attention. I was just stoked they let me come and skate.
Baton_Name one or several tricks you landed on mini gold rail first, and then filmed on the real gold rail afterwards.
EB_pretty much just basic tricks. front board, smith, smith to fakie and front feeble. i dont really have much luck with the real gold rail.
Barton_Any last words or thoughts on Skate Night.
EB_It was awesome, I wish it could have stayed around longer, but things happen. thanks to bart for everything that he did, and everyone who drove me there skate.
Barton_Back in the day, how did you hear about Skate Night and what was your first impression?
Shaun_I first heard about from a couple budies of mine but never went until I was invited to a private session by Bradley and Zack one random day skating in the city of fairfax.
Barton_Which did you prefer: Skate Night with the blue waffle floor or Skate Night with the plastic wood floor?
Shaun_They both had there ups and downs but the blue floor was cool because when you fell hard it would leave a star mark in your skin for a few days.
Barton_What was your favorite obstacle at Skate Night?
Shaun_I think my two favorite obstacles were the red kinked rail and def the kicker to yellow rail. There were endless amounts of fun on that bar.
Barton_ Who were the up & comers you would see at Skate Night?
Shaun_Man there were so many. Everyone who showed up every week ripped.
Barton_Did you ever see anyone at Skate Night that you wouldn't expect to be there?
Shaun_Everyone who skated there belonged there. I never saw anyone out of place.
Barton_Tell us a little bit about doing demos at Skate Night. What was the best demo you remember from Skate Night?
Shaun_The demos there were real fun. I demo where i had the most fun was probably the one with phil troter. His tre flips are perfect and he has a lot more pop then you would think.
Barton_Tell the unfortunate rest of the world what "private sessions" were and include something you filmed at a private session that stands out to you.
Shaun_A session that stand out to me is when it was basically me, eric,sean, hippy, jack, jimmy, butler, and i think a couple other people but all me managed to set up was two kickers and the big box. we skate the to kickers like a pyramid and skate box by it self. we were to lazy to set anything else up but i had so much fun on just those three obsticles that night. it was great. i think a little segment was made for the website was from that night.
Barton_How did you feel about Skate Night being part of a church and having an alterior motive of being able to preach from the Bible to skaters?
Shaun_I thought it was a cool idea. it opens kids up to the possibilities of thinking in diffent ways so i thought it was a good thing.
Barton_Name one or several tricks you landed on mini gold rail first, and then filmed on the real gold rail afterwards.
Shaun_Oh man where to start haha. switch 5050, i Put down a kickflip back smiths on real gold a couple times but never rolled it, tail slide big spin out, and kickflip front feeble
Barton_Any last words or thoughts on Skate Night.
Shaun_With out skate Night i would not be where i am now in skateboarding and not have nearly as many friends as i do now. Skate Night was a great place just to chill and hang out. Bart, you need to get another one going!
CHRIS COLE DEMO
ALEX HANSEN
MONTAGE FROM OC