Miami Lice
October 24, 2008 @ 4:00 AM
The first time we went out skating with Newport and his crew we got taken for a little look around the downtown area. A lot of tours come through Miami, not to mention the long list of local heavy hitters, so many of the spots carry quite a bag of ABDs on them. We went to the spot with a gap to triangular sloping ledge that Muska recently tailslid in the Element video. Bastien bs flipped into it. Fuenzelida nollieheeled it couple of days earlier. See that set of stairs there—Jamie Thomas ollied it for his first C1rca ad. None of the information was forced on us, but it was there for the asking. The Ghetto banks? The list is endless. You could be forgiven for being a bit discouraged by all the sickness that most of the spots had witnessed over the years. The advantage of it is that there’s always a reference point that people will know. You ask for a spot from the locals and you almost always know a trick or two on it from this or that video. “Where’s that white bank with the curb on top, where you do a fs 180 fakie 5-0 at the end of your Inhabitants part?” we would ask Selego. “Where’s that gap over rail where Renaud has a bs flip for his latest Stereo ad?” Or when Newport was taking us to the purple up ledge that Jerome ended up back tailing we’d ask him how big or steep it was. “I haven’t been there. But dude [Ed Selego] krook’d it so it can’t be easy.”
At the end of our downtown cruise one night we got taken to a taco place for dinner. The middle aged woman behind the counter asked us where we were from, what we were doing in town and oh, were we skateboarders on a trip? Which company did we ride for? Nike, oh really, that’s cool! “You know,” she told us “we get a lot of skaters that ride for Adio coming through here.” Her son was 13, a skater, and obviously really into Adio and Habitat. So it goes. In London you get pretty much spat in the face for being a skateboarder. Last time I busted my ankle I got laughed at twice in the hospital. You did what? And you’re how old? Even the police were understanding at times.
When Danijel and Tom were eyeing up a kicker over gap and bar one night the OAPs living next to it had called the cops. The police explained that around that area of Miami Beach they had a lot of old folk living there and they basically complained about everything. “Yo, check this out” the cop said. He actually said those words. “Yo, check this out, you drive north on this road and you get to this underpass and there’s some tunnels there. And there’s a car park that’s fully lit up at night.” And he gave us directions to the stupid car park and asked us what sort of stuff we were after, the big-hearted fool that he was. We spent the rest of the night getting kicked out from various spots by all sorts of police men and women plus a security guard that we decided must have been an illegal immigrant, since he seemed to be not only worried about the property and his job but also the prospect of having to get the police involved if we didn’t leave. That particular security guard left Danijel and a certain neck high hubba with some unfinished business, waiting for the next Miami trip. To be honest, the way we got looked after, I don’t think any of us would mind another little visit to Miami. Maybe next time we’ll spot O.J. Simpson or Will Smith as well.
