News

The Brooklyn Banks, Famous Among N.Y.C. Skateboarders, Could Reopen Soon


As a teenager in the 1980s, Jefferson Pang used to get up early on weekends to meet his friends in a dark, dirty square under the Brooklyn Bridgehead in Manhattan. That was the only time they had it to themselves.

The square would soon be filled with skaters running up and down its steep red-brick embankments. Mr. Pang is a regular, but others have made pilgrimages from places as far away as Japan and Australia. For savvy skaters navigating in a world that hasn’t welcomed or understood them yet, Brooklyn Banks is a destination.

“It felt like this was the place to be,” recalls Mr. Pang, now 51, a store manager for Supreme. “It’s our kind of community center.”

Under the bridge, they can fearlessly fly over railings, ledges and granite tree boxes, landing one daring trick after another. It’s where seasoned professionals skate alongside newcomers, where skills are mastered after hours of sweaty practice, and where skaters can be the mainstay. me.

Although not specifically designed for the sport, the square was New York City’s most popular skate spot until it was built. closed in 2010 for construction on the bridge. By then, it had appeared in countless skateboarding photos and videos. Nike shot an ad there. Tony Hawk, who skateboarding legend and a tireless supporter of the sport, helped cement the status of Brooklyn Banks in 2000 when he included it in his popular video game.

Now, more than two decades later, Mr. Hawk has taken the position again. his nonprofit, Skate Park Projectis working on reopening Brooklyn Banks, and this time, as an officially sanctioned skateboarding venue.

“It’s a legendary, iconic place in the world of skateboarding,” Mr Hawk said. “The idea that we’re helping to revive it and reopen it is something I feel very fortunate to be involved in.”

It also means that Mr. Hawk, who has mastered skating in Southern California’s skate parks, will eventually try the banks himself. He missed his chance in the early 1990s when he visited the site with his skateboarding team but injured his ankle.

“I took them there, but I couldn’t skate,” he said. “So I clearly remember dropping them off and going to buy Chinese food so I really didn’t get to skate.”

The grassroots movement to bring back banks began three years ago when skaters published a online recommendations. It ended up garnering more than 53,000 signatures. A non-profit organization, Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan – whose founders include Steve Rodríguezco-owner of 5Boroan apparel and skateboard company — founded to turn ideas into reality.

If all goes according to plan, the skate park will be part of a nine-acre area below and around the $160 million bridge. Gotham Parkwhich will not only preserve Brooklyn Banks but also basketball courts, playgrounds, art installations and pedestrian boulevards.

The proposed park would be in the middle of a dense area of ​​Lower Manhattan as calls for more open space grow louder during the pandemic. It will also provide residents with another option as restoration plans to protect the area from storm flooding have been temporarily closed. Dong River Park and may soon close or limit access to Wagner . Park in Battery Park City and other waterfront areas during many years of construction.

Mayor Eric Adams and city officials are reviewing plans for the new park “as we look to expand more public spaces across the city,” said Meera Joshi, deputy mayor in charge of operations for the new park. know. Governor Kathy Hochul recently supported the proposed park with a 4 million USD awards to improve pedestrian connections along Park Row, helping to increase park accessibility from Chinatown and beyond.

Brooklyn Banks is located on city-owned land that was used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883. On the Manhattan side, the entrance to the bridge is supported by a series of columns and stone arches. Inside the arches are interconnected vaults, where the wine seller used to keepAmong other things.

When city officials removed trolleys from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1950 to make room for more cars, exit ramps were added to the Manhattan end. In 1972, the city built a pedestrian plaza below those ramps and around the steel columns that support them.

“It’s the space left in the shadow of the bridge and nobody wants to be there,” said Rosa Chang, an architectural designer and founder of Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan.

Although the square is overseen by transportation officials, Henry Stern, a former city park commissioner, is said to have unilaterally planted a wooden sign there declaring it a city park. It is called Red Brick Park because of the smooth red bricks that cover the square.

Skateboarders and BMX cyclists have discovered that the long brick ramps and its other features – stairs for jumping, benches and railings for sliding, poles for riding – are created for an irresistible urban obstacle course.

“There are all sorts of creative things you can do there, and it’s fun,” said Mark Gonzales, 54, who has done trick tricks off poles. But the biggest draw, he added, is that “you won’t really get kicked out.”

Mr. Pang stopped at the bank one night in the 80s after cycling across the bridge. “It was like in Batman,” he recalls. “It’s like a cathedral, like a dark Gothic place where it feels like a superhero or a superhero will emerge from nowhere.”

He had started skating on a ramp he helped build on a friend’s lawn in Brooklyn. It was a hit. As rumors spread, skaters flocked to the ramp from other districts. “There’s a remote-controlled gate, and if we don’t know people, we’d say, ‘Sorry, but it’s a private ramp,'” he said.

But after Mr. Pang fell out with his friend and stopped going to the ramp, he went to Brooklyn Banks again. Soon he was there every weekend and during the week, whenever he was truant from school.

“It’s the closest thing we’ve got to a real skate park,” he said.

In 2010, city officials took over the square to restore the Brooklyn Bridge. The fence goes up. Trucks and equipment arrive.

According to city officials at the time, the square was supposed to be closed for four years, but it never reopened. The restoration of the bridge is expected to last until 2024.

this is the second time skaters were relocated. Rodriguez said he intervened in 2004 when city officials fenced off the square to improve landscaping, including spreading soil along a stretch of embankment that made it practically impossible to slide. At his urging, the rest of the square remained largely intact.

Mr. Rodriguez, who works in advertising, has been named the unofficial mayor of skateboarding New York City. He’s been skating on the streets of the city since the 1980s when he used to deliver dry cleaning on his board. “I’m not going back to the store right away,” he said. “I will skateboard and then go back to the store.”

Once, Mr. Rodriguez followed a group of skaters to Brooklyn Banks. He comes back the following weekend, and then whenever he can. “It will forever be my second home,” he said. “I can really say I’ve been in space more than anyone else.”

In 2005, Mr. Rodriguez started hosting the annual Back to the Banks skateboarding competition there, which raised thousands of dollars to help clean up and maintain the square.

But five years later, even Mr. Rodriguez could not stop the city from closing the square to build a bridge.

When the Brooklyn Bank didn’t reopen, many skaters feared it would never happen. Mr. Rodriguez and his son, Shiki, and other skaters will slide over the fence as construction subsides.

Then, in 2020, the city began removing some of the red bricks from the square. Skateboarders everywhere mourn, posting #ripbrooklynbanks on social media.

Jonathan Becker, 22, a student at Pace University, who once looked at Brooklyn Banks from his freshman dorm room, isn’t ready to give up. He and a friend, 24-year-old David Carozza, started an online petition to save the Brooklyn Bank and enlist the help of Mr.

“We just hoped that it might lead somewhere, but we didn’t know it was going to take off,” Mr. Becker said. “It’s one of those places in the skateboarding community that really has a lot of history.”

The petition caught the attention of Ms. Chang, who is new to the local community council. Ms. Chang, who has a 9-year-old son, was involved in an effort at a nearby school to promote more outdoor play space. She reached out to Mr. Rodriguez, who gathered dozens of skaters to share what Brooklyn Banks means to them during an online community board meeting.

Ms. Chang, moved by the outpouring, and Mr. Rodriguez lead the effort to create Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan by 2021. They envisioned a new waterfront park that would serve as a community hub with activities. culture and recreation for local residents, including recreation areas designed for older New Yorkers. The park will also seek to exploit the tourist crowds on the bridge to draw more pedestrian traffic to struggling businesses in Chinatown and South Street Seaport.

“There is space for everyone,” Ms. Chang said, “and we all need access to it.”

The Skatepark project, which has helped build 661 skate parks across the country, including two in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan, has signed on to support the banks. “It’s about getting it back to its original state,” said Benjamin Anderson Bashein, executive director of the project.

Mr. Pang said he was happy that a new generation of skaters would get to experience what he did. “The Brooklyn Banks is where people think when they think of skateboarding in New York City,” he said.

Although Mr. Pang has moved into the business side of the industry and no longer skates daily, he plans to bring his skates to the new park.

“I mean, I don’t want to embarrass myself,” he said. “But I definitely have plans there.”

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button