The sentimental well is dry when it comes to things, but places, that's a different thing all together. I'm really attached to places. The Oregon coast where we vacationed as kids, our cabin in Ashton that had grasshoppers the size of small cats, the mountain that stands behind my parent's home that was the finest lizard hunting ground in town. Those are the things I get sentimental about. I have a lot of places that are special to me.
While visiting my parents some weeks ago, I decided to take Natalie out to see some of my special places. Skateboarding is a big part of the mixture that makes up Josh Ormond, so I took Natalie to all my favorite skate spots around Pocatello. These spots were my friends. Like, for real. It's weird, it's funny, it's crazy, I know. But they were. Each one had it's own personality and I treated these spots as my friends.
Taking Natalie to these spots was a lot of fun. I found myself driving the exact routes I did as a teenager. Coming in from the back alley or the parking lot across the street so I wouldn't raise suspicion and get rolled out by the cops. It was totally unnecessary of course, but habits die hard. Every spot had its own set of memories and just being in those spots let me relive them. I tried to describe the highlights to Natalie, but I'm not sure she was all that interested in how long it took Dustin and I to get this one curb to actually grind right. Being in these spots was like being with old friends, some had changed, some had passed away, but most were the same as I remembered. So here's a list with some pictures of my favorite skate spots in Pocatello.
Simplot Square
Pocatello was divided into three distinct skate zones. There was old town made up of Pocatello High School, various banks, and Simplot Square: the university with tons of rails, stairs, drops, bumps and curbs; and miscellaneous, which covered pretty much everything else we could find that was interesting and skate-able.
Simplot Square was the nexus of the old town skate zone. It wasn't even in the center of old town, but some how every skate session would start and end there. It has curbs aplenty. A sweet step down. Shade, water, and seclusion from cops. It was rare to get kicked out of the Square. It's one of my favorite spots to this day. On any given day you could roll up and find the place packed with skaters.
The skate park has taken it's toll on Simplot Square. Ever since it opened, kids have skated real street less and less. The Square shows its neglect. Previously buttered curbs, now dry as a bone. When I arrived on the scene to take these photos, there wasn't a skater in sight. It was rare to have a moment to yourself in the Square. I made the most of it and took some laps over the step down.
Pocatello was divided into three distinct skate zones. There was old town made up of Pocatello High School, various banks, and Simplot Square: the university with tons of rails, stairs, drops, bumps and curbs; and miscellaneous, which covered pretty much everything else we could find that was interesting and skate-able.
Simplot Square was the nexus of the old town skate zone. It wasn't even in the center of old town, but some how every skate session would start and end there. It has curbs aplenty. A sweet step down. Shade, water, and seclusion from cops. It was rare to get kicked out of the Square. It's one of my favorite spots to this day. On any given day you could roll up and find the place packed with skaters.
The skate park has taken it's toll on Simplot Square. Ever since it opened, kids have skated real street less and less. The Square shows its neglect. Previously buttered curbs, now dry as a bone. When I arrived on the scene to take these photos, there wasn't a skater in sight. It was rare to have a moment to yourself in the Square. I made the most of it and took some laps over the step down.
(The Simplot Square step down. Lots of tricks were learned over this thing.)
Key Bank Parking LotAlso part of the old town skate zone. This spot had a good mix of features. There was a large round rail that ran on the side of the drive-through on the far right of the picture. A manual pad on the other side of the drive-through (not pictured). And ample room to do flatland tricks (it's a parking lot after all). But most of the action centered around this little curb. It's a parking space with a concrete peninsula. The peninsula was great for all kinds of grinds and slides. And if you were feeling really creative, you could throw some flip tricks over it. It was a great little spot. And Simplot Square was right across the street so it was in the perfect location.
I remember skating there one day with a huge group of like ten people. We were like a swarm of skateboarding energy. My good friend Jared, who wasn't all that good a skateboarder, was with us and trying to ollie up this side walk. He finally got up on it but lost his balance and looped out. Well he did something weird in the air and when he landed he broke is ankle. That was the first broken bone I witnessed while skating. There were more to come. Mostly mine.
Now, like Simplot Square, all the wax is dried up, no one skates there, and it's gone back to just being a parking lot. I had to snap a quick ollie over the peninsula just to stick it to the man.
I remember skating there one day with a huge group of like ten people. We were like a swarm of skateboarding energy. My good friend Jared, who wasn't all that good a skateboarder, was with us and trying to ollie up this side walk. He finally got up on it but lost his balance and looped out. Well he did something weird in the air and when he landed he broke is ankle. That was the first broken bone I witnessed while skating. There were more to come. Mostly mine.
Now, like Simplot Square, all the wax is dried up, no one skates there, and it's gone back to just being a parking lot. I had to snap a quick ollie over the peninsula just to stick it to the man.
City Bank Manual Pad
Directly across the street from the Key Bank spot was this little gem. It's essentially a sidewalk in the middle of a parking lot. But we used it to show off our tech skills. We would manual (that's skate lingo for doing wheelies) this thing for hours. That's all there was in this spot, just the manual pad. If you had really good balance, you would manual it the long way. I was never all that good at manualing so I never made it to the end the long way.
This spot was pretty fun. It was right off main street and cops would drive by all the time. I never remember being kicked out of the place. No one seemed to mind that we were just jumping up onto a sidewalk and then off the other end. The City Bank Manual Pad wasn't something you went to exclusively, but it was always part of the old town circuit.
This spot was pretty fun. It was right off main street and cops would drive by all the time. I never remember being kicked out of the place. No one seemed to mind that we were just jumping up onto a sidewalk and then off the other end. The City Bank Manual Pad wasn't something you went to exclusively, but it was always part of the old town circuit.
The first reported casualty. This was nothing more than a heave in the sidewalk on the south side of the City Bank Manual Pad. Two segments of sidewalk came together and like tectonic plates neither wanted to move backward, so they moved up. It made the perfect natural launch pad. This is where we honed our flip tricks. It wasn't uncommon to see chest high kickflips thrown over this thing. For awhile we had a safety cone stashed behind some dumpsters in the adjacent alley way. We would set that up and throw everything we could think of over it.
Now it looks like the city finally got the funding to re-pour the sidewalk on that block. The bump is now a driveway. I was pretty bummed to see that it was gone. It was a great spot. It was out of the way, stayed in the shade for most of the day, and above all was really fun to skate. Rest in piece Bump. I'll be shredding you in the Celestial.
Now it looks like the city finally got the funding to re-pour the sidewalk on that block. The bump is now a driveway. I was pretty bummed to see that it was gone. It was a great spot. It was out of the way, stayed in the shade for most of the day, and above all was really fun to skate. Rest in piece Bump. I'll be shredding you in the Celestial.
(Like standing atop a grave.)The Blue Round Rail
The big wall you see behind me is my high school auditorium. And just to the left is my seminary building. This rail was skated a lot. It was one of the more technical rails to skate. You had to be totally committed to what you were doing or the Blue Round Rail would own you. The side walk was all rutted out from years of frost and melt. It was like a river rock wall turned on its side. The black top wasn't much better. It was rough and if you went down on it you were guaranteed a good shredding. Plus the rail itself wasn't all that smooth. It had dents, dings, and kinks aplenty. But that just added to its coolness.
You could start your grind from the blacktop and transfer over to the sidewalk. That was crazy fun. The rail was built to go around the perimeter of a credit union and the drive-through window ladies wouldn't take kindly to us shredding the Blue Round Rail. We would get two or three grinds in before they would start yelling at us over the PA. So the Blue Round Rail was a night mission spot, which added to the danger factor. You had to rely on the street lights from the school. So everything was covered in shadow. This is a good skate spot.
(It doubled as a decent chair too.)B-Side
Well this one is more of an institution than a spot really. It was on the border of the university skate zone, but really it was the middle of the Pocatello skate scene. B-Side was a little duplex turned into a skate shop, and it meant the world to us. The owner was a guy by the name of Brandon Flyg. He was a local skater, born and raised, that dreamed to open a skate shop someday. Brandon actually taught me how to do my first pop-shove-it years before he opened B-Side. We loved this shop. We were devoted to this shop. One of the guys I used to skate with actually got the address tattooed on his arm. Brandon converted the front curbs into the perfect ledges. He put angled steel caps on the longest curb and it was awesome. I'm sitting on what remains of our skate sessions there. The curb to the left is the end of the long angled steel curb.
Brandon eventually moved his shop into old town because rent was cheaper. By that time I was on my mission. I returned to find the shop in a deteriorating condition. Inventory was at a bare minimum, no one was around. It was empty. Zumiez had opened and the skateboarding naive abandoned the institution that put skating on the map for Pocatello. Brandon was forced to close his doors. He moved to California and took a design job for a skate company there. I still drive by the old shop and reminisce. That shop was our connection to the rest of the skate world. It made us feel apart of something bigger than ourselves. We were skaters and we weren't alone. That's a big deal to a bunch of kids that felt like they were on the outside.
B-Side was a force for change in the city. The Pocatello Skate Park Committee formed there. We got ourselves organized, lobbied for support, and raised a quarter of a million dollars to build our own skate park. And it all started on B-Side's front porch.
Fast side story. The building to the right in the image is a Kinkos. We used to get on the roof and ollie off it into the parking lot. Yeah, it was stupid. But I'll tell you what, when you can roll away after jumping off a building, you're the baddest dude around. The only thing that could make that cooler is if the building exploded behind you.
Brandon eventually moved his shop into old town because rent was cheaper. By that time I was on my mission. I returned to find the shop in a deteriorating condition. Inventory was at a bare minimum, no one was around. It was empty. Zumiez had opened and the skateboarding naive abandoned the institution that put skating on the map for Pocatello. Brandon was forced to close his doors. He moved to California and took a design job for a skate company there. I still drive by the old shop and reminisce. That shop was our connection to the rest of the skate world. It made us feel apart of something bigger than ourselves. We were skaters and we weren't alone. That's a big deal to a bunch of kids that felt like they were on the outside.
B-Side was a force for change in the city. The Pocatello Skate Park Committee formed there. We got ourselves organized, lobbied for support, and raised a quarter of a million dollars to build our own skate park. And it all started on B-Side's front porch.
Fast side story. The building to the right in the image is a Kinkos. We used to get on the roof and ollie off it into the parking lot. Yeah, it was stupid. But I'll tell you what, when you can roll away after jumping off a building, you're the baddest dude around. The only thing that could make that cooler is if the building exploded behind you.
University Library Bank
The university skate zone was massive. There are too many awesome spots to list. But this one was one of my personal favorites. Well my favorite that still exists anyway. It was in the back lot of the university library. It was a bank that went from about knee high to waist high with a set of stairs in the middle. We used it as a quarter pipe and pulled some of the craziest tricks on this thing. Plus, there was a manual pad and curb across the parking lot, a loading dock drop, and one of the heaviest stair gaps in town just around the corner. This spot had something for everyone.
The one problem with this spot and all the university skate zone spots was security. University public safety were always around and always anxious to kick you off campus. As a result, we could never stay in one spot for very long, fifteen, twenty minutes tops. Public safety weren't cops, cops we could handle. Cops would roll up roll down a window and ask us to leave. No big deal. Public safety liked to make a show of force. They would screech into a spot in their cars and bicycles and just start screaming at you to "Stop what you're doing and line up against the car." Seriously, public safety would come out with two cars and four dudes on bikes. At best they would only take your name and kick you off campus for a day, week, or life. (I was banned from campus for life several times.) At worst they would slap cuffs on you, take your skateboard, and threaten you with jail time and huge trespassing fines. But the spots were worth it. Public safety bozos were the price we had to pay for the spots. And we paid it gladly.
The one problem with this spot and all the university skate zone spots was security. University public safety were always around and always anxious to kick you off campus. As a result, we could never stay in one spot for very long, fifteen, twenty minutes tops. Public safety weren't cops, cops we could handle. Cops would roll up roll down a window and ask us to leave. No big deal. Public safety liked to make a show of force. They would screech into a spot in their cars and bicycles and just start screaming at you to "Stop what you're doing and line up against the car." Seriously, public safety would come out with two cars and four dudes on bikes. At best they would only take your name and kick you off campus for a day, week, or life. (I was banned from campus for life several times.) At worst they would slap cuffs on you, take your skateboard, and threaten you with jail time and huge trespassing fines. But the spots were worth it. Public safety bozos were the price we had to pay for the spots. And we paid it gladly.
Quick story about this little shed. One night Kyle and I were skating the bank. Kyle happened to glance over at the road that runs along side the bank just as a public safety guy drives by. We know that if one public safety car sees us, the bike patrol isn't far behind. So we bolt and hide in this little shed. Now Kyle's like 6'4" and I'm like 6'2"-ish give or take a foot (What? I'm only 5'9"? whatever). We were crammed in this shed full of hoses and lawn equipment and we can see out into the parking lot. As soon as we get the door shut, here comes the public safety car blasting around the corner. Then we see two public safety bikes zip by from the opposite direction. They're all just standing in the middle of the parking lot looking for us, and me and Kyle are trying so hard not to loose it. After about ten minutes the public safety guys gave up the search and moved on. Me and Kyle booked it to B-Side and shared the story about how we got away. It was epic.
So there you have it. Those are some of my favorite spots. The places I get sentimental over. In retrospect it isn't the places themselves that hold sentimental value to me. I guess it's the friends and experiences associated with these places. I'm still close to most of my skate friends. And their friendship never depended on a place, but I'm glad we had these places to share. We grew up together, met the world with each other, and I'm grateful for it.
I called these spots my friends, and they are. But really they're echos of actual people that I have the actual pleasure of calling my friends. I hope these spots remain for as long as my friendships do. Because when I'm in these spots I'm fourteen all over again. And when I'm with my friends I hope I'm the same fourteen year old kid that they trusted with their friendship. Now that, I can get sentimental about.
