Here's the full clips of all the footage from our Instagram Stories that were shot and posted live as the skaters re-claimed the Venice Skate Park on Sunday & Monday. Led by Peck and the crew from Venice Skateboarding Stuff, skaters and non-skaters from all over the city came down, grab shovels, brooms, and buckets and got to work digging out the skate park that the city buried during the Covid-19 lockdown.

For the story on the clean up of the skate park, CLICK HERE

As seen on our Instagram Stories, the city was looking at the Venice Skate Park early Tuesday morning. They cautioned taped off the park and were telling everyone to leave, becuase the skate park is closed.

A witness by the name of "Shane" who was present Tuesday morning when the "Chief of the Parks And Rec" was checking out the skate park. He "was calling the staff in order to specifically put sand back in it."

But mid-morning, they had left and skaters returned to the park and started skating it again.

By the afternoon, the park was packed with skaters, and the police where somewhat successful in trying to clear out the park, as seen in the videos below:

For the story on the clean up of the skate park, CLICK HERE

There continues to be great progress on Malibu's Temporary Skate Park.

California Skateparks is constructing the skate equipment off-site, and will transport the equipment to Malibu Bluffs Park once it is complete.





In 2019, the City Council approved the use of the Crummer/Case property adjacent to Malibu Bluffs Park as the location for a temporary skate park, and authorized staff to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the design of a 12,500 square-foot permanent skate park on the same property.

The City Council approved the Final Conceptual Design for the Temporary Skate Park on Monday, February 24.

The Temporary Skate Park is expected to open on the west portion of the property in Mid-2020, while the Permanent Skate Park is designed and built on the east portion of the property.

Venice Skate Park's Sergeant-At-Arms Peck and Venice Skateboarding Stuff got everyone together to clean out the skate park.

As seen on our Instagram Stories, the clean up started late Sunday afternoon, Peck rounding up shovels, brooms, and buckets, and the crew started removing most of the sand from the mini-bowl.


Sunday afternoon, mini-bowl almost cleared out and was skate-able.

Venice Skateboarding Stuff put the word out that skate park clean up will continue at 8am on Monday.

Clean up resumed early Monday with a few people, then it grew throughout the morning to a large number of people coming down to help out. More shovels and buckets were brought over. All ages pitched in, even the non-skaters jumped in and started shoveling out sand.


Peck in the completely buried snake run Monday morning.




There were all ages helping out.

No interruptions from Police or The Department Of Parks & Recreation. But a source said that Parks & Rec are just going to tell the workers to fill the skate park back up with sand again.


This kid was shoveling sand on Sunday and Monday morning, took a break from that to get some air over the hip.

@somasugiyama with sandals frontside airing a penny board.





By Sunday afternoon, the last bucket of sand was removed from the snake run. The mini-bowl was cleared of sand, and they were working on getting the last of the sand out of the pool. By late afternoon, everyone was skating the park again. But as seen in the photos, the city let the skate park get thrashed, there is graffiti everywhere, it has never been this badly tagged up before.


Venice Skateboarding Stuff , Peck, and all who helped get the skate park.

We'll have to wait till Tuesday morning when the Parks & Rec head honcho shows up to find out the fate of the park.

The city workers gave a heads up, that the park will just be refilled with sand. But Peck said, "We are prepare for that, we're ready for that, we prepared for that. But hey, let it be a battle. We gonna fight for what we believe in and our rights, cuz this skate park is our life and we're gonna fight for it."

Check out more photos of the clean up and skating in this gallery:

Venice Skatepark - May 2020 Photo Galley

Graffiti Legend "RISK" talks to Jayme "Vision" Burtis, Jim "Red Dog" Muir, Josh "Bagel" Klassman, Nick "Tame" Bradley and DJ Dash talk about the early days of Venice Beach graffiti, skate and surf culture. From the roots of WCA to Dogtown Skateboards it's all here. Risk's @riskrock weekly Instagram Live "Happy Hour" feed.

The Cove Skate Park's staff has been laid off, because of the City Of Santa Monica's "budget cuts". A petition has been started to bring back the park's experienced administrators, Rick Boisdeau and Brian Adams.

We understand the seriousness of the budget shortage and still we are asking that the Santa Monica City Council reconsider their decision to lay off highly experienced administrators of the Cove, notably Rick Boisdeau and Brian Adams. If the skate-park is re-opened with reduced hours and inexperienced staff it will create a safety risk as well as a serious blow to the community. Fees are currently very affordable and if increased could perhaps prevent these damaging cuts. Attendance at the park has steadily increased in the past year. As parents, coaches and skaters we are concerned that with shortened hours and inexperienced staff, once re-opened the skate park will lack the safety and enjoyment it has been known for.

It is impossible to overstate the value that Rick and Brian bring to the Cove. From a risk management perspective, they are highly experienced, competent, and knowledgeable about the sport of skating and can maintain safety through peak hours with high numbers of kids and adults at completely different skill levels. When beginners and intermediate skaters swamp the park area, crashes and injuries become more likely. For the safety of local and visiting skaters, it is important to maintain the excellent staffing from which we have benefited to date.

From a community perspective, Rick and Brian have made the park into an extraordinary place, a second home for many of us - it is no coincidence that attendance has increased under their watch. Rick has been instrumental in the success of the Cove Girls program, a twice-monthly girls-only skate session that has positively impacted the lives of so many girls. Brian, who outside the Cove is a teacher trained in Special Ed, teaches the kids to play chess and is always reading books, though typically his desk is busy with kids who want to chat with him. Rick and Brian both model sportsmanship, fairness, patience, and leadership. Our kids learn so much from them, in fact we all do - they are truly beloved.

Skating was once a rogue activity with origins here in LA; it is now an Olympic sport and recognized as one of the healthiest ways to develop resilience and brain activity. A recent article by Chris Lawton is one study among many outlining how skate parks contribute to the revitalization of urban space and provide important social and cultural benefits. For these benefits to be realized it is vital to maintain the sense of community, respect for the sport and each other that has flourished thanks to Rick Boisdeau and Brian Adams.

Please consider the impact to the safety, health and well-being of our community and sign this petition to help bring them back.

The City Of Malibu announced that they are "making great progress on Malibu’s temporary skate park! It is expected to be completed this summer."



In 2019, the City Council approved the use of the Crummer/Case property adjacent to Malibu Bluffs Park as the location for a temporary skate park, and authorized staff to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the design of a 12,500 square-foot permanent skate park on the same property.

The City Council approved the Final Conceptual Design for the Temporary Skate Park on Monday, February 24.

The Temporary Skate Park is expected to open on the west portion of the property in Mid-2020, while the Permanent Skate Park is designed and built on the east portion of the property.

Skateboarding, surfing, and dirt biking in Santa Monica, CA, captured by a pre-teen David Markey on 8mm film in 1976/ '77.

The dawning of the Dogtown era; Road Rider 4's, Bennett Trucks, Logan Earth Ski's, 2 colored Vans. Shot at Bay Street, Kenter Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Harvard Street, and the former vacant lots of Santa Monica. Skaters include Paul Hoffman and Paul Cullen.

The Venice Skate Park Section starts at the 1:41 mark.

"Venice Beach Skatepark was recently on the news because of what the city decided to do to try and stop skateboarders. I decided to go check it out and show you guys the damage they did. Please be smart and do not copy my actions in this video."

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

This run through the skate park was filmed two days after they stopped putting sand in it.



For full coverage of the skate park's burial, see this story: VENICE SKATE PARK GETS BURIED

*This story will be constantly updated with new info & photos as we get them.*
*New updates will always appear at the bottom.*
*LAST UPDATE: Sunday 12:30PM, 4-19-2020*




On Thursday morning, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks started pouring sand into the Venice Skate Park.

While out filming the morning surf for our daily Instagram Stories, our shooter noticed some bulldozers dumping sand on the skate park and started shooting it.



Several employees were shoveling sand into all areas of the park, while the bulldozer dumped sand along the skate park's rim walkway and into the street section. And of course, as seen in our Instagram Stories, they were getting all sorts of harassment from a handful of skaters and non-skaters.



This is temporary, the sand was put into the skate park to prevent people from skating it. The skate park has been closed for several weeks now due to the stay at home orders, but too many people have been skating it, and just plain hanging out in it. So the Department of Recreation and Parks decided to do more, since the caution tape and signs didn't work.

We asked Lance LeMond, someone who has been involved with the skate park since before it was built and now works for the Parks & Rec, about this and his reply was that they are just going to put enough sand in there that will keep people from skating it.

We saw that cardboard was placed over the all the park's drains with sandbags to hold them down. But the cardboard pieces were not taped down at the edges, so let's hope the method they chose works.



According to the Department of Recreation and Parks, the weight of the sand should not be an issue. They are not putting in an amount that will cause damage to the skate park.







We also noticed that the city is now taking notes on how people at the beaches are following the social distancing guidelines. They have been watching the numbers of people wearing face masks compared to those that do not. The news networks keep doing hit pieces on how people at Venice Beach are not following the guidelines, even though we keep catching all those same reporters and cameramen not following the orders themselves.





There is no info on how long the sand is going to be in place. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti did announce that "large gatherings" including sporting events may not be approved until 2021. With the large crowds that this skate park gets, it might be till then.









UPDATE: Friday 10:20AM, 4-17-2020
More sand being added on Friday, and @WahineKaii snapped this photo (below) of the bulldozer inside of the skate park moving sand around the street section.


Photo by @WahineKaii

The Venice Skate Park is not the only the park having this done, the same thing already happened to the San Clemente Skate park


Photo by Ryan Mata

The San Clemente Times reports: "On Monday, the City of San Clemente poured 37 tons of sand onto the concrete surface of the Ralphs Skate Court off Avenida La Pata as part of an effort to deter skaters from visiting the park during the coronavirus pandemic."

It is probably a god bet to say the Venice Skate park will end up looking like that.

UPDATE: Friday 5:30PM, 4-17-2020

Photo by Stu Munde

There's an aerial photo (above) of the skate park on Friday.

UPDATE: Friday 5:45PM, 4-17-2020

The Patch reports:
"Residents have complained that groups of people still gathered in Venice, and weren't taking the stay-home order and social distancing preventative measures serious."

We saw it almost daily, group just hanging out at the park, not keeping the six foot distance from each other, challenging the police when told to leave, etc...



UPDATE: Saturday 12:30PM, 4-18-2020


Photo by HUNTER W E ! S S

Rose Watson, the Director of Public Information at City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation & Parks made some statements on the dumping of sand in the Venice Skate Park.

Watson said Department of Recreation & Parks has filled skate parks with sand in the past in order to keep people from using them before construction has been completed.

She said so far, just the skate park in Venice has been laden with sand, but Department of Recreation & Parks will fill other skateboard facilities if people are seen gathering during the Safer at Home orders.

"We're doing this for our safety, their safety and the safety of others," Watson said. "When this is all over, trust me, we will open them, but right now it's important for them to not use the skate parks."

Meanwhile, the big network news stations are scrambling to get photos of the park:



And for now, the word we were given is that they are done adding sand to the skate park, but if people keep skating it, more will be added.


UPDATE: Sunday 12:30PM, 4-19-2020

More updates will be added as we get them. Working on saving all the Instagram Stories clips and creating one video for them all too.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Two surfers. One skateboarder.

One 1994 stretch limo.

120 cans of PBR.

One long road down the east coast of the US.

9 days of fucken good times.



"Last year we bought a ’94 stretch limo and headed down the East Coat of the USA making the film ‘This Way’. As soon as the trip was done we all wanted to do it again…so we did. This time we fired up the ol' girl and headed west. With Nora Vasconcellos, Laura Enever, Jaleesa Vincent and special guests Shanae Collins and Malibu's Frankie Harrer. We drove across dusty roads from Texas to California. Skateboarding and Surfing our way through small towns, snow capped mountains and desert plains."



March 5th 2020
All Ages
Doors open at 7pm

2027 E 7th St
Downtown Los Angeles 90021

RSVP HERE