So What Does Southside Skatepark's Shop Look Like Now?

Well after almost four years of working really hard to keep things progressing here at Southside Skatepark, we believe that we have really accomplished something significant.  I remember graduating high school in 94' and hearing about a new indoor skatepark that was opening up just twenty minutes from my house.  I used to have to drive a solid hour and fifteen minutes to the Skatepark of Houston and the idea of a skatepark being that much closer to me, had me really happy.  Almost as though the cosmos was signing off on my existence and pursuit of skateboarding up to that point in my life, which I had been really into it for eleven years at that time.  I figured out where the new skatepark was and made my way over there and purchased a membership.  That was going on seventeen years ago now and way back then I just skated the park as hard and as often as I could.  There were a bunch of rippers along the way, people who had a ton of board control and style.  The shop was coming along, but back then in skateboarding, everything was tiny, possibly even microscopic and so was the shop.  Before long Southside was relocated about a mile away on the other side of it's South Houston neighborhood.  The new park was about three times to size of the original with a much larger retail store with a growing level of inventory year after year.  Way back then I thought it was the best shop I had ever been to.  In fact the images above reflect the shop that I believed I was a part of.  That pretty much sums of my vision for where I wanted to take Southside from the moment I was able.  I just wanted to recreate what I thought Southside Skatpark's shop was when I was younger.  It took almost four years and there is still plenty of room for growth and positive changes to the current shop.  Now we are breaking new ground, taking the shop beyond anything I thought it could ever be.  It isn't like there are a whole lot of other shops in this part of the United States to look to.  There certainly are not many other skateparks around here to take cues from.  I do a lot of traveling and try to keep my eye on what's going on out there.  Seems like there is a lot more than there used to be, but not a whole lot on a larger scale.  We have been doing pretty much everything you see above by feel.  Just going with what feels like the right thing to do.  Usually in life, if you stick with that basic principal, you'll do alright...better than alright in fact.  

Southside X Starbucks Collab...

  To say that I like Starbucks is an understatement.  In a really weird way it's become something I look forward to almost every day.  So, Janine decided that I needed a registered gift card so that I could at least take advantage of some rewards.  I guess I had enough coffee to hit the Gold Level and I am now getting my own personalized card.  I really owe a lot to Starbucks as without it I have a hard time getting everything I have to do accomplished.  Here and there I still turn it off and not pursue as much as I did or even stop drinking it completely but in the end, I go back.  I don't smoke, try to drink but am not much good at it, so I guess this coffee thing will just have to be my vice.  I guess I can live with that and I just wanted to share my secret with all of you in case any of you are looking to open your own business, handle up to 20 events a year, start a family and have one on the way right in the heart of the Summer season...you know all that...Starbucks makes it all possible, so here's to you Starbucks, cheers.

Finishing Touches on the Set Up Area

The thick rubber sheeting finally arrived from Grainger. We were having a slower day so Dakota and I figured we might as well try to be productive. It took about 5 tubes of silicone, box of short coarse screws and a lot of courage to free hand box cut the rubber matting. We originally wanted to order a single 1/4" thick piece but the shape would cause us to have to order a seriously expensive piece so we opted for 12"x36" sheets. Check it out...


Doesn't Dakota look serious here, it's the shirt. Took us a while to figure out the optimal layout where we wouldn't have a small piece on the perimeter.


Siliconed down and waiting for the screws as we just didn't trust that silicone alone would be durable enough for some of the people who seem to do their best at trashing our shop. Kind of like that mentality where you throw all trash out the window of your car teenage phase, remember those days? Here's the finished product!

Getting Close to Completion

Cactus came by with the last large piece of our counter make over at Southside Skatepark last week.  Took me a little while to find the time to update.  Nice large drawers for the truck boxes, with inlaid Walnut Cactus' a trademark on all the handles.  We are waiting on the sheets of thick black rubber matting coming in from Grainger, hopefully soon.  That will complete our new and improved board build area.  I will put up images of those once I get that installed.
 

Counter Update

Slowly but surely Southside's new countertops are being delivered. Your looking at real red oak, to match the floor. Intricately cut in a radial pattern for the top, and set to match the red oak on the vertical sides. Cactus does amazing work and if your shop is in need of a custom fixture overall, we would be more than happy to provide with his contact info.

Custom Counters Never Hurt Nobody

Check in window corner...












Check out counter...











Yeah Cactus, looking forward to taking possession of those and the rest as they are made complete!

Roman's First Flight

Happened to catch this just after take off. Roman, Janine and I head out to Agenda/Costal Carnage for some work/play out in Hunington Beach, CA. So far the trip has been great but the flight out here was pretty tough. It started with a gentleman's agreement where Roman and I agreed to sleep for 20 minutes before embarking on our 2.5 hour wrestling match. He was good for most of the flight, napping occasionally but was certainly very squirmy and occupied every inch of Janine and my two seat area. Sometimes laughing, sometimes moaning and even crying momentarily just before landing. Glad to be here, wish we could just zip back instead of having to put him through it again. Apparently the lady next to us thought he did great. Seeing as how she is a grandmother, she would probably be a better authority on just how tough or easy he actually was.