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Monday, June 22, 2009
Skateboarders Gather at Los Altos Skate Park for International Go Skate Day
By Aurelio Sanchez
Journal Staff Writer
Miami Tyler Torralvo leaped into the air as his skateboard sped up a ramp, his back foot "popping" the board into a 360-degree turn as he reached down to grab the front of the board in mid-air.
The board appeared to defy gravity, and except for a rough landing, the trick was perfect.
"He can do anything," an admirer said of the pink T-shirted Torralvo as hundreds of skateboarders took part in international Go Skate Day at Los Altos Skate Park.
The observance began with "Bomb Lomas," a steady procession of skaters zooming west on Lomas Boulevard, at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour, while police stopped traffic on cross streets. Sailing along with skateboarders were bikers, roller bladers, scooters and even a baby stroller with a toddler being pushed by her skater dad.
Skaters later competed for prizes in a best trick competition at Los Altos Skate Park, where food and skateboard vendors, music and art lent to a festive atmosphere on this warm Sunday afternoon.
It was all to promote skateboarding and skate parks, said an organizer, Omar Estrada, who said this was the third year of the event.
It's also to improve relations between skaters, police and the public if you believe You Tube videos showing harried public officials or property owners chasing away skateboarders, or other videos showing police officers or dads at parks wrestling skaters to the ground or snatching away their boards.
"It's cool because they're doing it the right way," said an onlooker, Jesus Hernandez, who was picnicking with his family at the park.
"I don't have a problem with them," he said. "They probably need more skate parks where they don't have to skate in lots or parking lots."
Zach Gould waited at a cross street intersection on his scooter as police stopped traffic to let the skaters pass.
"It's cool except I didn't know about it, and now I'm late getting back to work from my lunch break," Gould said.
Calvin Garcia, 24, one of the Lomas cruisers, said he skates for the feeling of "freedom and self-expression."
Kirk Monroy, 13, was at the park with his 66-year-old grandfather, Hugh Monroy.
"You have to carry a lot of Band-Aids," Hugh Monroy said. "It all started out with my kids skateboarding, and now their kids are doing it."
Guy Madden, 46, has been skateboarding since the 1970s. He skated down Lomas with his sons, Miles, 8, and Lukas, 10.
"The only thing I know is that I zoomed past my dad and my brother," Miles Madden said.
"It's like surfing the pavement, man," Guy Madden said. "We skate because we don't have oceans. It's our way to surf."
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