California is the home to modern skateboarding.
It’s where most of the major companies and pros are based, it probably has more multi-million dollar skateparks than any other state, and it also has perfect weather year-round.
Well, except for all the fires and earthquakes.
Aside from all of that, California is also known for having some of the best skate spots in the world. As in, skate spots that basically anyone outside of California would absolutely love to have.
In this post, we’re going to go over some of the best skate spots in California.
Hollywood High School
Hollywood High is without a doubt one of the best skate spots in California.
Located in the heart of La, Hollywood High is a prime example of why Los Angeles is one of the best cities for skateboarding in the world.
It’s been skated since the ’90s, and it’s one of the most iconic spots in skateboarding. It’s been in a ton of skate videos, it’s been on magazine covers, and it just might be the only famous skate spot to be in a music video (MGK’s “Skate Cans” video). Let me know if I’m wrong on that, but I think it is.
Hollywood High mostly consists of 12 and 16 stairs both with a perfect middle rail, but occasionally, people also skate over the fence next to the stair set, or even off of the roof.
The spot is pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to jumping down something big.
Both of the stair sets and the rails are pretty much perfect, and it’s rare to find two perfect sets right next to each other.
There are a few downsides to Hollywood high. The run up and landing could be a little longer, especially on the 12 since you basically fly right into the fence. Also, since the spot is right in the middle of Hollywood, it gets a lot of foot traffic, and I’m sure it’s annoying to try to skate a 12 or a 16 with a bunch of random pedestrians filming you.
Other than those few things though, both sets are about as good as it gets, and there’s a reason why so many tricks have gone down there.
Santa Monica Courthouse
The West La courthouse, also known as the Santa Monica courthouse is easily one of the best skate spots in California.
This spot has ledges, a 4 stair, fountains you can skate into, a roof gap, and of course the iconic stage that everyone skates like a manual pad. It’s hard to say what the courthouse is most well known for because there’s been a ton of iconic tricks done on basically everything there.
The spot has been pretty famous ever since the 90s, and even though it was illegal to skate there for decades, it’s actually an official skate plaza now.
Apparently, the city was super strict on people skating there for the longest time, but eventually, the courthouse closed down due to budget cuts, and Nike was nice enough to swoop in with their handy dandy checkbook and bought the entire property for what I’m assuming was at least a few million dollars. They then dumped even more money into it to renovate the ledges and a few other things, and since then it’s continued to be a major skate spot in La.
Technically it’s not considered a street spot anymore, but given how nice of a spot it is and how much stuff has gone down there, it’s at least worth mentioning.
Jkwon / Radio Korea Plaza
The Jkwon / Radio Korea plaza is definitely one of the best skate spots in California. There have even been people who’ve built backyard skateparks with obstacles that mimic it!
Just like a lot of spots on this list, people have been skating Jkwon for years, and it’s one of the go-to meet up spots in downtown LA. It’s filled with things to skate, but the most popular thing to skate there are the ledges because there are just so many of them.
They’ve taken a little damage over the years both from people skating them and from them constantly getting knobbed and denobbed, but overall they’re still pretty decent. Aside from the ledges, there’s also a couple of stair sets, a few nice rails to skate, and also some really fun wallrides.
It’s pretty crazy that a spot like this has lasted so long, especially when you think about all of the iconic spots that have been destroyed, so if you ever get a chance to skate it you should definitely go for it.
Over the years Jkwon has gotten a lot harder to skate, but it’s a pretty solid Sunday spot, and if you’re really determined, you can always go there at night with some lights.
3rd and Army
Next on the list is 3rd & army, which is one of the best skate spots in San Fransisco.
I know a lot of you were thinking, “oh he’s only doing southern California spots” but no. I’m unbiased, I love all skate spots equally, and there’s no favoritism here.
Even if you’ve never heard of it, 3rd & Army is a skate spot you’ve for sure seen before, and it’s super recognizable. It’s known for having a ton of really good ledges, with a few of them having rails on top, and there’s also a couple of gaps as well.
The spot has been in plenty of skateboarding videos and magazines, and there have also been a few contests there.
A lot of the best skate spots eventually end up becoming a bust because of how popular they are, but for the most part, you shouldn’t have any problems skating at 3rd and army.
The only downside to the spot is that the water in the harbor can smell pretty bad sometimes, so if your board goes in, you honestly might be better off leaving it there.
UCLA
Up next we have UCLA, which isn’t exactly a single skate spot, but more of a collection of skate spots spread throughout the campus.
Now it might be cheating to name an entire college campus as a skate spot, but the spots are somewhat close together so it kind of counts.
The reason why UCLA is one of the best skate spots in California is that it has almost every type of spot you can imagine. There are stairs, ledges, and rails in every shape and size, and the best part is, they’re relatively close together.
UCLA has so many skate spots that you could probably film an entire part there. Compared to other places, UCLA is an expensive college, so naturally, there are a lot of new buildings there with skate spots.
As far as kick outs go, some people say they skated there for years without any issues, and other people say they’ve gotten tickets for a few hundred dollars their first time there, so it seems to be a little hit-and-miss. If you’re willing to take your chances though, the spots can definitely be worth it.
Fort Miley
Fort Miley is another iconic skate spot in San Francisco, and it’s actually been around long before skateboarding was even a thing.
The US built Fort Miley back in 1899 for what I’m assuming cost millions of dollars, but it was eventually abandoned, and now it’s literally only used for skateboarding.
One of the coolest things about Fort Miley is that it’s a pretty rare style of street spot. The spot consists of a few hips and some bank to rails, which are two types of street spots that are kind of hard to find.
You could argue that bank-to-rails are somewhat common, but there are very few street hips out there.
The fact that it’s such a unique spot really makes it stand out compared to other street spots, and of course, it also has a long history in skateboarding.
For the most part, you never really get kicked out when you’re skating there, but there is the occasional story of a park ranger running people off, which is kind of weird since the fort has just been sitting there for 200 years rotting under layers of old graffiti, but hey, that’s skateboarding.
Lockwood Elementary
Some of the best skate spots in California are the schoolyards, and Lockwood is arguably the best out of all of them.
If you were to stop and imagine someone skating a picnic table or a bench in a schoolyard, chances are it’s Lockwood.
Aside from the super low picnic tables and benches that are super fun to skate, what really sets Lockwood apart are all of the banks and the hip. The banks and the hip add in a lot more options in terms of things you could skate, and it’s not too hard to get creative with it.
The only downside to Lockwood is that after years of people skating it, it’s essentially been destroyed. Not in the literal sense with bulldozers and wrecking balls, but basically every trick you can think of has happened there.
What’s really nice about this spot is that because it’s a school, you can skate there almost any weekend without worrying about getting kicked out.
El Toro
El Toro is arguably the most famous stair set in skateboarding, and even though it’s somewhat a bust now, it still deserves a mention.
When you think of the best spots to skate, you might think of ledges or a flat bar, but some people think of massive stair sets, and for those people, El Toro is a dream spot.
For years El Toro was the main spot people went to when they wanted to jump down something big. For a while, people had the option to skate the set, the middle rail, or one of the side rails, but the school eventually removed the middle rail to make it harder to skate.
Even after they took out the middle rail, people still skated el toro, but recently the school completely renovated the stairs to make it as unskateable as possible. They added a gate, knobs on the rails, and grooves in the concrete, which for a while made everyone think the spot was done.
Luckily though a few people have still managed to get some tricks there, and hopefully it’ll be somewhat skateable in the future.
What are the best skate spots in California?
California definitely has some of the best skate spots in America, and there are millions of kids who would love to have even just one of these skate spots in their town.