Throughout the history of skateboarding, there’ve been a lot of famous skate spots come and go.
As much as we’d all love for skate spots to last forever, sadly, that usually isn’t the case, and they eventually get destroyed.
In this post, we’re going to be going over famous skate spots that no longer exits.
1. Love Park
Love Park in Philadelphia is about as iconic as a skate spot can be.
It’d take way too long to name every iconic trick that went down there, so I’m not even going to try, but let’s just say it’s been featured in a ton of videos over the years. If you’re a Mark Suciu or Stevie Williams fan then you’ve probably seen plenty of footage there.
The battle to keep Love Park alive was fought for years, but ultimately the city ended up tearing it down and reconstructing it to make it less skateboarding friendly.
There were a lot of really creative efforts to keep the going, but one of the most respectable attempts was definitely when Ed Bacon, who’s Kevin bacons dad and also the city planner responsible for LOVE park skated across it in 2002 as a way to defy the mayor and city council that was attempting to ban skateboarding there.
It was pretty sick to see, especially because he was 92 at the time, and the cops basically had to just stand there and watch because let’s face it, it’s not a good look for them to arrest a 92 year old for skateboarding at a public park, especially when he was the one who made the park in the first place.
2. MACBA Big Four
Next to Los Angeles, Barcelona is arguably the skate capital of the work, and the city is filled with amazing skate spots.
Out of all of the spots in Barcelona, Macba is definitely the most popular, and trust me when I say there’s a ton of stuff to skate there. I’ve actually been to Macba a few times, and there’s seriously so much stuff there that you could probably skate there all day without getting bored.
Nowadays Macba is mostly known for the ledges out front, but there used to be a big four block out back that was way more popular.
Jamie Thomas was one of the first people to really put the big four on the map around 1998 when he did mellon grab, half-cab, and a kickflipped it in his Misled Youth part. After that it basically became the go-to spot for pros to huck down, and for the next 10 years or so it was it a ton of full length videos.
Sometime around the summer of 2009, a redesign changed the big four to the big three, and it seems like after that people stopped skating it as much. So of course people still jump down it and sick clips come out all the time of people skating it, but it’s not really big enough for people to put it in full length videos, so most of the footage you’ll see of it is just on instagram.
Now about a year ago Volcom sponsored a contest there where they rebuilt the 4th block, but sadly it was just temporary and they removed it after the contest.
3. Brooklyn Banks
When I was growing up, it seemed like the Brooklyn Banks was easily New York’s most famous skate spot.
It was in dozens of videos, and was even in Tony Hawks Pro Skater, so I think just about every skateboarder knew about it.
The main spots there was a small bank, a big bank, and three sets of stairs that also had handrails.
The spot has basically been in limbo for years, and it kept going back and forth between being perfectly fine to skate, and a complete bust.
A few years back things really started to decline when they got rid of the small banks and started storing construction equipment there, which basically made it unskateable.
There was a period after that where it was cleared out and people were skating it again, and even with the NYPD Head quarters right across the street it didn’t seem like anyone really cared, but for some reason they changed their mind and as of now it’s a massive bust.
Hopefully it gets opened back up in the future, but as of now it’s a no-go.
4. EMB (Embarcadero)
So Embarcadero, or EMB for short was essentially the go-to street spot in San Francisco in the 90’s.
The reason why is because unlike other street spots that might only have one or two things to skate, Embarcadero was an entire brick plaza filled with stairs, ledges, manual pads, and plenty of space for flat ground.
Embarcadero was basically the equivalent to a modern day LOVE park or Macba. It was the main spot that people met up at in SF during the 90’s, and it just had a ton of stuff to skate.
The plaza was destroyed in 2000, but while it was around people filmed there constantly, so you can see it in a lot of older videos out there.
5. Hubba Hideout
The Hubba hideout got destroyed a really long time ago, so it’s getting to the point where a lot of young skaters don’t even know about it, but it’s one of the most iconic spots in skateboarding.
The only reason why skateboarders call a ledge that goes down the side of a stairset a hubba is because of this spot. This makes it the only spot in skateboarding that actually had an obstacle named after it.
If you watch any full length video from the 90’s and early 2000’s, chances are you’ll spot a clip at Hubba Hideout. It had 2 perfectly symmetrical hubbas, and there are very few spots like it.
Again, it’s been destroyed for years, but if you have copy of Tony Hawks Pro skater 4 you can still skate it along with Embarcadero.
6. Clipper Hubba
For some reason, it seems like there just cant be a decent hubba spot that doesn’t get town down.
It really sucks that this spot is gone because outside of mainland china, good hubbas are pretty hard to come by, and the clipper hubba was basically perfect.
The spot had a hubba that ran alongside 2 stair sets, but most people just skated the second set. The hubba was only on one side, but there was plenty of space in the landing so a lot of people would also skate it like a gap.
Whenever it became known that the spot was going to get torn down, Thrasher organized a bust or bail contest there and if you haven’t seen the video I definitely recommend it it.
7. ARCO Rails
In the heart of downtown Los Angeles is the ARCO building, which was home to a set of rails that became extremely popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
The square rails went down a 9 stair and a 17 stair, and one of the things other than its prime location that made it so popular was that it could be skated in a line.
It got skated in plenty of full length videos like Fullfull the dream, Transworlds Sight Unseen video, Dying to live, and also in Yeah Right when Koston did nollie back noseblunt, which might be the gnaliest trick to ever go down there.
After they failed at skate stopping it a few times, they eventually just took the rails out, and it’s unlikely that they’re ever going to put them back.
8. Carlsbad Gop
The Carlsbad Gap was just one of several skate spots at Carlsbad High School, but it was definitely the most well known spot.
For what seemed like the longest time, the Carlsbad Gap was one of the top spots in skateboarding.
It was a really popular gap for pros to skate, and there was a period where it seems like a new trick was going down every few months. Most people just skated the gap, but it also had a pretty gnarly kinked rail and a stairset that people would also skate.
The spot lasted from around 1994-2012, so it was definitely around long enough for most skateboarders to know about it.
When it became known that the spot was going to get destroyed, Transworld hosted a contest there, kind of like a bust or bail.
9. Belmont Benches
The Belmont Benches were an iconic Long Beach skate spot, and it was definitely one of the best ledge spots in Southern California, especially for filming lines.
The spot had two low benches that were super long, and they were always in the shade thanks to the building next to it, which made them perfect for skating whenever it was hot outside.
Since there were 2 ledges, most people skated them in a line, but theres also a few people who just got single tricks on them.
Now just like the rest of the spots on this list, the Belmont benches are in so many videos that it wouldn’t make sense to name them all, but if you’ve been skating for any considerable amount of time, chances are you’ve seen them before. The ledges had slanted backs with planters on top which made them stand out from most other ledges, and it’s pretty easy to spot them in a video.
Most of the benches are gone today, but when they were still there, it was definitely one of the best ledge spots you could skate.
10. El Toro
El Toro is arguably the most well known spot that’s ever existed in skateboarding.
Now there are a lot of famous skate spots out there, but let’s be honest, very few even come close to El Toro.
For those who don’t know, El Toro is 20 stair in southern California that used to have a rail on each side and one going down the middle. Eventually they took the middle rail out, but people still skated the set and the side rails.
Even though El Toro isn’t the biggest stairset in skateboarding, for some reason it became to go-to spot for anyone who wanted to jump down a set or onto a big rail.
Not only is this the most well known spot in skateboarding, but it’s also the most recent to be skate stopped.
A few months ago, the school added a gate to the top, along with some grooves in the cement to stop people from skating it. Some people have said that it’s still skateable, and honestly, I think most skateboarders are hoping it is, but the whole reconstruction is still pretty new, so only time will tell.