Concrete Law- Saving Channel Street SkatePark

April Jones

Channel Street Skatepark successfully existed for over a decade under Interstate 110, despite its illegal creation, until overpass construction led to an ongoing shutdown. Channel Street founders and advocates continue to push for a reopening but the legal matter proves to be a much more complex task than anyone ever imagined. Concrete Law explores the battle between Channel Street Skatepark and bureaucratic control. This film uncovers the history of the park, from creation to current status, through interviews with park founders, local and pro skaters, business owners, and city officials.

Channel Street Skatepark was built in 2002 after numerous attempts by locals to get a skatepark in San Pedro were As with most do-it-yourself, community-built skateparks, Channel Street was built without permission and without permits. A couple of decades later CalTrans needed to do a freeway expansion right above Channel, so that’s when all the legal issues came up; liability, property, permitting, etc, and Channel Street was shut down.

Here we are now, almost 7 years later and the fight for a reopen continues. Council District 15 has been advocating for the skatepark and has worked with the San Pedro Skatepark Association (SPSA) to navigate its way through the entangled web we call bureaucracy.

When I moved to San Pedro from Portland, I thought I would be skating Channel Street every day making another music documentary. I was getting increasingly worried it was going to be demolished so I started contacting the local city council about why it was still closed after all these years… until one day I scored an interview with Councilman, Joe Buscaino to explain in detail each step they were taking to “legalize” Channel Street. I just felt like it was my duty as a skateboarder to put my extra energy towards something that I moved to Pedro for.

When I realized the city council was on the skateboarder’s side, I started thinking “what if this roadmap that SPSA and the City of LA are creating together could be used as a guide to possibly help save the next DIY skatepark.” What merely started out as a journalistic side project, turned into a full-blown feature-length documentary film. I originally won a small film grant to get this started. Thank you, Talisen Nexus! Then Cinematographers Elias Parise and Rob Crawford jumped in to help the film. Crawford has been documenting Channel Street for a long time and had a ton of footage. Then everyone started pitching in, people with mini DV tapes of the early days, photo albums, and of course all the fun legal paperwork of this entire process. Everyone has been super supportive especially the SPSA; Andy, Robbie, Bill, Yamo, Gabe, Hal, the Wunga Posse, and all local rippers, and the Tony Hawk Foundation. Then Vans jumped on board, along with Iron Light Labs to help with finishing funds. The San Pedro Skatepark Association is the most resilient group of skateboarders I know. Imagine doing paperwork for 7 years!! They’ve had to navigate their way through multiple city agencies to get clearances; such as the Department of Planning, Bureau of Engineering, Sanitation, Cultural Affairs, and more. No one has really ever legalized a DIY skatepark working backward getting it up to code. The film really dives into each city agency and breaks down each step. The film also has a killer soundtrack. Skate rock bands from all over! Today, we have passed all the city clearances and have officially signed a lease agreement for 20+ years. We are in the final steps to reopening Channel Street Skatepark and could not have done this without the support from the global skate community. Thank you, everyone! For more information, go to www.concretelawfilm.com