By Michael Burnett
If opinions are like assholes, then asking skaters to name the best skateboard park in America is begging for a shit storm. Skate parks, like skateboarding itself, is whatever the individual makes of it. For some, you could do no better than a seamless 14-foot-high vert ramp, Sean White and Tony Hawk spinning in unison, their X-Games laminates fluttering in the breeze. For others, a three-foot mini is the Promised Land. The kids want ledges and rails; the old guys want pools (but not too steep); the surfers want banks; and the Slipknot kids just want somewhere to hang out, smoke and look miserable. Still others -- including some skate park builders -- have a "build it and they will come" outlook, even if it means the only people who come to their 20-foot, kinked full-pipes are the city maintenance dudes when they have to remove a dead cat. Some people just want a red curb. But since Playboy.com asked for Thrasher Magazine's list of the top 10 skate parks in America, we get to make up the criteria:
- Concrete beats wood.
- It's not street skating or transition skating, it's skating.
- No cops; no entry fees; no mandatory safety gear; no babysitters.
Hitch a ride, hop a train or start pushing. These are the skate parks you've got to ride before you die.
Burnside
Portland, Oregon
Rob Dyrdek's DC Skate Plaza
Kettering, Ohio
Lincoln City Skatepark
Lincoln City, Oregon
Denver Skatepark
Denver, Colorado
Black Box Skatepark
Vista, California
Rio Vista Skatepark
Peoria, Arizona
Scott Stamnes Memorial Skatepark
Orcas Island, Washington
Louisville Extreme Park
Louisville, Kentucky
Skatopia
Rutland, Ohio
Skatepark of Tampa
Tampa, Florida
