Skatespots are places to create memories. As the memory is drawn, so are the emotions, filled with joy, pain, laughter, sweat, and maybe even tears. Once we connect the memories with the sites and feelings, we get personally attached to a place. Said place was my favorite skatepark.

In 2017 the town I always went skating at got a new skatepark. It’s a great park, very high build quality, and planned by someone who knows skateboarding. The other skatepark in town was a loveless space of rough asphalt and sporadically placed obstacles. The new park is also near the train station, so it’s very central. In contrast, the other park is far off in the distance, located at a place that you don’t come across unless you’re familiar with the area. The latter led to never having people from the outside look at me or watch me skate. That stuff always makes me uncomfortable as hell. Nine out of ten times, I went to my preferred park, I was skating alone, and the nearest person was about 200 meters (218 yards) away. The fact that I was mostly alone in the park also made it easier for me to film my skating. To have the freedom to place my cameras anywhere without the fear of having them get stolen. I loved every bit of this park, and it made me uniquely enjoy skateboarding.

In 2018 I skated only a couple of times, and in 2019 I was barely even on my board. That resulted in me not visiting the park for two years. I wanted to see it again two weeks ago, and something that I jokingly said the day before became a reality. The park is gone.

Growing up, I heard many skaters talk about their old skate spots and parks, where they were, how they were built, etc. Most stories I got told were from the ’80s and ’90s. I always thought that it was unfortunate that so little (if any) photos and videos of their experiences existed. I am slowly getting to that point of being the one to talk about his skate spots and parks from past decades. Luckily I have a lot of my skateboarding from the past five years on film. It’s free to watch for everyone on my YouTube-Channel.

Even though my parks were terrible and one got replaced by a near picture-perfect skatepark, I still prefer the other spots. I know that the implementation of parks like this is good for the community and skateboarding in general. However, I still prefer my rough ground, rusty ledges, and, most notably, the inner peace I found in not having people around me.

I loved my skatepark so much that I called it home and wrote an entire article about it. I will miss this part of my life now, knowing that this chapter has come to an end.

Below you can watch a compilation of my favorite videos I filmed at the skatepark: