EDA skate park popular amongst local skaters

by John Del Sordo staff writer

Known internationally to skateboarders as the East Coast's most infamous renegade skate park, FDR resides silently under Philadelphia's route 1-95. This skate park needs no words to speak its message; the graffiti artwork says it all. FDR was built solely by local skateboarders, for local skateboarders.

The project to build FDR Skate Park began in 1994 when the city of Philadelphia grew tired of kicking local skateboarders out of Love Park. The government gave the skaters 16,000 square feet of cement, and a couple of missshaped ramps in order to keep the peace. Although the skaters admired and respected the efforts of the city, they felt the park left a lot of room for improvement. This is when the locals decided they needed to take over where the government left off. After many long years of hard work, FDR Park has certainly come a long way. The park was built solely by volunteers, and was paid for using many skateboarding videos, infunds that rooted entirely from do- eluding the legendary CKY2K nations. video. FDR is even featured in the

The park now consists of a 13 popular video game Tony Hawk 2. foot over-vert bowled comer, flat FDR Skate Park is considered and transitioned hips, high and , sacred to the locals who helped low impact pyramids, various create it. These locals take their sized humps, and a 12 foot, steel skateboarding very serious, and at reinforced vert ramp. The most re- times the tension among local and cent addition to the park is the two out-of-town riders can become so huge bowls at the back of the park. thick it can be seen in the air. These bowls were added last Sep- These local legends are very protember. tective over their hard earned ce-

This spot is like no other, and ment and have zero tolerance for while some might argue, it can outsider attitudes, disrespectful provide decent runs to skaters actions, and the ramp damaging willing to adapt to its jagged pegs of BMX bikes (there are styling, and oddly placed humps. many anti-BMX signs posted).

FDR was not built for the techni- FDR is certainly not for all cal, flip trick skater, but for those skaters. In fact, most skaters will who love to go big and fast. The be turned off by its oddly shaped locals tear it up every day of the ramps, excessive use of vertical week, going bigger and faster ramps, and unusual cement texevery day. ooe. Although FDR is not the eas-

Although FDR Park is about as iest place to ride a skateboard, it is underground as they come, the alive in away no other skate park park has had its share of media at- is. It lives off the very people that tention. FDR has been featured in created it, the philly locals. every major skateboarding magazine including Transworld and Thrasher. The park has been in

Directions To Fdr Skatepark

TAKE1-95TO PHILADELPHIA

GETOFFATEXIT 14(BROADST.AND PATIISSONAVE.)

STAYIN LEFrLANE,PASS CORESTATES

TURNLEFTATFIRSTINTERSECTION ONTOPATIISONAVE.

PASSFDRPARKON LEFf

TURNLEFf AT THEFIRSTLIGHTIN THEFDRPARK

FOLLOWDRIVEAROUNDAND UNDERNEATH1-95 ,..