Last night I was going through the Hi8 Jenkem family archives, and amongst footage of birthdays, concerts, that one time we went to Alcatraz, and various other family affairs there was a few minutes of old Brooklyn Banks footage from 1993. Now, this isn’t the best footage out there by any means, barely any tricks are landed, and the camera seems to zoom in and out as it pleases, but that doesn’t mean it is completely worthless. If you never got the chance to go to the Banks to witness the magic of the place for yourself, here is a small window into the past when that was possible. If you squint hard enough, you might even see some flashes of Pancho Moller, Rodney Torres, Harold Hunter, and maybe even a younger version of yourself.
Today, the Banks are still off limits since they’re being used as a storage space to house building materials while they work on repairing the Brooklyn Bridge. But there are always rumors swirling about these hallowed bricks being once again skateable, so we hit up Steve Rodriguez, the founder of 5Boro and noted NYC skatespot activist, to get the inside scoop on what’s up with them:
“After news earlier this year from the Department of Transportation that the Brooklyn Banks would be re-opening this Summer… nothing. It’s still not open and I’ll be attending community board meetings in the coming months to try and get answers as to the status of the bridge project that has been delaying the opening. When it does open, my goal is to completely renovate it with donated money (which I already have commitments for).” – Steve Rodriguez
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November 4, 2015 1:32 am
6am and its new years day in 1989
November 4, 2015 12:12 pm
Please dont renovate the banks! When they reopen. Steve u mite fuck it up , we dont want another les, in fact i miss the old les, fuck that cali concrete skatepark shit
November 5, 2015 7:22 am
I saw an article online like a month ago that said they need something like another 7 years to finish working in the bridge.
November 7, 2015 2:44 am
So what Steve Rodriguez is saying is that he’s going to ruin the banks by renovating it when it opens. Just chop down all the weeds and make the small banks skateable again.