Skaters Skate In Crazy Places

Other than a skate park, you're not really supposed to skate anywhere in public. If you try and skate anywhere in Toronto’s financial district, for example, you’ll quickly find it’s usually a one-second to five-minute period before a security guard comes out with their arms flailing. That said, compared to how it used to be, more skate videos that have been shot in public come out on a daily basis now than ever before—and as a result, skate lovers are always being treated to seeing the pros push the boundaries of where they can bring their wheelie boards.

Just recently, Sammy Winter made a film with Contiki for their #NOREGRETS project (it's also embedded above) that covers his dream skate trip in a closed off museum in Paris—which inspired a simultaneous worldwide skate wet dream for anyone who saw it. Closing off museums for skateboarders has happened in the past—Mark Gonzales skated the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg in Germany 15 years ago. After he dressed up in an all white suit, with 'Aloha' painted on the back, Gonzales opened up everyone’s imagination as to what offbeat places they could skate next. So anyway, here are my favourite videos that show skateboarders going where no one had thought a skateboard could ever go.

Mandible Claw

Notorious NYC skate filmer Mandible Claw, aka Colin Read, has a series of videos showing people skating on rooftops, through subways, and on cars. Just like the normal stuff you'll find at every skatepark around the country. Do yourself a favour and buy his video Tengu right now. The opening sequence of them skating on sketchy and dilapidated roofs will get your palms sweaty and your skate boner raging. How they get away with it is beyond me.

Greg Hunt rips through a food court

Every skateboarder who has ever been inside of a food court has surely thought of just throwing their board down in between some fast tacos and fountain pop and going for it, but Greg did it before most of them were born. It's a common thing to see a smooth pavement incline and instantly regret not bringing your board with you, and there aren’t too many clips like this one—because food courts are normally for people who want to awkwardly finish their paper plate of half assed Chinese food. Tincan Folklore is a classic and a must see for anyone who prefers 50-50's and flood pants.

Atlanta fucks up an abandoned water park

This is one of those videos that makes every skateboarder envious. Finding an abandoned water park is one thing, but to be able to skate it is a dream come true. There's absolutely nothing safe about it. The mix of a plastic surface with urethane wheels is one thing—you’re not going to get any traction like that—but then you add a gigantic drop off the other side of the slide for an extra bit of good times and danger. For a place where kids used to go for “fun,” before nearly drowning in front of their ADD suffering who likely just got finished pissing in the lazy river, I feel like this is making good use of what the water park once was.

The Toronto PATH is for skateboarding

Everyone knows that Toronto winters are about as fun as watching the Big Bang Theory. With only one indoor park in the city, people figured out they could still street skate by using Toronto's underground PATH system. Marble ledges, stairs, and handrails are all down there, tucked under the streets, so it was no surprise that someone skated it. This also gave security something to do—which presumably gave them a nice break from kicking out the sleeping homeless people who are just trying to find shelter.

Anti-Hero visits a concrete pipe of death

Much like the water park video from Atlanta, the Anti-Hero team visited a rough concrete pipe they found 3 hours off a fire road in Australia. In the video, the voiceover explains there would be no way to get out if you got injured and couldn't walk out of it on your own—a little problem they didn't think of until after they arrived. It's slightly less forgiving then a plastic water park slide. If someone did get hurt you would probably have to re-enact the final scene of Ol' Yeller. Bang.

Skating a mountain

To skate something like this all you would need is huge wheels and the willingness to slam. This might be the only situation in skateboarding history where the security guards could be mountain lions.

The Gonz skates Alcatraz 

One of the most infamous skate photos of all time is of Mark Gonzales, dressed up in a prison uniform, pivoting on a bank at Alcatraz. Although there's no footage of it, the photo has stood the test of time as an all time favourite. Many have tried similar gimmicks but nothing can or ever will be done like the Gonz.

If you want to go on your own crazy no regrets adventure (skateboard related or otherwise) Contiki wants to make it rain to make your wild travel dreams come true— go visit their website to find out more.