Barry Walsh's Big O

If you're Canadian and skate you probably know who Barry Walsh and Marc Tison are. For 25 years both have loyally skated the Olympic Stadium in Montreal otherwise known as the "Big O" spot, a measly looking whistle shaped concrete covered passageway covered in graffiti. But if you've ever seen people riding this industrial tube, you'd know that looks can be deceiving: It's a legendary death trap for the unseasoned skater. For years skaters from all over the world have tested themselves on it, mainly because the tight transition of the "O" is perfect practice for serious vert skaters.

Recently, new expansion to the Saputo soccer stadium means the city has decided to move it 50 feet away from its original location. Before it did, on the 35th anniversary of the Big O I got together with Barry and Marc to talk about the future of their favorite skate-spot, and how they came to be known as its pioneers and crusaders.

Tell me about the history of the Big O. 

The Big O was originally built for the 1976 Olympics, and then when the Olympics came and went they left the structure as a monument to native culture, so it's rpetty much a big cement whistle and its been there ever since.  Around the early 80's skateboarders started peeling the track rubber off of the surface and after many years all the rubber was gone and it became a skate spot.

What changes are going on there? 

When they decided to expand the soccer stadium, Saputo agreed to pay for the move of the O. I met with the president of the Olympic grounds and gave him the book we published about the spot, called Pipe Fiends, and showed him a documentary on it and he realized how important the Big O is to skateboarders not only in Montreal but around the world. They even want to have "Journee du Skaters" as part of the inauguration of the new stadium, so we could have a big jam one day a year with beer and DJs and all that good stuff.

When did you start skating it? 

Around 1985. I'd walked through it before and I always thought it would be sick for skateboarding but at the time I was into BMX, I didn't really skate yet. Around '85, '86 I started going there and have been ever since, especially in the last ten years. It was really intimidating the first time I went, and it takes a few years to get rid of that intimidation. After I went in the mid-eighties, we were pretty hyped on it, and then around the 90's Marc started skating it all the time. I was living in Vancouver for 10 years, so when I came back for a visit in '99 and skated there I just decided "Ok this is what I want to skate" and I just never went back to B.C…because of the Big O, but also because of the culture of Montreal.

How would you describe the culture of skating that surrounds the Big O? 

The Big O is basically a sanctuary. Everybody's welcome, and everybody's cool for the most part. But there's no hype, there's no attitude. The attitude is in the skating. Some skate spots, when you show up you get vibed out. A lot of people come to our spot and they're sort of wary, a bit scared to roll up. But once they meet the locals they see that it's cool. They show up with fear, but they soon make a connection because everybody's laid back there. Of course if someone acts a fool they get dealt with. Just don't fuck around and you should be all right.

Has anything ever gone down? 

We've only had ot throw people out a couple times, like if someone's been drunk and stupid and breaking bottles. We don't mind if a BMX-er comes through for 15, 20 minutes and then bounces, so long as they don't have pegs on their bike, but rollerbladers are completely banned. I don't really make a big deal because I don't own the spot. Its a tunnel in the middle of Hochelaga, but some of the locals will tell them to beat it. Most people that come to hit the pipe don't stay longer than 10 or 15 minutes, that's the main reason I don't give a shit who rides it. The smart ones go early in the morning. The ones that don't get it show up at 3 in the afternoon and end up dealing with the locals. But like I said the locals are fairly harmless. They're more scary looking than they are bad. As gnarly as the spot is, it's really a roots rock skateboarding spot. If you suck, we'll still respect you for trying. You've got to at least step up to the plate. It's not your typical skate spot. You have to want to learn how to ride it. It's not like going to a ramp. The Big O is so unique in its own right that you have to put in your time to learn how to ride it.

Why do you think the Big O is so important for the skate culture of Montreal? 

It's become a historical natural skate spot and there's nothing quite like it in Canada, or in the world. Its been appreciated by skateboarders from all over the world, and became an iconic spot to hit. The fact that the skaters of Montreal have kept it clean, in tact, and have been skating it for 25 years, makes it a heritage spot.