{"id":54683,"date":"2014-05-01T10:15:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T17:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=54683"},"modified":"2022-06-07T17:42:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T00:42:45","slug":"duty-now-for-the-future-retrospective-dave-duncan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/duty-now-for-the-future-retrospective-dave-duncan\/","title":{"rendered":"Duty Now For the Future Retrospective – Dave Duncan"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE RETROSPECTIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n

DAVE DUNCAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

INTERVIEW BY JIM MURPHY<\/strong><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY JOE HAMMEKE<\/strong><\/p>\n

We started the Duty Now for the Future articles to honor those skateboarders building concrete for other skateboarders. These skaters are dedicated to building skate structures, day in and day out, where quality is job one and money doesn’t matter as much as the finished product. They are the ones carving the future for generations to come and we want to bring their stories to you in order to understand what goes into building those killer parks that you get to ride! We want to thank these skaters for all their sweat, hard work and dedication to skateboarding! They’re not afraid to lay yards of pool coping down, so get out there and grind it up!!! That is our Duty Now For The Future! D-E-V-O. We dedicate our Duty Now For the Future Retrospective to Bob 2 aka Bob Casale. R.I.P.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your favorite backyard\/DIY spot to skate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are so many. I moved to Huntington Beach in \u201893 because Kelly had a pool and Chicken had a pool. Then the clover came up and Lyle\u2019s was there and then Ron\u2019s and Cory\u2019s. Just fifteen minutes from my house, there are tons of killer backyard spots. Then you have Bucky\u2019s and Bob\u2019s, down in San Diego, that are awesome. I\u2019ve skated Burnside since the beginning, and I love that place. The spirit of Burnside is amazing. You\u2019ve got FDR, Washington Street, Channel Street and the list goes on. I love them all. There are just too many spots. I could go on and on about spots in other countries too. It\u2019s just nuts.<\/p>\n

Who is the one person that influenced you the most in building skateparks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think riding all the skateparks back in the day influenced me. I rode the very first skatepark in the world in Carlsbad in \u201876. I rode the Southern California parks as a teenager and, once those all closed, it forced us to build stuff in our backyards, so that\u2019s what influenced me. We were forced to build our own stuff. At the time, I was doing a lot of NSA events with Tim Payne. It was great working with Tim. We built a lot of brand new vert ramps and street courses during the late \u201880s and early \u201890s, and some crazy mini ramp combinations too. We built crazy stuff in Hawaii and San Jose and all over the country. Tim kept doing private parks and I kept doing the contests and then we started doing the Vans Triple Crown events and that\u2019s when they started doing the Vans Skateparks. Tim Payne does a lot of good stuff. Shout out to all those guys. Carje helped build Chicken\u2019s, Kelly\u2019s and the Basic Bowl. Shout out to Carje. He was doing all that stuff bro style for his friends. Ben Schroeder is another guy who is out there trying to design things. I\u2019m stoked for him. I\u2019m stoked for Lance Mountain and what he\u2019s doing to help design skateparks. The Grindline guys and Dreamland guys are doing so much innovative stuff. It\u2019s not the same old stuff. They always put tons of pool coping in their parks and all the stuff that I see that they\u2019re doing is so rad. Big shout outs to Dreamland and Grindline. Those guys seem like they\u2019re the original guys. They\u2019re out there building stuff all the time and they\u2019re getting better all the time.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite skatepark now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Vans combi pool is one of my favorites. They asked me to build and design it. I came up with the idea of bringing the combi pool back, just because guys like Rune, Omar, Bucky and Bob hadn\u2019t gotten to ride the original combi. I would see them out on tour and I was like, \u2018I\u2019d love to see them ride the original combi.\u201d I designed and built a lot of the Vans Parks over the years and that was awesome. I tried to influence them to build more concrete pools and flow zones, which was rad. It was crazy cranking them all out. My favorite skatepark now is Cayman Islands. That\u2019s a fun one and we got to ride that wave machine too down there. It\u2019s just a massive park with so much stuff to ride. There are so many parks now in Southern California. They\u2019re building a new one in Huntington that looks fun. The Northwest has so many parks and I love going up there every summer. They\u2019re building a big one in Texas now too. I like to ride new places and new stuff. Luckily, I get to travel and ride new places. I got to ride that park in China when it was brand new. That was crazy. It\u2019s this big huge massive park. I guess my favorite new skatepark is always changing.<\/p>\n

What do you think has been the biggest innovation in skatepark building over the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taking out the kinks and the bumps. Back in the \u201870s, a lot of the parks had lumps and bumps and kinks in them and the pools we rode weren\u2019t made for skating. Everything is so perfect now. I love it. I feel spoiled. They hand it to you on a silver platter and say, \u201cHere is your new spot.\u201d It\u2019s all smooth and perfect. The biggest innovation to me is getting perfect trannies, smooth surfaces and good coping, and just getting it right. Through the years, we\u2019ve figured it out. Even the street guys with the street plazas, are doing some cool stuff. I just love the classic flow zones and snake runs that we grew up on. That\u2019s an innovation that, hopefully, we\u2019ll see more of in the future.<\/p>\n

Where do you see park building going in the next ten years? Do you see skatepark building as a long-term trend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just can\u2019t believe it. There are over 2,000 skateparks in America now. I\u2019m just stoked to see a new park. I\u2019ll go on a road trip and pull into town and say, \u201cWhere\u2019s the park?\u201d We go hang out with the local kids and see what they\u2019ve got to ride. I think the future holds more variety. I see a lot of clover bowls, and there are so many more shapes and things you can do. I love the diversity. That\u2019s what I like about the Dreamland guys. They just do all kinds of weird, crazy stuff. I like that uniqueness. It\u2019s hard to develop and innovate, and that\u2019s what\u2019s cool about it. I hope skatepark building is a long-term trend. They changed the laws in California, to make skateboarding a hazardous activity, so now people can\u2019t sue the skateparks. That\u2019s what changed it. The IASC people went to battle in Sacramento and fixed all that and now cities can build skateparks and people can\u2019t sue the city if they get hurt. It sucks that we had to go through all that, in the \u201880s and \u201890s, with no parks, just because people wanted to be sue happy. Hopefully, now, skatepark building will be a long-term trend. Now there are a lot more skateparks all over the world. Here in Huntington, we\u2019ve just had these small funky little parks, and luckily, now, we have a world-class skatepark, so that\u2019s nice. Things happen. It\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

What innovations have happened in skatepark building that have become obsolete and aren\u2019t being built right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I guess a lot of people were doing those portable ramp things for a while and those seemed bad. I prefer the flow of concrete. Or if you\u2019re going to build a ramp, build it good, not this portable clanky stuff. In some parks, I guess, it was better than nothing.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAs far as pool coping, let\u2019s talk Tedder Stone. Tedder is doing some good stuff.”<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What is your favorite pool shape and why?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We built this thing at the Vans Park in Houston, Texas, called the snowman, which I just loved. The shallow end was six feet and then it went to 8-feet and then it went up to 10-feet in the deep end. It was so fun. You could literally drop in and it was like a never-ending snake run. You could fly over the hips, shallow to mid, or mid to deep, or deep to mid, and back to the shallow end, frontside or backside. You got so much bang for the buck. I\u2019ve yet to see another one like that. That park wasn\u2019t there very long, but I remember skating there with Chaz Pineda, when he was a grom. I think Grosso was there. Some rad people skated that thing. Also you could work it like a little mini ramp if you wanted. It had enough flat bottom to where you could learn tricks and then take them to the six and then eight and then ten-foot sections. That shape to me is called a snowman, and those are great, if you build them right. Every inch of the pool is rideable. The hips were totally rideable. You could go right up the middle and hit it. It was also what I call a \u2018holiday bowl\u2019 where you could drop in and ride around for a minute and really not use a lot of breath. It\u2019s the way that it flows. I never even lifted my front wheels. It just worked, so that was my favorite shape.<\/p>\n

Favorite pool coping?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As far as pool coping, let\u2019s talk Tedder Stone. Tedder is doing some good stuff. I like how they\u2019re doing the pitted stuff now. It\u2019s a more gnarly coping. People are doing some good pool coping, but Tedder\u2019s is what I like best lately. Penrose is the original stuff that we put on the original combi at Vans that people are still fighting for. That\u2019s what we rode back in the day.<\/p>\n

What is the one thing that hasn\u2019t been built to skate yet that you\u2019d like to build or see built in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to bring the snowman back. Also, I rode this skatepark in Spring Valley back in \u201878 and it had a snake run with an over vert section. It was like a cradle, but it was more of a hairpin turn on a racetrack. It was like a bobsled track. It was rad. I have photos of me carving over vert before I even knew what was going on. To see over vert snake runs would be great. It seems like a lot of the cradles are too tight and hard to get to. It\u2019d just be rad to have a cool little downhill snake run. Red did a rad one in Lincoln City. It\u2019s a cool snake run with all these little whoop-dee-doos. You never get bored and it\u2019s just a fun ride. You go a little bit downhill, so you don\u2019t lose your speed and you can really take it up a notch if you want to. That\u2019s one of my favorites because I remember growing up on those fun little snake runs. They\u2019re so simple and playful and such a rush.<\/p>\n

Who is on your crew right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eddie Reategui is my main guy, and we\u2019ve had a lot of guys on the crew over the years. I have to give a shout out to my man, \u201cRocker.\u201d He traveled all over Europe with me. He passed away last year in an avalanche snowboarding up at Donner Ski Ranch. He was a great guy. Rest in Peace. Roby Hayes, from Huntington, has always been one the main guys. He\u2019s traveled with us to Europe for crazy events. Steve Brockway, out of Nor Cal has always helped me out with a lot of stuff. Tosh Townend has been working with me lately. It\u2019s good to see Tosh and the crew helping out and always doing stuff. Brian Patch just helped me build a rad park in Palestine. We built a rad little mini ramp skatepark for these kids that had nowhere to ride. We built it at the zoo. People can take their kids to watch the monkeys and then take them to watch kids ride the ramps. [Laughs] If you walk in there with a skateboard, you can go to the zoo for free, which is cool. Brian Patch helped me out with that, and he\u2019s always been rad. Chris Gentry has always been part of my crew. Those are the main guys right there. If I forgot anyone, I\u2019m sorry. I\u2019ve worked with so many people over the years, and a lot of people are down to help.<\/p>\n

Do you have photos from the skatepark in Palestine?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, yeah. I\u2019ll send them to you. They went to the Dubai Film Festival because this guy made a movie about these kids that had no place to ride and they were dreaming of having a skatepark. He started getting funding for his movie and he talked to Brad in Dubai, that has Tashkeel, that crazy ramp over there. They helped finance it, so they gave us airfare and some money to build this ramp and it was awesome. We went over there and built it and it was a totally cool deal. Thanks to all those people for making it happen. It was like the Berlin Wall back in the day where you couldn\u2019t leave. That\u2019s literally how it is in Palestine. There is a wall around them and checkpoints everywhere and they literally can\u2019t leave. There are killer skateparks in Israel that Shaggy and some of those guys built, but the kids can\u2019t go ride them. They can\u2019t leave Palestine, so it was rad to be able to give them the gift of having a place to skate. We put Skatelite on it and made a rad fun little ramp. It was cool.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone you want to thank?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ve pretty much thanked everyone already. I\u2019ve been with World Cup Skateboarding for years, Don and Danielle Bostick. They\u2019re awesome. Thanks to all the sponsors that have helped us over the years like Vans. Steve Van Doren has been amazing. Danny Way and the DC crew have been great. They help us travel around and do what we do. Thanks to everyone that sponsors these events and helps make skateboarding stuff happen worldwide. Thanks to all the skaters out there that are willing to lend a hand to build something. Thanks to all you guys. Every time I go and ride one of these places, there\u2019s somebody who built it and put blood and sweat into it, for us to play on. It\u2019s a big international skateboarding brotherhood. Skaters are like, \u201cYou have to come skate my spot.\u201d I just want to say, \u201cThanks for building it.\u201d I know the hard work that goes into it. I\u2019ve been doing it a long time and I\u2019m stoked to see the maturation of so many thousands of parks out there. There are so many people out there that are down to build and design and make great shit happen. Thanks to the world of skateboarding for evolving in such a cool way. Thanks to the people that get it and know what skateboarding is about. It\u2019s just having fun with your friends and having a good time and doing it however you want to do it, your own way.<\/p>\n

What is your Duty Now for the Future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to design stuff, so I want to keep doing that. We\u2019ve got Dave Duncan Designs and www.DaggerBuiltRamps.com up, so check it out. You can email me at daveduncan@wcsk8.com. I\u2019m stoked for everyone that\u2019s trying to make skateparks and make skateparks better. I\u2019ve built so many. I\u2019m down to get dirty and pour some concrete and get a saw and cut some trannies or whatever I\u2019ve got to do to make shit happen. My duty now for the future is to do more of that, and to do more design work. I have been building stuff for Volcom and doing backyard bowls and ramps. We built a skatepark for KR3W and for Ryan Sheckler in the last few years. They\u2019re just fun projects that aren\u2019t too full of the red tape that comes with building a public park. I like to keep things simple. It gives you more freedom to be creative. The freedom to design stuff is great. Duty Now For The Future is the title of a Devo album, so I guess my duty now for the future is to rock out and go roll around. [Laughs] More rock and more roll!<\/p>\n

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