The Venice Annual Ladies Jam went off at the Venice “Polar Bear” Skatepark on a beautiful Saturday morning this past weekend in the 90291. Ladies of all ages, from locations far and wide, made the trek to this California skate mecca to spend the day by the sea in friendly competition and sisterhood. Friends, family and enthusiastic onlookers surrounded the park four deep at times, to cheer, scream and applaud, as the women carved, grinded and flowed around and over the beachside skatepark. It was a day of soul and grace on four wheels as the girls surf-skated through the Jesse-Martinez-designed snakerun, and found unique lines in the bowls set with tiles paying tribute to the tradition of Dogtown.<\/p>\n
Local and global legends came out to support this annual celebration of girls on skateboards, with Jim Gray, the emcee on the mic, and judges, Dennis K Martinez,\u00a0Earl Okinaka\u00a0&\u00a0Steve Wright, front and center poolside. Powell Peralta skateboarding pro and X Games\u00a0Silver medalist,\u00a0Jordyn Barratt, showed up to energize the girls with her encouragement, along with Skateboarding Hall of Famer, founder of Girl Is Not a 4 Letter Word, ambassador for women’s skateboarding and author of “It’s Not About Pretty”, Cindy Whitehead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Patti McGee, the 1965 Woman’s first National Skateboard Champion, made a special guest appearance, and graciously signed autographs of her interview in the new issue of Juice Magazine #75, for fans of all ages. Haley Villa of Teal Press spent the day in Venice showing her support for her mom, Patti, and all of the skaters in the skate comp. Brandon Wong of SoCal Skate Shop made the drive to LA from down south to show his support for the skateboarding family, while Dogtown legends, Jeff Ho (Zephyr) and Eric “Tuma” Britton (Roll Model Skateboarding), joined Patti at the Juice tent to sign mags and represent the Venice legacy of radical skateboarding and surfing.<\/p>\n The community came out in droves throughout the day to show their love for the ladies, and the girls ripped it up proper. Congrats to Hanna Zanzi for winning the contest and respect to all the girls that competed!<\/p>\n Thanks to Heidi Lemmon, Jeff Greenwood, The City of Los Angeles, Lance Lemond and all the sponsors,\u00a0for putting together a fun day for all and providing an essential showcase for female skateboarding.\u00a0Special thanks to photographers:\u00a0Ken Hada<\/a>,\u00a0Olga Aguilar<\/a>,\u00a0Dan Levy<\/a>,\u00a0Chris Hooten<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for sharing their shots from this excellent day.<\/p>\n\n