{"id":75509,"date":"2018-09-20T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=75509"},"modified":"2022-08-09T17:59:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T00:59:04","slug":"never-forget-mark-monk-hubbard-a-pillar-of-concrete-skatepark-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/never-forget-mark-monk-hubbard-a-pillar-of-concrete-skatepark-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Duty Now For the Future – Mark “Monk” Hubbard – A Pillar of Concrete Skatepark Building"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE: GRINDLINE SKATEPARKS – MARK HUBBARD<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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

Monk was gnarly. He would hop freight trains to skate spots out of the Northwest and he had a true sense of adventure and a \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d attitude toward skating and skatepark construction. He was a visionary, operating on an intergalactic level, building skateparks, which coincide with Milky Way star systems that created portals to the next dimension. In his view, the passion of skateboarders to see the world in another dimension makes our connection to the Universe profoundly unique. As one of the innovators at Burnside, Monk founded Grindline and proceeded to build some of the gnarliest parks he could conceive with miles of pool coping and endless trannys. He assembled crews of like-minded skaters building skateparks for skateboarders, always going above and beyond in order to build the biggest and best he could for the local skaters! He operated with a global vision, viewing skateboarders around the world as one big family, while spawning international Grindline co-ops around the globe. Monk was one of the most humble giving people I ever met, and his spirit lives on in every yard of concrete he put his hands on. His spirit is strong and I still feel it every day with all the goodness he put into this world. We remember Mark Hubbard. GRINDLINE FOR LIFE.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Hey Monk, what are you doing right now? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I\u2019m just cleaning out the Jambulance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Proud of you. So we\u2019re doing a story about DIY and I wanted to call you, one of the originators of the Do It Yourself movement. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Before Burnside, where were you mostly skating? Were you in Seattle?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Every winter, me and Pat Quirk would go on freight trains. That started in 1987, when I was 17. We\u2019d jump on the freight trains because winters are hard and long in Seattle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did you have destinations in mind?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. The first destination was Shut Up and Skate in Dallas at Jeff Phillips park. We tried to go to the one in Houston, but Pat ditched me in Sacramento. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: He was going to San Francisco. He was eight years older than me and I think he didn\u2019t want to turn me on to the dark side. I knew of the Cage Ramp up in Eugene, so I hitchhiked back up to Eugene and went to the Cage Ramp. It was snowing and I banged on the door and Buddy Nichols and Davey Rogers and the whole Eugene crew were there. I didn\u2019t know any of them, but I\u2019d skated there a few times before and they were all skating. They were like, \u201cThe ramp is not really open yet.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, dude, I just got off a freight train, so let me in. I\u2019m skating right now!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did they know you? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. They thought I was a freak. [Laughs] I just rolled up with my backpack, so they were vibing me and they wouldn\u2019t let me in the door. I was like, \u201cYou guys are skating. Why can\u2019t I skate?\u201d They were like, \u201cWe\u2019re the locals here. We\u2019re trying to keep it local.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019m on the freight trains. Let me in. It\u2019s snowing outside and I just hitchhiked here from Sacramento. I\u2019m skating now whether you guys like it or not.\u201d I was not taking no for an answer, so I forced my way into there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: [Laughs] Sick. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I wasn\u2019t that good. I was doing frontside 50-50s and fastplants and disasters. I think I learned Texas plants at the Cage ramp. I had been skating vert for two or three years, but they were ripping. Then I followed them home through the alleys and I was like, \u201cCan I stay at your place?\u201d They were like, \u201cNo. There\u2019s this contest in town and our landlord is freaking out.\u201d They were going to college there and their landlord was freaking out on everyone staying at their house, so I was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to sleep in the yard.\u201d They couldn\u2019t get rid of me. I just followed them home like a lost dog. I slept in the yard and the next day Ben Beebe showed up. He was from Seattle and he was going to the U of O in Eugene too. I had been skating with him at the Nature Ramp at Mike Ranquet\u2019s, for a couple of years, so he was hyped. Those guys were like, \u201cYou know this dude?\u201d He was like, \u201cYes! It\u2019s Mank!\u201d They were like, \u201cOkay, whatever.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did they give you a high five after that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. They were still kind of vibing, so Ben took me back to his dorm and he went to the cafeteria and made me a brunch box. He called it \u2018Mank\u2019s brunch box\u2019 and he was getting me all of this food. He\u2019s like, \u201cThere\u2019s a contest in Corvallis. Do you want to go?\u201d I said, \u201cYeah, let\u2019s go.\u201d There was a vert ramp in Corvallis, which was about 45 minutes away, so we showed up there. There were all those dudes from Eugene and they were like, \u201cOh, here\u2019s this guy again.\u201d People from Seattle were there and they were like, \u201cMank! What\u2019s up!\u201d I won first place in the B division. They were all in the A division, but I won the B division. Then I ended up going back to Eugene with them and they gave me a closet off the kitchen for my birthday. That was a few weeks later. I kind of forced my way into their scene, and I lived there for like a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SKATEBOARDING IS FREEDOM, AND MONK LIVED IT AND LOVED IT! STYLIN\u2019 FRONTSIDE GRINDER AT ONE OF MANY BACKYARD POOL SESSIONS! PHOTO \u00a9 JOE HAMMEKE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: You were skating their ramp and living in their house?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. I was skating the Cage Ramp and I got food stamps when I turned 18 and I got a job washing dishes. I hung out with those dudes, and they became my best friends \u2013 Buddy Nichols, Davey Rogers, Jordan Ferraro and Steve Wright. It was a rad scene. They had a whole bunch of vert skaters there, like Jeff Taylor. It was all the dudes from Corvallis and Eugene. There were two vert ramps an hour apart from each other and there were 20 dudes in Corvallis and 15 dudes in Eugene, so there were like 35 dudes that skated vert almost every day and definitely every weekend. Red would come down from Portland and, the first time I ever saw him, I was like, \u201cWho is this dude?\u201d We would both do backside lipslides and grab our tail on disasters. We looked at each other and I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d He said, \u201cMark. What\u2019s your name?\u201d I said, \u201cMark.\u201d I was like, \u201cOk.\u201d We just hit it off. He was driving the Dodge Demon and it was Mark and Mark from then on out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Sick. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Those guys ended up finishing school and then I moved to Portland. Red said I could move into a closet in his apartment on Hawthorne in Portland, so I lived up above Bagdad Theater in \u201989 with Kent Dahlgren and Red. I had a bass amp and we jammed and played Nintendo. Chuck Willis and Rico were there. It was a sick scene with Osage Buffalo and Bret Taylor and a bunch of dudes. We skated street and there was a contest at Mount Tabor, which was another scene. We\u2019d go down to Eugene and Corvallis and that was the sickest scene in the whole Northwest. We had it going on in Seattle, but we\u2019d go down there and, with all the dudes from Seattle, Corvallis and Eugene, there was like 50 of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: All vert skaters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Vert and street. We didn\u2019t care. We\u2019d skate whatever we could get. Red had a ramp up at his parents\u2019 house and we\u2019d skate that monstrosity. It was like 4 foot of vert with a foot of tranny. He used to do inverts on it and layback airs and grey slides. It was nuts. He had a couple of motorcycles. He had a chopper and a Honda Gold Wing and I bought the Honda Gold Wing from him on a payment plan. We were sitting around the apartment one night and Bret Taylor and Osage and Chuck Willis, and these guys were like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to build something at Burnside under the bridge.\u201d There was a slanted wall there, so they were thinking they\u2019d build a bank up against the wall, and skate down there a little bit and just do wall rides. They were like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to build a bank up against the wall.\u201d We were like, \u201cCool. Whatever. Go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark \u201cMonk\u201d Hubbard of Grindline Skateparks. [1970-2018] The eyes are a window into a person\u2019s soul. Since day one, Monk had a vision of the world unifying around skateboarding and he made it his mission to build skate communities around the world. His primary intention was always to give those around him a sick place to skate and to inspire them to continue forward into the future with building skateparks themselves. The mark he made on the world is grounded in concrete and his spirit lives on in everyone he ever encountered. Monk was humble and charitable, donating his time to building skateparks on Native American Reservations and much more. Monk leaves behind over 350 skateparks and we will always remember everything he did for skateboarding. R.I.P. Monk. Grindline forever. Photo by Arto Saari.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did they have any concrete building skills? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Well, it doesn\u2019t take much skill to mix up a bag of concrete. I don\u2019t know if they had trowels or not. I wasn\u2019t there. We were like, \u201cWhatever. Knock yourselves out.\u201d Then we went down there and skated the thing and it was rad. It was undercover and it was raining and we were like, \u201cThis is cool.\u201d Then Red and I were like, \u201cLet\u2019s build a bank that blows this one away.\u201d It was like bank wars. We started piling all this garbage up against the wall and we made this huge bank that was four times the size of their bank. It was like a mound with no tranny. Their bank had a little tranny and then they built another little bank. We were like, \u201cYeah. Your bank is cool, but we\u2019re building a big bank!\u201d We built our big bank and everyone was like, \u201cThat bank sucks.\u201d We were like, \u201cFuck you!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did you have trowels?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I don\u2019t remember. It was 27 years ago. I think Red had a little bit of experience. He worked at Parr Lumber. He\u2019d kick holes in the bags and we\u2019d get them for a buck a piece. Our bank was all good and they had a little channel going with two tranny banks. We went down there one night and we were skating it and there was a big ledge above the big bank. I don\u2019t know who did it first, but Red dropped in and then I dropped in. We were like, \u201cWe dropped in off the wall! Our bank is sicker!\u201d Those guys were like, \u201cOur banks are sicker.\u201d We were like, \u201cWe dropped in on the wall!\u201d They were like, \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d We were like, \u201cWe dropped in on the Burnside wall.\u201d They were like, \u201cYou can\u2019t drop in off that wall. It\u2019s huge! You\u2019re lying!\u201d We were like, \u201cWe\u2019ll go down there and show you right now.\u201d So we all went down there and we dropped in and they were like, \u201cWhoa!\u201d No one really had the balls to do it, so we kept doing it and then we put a curb at the bottom of the bank about 20 feet away. We\u2019d drop in and go down the bank and then ollie up onto the curb and grind it. That was the run. You\u2019d drop in on the bank and then grind the curb or board slide. Then we started stacking stuff up on top of each other and it was a pretty rad scene. We kept hyping it up and building shit and then Dahlgren started pickaxing a big circle. I said, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019m digging a bowl.\u201d I was like, \u201cYou\u2019re nuts! We\u2019re going to get busted.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: You thought they were going too big.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. I thought we should keep the shit low-key. He was like, \u201cFuck you. You keep it low-key. Don\u2019t tell me what to do.\u201d We were all not against each other, but we were feeding off each other to see who was more hardcore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: You were trying to say, \u201cIt\u2019s rad that you want to build a bowl, but if you start digging, the spot is blown.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. I was scared. He had the balls to do it. He just kept digging and picking out the asphalt in a big circle. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m out of here.\u201d I didn\u2019t even help because I thought they were going to get busted.\u201d Then we started building this brick bank over by the sidewalk. Then the cops started coming down and there started to be a little controversy with the business owners in the neighborhood. Then they started seeing that we were cleaning up the garbage and the bums weren\u2019t hanging out there anymore, and we were sweeping up the needles, so they left us alone a little bit. Then other people started helping dig, and pretty soon there were the two little banks and me and Red\u2019s big bank and the brick bank and then the spider web bowl. We started digging on that and that was right beside the sidewalk too. Red wanted vert on it, so he put cinderblocks on there. Then we went and stole some pool coping from this square pool and I put the pool coping on there. In Seattle, I worked for a swimming pool company, and I stole the pool coping. I knew about setting stone, so I set the blocks on the spider web bowl. We skated that and Dahlgren kept digging the big bowl. Pretty soon, there was a big hole with a big bump next to it because he needed somewhere to put the dirt. By that time, people started showing up like Germ, Little John, Dog Boy and Sage. Then it started to be a real scene. There would be 20 people down there skating and working. We built a bunch of shit and we were working at night pouring this pyramid type thing. We were using gasoline for light. Then Red got a little gas on himself and he grabbed this cup that he thought was water, and doused himself, but it was gas and he lit himself on fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Oh man.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. He went to the hospital and I went and broke him out and drove him around in the Cauldron. He was in ICU and it was pretty heavy. Then he got out and he was okay and we kept working and building. That was around 1991 and I had just turned 21 in October, and we had the one year anniversary of Burnside. We did all that in one year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MONK WAS A NATURAL AND HIS LOVE FOR SKATING WAS CONTAGIOUS. MONK TAKES IT OVER THE POOL BLOCKED HIP AT THE WEST SEATTLE BOWL. PHOTO \u00a9 MICAH SHAPIRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: Gnarly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. Then I moved back to Seattle because I just wanted to go home. I was sick of living in Oregon. I went on some more freight train trips with Q-Man and we\u2019d stop back through Portland and help them a little bit more. Red would come up to Seattle and then Troy Nichols started saying, \u201cYou helped with Burnside. I\u2019ve got a project under a bridge in West Seattle at Schmitz Park. The Swim brothers started it in 1986. They dug this hole and threw some bags of concrete in there and they never finished it.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019ll finish it.\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019ll pick you up every morning and give you a bagel for breakfast and give you money to buy shovels and I\u2019ll bring you materials and anything you need to build a bowl up there.\u201d It was like a job. Troy supported me. I lived with Steve Benton in his warehouse, and Red would come up and help us dig, and there were people in Seattle that would help a little bit. We finally had the hole dug pretty good and I called Tim at Bay Sand & Gravel and Troy Nichols put up $200 to have a bundle of rebar dropped off at the top of the bridge. When they dropped it off, I was tripping. I was like, \u201cWhoa.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: How many sticks?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: It was 250 sticks. It was a whole bundle. It was less than $1 a stick back then. Now it\u2019s $4 a stick. I was like, \u201cHow am I going to get this shit down the hill?\u201d Willie, showed up. He was this street skater that heard I needed help. I don\u2019t know how, but he showed up and helped me drag the rebar down the hill. Whenever I needed help, it just happened. Someone would show up and help. Finally, we rebarred the whole thing. I knew how to do that. We didn\u2019t even put rebar in Burnside. None of that shit had any rebar in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: What was the fill at Burnside?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: We were filling it with empty milk jugs and grass clippings. It was garbage. You have to build on something. You can\u2019t just make it solid concrete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Right. You have to use tires or whatever.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. We didn\u2019t know nothing about compaction. It was all about trees, wood, grass clippings, milk jugs, diapers, garbage, dog shit, chain link fence and whatever we could find. In the early \u201890s, all that shit at Burnside was built without any rebar. Burnside didn\u2019t have rebar until after Lincoln City. Even at Lincoln City, I had to talk Red into using rebar. He didn\u2019t want to use it there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: He worked for a flat contractor. He could actually finish pretty good and he asked me, \u201cRebar or no rebar?\u201d I said, \u201cRebar.\u201d He was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d That\u2019s because I built swimming pools, but I didn\u2019t know shit about finishing. I knew about tying rebar and placing pool coping and fiberglassing swimming pools. At Schmitz Park, we got busted in 1992. The cops came and pulled their guns out and we dropped the trowels and the shovels. They put everyone up against the wall and we had a pretty big crew because we were going to concrete it that day. We had like 500 bags of concrete in the bottom and we were going to go for it and do it. Then the neighbors called because they saw 10 or 15 dudes down there. They had seen the bowl, by that point, because we had been digging on it for six or eight months. The cops cited us for destruction of Parks Department property and we had court dates and shit. We went to court and the judge was like, \u201cFill in the bowl and we\u2019ll drop the charges.\u201d It was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d Then I took off. I dug that thing, and I wasn\u2019t going to fill it in, so I went on the run. I was on the lam. I\u2019d take the warrant. I didn\u2019t care. I rode my motorcycle to Eastern Washington, to where Jenny, my wife now, lived. She was my girlfriend then, and I hid out in Eastern Washington for three weeks. When I came back, the bowl was all filled in. I was like, \u201cFuck.\u201d We took all that rebar and put it at Mike Swim\u2019s mom\u2019s house, and me and Swim got a house in West Seattle. We were driving around one day and we were looking for a place to move the new bowl. We found a place over off Highway 99. It was another sketchy spot. We were driving around in the Green Lantern, this Datsun B210 that I had, and then we came back to the Landon house, on 23rd Avenue in West Seattle, and there was this kid lying in the middle of the street petting our cat. He looked familiar and he was like, \u201cHey, what\u2019s up? Is this your cat?\u201d We were like, \u201cYeah. You look familiar.\u201d He said, \u201cI saw you guys at the Nature Ramp in Renton.\u201d We were like, \u201cDo you skate?\u201d He was like, \u201cNo, but I have some friends that live out there. I live across the street now with my uncle. What are you guys doing?\u201d We said, \u201cWe\u2019re building a skate bowl and we\u2019re looking for a place under a bridge and we think we found a place on Highway 99. We\u2019re going to dig a bowl. Maybe you can help us dig it.\u201d He was like, \u201cYou should just build it in my uncle\u2019s yard.\u201d We were like, \u201cYeah, right, okay. Whatever.\u201d We went inside the house and we were like, \u201cThat dude is a freak.\u201d Ten minutes later, we heard a knock on the door. We were like, \u201cDon\u2019t even answer it.\u201d Swami was like, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d It was the kid and he\u2019s like, \u201cI called my uncle at work and he said, \u201cWhen is it going to be done?\u201d We were like, \u201cHe really said that it\u2019s okay to build a bowl in his yard?\u201d The kid says, \u201cYeah.\u201d So we were like, \u201cLet\u2019s go look at his yard.\u201d We were pretty sure you couldn\u2019t even fit a bowl up there. We went across the street behind the house and it was this big huge lot with all these trees on it, and it was all secluded. We were like, \u201cWell, it\u2019s not under cover, but there are all these trees. Cool! Let\u2019s just start digging and, if he freaks out, we\u2019ll just go back to that other spot.\u201d So we just started digging. We didn\u2019t even meet this dude for a couple of weeks because he was always working. We\u2019d sneak out when he was back because we thought he might bust us because we wanted to build a huge bowl, 12 feet deep. Pretty soon there was dirt down the hillside and going down the stairs. We had a big work party and, within a month, there was a six foot hole in there. The dude came out and he was like, \u201cHey, do you guys want something to eat?\u201d We were like, \u201cYeah!\u201d He made us salmon, potatoes, hollandaise sauce and brussels sprouts. It was this gourmet meal. He was kind of eccentric with this handlebar mustache. He was a part-time jeweler and a social worker. We were like, \u201cAlright. It\u2019s cool if we do this bowl, right?\u201d He was like, \u201cYeah. It\u2019s cool.\u201d We were like, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to fill it with water. We\u2019re going to skate the thing.\u201d He was like, \u201cYeah! I like skateboarding.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MONK HAD BACKSIDE OLLIES DIALED AND, HE WOULD BUST THEM OUT IN THE GNARLIEST OF PLACES WITH EASE. YOU CAN HEAR THE POOL COPING \u201cBONK\u201d AS HE LOFTS THIS ONE. PHOTO COURTESY OF MONK.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was he an old skateboarder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. He was a hippie from the \u201960s. He was eccentric, but he was really nice, and he gave us these old Hang Ten skateboards. We didn\u2019t know until later that he was kind of weird. We ended up going in and seeing his house and we were like, \u201cHoly shit. It\u2019s nasty. There were fleas everywhere and there was water under the floor boards. He had this dog named Mr. Chumley and he had these cats and he dumped piss out his window from upstairs. The water wasn\u2019t turned on and he was just the crustiest, gnarliest dude. He let us dig a bowl in his backyard so, of course, he was nuts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: [Laughs] Wow.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. Red would come up and help dig. We just kept digging and lots of people came up from Burnside to help dig. Osage came up there. It was the Northwest. We had Burnside and we were digging bowls in Seattle. Troy Nichols was a big supporter and this guy David Forsyth that worked at Gullwing heard about the thing and he donated $1,500 to it. Eventually, we got up $2,000 to hire a shotcrete company to come in and shoot the thing and cut it just like a swimming pool. We rebarred it and then we hired Action Gunite to come in and shotcrete it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was that the first time you\u2019d seen people do that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. I\u2019d seen it because I built swimming pools before. I knew that we needed to shotcrete it because I wasn\u2019t going to hand stack the thing. I wanted to do it like a real swimming pool. I didn\u2019t know how to do shotcrete or even finish in 1992. Red was the only one that knew how to finish, and Gavin. Dog Boy was okay at that point, but I was just basically a laborer. I was digging and organizing. I was more of a foreman and rebar guy. I didn\u2019t know shit really. I put it all together with everybody and we hired Action Gunite to come out. They had like four dudes and they put the pump at the bottom of the hill and pumped it up there and they had an air compressor and they shot it on the walls. It was gnarly. I jumped in the bowl and I was like, \u201cLet me hold the nozzle.\u201d The dude was like, \u201cNo, man, get the fuck out of here. It\u2019s gonna kill you.\u201d I was like, \u201cNo. This is cool. I want to do this. One of these days, I\u2019m going to get a pump and build another pool.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was he like, \u201cOkay, dude, go for it.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. He was like, \u201cGet the fuck out of my way. You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re dealing with here. Go back to your house and let us do our job or we\u2019re leaving.\u201d I was like, \u201cAlright, alright.\u201d We walked away and they shot the thing and cut it and they didn\u2019t seal it up or nothing. We came out and they were like, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re done.\u201d We were like, \u201cWhat do you mean? You\u2019ve got to seal it up. We\u2019ve got to trowel it.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cNo, just grind it and patch it.\u201d I was like, \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d He said, \u201cPlaster it.\u201d We were like, \u201cNo, we don\u2019t want to plaster it. We want finished shotcrete.\u201d He was like, \u201cFinished shotcrete? You guys are idiots. You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d I was like, \u201cWe want finished shotcrete.\u201d He goes, \u201cYou can\u2019t finish shotcrete.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to go the bank right now to get an extra $250 for each one of you guys so you can get your trowels and get in there and start finishing.\u201d They were like, \u201c$250 extra? That\u2019s a lot of money.\u201d So they jumped in there and started doing it. I went to the bank and I came back and they had it somewhat sealed up. It was a little lumpy and bumpy, but it was a pretty good job. It wasn\u2019t like a sidewalk or nothing, but it was sealed up. They did a pretty good job. I gave them $250 each and the whole job ended up being about $2,500. So for about $3000, we had ourselves a pool. It was a big gnarly pool, like 11 feet deep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Sick! Was it 9\u2019 and 2\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: We didn\u2019t even have tranny. We didn\u2019t know what trannies were. We were just digging a hole with a radius wall and vert. We didn\u2019t put a level on the wall. It was just primitive shit. There wasn\u2019t a tranny in the thing. There was no flat wall. We just dug the hole and said, \u201cThat looks good.\u201d We put the rebar in said, \u201cThat looks even better.\u201d Then they shot it and covered the rebar and then covered it a little bit more and kept the shape. It was basically all cut by eye. They don\u2019t do tranny in a swimming pool. They just eyeball it. It was winging it. It turned out pretty good because these dudes had done pools before. We were sitting around the bowl the next day, hanging our legs in there. We were like, \u201cHoly shit. I can\u2019t believe we did it.\u201d It took a year to dig the thing and get all the money together. We had three houses in the neighborhood by that time. Smiley was living in the house across the street and we were living next door in the big duplex, and then Cody had his house. We were sitting around the bowl the next day and we were like, \u201cWhen are we going to ride it? Let\u2019s ride it now.\u201d They were like, \u201cNo, dude, you\u2019re going to ruin it.\u201d I was like, \u201cIt\u2019s concrete. It\u2019s hard. Let\u2019s skate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It wasn\u2019t still a little green?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. It was a little green. It wasn\u2019t white. After 24 hours, shotcrete seven or eight sacks thick goes pretty quick, and this was a whole day later. Troy says, \u201cI\u2019m taking the first run.\u201d That was okay because he put up the most money. He was aggro about it and he supported everyone doing it and he was the motivator. He dropped in the shallow end and ate shit. I was like, \u201cFuck! I\u2019m going now.\u201d I dropped in on the other side of the shallow and I ate shit. We were like, \u201cOh shit. What did we do?\u201d The shallow was tight. We thought it would be like a skatepark pool, but it was more like the gnarliest backyard pool ever. Everyone looked at each other like, \u201cFuck, man, we put all that work in and we fucked up.\u201d It was an emotional roller coaster and everyone was devastated for a second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It was the big ego buster pool.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. Then Mike Swim goes over to the pocket and he drops in and he makes it and then he carves around the shallow and then he goes into the deep and he does a backside kickturn and he goes up on the hip and everyone was like, \u201cYeah! No way!\u201d I think he even got a little backside scratcher. Everyone was like, \u201cWow!\u201d It was the best feeling in the world. It was like, \u201cYeah! We did it! It worked!\u201d Swami showed us the line. You drop in the pocket. We didn\u2019t give a fuck how gnarly it was. We did a bowl that was semi-skateable and we ripped the fuck out of that thing for years. Then Cody ended up moving out because we were raging in his backyard. We\u2019d have 10 or 15 people skating back there and partying and barbecuing, and he was over it. One day he put a hose in the pool. I walked out there and said, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019m filling it up to go swimming.\u201d So I went and got the hose from my house and I put it in the bowl and I was like, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s fill it up and swim!\u201d Then he stopped and goes, \u201cNo. It\u2019s going to be too much weight. It will be so heavy that it will slide down the hill and kill somebody.\u201d So he pulled the hose out. I used reverse psychology on him. There had been some bad vibes between him and all the skaters after we figured out he was weird. We were respectful, but we didn\u2019t give him the time of day. We were rebel youth. We were like, \u201cThis is our pool because we put $3,000 into it. It\u2019s our backyard now. We are taking over. This is our world and we are going to take it.\u201d We didn\u2019t care if it was his land. This is what we wanted and we worked hard for it. We didn\u2019t care about money or jobs. We just needed a place to skate where we didn\u2019t have to relayer a ramp every year. We wanted roundwall and pool walls and pool coping. We wanted to wear down our trucks, so we were ripping the shit out of that thing. Then Cody moved down the street with this art lady. She ended up buying a house in Hawaii, so he moved to Hawaii with her. Me and Rabbi started staying in the house, and Rabbi moved out from Milwaukee. We met him at the Turf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Killer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I told him we had built the bowl and had this killer place and we were going to start this screen printing company together. We were squatting in Cody\u2019s house. We dug a bowl in his backyard and chased him out of town. He moved to Hawaii and we took over his house and we were going to live there forever. It was our house now. It was like a hostile takeover and we were going to concrete the whole block. We had five houses on the block and we were renting a couple of other houses. Ellery Dodson was renting the house down the street and we were digging a bowl in that backyard too. The landlord was like, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d We were like, \u201cWe\u2019re digging a pond.\u201d He was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d We were renegade. We didn\u2019t care. Then the art lady came back from Hawaii and said, \u201cCody sold me his house.\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019ll rent it from you.\u201d She said, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to sell it, but he said that you are a good property manager.\u201d I had three houses in the neighborhood in my name and I was subletting them. I was trying to start Skatetown USA and I wanted to build a bowl in every backyard. I said to her, \u201cYeah. I sublet a couple of places. Why?\u201d She said, \u201cI have the Union Hall down at the end of the street and I want to see if you could rent that out for me and manage it.\u201d So we went down there, and it was only a block away from the bowl. We walked inside and I was like, \u201cThis is pretty nice.\u201d Then we go upstairs and there\u2019s this 30\u2019 x 40\u2019 room with 16 foot ceilings. In the peak it was 16 feet. I was like, \u201cYou could build a vert ramp in here.\u201d She was like, \u201cDo you want to rent it?\u201d I was like, \u201cCan I build a vert ramp in here?\u201d She said, \u201cSure.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay. I\u2019ll rent it. How much?\u201d She said, \u201c$1,500 a month.\u201d I said, \u201cDeal.\u201d I went back up to the bowl to the house where we were staying and there were like eight guys living in the house and I was like, \u201cWe\u2019re moving down the street to the Union Hall and we\u2019re going to build a vert ramp in the Union Hall.\u201d They were like, \u201cWhat are you talking about? How much is it?\u201d I said, \u201cIt\u2019s $1,500 a month.\u201d They were like, \u201cHow are you going to get that?\u201d I was like, \u201cGallardo and Tom P are going to live there.\u201d I started naming off dudes that were going to live there. We were going to get eight people each paying $200 a month. They were like, \u201cI\u2019m not living with Gallardo.\u201d I said, \u201cWe are dude. This is what we\u2019re doing. You don\u2019t have a choice because all the shit is in my name and I\u2019m forcing Skatetown. It\u2019s fuckin\u2019 happening. We need an indoor vert ramp.\u201d They were like, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s go see this thing.\u201d So we went down there and we built a 9-foot tranny with a foot of vert, 24-foot wide vert ramp in the top of this house a block away from the big bowl. We were digging another big pond in Ellery\u2019s yard and Mike Sanders lived up the street in another rental house. We had the bowl house, the slanted house and the duplex and the ramp house. Davey Rogers lived in the brick house down on the corner above the Teriyaki place. We had eight houses in a two block radius full of skaters. There was a mini mart down there and we had a pool and a vert ramp and we were building snake runs down the sidewalks. We were going to take over the neighborhood. Then the art lady sold the bowl house to this old dude. He was like, \u201cWhat is that bowl?\u201d I said, \u201cI built that bowl. That is my bowl.\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019m going to fix this house up and sell it.\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019ll help you fix it up for free and then you sell it to me.\u201d He was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d So he carried a contract with me and I bought my first house, the bowl house. I took it over for nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MEGA SWEEPER AT MONK\u2019S BACKYARD INDOOR VERT FACILITY. PHOTO \u00a9 MARSHALL STACK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: No way. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. We also had the ramp house going for a few years and then she kicked us out because there were 13 broken windows and we were raging in there. I ended up moving back to Portland with Bryan Bean and Pigpen and Neil and I did screen printing for Palace a block away from Burnside. I lived there for a year, but I kept the bowl house. The Northeast has always had this renegade scene where we\u2019re all trying to outdo each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: This was all pre-Grindline, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: This was 10 years before Grindline. This was the early \u201890s. Grindline didn\u2019t start until 2000. In 1999, skateboarding was declared a hazardous sport in California and the rest of the country followed suit, where if you\u2019re a land owner or a city, you\u2019re immune from any lawsuits because skateboarding is lumped in with motorcycle riding and hazardous sports, so you can\u2019t sue if you\u2019re doing it. Lincoln City had a little bowl park and they got ahold of Red because of Burnside and he called me up and said, \u2018Lincoln City wants a skatepark.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh yeah? Cool. I don\u2019t have much money, but I\u2019ll help.\u201d He said, \u201cNo. They\u2019re going to pay for it.\u201d I was like, \u201cWhat do you mean they\u2019re going to pay for it?\u201d He said, \u201cThey\u2019re going to buy the materials.\u201d I was like, \u201cAre you serious?\u201d I was like, \u201cRad. Well, I had just had a kid, Kaya.\u201d She was two. I had her in \u201997. I was like, \u201cMaybe I can get a job down there or something.\u201d He said, \u201cNo. They\u2019re going to pay us to build it.\u201d I said, \u201cBullshit. They\u2019re going to pay us to build a skatepark and buy us the materials?\u201d He said, \u201cYeah.\u201d I was like, \u201cSuckers!\u201d We felt like we were getting one over on them because we had been building shit with our own money for ten years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Yeah. You\u2019d build it for free.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: We were going to build it for free, but they were going to pay us $7.50 an hour. I was like, \u201cYeah!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did you and Red form a company?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. We worked for Lincoln City Parks and Rec as employees. We worked for the Urban Planning Department for Ron Ploger. He was the Urban Planner and he used urban renewal funds to raise money to fix the skatepark up. He had $80,000 and we built a 10,000 square foot park. We had Sage out there, and there were a couple of local Lincoln City dudes, and Red and me. Geth Noble showed up. He did some shit in southern Oregon, down in Ashland and Medford, so he showed up and helped us. We had this little crew and we built that park and Thrasher<\/em> put it on the cover and said, \u201cGnarliest Skatepark in America – Lincoln City.\u201d After we were done, it was like our lives were complete. We built a skatepark in less than six months, and it was the most rewarding feeling. We actually got to build a skatepark and design it onsite. It was sick and it was going to be there forever. I could go home and die now. Mission complete. We built Burnside and we pulled off the bowl in West Seattle and the ramp house and we made it happen. I was 29 years old and I was pretty sure, in the year 2000, with Y2K, we were all going to die anyways. When we didn\u2019t, it was like, \u201cBring it on.\u201d A couple of weeks went by and Red called me up and said, \u201cWe got another park in Newberg. It\u2019s going to be 30,000 square feet.\u201d I was like, \u201cNo way. Are they going to pay us again and buy us material?\u201d He said, \u201cYeah!\u201d I was like, \u201cNo way. We\u2019re going out with a bang on this one.\u201d I went there and camped in my car and lived on site and we built Newberg. It\u2019s got ten and two walls with a capsule bowl and a snake run. By then, I was learning finishing. In fact, at Newberg, Red said I was the most improved finisher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was that the first time you finished?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. At Lincoln City, when I tried to finish, I fucked that shit up. It was bad. At Newberg, I finally learned, after 270 yards of concrete. It was a lot of mud. I had to learn or they were going to get somebody else. I had to step it up and step out of my comfort zone and do it. You learn a lot pouring 30,000 square feet. Then we got Aumsville. By that time, Red was an expert finisher. We made Aumsville just butter. He was like, \u201cNobody touches it until we scrub our brains out. There is going to be no lumps. It\u2019s all about the perfectly consistent surface, glass factory. We honed in our skills and Red showed us how to be concrete experts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Did you guys take more time on that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. What you do is you cut and screed it and don\u2019t seal it up. You wait for it to get hard and then you jump on with your floats and scrub your brains out to fill the holes and seal it up. Then it won\u2019t move on you. If you jump on it too early, you\u2019re making lumps and bumps. If you wait, it\u2019s better, but the longer you wait the harder you make it on yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Once you shoot it, what\u2019s the time frame? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: There are so many variables to consider: every job, every mud, every area, the weather, the amount of moisture in the air, the amount of moisture in the mud, whether they bring it too wet or too dry, whether the dude is pumping it good or you have a bad operator or a good operator. There are so many variables that you can\u2019t just say, \u201cOkay, you have to wait this exact amount of time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was Red saying when it was go time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Red would put this little monkey on the form and say, \u201cThat\u2019s the ten minute monkey. Nobody touches the wall until I pull the monkey off.\u201d We would be standing there biting our fingernails like, \u201cWhen are we going to pull the monkey off?\u201d He knew the timing. That\u2019s the hardest thing to get. You have to consider all the variables and use your experience and knowledge to have perfect timing. You have to consider what kind of sub terrain there is. Is it gravel or crushed rock? Are there additives in the cement? There are a million different things to take into account. You have to have time and yards underneath your belt to know what to look for. I can\u2019t even explain it. You have to experience it for yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MONK\u2019S TEXAS PLANT WAS HIS GO TO GNARLER AT ANY SESSION WITH SOME VERT AND POOL BLOCK. PHOTO \u00a9 JOE HAMMEKE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: So that can make or break a park, right? If you don\u2019t have a foreman with good timing like that, then you could really fuck up the finishing of the park, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: You could fuck up a lot more than that. You could not brace off your wall right and it could fall in on you. You could have spent 16 hour days getting to it and not tied your rebar off right. It\u2019s not rocket science, but it ain\u2019t easy. There are a lot of things that we\u2019ve learned over the years to make the quality of the parks you see out there today. You can\u2019t just build parks and do it like we do it. It takes 20 years of experience to know what works and doesn\u2019t work. You have to have made every mistake in the book because you have to learn by experience. You have to learn the hard way. They call it concrete because it\u2019s hard. There are three things with concrete. It\u2019s going to get hard. It\u2019s going to crack. The best thing is that, when you\u2019re done, nobody can steal it. It\u2019s going to crack every six to eight to ten feet, so you have to have controlled construction joints to control the cracking and make it look good, so it\u2019s not jagged. There are lots of different things. You can\u2019t even begin to tell someone how to build a skatepark. You have to do it yourself and learn the hard way. That\u2019s the only way to do it. By the time you get to where we are, we\u2019re going to be eons ahead, and we\u2019re still learning. There\u2019s no way to master it. It only gets better and better and better. You never master it. You can always get better. It\u2019s like skateboarding. You\u2019re never done learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: So that goes to my next question. You\u2019re DIY. You and Red were like, \u201cLet\u2019s just do this.\u201d Have you been on other scenes like that? Obviously, working with Grindline, you\u2019re building skateparks and you built Burnside. Were there other DIY scenes like that where you helped show the locals how to do it themselves?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Well, we inspired all that shit. Those guys were inspired because we did it first. We didn\u2019t really go around handing out lessons. We worked our asses off to get where we are today. We\u2019ve been in the mud for years and years. You can\u2019t just give that shit away to somebody. It\u2019s not a secret, but you have to learn for yourself. Otherwise, you can talk until you\u2019re blue in the face and it\u2019s not going to sink in until they lose a pour and lose their mud and have a giant fallout. When I worked for Johnson Western Gunite in between parks, from 1999 to 2002, doing shotcrete on pure vertical walls, I learned a ton. That job is hell on vert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: What were you guys doing? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: We were building vertical walls and retrofitting seismic upgrades and top downs under overpasses. They do the soil nail and shotcrete and screw the plates on there for slope stabilization. We\u2019d do parking garages and the Capitol building. It was top notch up to an 1\/8 of an inch tolerances where the shit has to be perfectly vertical with the perfect finish. When you\u2019re shooting vertical all day, there is no flat. There are no trannys and no flat. It\u2019s vertical all day long. I learned more from that than I learned from doing flat work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was that pure shotcrete?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. That was just doing shotcrete. Me and Mike Swim and Rabbi and Jay\u2026 When I came back from Lincoln City, to the big bowl, those guys, Jay and Rob and those dudes in West Seattle were digging the Butter Bowl next to the big bowl. They were like, \u201cWe\u2019re building skateparks too.\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah.\u201d I\u2019d go to Oregon and they were like, \u201cEvery time you go to Oregon and build a sick park, you come home and there\u2019s another five parks in Seattle that suck.\u201d I was like, \u201cFuck. It\u2019s not like I have a choice. I\u2019m just learning.\u201d They were like, \u201cWe\u2019re digging the Butter Bowl.\u201d Red came up and started helping dig that thing, and we rebarred it. Then Eric Dawkins helped us set the top forms. We spread the knowledge around amongst them. Mike Swim helped with Ashland, Talent, Jacksonville and Medford. He\u2019s a West Seattle local and he was up at the big bowl and the Butter Bowl. We had everybody from Southern Oregon, Portland, the Lincoln City crew and West Seattle at the Butter Bowl. We poured that in one day with 30 dudes. With the big bowl, I had called Action Gunite to have them shotcrete it, but they were too busy to do the Butter Bowl, so I called Johnson Western Gunite. The guy was like, \u201cI\u2019ll come out and take a look at it.\u201d He came out and he was like, \u201cOh, cool, a skateboard bowl.\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah. We built this monster in 1992 and this is 2000 and we\u2019re doing the Butter Bowl. He was like, \u201cOkay. For $5000, I\u2019ll shoot this thing and cut it and you guys can help finish it.\u201d I said, \u201c$5,000? I\u2019ll get Ralph\u2019s Concrete Pumping over here to pump it and we\u2019ll just hand stack it for $200. I\u2019m not paying $5,000 to pour a pool.\u201d I had just built Lincoln City Skatepark and we hand stacked the whole thing. There wasn\u2019t shotcrete in it. We started using shotcrete at Newberg. The Butter Bowl was in the time frame between Lincoln City and Newberg, so when the guy said he\u2019d shotcrete the Butter Bowl for $5,000, I was like, \u201cFuck you. Get out of here. We\u2019ll hand stack it.\u201d He was like, \u201cYou\u2019re going to hand stack this?\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah.\u201d The guy says, \u201cCall me when you\u2019re done. I want to take a look at it.\u201d I was like, \u201cGet the fuck off my property.\u201d He left and we called Ralph\u2019s Concrete Pumping and it cost $200 and the guy came out and pumped it and we hand stacked it. We had 30 dudes and it was hell, but we pulled it. It was really good. Red and all the Lincoln City crew and the West Seattle crew and the Southern Oregon crew was there. It was epic. We pulled it off and set the pool coping. We got Penrose and then I was like, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m going to call that motherfucker.\u201d So I called Johnson Western Gunite and I said, \u201cThis is the dude with the skateboard bowl. We hand stacked it.\u201d He said, \u201cOh yeah? I\u2019m going to come take a look at it.\u201d I said, \u201cCome on over.\u201d He came over and he was like, \u201cYou hand stacked this? Bullshit.\u201d I said, \u201cHere\u2019s the receipt from Ralph\u2019s Concrete Pumping. I saved $4,800 motherfucker.\u201d He was like, \u201cThis is a damn good job.\u201d I said, \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d He said, \u201cDo you want a job?\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah.\u201d He said, \u201cCome on down tomorrow and we\u2019ll get you on the crew.\u201d So I went down there and started finishing vert walls and they were impressed because I had I learned a lot with Red. They were like, \u201cDo you have any buddies?\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah.\u201d So I got Jay, Rabbi and Swami working for them. We were the skaters. We were the finishing crew. They were like, \u201cGet the skaters out here!\u201d We got into the union and we were running shit in Seattle. We were building a bunch of shit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: So they had you on the hose?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: No. We were finishers. We\u2019d cut and float and finish and make it look good. They were like, \u201cYou guys are over doing it. You\u2019re not going to skate the thing.\u201d We were like, \u201cThis is how we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: [Laughs] You were making it glassy, huh?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. We worked for them for six or eight months. Then they said, \u201cHey, there\u2019s a skatepark coming up for bid and we were thinking about bidding on it.\u201d I was like, \u201cDo it.\u201d With the jobs with Red, there was always time in between, so it was hard to keep going. By this time, I had a four year old and a house payment. Y2K was over and we were obviously going to live through the new millennium. I wasn\u2019t expecting that. I expected to die when I was 30, but that didn\u2019t happen. So I was like, \u201cYou bid on it and I\u2019ll be the foreman and we\u2019ll change the design.\u201d Purkiss Rose, the golf course designer, designed it and I crumpled up the paper and ripped up the plans the first day. I blew the budget so bad that, after we were done with that park, he was like, \u201cYou are never running another job for me.\u201d I was like, \u201cWell, we have another job on Bainbridge Island.\u201d He bid on that one and we got Morris Wainwright, who was another dude that moved to the West Side. By that time, we had the ramp house, two bowls in two backyards and a vert ramp and eight houses in the neighborhood. We were still building Skatetown and we were working for Johnson Western Gunite building skateparks. In between that, I\u2019d go and help Red on Lincoln City, Newberg, Aumsville, Redmond, Oregon, Hood River and Brookings. By that time, I was thinking that I have to go my own way because every time I\u2019d come home to Seattle, there were another five shitty parks built. I was like, \u201cYou take Oregon and I\u2019ll take Washington and we\u2019ll go off. The Northwest will have the best skateparks in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
POOL COPING IS ALWAYS THE MANDATORY COMPONENT ON ANY GRINDLINE BUILD AND IT\u2019S BEEN THE KEY TO CHARACTER BUILDING FOR ANY HARDCORE POOL SKATER! MONK LOCKED HIS BACK TRUCK INTO MANY A POOL BLOCK, AND HAD NO FEAR OF LOCKING IT IN FOR A HOT SECOND, THEN GRABBING THE TAIL FOR FREEDOM!!! LOCK AND GO, ROLL IN!!! PHOTO \u00a9 MARSHALL STACK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: Was he down for that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Well, we struggled at first to figure out how we were going to do it. Rabbi and Jay and my buddies in West Seattle wanted to work building skateparks too, and I wanted to put it all together. I was like, \u201cWe need skaters to build skateparks.\u201d He just wanted to keep one crew so he could have control over the quality. I was like, \u201cWe can have control over the quality, but we need more than one crew because for every one park that we build, the landscape architects and general contractors are building ten parks. We\u2019re going to have this little niche and we\u2019re going to build 50 parks in our lifetime, but pretty soon the construction industry is going to catch up with us and we\u2019re going to be left in the dust.\u201d We butted heads about that for a little bit. Then Warren Miller came out to Bainbridge Island and he said, \u201cWho is the guy that sleeps in his car and builds skateparks named Monk?\u201d I was like, \u201cThat\u2019s me.\u201d He was like, \u201cI used to sleep in my car up in the mountains. I like that.\u201d He goes, \u201cI want you to build a skatepark on Orcas Island for Scott Stamnes.\u201d Scott Stamnes, my buddy, lived in West Seattle across from the bowl and he went to France and got hit by a car and died. His mom lived on Orcas, and Warren wanted to do something for the kids on Orcas because it\u2019s kinda reclusive out there. He said, \u201cThe kids need a skatepark because there\u2019s not much to do out there, so we\u2019re going to build the Scott Stamnes Memorial Skatepark.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019m you\u2019re guy because Scott Stamnes was my buddy. We were really tight.\u201d He was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d So I went up there and I had my buddies from West Seattle, Rabbi and Jay and those dudes, and Shags, and then I called Red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: When did Shags get in on the scene?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Shags was working for the concrete company too. The very first skatepark we did for the shotcrete company was me, Shags, Jay and Rabbi. That was the crew. So we went up to Orcas with those dudes and then I called Red, because I was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to put this program together and we\u2019re going to do this.\u201d It was going to be Dreamland Design and Grindline Construction. I had this vision to put the whole thing together and me and Red were going to be partners. He came up there and we built Orcas and the Lincoln City dudes were like, \u201cWhat happened? I thought you were on our crew?\u201d I was like, \u201cThese are our guys.\u201d They were like, \u201cWell, we just want to keep it tight.\u201d I was like, \u201cI want to explode and blow this shit up.\u201d I told them my reasons and they told me their reasons and, to this day, we still talk about merging, but we can\u2019t. We\u2019ve come too far in our separate ways. We\u2019re still best friends and we still skate and we still support and feed off each other. We just keep trying to raise the bar at every park that we get. We built Orcas together and it\u2019s one of the best parks in the world if you ask me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: There\u2019s a lot of pool coping out there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. The design is really killer too. Then Red went and did Haley. Before Orcas was over, the phone started ringing and we got West Linn, and we went off there and blew the budget. We blew the budget on the first ten parks that we did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Why did you blow the budget?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: It\u2019s because we\u2019d build every park like it was our last. That\u2019s the way I live. You can\u2019t expect tomorrow. The only thing that\u2019s certain is change. It\u2019s just too good to be true. You better make your mark now while you have the chance. I don\u2019t give a fuck about money. It\u2019s just paper. If you just keep going and keep having a positive attitude, you\u2019re going to pull it, and we did. We kept digging holes and filling them in with concrete across the country. We went from West Linn to Trinidad, Colorado, to Nags Head, North Carolina to Oneida, Minnesota and Cody, Wyoming and Spokane, Washington. Within a year, I had five jobs going at once. Shags, Rabbi and Jay and I were all foremen and we were competing against each other to make the sickest parks. We called it skatepark wars. Shags was like, \u201cI\u2019m building the sickest park.\u201d I was like, \u201cYou guys are going to shit when you see what I\u2019m building.\u201d We were trying to outdo each other. Competition spurs creativity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Where were you guys getting your crews?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: The crews came from skateboarding! It\u2019s a network. There\u2019s an army of us. We all have the same qualities. We\u2019re skaters, therefore we skate. You just find them. It\u2019s like, \u201cHow do you find your gang of skate buddies growing up?\u201d They find you. It just works like that. I think when you\u2019re rolling down the road with frictionless momentum, that vibration gives off this frequency that we as skaters can feel and we are drawn to that energy. It all comes together and brings us into groups. It\u2019s us against the world and it always has been. We coagulate together and use the energy of the sheer numbers of skaters. Even when skateboarding was dead, we found each other. When the tombstone was on the cover of Thrasher<\/em> and vert was dead, that was when I was like, \u201cThis is the best thing ever!\u201d I never wanted to be cool. I just wanted to roll and move and catch air and fly and be free. That\u2019s when we met the real dudes. That\u2019s when I started doing Hellride crew and we started going to Europe with all the Thrasher<\/em> dudes and Joey and Cardiel and some of the best skaters in the world. I\u2019ve never been really talented on a skateboard, but they\u2019ve always accepted me because they see the passion in my eyes. They can feel the energy that I have to release. It doesn\u2019t matter how good you are. It\u2019s how hard you try. It\u2019s been a journey. Every day is another day that just shows me support that we\u2019re doing the right thing because we\u2019re bringing these communities together and giving these kids a place to go and mentors at the parks. The older kids are teaching the younger kids the ropes and they\u2019re giving them somewhere to go in this world where technology is going off the Richter Scale and you can\u2019t even keep up. The only thing that really matters is this wooden toy with four wheels and aluminum axles and trucks and stainless steel ball bearings and grip tape. It\u2019s primitive and it\u2019s connected with the earth and the moon and the stars and the Milky Way Galaxy. It\u2019s all intrinsic with nature. The Fibonacci Series and the golden mean and the flower of life and Pi and chakras are coming into play now. Skaters are real people. They are the only people that I trust wholeheartedly besides my family. If you\u2019re not family and I don\u2019t know you, I don\u2019t trust you unless you\u2019re a skater. I know that nobody sticks to skateboarding unless you\u2019re real. If you just pick it up and throw it away, you\u2019re just another one of the masses. If you\u2019re one of the chosen few, the few are chosen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Speaking of trust, it\u2019s super interesting that there are Grindline companies around the world now. There is Grindline Japan and Grindline Germany. You have Grindline building companies around the world, but you\u2019re not affiliated with them economically. It seems to me that you\u2019re just giving them the green light to build. Can you explain that to people?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Well, these people that start DIYs like in Warsaw, Poland and Japan and Costa Rica, confide in me for advice on how they can start building skateparks because the construction companies and landscape architects have already taken over in their area. There are a bunch of parks that suck and there\u2019s no answer to that because they\u2019ve already built the parks and they\u2019re being used. The cities don\u2019t see any reason to change and let skaters build them. They don\u2019t know that the parks suck. The skaters know they suck, so they start building their own DIY shit. I tell them to start Grindline Poland or Grindline Japan or Grindline Israel or Grindline Sweden or Grindline Costa Rica or Grindline Ecuador, so that they can take hold of their area and show their country what skateboarding is from the eyes of the skater, instead of general contractors and landscape architects trying to interpret skateboarding. The skaters need to show them what skateboarding is because they don\u2019t know. We tell them to check out our website [grindline.com] and download the Skatepark Start-up Guide and I give them advice on going to their City Council. I say, \u201cGo get a business license and start your DIY shit. You\u2019re going to build something that is better than anything that\u2019s out there in your area, so people are going to start to recognize that. If you have a business and you look professional, eventually, you\u2019ll get hired to build a park. Once you start building parks and blowing the budget, everyone will know you\u2019re in it to win it and you\u2019ll keep going and then you make your company sustainable and you can shape skateboarding in your area of the globe. If they don\u2019t, then it\u2019s just like the Olympics. They\u2019re going to tell us, \u201cThis is what it is. This is what it\u2019s about.\u201d No. We will tell you what it is and what it\u2019s about because skateboarding is ours. We made it up. We made up this public skatepark scenario. There were private parks before and there might have been a few public parks before, but the renegade thing, we made that shit up and we\u2019re going to follow through by having skaters build skateparks around the world and start their own companies because we need jobs too. Skaters need jobs. What else do you want to do if you\u2019re not pro? Even if you are pro, it\u2019s a short-lived thing nowadays. The kids are so good. I didn\u2019t turn pro until I was 25 for Beer City. Nowadays, Grant Taylor was getting shit when he was nine years old because they have these skateparks. By building parks, we stepped up the level of skateboarding off the Richter Scale. You\u2019re going to need something to do and you don\u2019t want to slave your life away for the system. The only way to live and be free is to do something within the skateboarding industry. Construction is very creative and rewarding because you leave something behind for future generations. You don\u2019t have to worry about looking back on your life and wondering if you did the right thing because you know you did because you\u2019re leaving these monuments for people to fly around and catch air and be free and make up their own interpretation of skateboarding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: So when we hear Grindline Poland, do you know those skaters in Poland?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. I know those dudes. They are the dudes that built the DIY spot in Warsaw under the bridge. They are renegades. They built that shit and they do good work. They are master craftsman and construction workers that skate. They design well. Not just anybody can do it. You have to be the best. You have to prove that you\u2019re the best to be able to take on the Grindline name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: When people see that there is a Grindline Japan, you know those dudes. It\u2019s not like just anybody can be Grindline. Those dudes know what they\u2019re doing. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Right. They confide in us and we teach them everything that we know about it to help them make it right. We\u2019re not just handing off the torch. We\u2019re ensuring that the quality is top level and vertical with pool coping and transitions and not a bunch of street plazas and Street League shit. This is real skateboarding. I respect street skating and all that but, if you\u2019re going to be skating for the long haul, you\u2019re not going to be jumping off stairs. I\u2019ve been skating for 42 years and I jumped off my fair share of stairs but, at some point, you have to start skating tranny and that\u2019s what\u2019s going to sustain you for the rest of your life. I\u2019m 47 years old now and I have a 13 1\/2 foot tall vert ramp with 11 1\/2 foot trannies and two feet of vert and we skate that and we\u2019re going to be skating that well into our 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s, if I live that long. I can\u2019t go hucking myself off a ten stair at 47 years old. I broke my ankle and wrist and busted hips and it just don\u2019t work like that forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
FOR A BIG STATE, YOU NEED TO BUILD A BIG PARK SO GRINDLINE WENT FOR IT AND BUILT ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND GNARLIEST SKATEPARK TO DATE IN HOUSTON TEXAS FOR THE TEXAS CREW! SPRING SKATEPARK IS 78,000 SQUARE FOOT AND IS THE LARGEST SKATEPARK IN NORTH AMERICA. PHOTO \u00a9 LANCE CHILDERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: Are there skatepark designs that you\u2019d like to see more of in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I like big trannies, coping, hips and pockets. I like to have a little bit of vertical in every park. I don\u2019t really agree with these mogul courses. They\u2019re under bidding us because they\u2019re not building anything over two feet tall. That\u2019s cool for a year or two but it\u2019s just going to be a dust bowl in a decade. You have to build something that\u2019s sustainable and keeps people interested and able to progress and be moving forward and not stagnating in a cesspool. We have a responsibility to skaters not to tell them what skating is, but to give them the opportunity to take it to the next level. If you don\u2019t have that then you\u2019re holding them back from moving forward. It\u2019s like not having an open mind. You have to have an open mind towards progression and longterm sustainability, otherwise it\u2019s a fad and it\u2019s just something that you do to pass the time. That\u2019s not what it is to me and a lot of my friends. It\u2019s a lifestyle. It\u2019s something you do for the rest of your life. You started it when you were little and you do it until the day you die because it\u2019s the only thing worthwhile. Skateboarding and the brotherhood and sisterhood of it all, the connection we have with all these people, I never expected any of this when I was growing up. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d have this feeling when I was almost 50 years old of, \u201cWow, we\u2019re doing it.\u201d We\u2019re taking every opportunity that we can on this earth to connect with these people. It\u2019s something bigger than all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: As far as skateparks are going, a lot are getting built these days. Is it leveling out or do you see it getting even bigger?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I really have no idea because I didn\u2019t expect any of this in the first place. Skateboarding does nothing but surprise me every day. It\u2019s just something new. It\u2019s something that you can\u2019t put your finger on. All of this that we have been told about the laws of physics are wrong. They\u2019ve taught us that we are trapped in one astral plane, yet we all have the ability to connect with all matter. They try to scare us into believing that we have only one existence. We are connected to the consciousness of all that ever was and all that will ever be. It\u2019s so simple, but I have released all my inhibitions and I only rely on my interpretations of what I am channeling. I trust that the truth will be revealed and I will understand only if I forget everything that I have been taught. I just have to believe in eternity and the circle and raw, unfiltered, never-ending energy. The underground is the real deal, not the mainstream. We know what wizardry is when we see it. We have wizards in skateboarding. Some are gone and some are still here. We are lucky and ultimately blessed to have this time on the earth. Individuality is so unique. It\u2019s humble and understanding and being open to other ideas and thoughts. We\u2019re intergalactic, multidimensional travelers of space and time. You grab your magic carpet and fly around. You see frequency and vibration, grinding and sliding. It\u2019s the wind blinding my eyes when I\u2019m speeding down a hill and your eyes are watering and its like tears that roll down my cheeks and hit the ground behind me. It\u2019s left in a wake of urethane and wood and bits of stainless steel precision ball bearings that are too small for the eye to see, floating behind us silently as we seek out a path of enlightenment guiding us through the endless connections we make, every day and night as the moon circles the earth. We are skaters forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Yep. We\u2019re all connected.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I tell you, Murf. I respect you and thank you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: I respect you too and thank for everything you do, traveling the world and building and inspiring killer places for generations to ride. Thank you for being a hardcore with a great vision and a great spirit, bro. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Thanks. It\u2019s our duty. We gotta do it different. We have to do something different than the mainstream that\u2019s just following video games and technology. It\u2019s not the answer. I\u2019m not a hippie, but I believe that walking around barefoot keeps you connected to the earth. We\u2019re disconnected and we need to connect. You have to realize the consciousness in everything. You have look at the sun and recognize its consciousness and recognize that it recognizes you and that it knows that you are recognizing it. Acknowledge that all matter has consciousness. Once you do that, you\u2019re connected. When everybody does that, that\u2019s when the global subconscious will kick in and we\u2019ll be living in Atlantis again. We\u2019ll be making shit out of giant stones like the ancient aliens. It\u2019s going to be a whole other world of inter-dimensional, multigalactic-ness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Once we connect to that consciousness, we\u2019ll be set. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. The information is there. We\u2019re in the information age and all you have to do is seek out what you want to know and you can find it out. That\u2019s a pretty special time to live in. If we don\u2019t take advantage of that, we\u2019re just sitting around getting fat and gluttonous. Think of the generations that have lived before us and what they would think of what we have now. We\u2019ve got to fix some shit. We have some work to do. There\u2019s always been positive and negative energy and good and evil and there always will be, but if you\u2019re not trying to make your neighbor\u2019s life better when they\u2019re hurting, then you are part of the problem. You\u2019re not part of the solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: It\u2019s greed and selfishness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. You have to let it all go. We don\u2019t need all that shit. That\u2019s not going to get us anywhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Yeah. Skateboarding sets us free of that. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yep. It does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Like you said, when you\u2019re going down that hill and the wind is blowing through your eyes, that\u2019s when you\u2019re connected. It doesn\u2019t matter what car you\u2019ve got and clothes you\u2019re wearing. You\u2019re connected. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


MH: Yeah. That\u2019s what always drew me to the brotherhood of skateboarding. The dudes I looked up to were dressed like scumbags. They weren\u2019t necessarily poor or living on the street. They were just not materialistic. They didn\u2019t want expensive jeans. There were other things you could do with that energy. There are other things you can do besides try to look good and drive around in a fancy car. I think a lot of skaters have their priorities a lot straighter than the majority of society. I\u2019m not saying they are self-righteous about it either. They\u2019re humble and they won\u2019t even admit it. They want nothing more than to not be special. It\u2019s like the dude at the skatepark blasting McTwists. Everyone freaks out and raises their hands in the air and then there\u2019s a kid that learns a frontside grind and everyone does the same thing. They put their hands in the air and jump up. If you\u2019re doing better for your level and you\u2019re advancing, it\u2019s just as rad. As long as you\u2019re advancing, you\u2019re succeeding. One isn\u2019t better than the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
GRINDLINE THE BAND IN THE PIT IN FRONT OF THE JAMBULANCE AT MARGINAL WAY IN SEATTLE. PHOTO \u00a9 OLGA AGUILAR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JM: It\u2019s all about how you want to progress and how that makes you feel. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yeah. We can all progress at different speeds and different levels. We all have things that affect us in our lives and we\u2019re products of our environment. Nobody is going to progress at the same level because we all live in different environments. We have different styles and different influences. Variety is the spice of life. Take it from there. Keep doing what you\u2019re doing. Good talk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: What is your duty now for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: I\u2019m just hanging on and holding on because shit is just picking up speed. I\u2019m just keeping my head on my shoulders and trying to make the right choices for every decision that comes my way. I think about making the right choice that is going to have the best outcome for everybody around me, not necessarily myself. I want the best outcome for my kids and my wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: Yeah. That was heavy. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: We\u2019re getting down to business. We\u2019re getting down to the nitty gritty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: That was rad. Thanks. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MH: Yep. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[R.I.P. Monk. Grindline forever.] <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE RETROSPECTIVE WITH MARK HUBBARD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE: GRINDLINE SKATEPARKS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR THE REST OF THE DIY STORY, GET ISSUE #76 AT THE JUICE SHOP\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE: GRINDLINE SKATEPARKS – MARK HUBBARD INTERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION BY JIM MURPHY Monk was gnarly. He would hop freight trains to skate spots out of the Northwest and he had a true sense of adventure and a \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d attitude toward skating and skatepark construction. He was a visionary, operating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4032,4028,4041],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duty-now","category-interviews","category-skate-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Monk-1-2-76.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75509"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90757,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75509\/revisions\/90757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}