Albert O.
Yelp
Given that modern skateboarding and freestyle bmx were practically born out of the Venice/Santa Monica area, it has been shocking to note that there has been a dearth of skateparks anywhere close to the westside proper. Granted, the Boys and Girls club in Santa Monica has a skatepark, but you have to be 18 and younger to ride it. (I did finally get to ride it while filming a T-Mobile commercial. *brag* It was pretty good, except for having to dodge all the camera equipment) And let us not speak of the rail, ledge, manual pad, and 2-foot tall quarter they try to pass off as a skatepark in Venice.
Thank god for the Santa Monica Skatepark, then. 20,000 square feet of smooth concrete goodness opened up a year ago on Olympic and 14th, and I finally got around to checking it out last week. I admit, I forgot about it after moving to the 213. My loss.
This place is really well designed, laid out in such a way that allows for really creative lines. The street section consists of flat banks, a grind box, a vert wall, a rail, and assorted ledges, all of which are fun, but what this place is all about is the bowls. There are bowls and a spine that are about 4 1/2 feet tall directly adjacent to the street course, and it also butts up right next to a 7 foot set of bowls with a square end, a circle end, and a lovely elbow hip. For the men, there's a bowl that looks like it goes to about 11 feet and has an over-vert coffin next to a 14ft pool coping-ed monster.
Pads are compulsory, and it's kind of expensive, but it's a well-designed park and it doesn't get too crowded.