Tribute to Lakewood Center Skateboard World

Lakewood, CA 1978 to late 1981 / early 1982.

History

Lakewood Center Skateboard World existed from 1978 through early 1982 and was located at 5210 Faculty Avenue, on the grounds of the Lakewood Center Shopping mall.

The park terrain consisted of a snake run, banked slalom run, banked freestyle area, half-pipe, twin keyhole pools with tile and coping, and a banked (non-vertical) three leaf clover. Originally there was a giant 17 foot deep "monster bowl" pool with tile & coping. The entrance to the monster bowl consisted of a very rideable/fun "mini-bowl" that could be ridden independently of the monster bowl. The monster bowl was eventually destroyed to make way for a roller hockey rink.

Just before the park closed in late 1981 a new clam shell shaped pool and new mini-bowl were built. In the very early days of the park, there was a plexiglass half-pipe Rad Ramp onsite, made by the Firestone Welding company.

Lakewood skatepark was owned by Joel Vest and Glenn Smith. The park was originally designed by Joel Vest. Joel was not a skateboarder so he brought Wally Hollyday onboard as a design consultant. The park was built in 1977 by Superior Gunite, a swimming pool contracting company owned by Ed Olson.

Articles

Lakewood Center's Skateboard World Skatepark from Wild World of Skateboarding magazine, September 1978.
California Skateparks, The state of the art, Fall 1978 from Skateboard World magazine, November 1978.
The First Annual Lakewood World Pro Halfpipe Contest article from Skateboarder Magazine June, 1979.
(I was at this contest and recall witnessing Frank Blood carried out on a stretcher to an awaiting ambulance after getting KO'd in the highest air contest)
The Second Annual Lakewood World Pro Halfpipe Contest article from Action Now magazine, March 1981.
(contest was December 7, 1980)
Lakewood's Last Stand article from Action Now magazine, February 1982.
(contest was November 21, 1981)

Photos

My personal Lakewood photo collection, approximately 200 photos spanning the life of the park
Dan Hughes old Lakewood Skatepark photos

Video

Keyhole session (Converted from 8mm footage courtesy Bill Wahl. Quicktime format, 1.7Mb)

ASPO / CASL

In 1980 Lakewood put together a skatepark team to compete in the Association of Skatepark Owners (ASPO) contest series. The 1980-1981 ASPO season Lakewood skatepark team consisted of:

12 and under age class - Tim Metz
13-14 age group - Bill Wahl
15-17 age group - Tae Ho Shin
Open age group - Gary Ramirez

The 1981-1982 ASPO season Lakewood skatepark team consisted of:

12 and under age class - Jeff Heath
13-14 age group - Bill Wahl
15-17 age group - Tae Ho Shin
Open age group - Tim Metz

The following link shows the ASPO standings as of 8/8/81. In 1982, ASPO was superceded by the California Amateur Skateboard League (CASL), which continues to operate to this day.

Magazine scans