I must claim, for myself and a few others, that we were the original Skate Rats on the Buffalo scene... thirty-some years ago. Back in 77-79, me a few die hards used to skate WHEREVER we could! We were the first to skate Reese St. pool (with six feet of vertical), Shoshone pool, that public pool over off Jefferson, etc. We'd skate the banks in the parking lot of that Church on Delaware next to Brylin, ramps at the base of our driveways and, in winter, in any basement big enough. And, when we could find a ride, we'd skate that lame skate park that Darien Lake had back then. And, through it all, my - OUR - Bible was Skateboarder magazine! And now, after all these years, Buffalo makes it to the pages of the mag that I once lived by! That is so cool.

Oh, and by the way, to any skate history buffs, when I was 15 I was on a trip to California (where I now live) and, through the graciousness of my friend's mom who drove us, we went out to a Skate Park in Oxnard. We were riding the pools when none other than some of the original Z-Boys showed up - Jay Adams and Shogo Kubo in particular. They put on one of the most spectacular exhibitions of board riding I had ever seen! To this day - that was one of the best moments of my life.

Congrats to Buffalo and all those that carry on the skate legacy.

thanks for all that you do JP!

I really think JP is one of Buffalo's great unknown leaders. Its amazing the way the kids who spend every moment of their free time at Sunday really look up to the guy. He's a great role model for both city kids as well as the whole community. Nice press, guys.

Thank God skating isn't a crime

I can remember growing up in OP in the 70s and skating around on my little plastic skateboard with my friend. We were constantly falling all over and scraping ourselves all over. The boards were as low tech as you could get. One day a kid from the neighborhood showed up on a board he got in California. What a revelation that was. Soon we were building half pipes and a skate shop opened downtown. Good times. I wonder what became of my old Powell Peralta deck?

I love when a Buffalonian uses a quote like this in a national publication "Just wander around, there is always something" its important for Buffalonians to think like that.