Memorial Skate Park - San Diego

From the San Diego website:

Features of the Skate Park

The park features 22,000 square feet of skate-able surface, including elements such as railings, stairs, a 10-foot "key hole" and a 90-foot long "snake run." There is also a beginner's bowl for young skaters to develop their skills.

History of the Center

This skate park, located on 30th Street, near the Memorial Recreation Center and next to Memorial Community Park, opened in 2004 and serves the communities of Memorial, Barrio Logan, Grant Hill, Logan Heights, Sherman Heights, Stockton, Southcrest, Mount Hope, Mountain View and Shelltown. The project took two years to complete from the planning stages to final construction. Funds for the approximately $1.4 million skate park came from the City, matching grant funds and private industry.

Joe Runkle back again with some more pic.s for ya. This time of the brand spankin new Memorial Park in San Diego. This is a boys and girls club park so membership and a fee of 4 dollars will get you in. It has a replica of the Original Del Mar key hole bowl. The park has a nice flow to it and has something for everyone. Rumor has it they may be improving the bowl due to a few kinks.

The grand opening is set for Thursday, January 29th at 3:00PM. The Keyhole bowl will open as is for the opening ceremony. It will be re-done at a later time. They are expecting some of the old Del Mar Skate Ranch locals to be out for this one! So be sure to bring your cameras and witness some history. It will be like 1985 all over again.

M-F - 10 to 5

Sat. - 9 to 5

Sun. - 11 to 4

(posted 2/29/04)

My review of Memorial Skatepark is tainted because the pool, which had so much potential during the design stages, was screwed up by the builders. The pool is about 10 feet deep, has no vert, and has a kinked 10 foot transition. It also has a metal plate in lieu of pool tiles, what's up with that? Anyway, if the pool is re-done by CA Skateparks, then it will be great . . . a little boring, but sized to accommodate continuous carving, half-pipe style, and channel airs.

The street area looks pretty sick to me. Stairs, hubba ledges, a curved ledge, rails, a pyramid that in my opinion is too big and too flat, a cool little flat gap to ollie over, some flat banks, and some big steps designed to emulate some famous street spot (in SF I believe). The best tranny in the park is located in the street reservoir - an 8 foot tall quarter pipe with pool coping. That's a nice touch to give the street skaters a taste of poolriding. The street area funnels into a reservoir that is surrounded by small tranny with steel coping. The other side of the street reservoir leads to a "kiddie" bowl that has small tranny, metal coping, and a steep volcano. They should have put that volcano elsewhere, but nobody's perfect. Another nice touch to this park is the small skating area outside of the fences. This area has some ledges and very small quarter pipes.

The "snake" run resembles the bowls at Ocean Beach, but it has some taller sections that funnel into a 7 foot bowl. No vert, but it has metal coping all around, some rounded hips, some squared hips, and escalators. This was fun to skate, and good for brushing up on the miniramp skills. The lack of height is a downer, as is the fact that it runs uphill from shallow to deep.

Pay to play . . . 5 bucks a day or 30 bucks a year. This really sucks for the local kids, because this park is in a relatively lower income neighborhood, and I'm sure many of them can't afford the fee. I'm sure many of the local kids can't even afford a skateboard. If you're in the 'hood and feel charitable, donate your old gear and you'll generate some good karma.

PS - the staff person said that they plan to keep the bowl for awhile before destroying it. I call BS on that, and think that the city should hold the contractor responsible and get it fixed ASAP. It's an absolute shame - the bowl is skateable but you won't like it if you're spoiled and used to perfect skatepark tranny.

- Mtak