A-Town Finally Gets Its Concrete

Tony blasts one at the Old Fourth Ward Skatepark grand opening in Atlanta.

As much as the opening of Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward Skatepark this weekend was for the kids and the future of the city, the project’s completion is a goose bump-inducing milestone for the the true Atlanta OGs—the boys who built the skateboard scene in Atlanta when there was literally nothing there. The real neighborhood locs—the true grit skateboarders that inhabited the inner city neighborhoods of Atlanta, Georgia during the 1980s, 90s and 2000s. It’s for all the skaters who’ve been pouring illegal concrete in Atlanta for the last quarter century, the ones getting locked up and ticketed for street skating and the steadfast ones who’ve been continuously lobbying City Hall and working with the community to make this project a reality.

Major respect to Thomas and Grant Taylor at Stratopshere, Ian at RUIN, Tony, Miki and everyone at The Tony Hawk Foundation, Ryan and Scott at atlantahatesus.com, Ian Awbrey, the folks at The Atlanta Beltline Project and all the dedicated local skaters who’ve put it in over the decades to make this happen and put the “A” on the map for skateboarding permanently.

Photo: Courtesy Tony Hawk Foundation