Aperture: Miles Keller by Sline

On The Road: Crawfordsville and Williamsport

This weekend, I took a quick little road trip over to Crawfordsville and Williamsport, Indiana to do some skatepark-documenting for the guys at Concrete Disciples. Armed with the recent know-how regarding the "video" feature on my camera and a brand-new YouTube account, I'm finding that these skatepark-documenting runs are becoming easier and easier all the time. And "more enjoyable", as well.


Truth be told, I probably get more out of this gig than the heads at The Disciples do. It's a great motivator for me to keep on getting out there, keep on checking things out, and keep on skating. I'm guessing that I'm probably one of a very tiny handful of people that can claim- and, to a large extent, prove- that I've skated literally every single skatepark in Indiana (and Kentucky), as well as most of the skateparks around the midwest.

One thing that is very important to me in my travels, is not only checking out the "major" skate scenes around the heartland... but also, the "minor" scenes as well. Which pretty well describes both Crawfordsville, and Williamsport... although, for very different reasons.





Rotten Robbies Cycle in Crawfordsville... my first stop of the day. It's a nice little skateshop/bike shop... although it would've been really nice if I could have gotten a few photos of the inside for you guys. The kid that was working the shop seemed a little "discombobulated" [at best], and told me that I could hang out until 7:00 PM, and talk to the owners if I wanted to. Well, this was at 2:00 in the afternoon, and I had places to go and shit to do. So, there was no way in hell that I was gonna chill in Crawfordsville for five hours waiting on permission to take one silly photo. With that, I asked the kid if he knew where the skatepark was [he didn't], so I packed up and shipped on out.





Crawfordsville's skatepark, an overview. It was fairly crowded, considering that it only takes a few kids in this little park to make "a crowd".





Crawfordsville's skatepark video overview. It's still very "brand-new", and you can see the mud being tracked around everywhere. Also note the razor scooter kid, and me waving "hello" to you guys in my shadow. We love our readers...!




"Crawfordsville's brand-new, concrete skatepark came as quite a surprise to us here in Indianapolis; Crawfordsville is less than a half-hour away from the city. Medium-sized, well-built, but overrun with BMXers, this park is tight, but flows well. The shallow horseshoe quarterpipe at the end of the park is a nice design element (that rarely gets used), and the half-bowl looks great. This park also features some novel "street" elements and unusual quarterpipe features. It's well worth the drive from Indy, and it looks like it might be a great road-trip stop for roving skateboard nomads as well. -Bud Stratford, The Solitary Life..."

- My report to Jeff at Concrete Disciples





Sometimes, I get a little bit "random arty" while I'm traveling from town to town. This rusted-out Chevy flatbed made for a good let's-get-creative photo-op as I was leaving Crawfordsville.




After Crawfordsville, I made my way to Williamsport via Attica. Williamsport is way out in the boonies, a pretty typical midwestern farm-town. I was actually kinda surprised that there was a skatepark out there at all... but, lo and behold, there was even some [sketchy] photo-evidence of it at The Disciples. So, I was mostly heading out there for a nice afternoon drive, and to wrangle up some more thorough photo-documentation.





US 41, en route to Attica, Indiana. Just a vast, endless cornfield for as far as the eye can see.






Gassing up in Attica... at $2.87 a gallon. I shoulda gotten gas in Crawfordsville, like I was going to. Ah, well.

On the other hand: The cashier was kinda cute though. You win some, you lose some.






A video overview of Williamsport's small Sunramp skatepark.


Williamsport's skatepark is actually located on the Warren County Fairgrounds, which I found to be kinda humorous (4-H is huge around here), but also kind of endearing at the same time. As far as parks go, this one wasn't among the best by any stretch of the imagination... but still, it's something in a place where, by right, there probably shouldn't be anything. Also: The park was actually pretty clean and tidy, which is always a treat. But I'm not so sure if that can be credited to "responsible skaters", as easily as it could be credited to "nonexistent skaters". So, I decided to go into town to see if I could find some skaters to ask about all of this.



"This little skatepark has been in Williamsport since approx. 2007, when a small group of 7 skaters banded together and petitioned the town for something to skate. It consists of two railslide bars (one square, one round, both about 1' tall and 6' long), and a very narrow prefab halfpipe that's around 6' tall, and 8' wide, with about 6' of flat. Williamsport is way out in farm country (off I-74 west, heading toward Danville), and it's a tiny crossroads town, so I'm really quite amazed that there's anything here to skate at all. -Bud Stratford, The Solitary Life"

- My report to Jeff at Concrete Disciples, on Williamsport





More "artyness". Cannon outside the Williamsport couthouse, with historical placard in the background.





And, the town clock. Every midwestern farm town has one of these... but this one might be one of the coolest ones that I've encountered thus far.






Williamsport's "claim to fame": The highest free-falling waterfall in the state, at 90 feet tall. This photo came from Wikipedia, by the way.




Problem was, there were no skaters anywhere to be found. Actually, there wasn't much of anything to be found. Most of the storefronts on the main drag were either temporarily, or permanently, closed. The only "open" store that I found was what looked like some sort of junk dealer on the corner across from the courthouse.





"The Blue Elephant" in Williamsport. Their tagline?! "We Sell Junk!" No, seriously! It's even on their business card and everything...!



In the shop was this really nice, older lady named Denise that was the proprietor of the place. As I looked around at all the stuff lining the floors, ceilings, and walls while she gave me the history of the skatepark, I ran headlong into one of the most out-of-place things that I could ever imagine: An old Black Snow "Halfpipe 125"! I was stunned: I just could not frickin' believe it. Y'know what's even more shocking?! The asking price was a measly $2.00. Yup, you read that right: Two Measly Bucks, dude...!






The Black Snow Halfpipe 125, sitting on the floor of The Blue Elephant in Williamsport, Indiana. As I'm typing this, it's standing right beside my computer desk, waiting for some snow to fall so I can take the neighbor kids out, and let them have a go (or two) on a piece of true 1980's snowboarding history.



I was so excited to find this little chunk of plastic snowboarding history, that I actually forgot for a second that I wasn't carrying a lick of cash on me. You see, kids... for a lot of today's pro snowboarders, this was their first-ever, crappy-ass snowboard. So, it truly is "historical", even if it is a less-than-functional, totally plasticized knock-off of a "real" snowboard. Denise was so touched/impressed by my enthusiasm, that she actually decided to "play Santa", and just give me the snowboard. I couldn't believe it! Free...?! I totally offered to send her a few bucks when I got home (I felt bad), but she wouldn't hear of it. "That'll take all the fun out of giving the present!", she squealed. So, I decided to simply do my best to give this little Black Snow a happy home where it'll be forever appreciated, and leave it at that.


On the way home, I decided to do one last bit of "touristy sightseeing" for the day. On my way to Williamsport on I-74, I'd seen a few signs for some sort of "armor museum". So, when it popped up again on my way eastbound, I bounced off the exit... and immediately got lost. For like, a half an hour. This place was proving to be kinda difficult to find. And by the time I found it, it had long been closed for the weekend. Dammit...!

Well, me being me, I decided to go right on ahead and barge in anyway. That's sort of how I roll, reading public. I think I get away with it because I'm generally friendly, respectful, and sort of innocent looking. Okay: I'm a gigantic dork. You caught me.





The Ropkey Armor Museum, somewhere off the beaten path between Crawfordsville and Williamsport, Indiana.





A Russian Antonov An-2 cargo biplane. The Ropkey Museum grounds had a ton of Russian military stuff sitting around, just hanging out in this amber field. It kinda weirded me out, actually.





That's a serious-sized naval gun that I'm checking out right there, while my trusty Toyota Econobubble patiently waits way off in the background to take me home.

Still true...:

Spot Check: Hutch's Wall, Bank, and Curb

Today (Sunday, November 28th, 2010), we had what is fast becoming a "fairly typical" Old Indy Skaters get-together. Which is starting to involve a real smorgasbord of fun stuff to do every weekend, bundled together to make a very, very filling skateboarding day.

In this case, the schedule was to hit up Greg's Ramp (more on that next week), followed by some sort of "DIY Adventure" in Broad Ripple. How Bart continually finds these new ramps, bowls, and street spots is just completely beyond me. All I know is, I'm happy that I'm in the club. Because that also makes me "in the know", just by lucky association.

The spot that Bart took us to was a pair of concrete playthings that we called (respectively) Hutch's Wall, and Hutch's Bank. Named for the builder of these DIYs, of course.





The wall looked hella fun, but we didn't skate it. Why...?! Because we were too focused on the bank...






... which was hella tight, hella challenging, hella harsh... and hella fun. Note the quick trannies, and the real-deal pool coping. It took a bit of sweeping by Da Crew to get it skateable, but once they did...






... it was on. Here's Big Mike with the rock-to-fakie... which is a lot f'n harder than it looks, kids...






... followed by this solidly decked backside rock by "My Alzheimer's Is Kicking In Again"...






... which is when Lorrin came in, turned up the juice, and launched this hella stylish early-grab backside air. This is how the new school rocks the old-school, kids.






Big Mike again, frontside grind from the "kink" side of the transition. If you think this looks easy, then let Big Mike take you to this spot so you can try it. You'll see just how gnar this really is, kid.






The ender was put down by Lorrin again, with this quick-footed frontside lip.


After that, I noticed that everyone was migrating across the street. So I went to check it out, where I happened upon Brian and Lorrin enjoying a quick double-sided curb session at what we might as well call "Hutch's Curb", while we're at it.





Apparently, Brian likes 'em backside...






... while Lorrin likes 'em frontside. Either way, it's all good.



So if you ever want to skate these DIYs for yourself, you should probably try getting a hold of the Old Indy Skaters dudes on Facebook. But, be careful! Those guys are sharp as tacks, and they can sniff out bullshit from miles away. If you wanna play, then you'd better play nicey kid.

That's it, guys. Get searching, and get shredding.

We're getting excited! Because...

Finally! We're getting our act together...

*(All of the proceeds from the sale of all of our merchandise will be going to various skate-related charities. So, there ya go: A damn good reason to buy some. When it's available. Sometime later...)

The Editor Wonders: Where'd They Go?!

This weekend, I had a rare chance to catch up on some paper-pushing here at The Solitary Life offices. One of the biggest things that I have to do around here (that definitely doesn't get done often enough) is to keep my "Big Skateshop and Skatepark Database" up-to-date.


This Skate-Stuff Database is actually a very large, 3" thick, three-ring binder. I know it's odd, being a tech-savvy blogger and all, that I would keep a giganto-sized hard-copy collection that would probably just as easily fit into an Excel spreadsheet (if not, easier).

However: When I go on the road, it's not always easy (or convenient) to tote around a bunch of electronic gizmos. But, a few pieces of paper always work just fine for my purposes.





Here it is, my "Big Skate Stuff Database", in all of its three-ring-binder glory. Behind it is my trusty Rand McNally atlas... yes, I still rely on analogue direction finders, too. I'm sorry, but I find the whole "GPS" thing to be kinda dorky. I guess it's the truck-drivers' son in me.

Anyway: All of those blue-highlighted towns? Those are where skateshops either are, or (more often than not these days) where they used to be. And in case you're wondering, the black stars are skateparks.



As I spent the day calling around to skate shops all over Indiana, I quickly noticed a very disturbing trend emerging. And that was the never-ending recordings that I was getting as I called these shops. You know the ones: "We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is either temporarily out of service, or has been permanently disconnected". Followed by a suggestion that I check the number, and/or dial 411 for further information.

That's usually code for, "We're sorry, but this skateshop that you're trying to call has totally kicked the bucket."

According to my database (which I began compiling in 2008, before my summer tour), about 50% of the skateshops in the state of Indiana have vanished. In approximately two years. Now, I knew damn good and well that we had lost some skate shops out there. I can see that plain as day, as I travel back and forth across this vast cornfield of ours.

However: I had no idea of the scale and severity of the problem, until I was confronted with the mass of finally-compiled data yesterday evening.

The skate shops that have dropped out of the scene range from extremely "core" shops that sold skateboards and nothing else, to private skateparks, to small businesses that sold a variety of stuff. That means: It affects the entire spectrum of skateshops, big and small, specialized to diverse.

In memory of all of these used-to-be-there shops, I thought I'd pull a few out of the 'ol Database, and give them a quick spotlight, just for old times' sakes. Many of these I had visited in my travels, while others came and went before I even had a chance to fill the gas tank in the car. Either way, I have a hunch that we could learn some valuable lessons from these used-to-be businesses:





Life Skateboards in Anderson/Muncie. I went to Anderson to find this shop- it was supposed to be right next door to the Anderson Skatepark- but when I got there, it looked as if it'd been recently packed up, and shipped out. It's weird, because it looked to be the best possible location (right next to the local skatepark, after all, is always a good place to be), and the storefront it was in was really nice. I've always wondered what the story was with this one, but so far it's been quite a mystery.






Movietime Video. I always loved this one: A small video-rental chain spread far and wide over northern Indiana's corn belt, that also sold "pricepoint" skateboards. Lots of Speed Demons completes and blanks. Some "more core" dudes that I know thought this whole concept blew, but what else are you gonna do?! These small cornfield towns aren't big enough to support a fully legit "core skateshop"! So, it was either Movietime, or nothing at all.

If I had to make a wager, I'd guess that the reason for demise here wasn't anything skate-related at all... skateboards, after all, were a miniscule part of their overall business... but rather, their downfall is probably easily attributed to a paradigm shift in the movie-rental business: As more of these far-away little towns finally get high-speed cable access (with on-demand, pay-per-view movie services), the need to drive all the way into town (which might be miles away) to rent a movie overnight simply ceased to exist.

These were the saddest for me to see gone, because I knew straightaway that all of those burgeoning little skate scenes... Cicero, Tipton, Elwood, Sheridan, Flora, and Frankfort... probably took a pretty big kick in the nuts, too. What are those kids gonna do now...?







Ahhh, the infamous Board Room in Columbus, Indiana. Probably the "most core" on my list, and the polar opposite end of the spectrum from Movietime Video, The Board Room was as "core" as "core" gets. The problem here was probably two things: The Great Midwest Floods of 2008, which severely affected Columbus (and the rest of low-lying Indiana), as well as the fact that Rob could come off as a serious dick, if you caught him on the wrong day (which was most days, is rumors are to be believed). That's why we stress the fuck out of "customer service" here at The Solitary Life. Because it can easily make- or, break- a business, all by itself.

This is illustrated by The Board Room's "archrival", B2 Bikes and Boards (in nearby Seymour), which is way less "core", but a hell of a lot more "friendly". So as The Board Room died a slow and painful death, B2 actually grew into a new, beautiful location with more floor space. Customer service, people. Never forget it.






Gneiss, on Indianapolis' far west side. I remember this one well: Great guys (but kinda quiet and reserved, which made them seem stand-offish and immediately rude), and a sparse-as-hell storefront with barely anything on the walls. First of all, "standoffish and rude" are bad enough. Secondly: You don't have to have everything under the sun, but your shop should still look full, diverse, and visually engaging. I knew right away that these guys wouldn't last, if for no other reason than for the third thing I picked out: That being on Crawfordsville Road's farthest outreaches put Gneiss too far away from the city to generate significant skater traffic.

Whatever the cause, they were gone a few months later.






Skateshops aren't the only thing disappearing here in Indiana: Even public skateparks are disappearing, and have been for some time now. Cicero's outdoor mini ramp was probably the first that I remember being torn down... the reason being, vandalism. Whiting's concrete skatepark is also rumored to have met the jackhammer-and-blade treatment, but "why" is still unknown. New Castle's skatepark simply fell apart (outdoor wooden skateparks in Indiana are just a bad idea, anyway), while Danville's relatively new prefab-concrete park was supposed to have been "sold and moved to Brazil, Indiana" (again, because of the vandalism/trouble issues)... but then, it disappeared entirely. Brazil doesn't seem to have it, and it definitely isn't in Danville... so, where in the hell is it...?!






180 Skateshop and Coffee Shop in Ellettsville, just outside of Bloomington. Bloomington already has two successful shops (Rise, and Amused... three, if you wanna count the ass-hats at Zumiez), so why they needed a third/fourth is way beyond me. I thought the coffee-shop sideline was smart and fun... but apparently it wasn't smart or fun enough, because they're now toast.






This one gets the "hot potato" award of the decade: The Beech Grove Skate Shop, Indy Skates Beech Grove, The Beech Grove 180 Skateshop, Solace, Felonz... great storefront, great little shop, great history... but not a big enough of a skate scene to keep it going. Beech Grove is an aberration, anyway: It is its own little island town, sitting right in the middle of the Indianapolis Ocean. As such: It's surrounded by skaters everywhere, but easily accessible to none of them. This little shop probably never made a dime in profits, and really only stayed open "for the kids". But when the kids left town, so did the need for this shop to exist.






Even "Indiana Powerhouse" Rise closes a location once in a while. I remember the old Pendleton Pike location from when I first moved here (got robbed, as far as I remember... at gunpoint... twice, if rumors are to be believed...). Likewise: This New Jersey St. location came and went in a flash. The word on the street? Impossible to find. Not that any of the Rises are all that "easy" to find in the first place (to this day, I still know dudes that can't find the Carmel store to save their lives), but still... location, location, and location are still the "Big Three" of successful retailing.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot: I never go into Rise, unless it's the Bloomington store. Why? They treat me like I'm some sort of dildo-headed asshole every time I go in there. But, Socal Mike treats me awesome! That's why I give him my hard-earned cash, instead.






Bad Boyz Toyz is right up there in Zumiezville (aka Chicagoland, which probably got like 500 new Zumiez in the last few years). As a result, what used to be a six-store chain is now down to two stores, plus Krush (their indoor skatepark). BBT was pretty active in their local scene... they were always, always doing a contest, or a jam, or a fundraiser, or something or another... but now that they're slowly fading away, who's gonna pick up that ball and run with it...?






Here's another midwest sad story: Just Ride/Solution/Muncie Skatepark in Muncie. Just Ride was a lavish, gorgeous, jewel of an indoor skatepark built by renowned park-builder Brian Knopp (who also built Muncie's now-defunct outdoor, wooden skatepark at Tuhey Park downtown). Apparently, Brian was tried and convicted for something or another, and thus Just Ride closed briefly before being "restructured" and passed on to Solution Skateshop, who also closed it briefly for "restructuring" as Muncie Skatepark LLC, who has since closed it [again] for who-knows-what-reason(s). Talk about "confusion in the marketplace".



So, what can we infer from all of these skateshop deaths...? Well, the first thing that becomes clear is that, regardless of how sensible [or senseless] it may be, everybody still harbors that dream of owning a skateshop, someday. Which is good, because that means that we'll always have a skateshop, somewhere. Even if it is only temporary at best.

Here's another thing that it tells me: Many people that ultimately start skateshops, are woefully unprepared for the realities of skateshop ownership. Of course, there's still no "Skateshop Ownership 101" available anywhere (although we're trying our damned best to compile one here at The Solitary Life, through these regular reports).

At the end of the day, all of these skateshop "fails" were probably preventable. Some of them could have been easily prevented by taking careful stock of the skate scene, and realizing that a skate shop just wasn't feasible in the first place... while still others might have been saved by more experienced and savvy management.


But, here's the most important thing that I'm learning about skateshops: They don't network. Ever.

Which still sort of confounds me. I mean, where is a better place to learn how to run a successful skate shop, than from a successful skate shop owner? I certainly can't think of any.

Here in Indiana, the two best shops that I've experienced are TOC in Terre Haute, and B2 down in Seymour. Both of these shops are growing. Both of these shops are heavily engaged in their local skate scenes. Both of these shops are run by super-nice people (Matt at B2, and Liz and Jer at TOC). Both of these shops are bucking the trends, and writing their success stories.

More shops should be doing the stuff that B2 and TOC are doing. At the very least, they should be asking Matt, Jer, and Liz how they're doing it. But, they won't. Is it out of shyness? Stubbornness? Ignorance? Elitism? Pride? I don't know.

All I know is, this probably isn't the end of the hemorrhaging.

I'd better keep that binder close at hand for a while, because I have a hunch that I'll be thinning it out for the next few years.

And good luck to those shops that are still standing. You need it.



Bud Stratford
Senior Editor, The Solitary Life.

A public service announcement...

A Special Thanks to Our Advertisers...

Here's the original "And Now, A Word From Our Advertisers...!" headline that we used when we first began offering ad space here at The Solitary Life. With that, I'd like to give a quick "thank you" to all of our advertiser-supporters.

These guys [generally] support The Solitary Life in everything that we do. Whether it's contributing time and energy to make The Life an even better read, supporting our various initiatives, or flowing the occasional product, they do a lot more for you guys- the readers- than what might readily meet the eye.

One of the main goals here at The Life, was to write an advertising paradigm that revolves around "Everything But Money". Instead of simply charging a fee for the advertisers to advertise here, we took the money off the table entirely, and asked that they instead make other tangible contributions to The Life... such as writing articles, contributing photos, helping us find our various contacts and sources... recruiting writers, photographers, and filmers... and generally promoting what The Life is all about: Simply Skateboarding.

With that in mind, I'd like to acknowledge the following advertisers for all they've done for The Life over the year, and thank them for their hard work and numerous contributions:





Mike Hirsch at Socal Skateshop. Socal is our one-stop shop for product review stuff (when we buy it), and the stuff that we need to set those products up right (when it's flowed). Mike always gives us great service across the board, so we're happy to support him as much as we can in return.





Jay Kelly and Bill Danforth at American Nomad, just for being a great all-around guys, being a great sounding board (Jay), being a huge inspiration (The Nomad), and being dudes that really represent the best of what no-bullshit skating is all about.







The illustrious Mr. Bennett, for making the wheels and trucks that 90% of our staffers ride, 90% of the time.





Dave Scherer at Miramar is one of the best feedback-givers and idea-bouncers we've got, as far as everything longboarding goes.





Jason Filipow and Mike V. at By The Sword... again with the huge inspiration factor, and doing things right.





Mike Niemann at Cockfight, representing Texas Pride. Had we gotten our hands on one soon enough, that Dan Wilkes deck might have been a real contender for "deck of the year".





We'll support JJ Rudisill at Funhouse 'til the end of days, just because he's the coolest motherfucker on the planet. Artist, genius, skater, humourist, what's there not to love?





Tyler Creason at Unity, who's essentially the rebel conscience of our advertiser base. Think Che Guevara, but applied to the skateboard industry.





Chris Brundstetter at Goldcoast, for bringing a whole new aesthetic flavor to longboarding.








Don Tashman and Kyle Chin at Loaded and Orangatang, for building long-lasting killer flex decks and happy-ass wheels. Still very much enjoying my orange "In Heats", thank you very much!






All of the girls out there who don't give a shit what the guys have to say about it...





Ryan Draper at Rooftop, one of our locally homegrown companies right out of Bedford, Indiana. Cool-ass kid.





Bart Kelley and the crew at the Old Indy Skaters skateboard club, now Indiana bred and Ohio strong. Watch out world, because the old guys are taking over and showing how it's done.





Sk8Kings, because Maria and Richy are the sweetest people ever, and Kilian Martin spends so much time getting [well-deserved] coverage in The Freestyle Report.








Dan Gesmer at 3dm and Seismic, who's [hopefully] going to fit in quite well here at TSL as our "The Longboarding Report" correspondent.





Michael Brooke at Concrete Wave, who not only writes for us on occasion, but who's magazine was the clear and present inspiration for our web-based spinoff/ripoff.






Al at Character, who's our go-to guy in Chicagoland.





Everybody that has a mind of their own out there in the skateboard scene (however many there are, there still aren't enough)...





Richard Kirby at Big Mess, who proofreads a lot of my stuff to warn me for potential kookiness.





Terry "The Waxman" Hertel at Hertel Wax, who allowed us to do our first-ever, web-based ad campaign, and acts as our stand-in snowboard tech.





Lew at Fickle, who's been instrumental in getting the Homegrown Project off the ground.





Bart Kelley at The Legion, who's probably our most direct-access advertiser and constant motivator (and being the head bossman at Old Indy Skaters, he's actually on this list twice).





And lastly (but certainly not least), our good friend, freestyle correspondent, and mindful genius AJ Kohn, who is the other half of The Solitary Life equation...


... and of course, everyone else that has ever sent in an ad, given us a heads-up, or tossed a couple of words of wisdom our way. Thank you all very much.


Many thanks go out to these guys, for everything that they bring to the table. The Solitary Life just wouldn't be the same without them.