Surfing|In Helsinki’s porticos, there is a culture of sport, through which everyday places can reap fame in the world. HS presents the capital’s celebrities.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Hakaniemi’s bump is a world-famous skate spot.
The Itäkeskus bus station is the first spot from Finland that ended up in an international skate magazine.
In front of Kiasma are Helsinki’s longest-lasting skate favorites.
Suvilahti skate park is the most famous skate park in Finland, which was built entirely by the skaters themselves.
Office building the courtyard is ordinary gray and empty. Few people know that this courtyard has gained fame around the world.
In front of the office door is a concrete staircase popular with skateboarders. Skaters know it as the Hakaniemi bump.
If looks closely, notices that the disabled lane has been repaired with a quick leveler.
The leveling agent is probably the only thing that could reveal to the uninitiated that a professional skater Wes Kremer has boarded that place to world fame. Kremer jumped over the railing with his board and the picture ended up on the cover of a skateboarding magazine.
The Hakaniemi bump is not the only place in Helsinki that is very important to skateboarders, but seems completely irrelevant to the layman. HS went around on a skateboard Mikko Kempansen with well-known places in Helsinki’s skating circles.
Hakaniemi bump
“In good times, I could have jumped over this with no more than an ollie”, Kempas slows down. Ollie is a skateboarding trick where the board is lifted off the ground. It is the basis for many other tricks and learning it opens up a lot of possibilities for a beginner skateboarder.
Hakaniemi the bump is interesting to skate because it is so steep, says Kempas. You have to master the trick well.
“If successful, however, the steepness gives the jump a lot of height.”
Bump means bump or hump.
Kempas says that a skater’s eyes notice new spots, i.e. places suitable for skating, everywhere.
“The average street skater has more information about Helsinki’s courtyards, factory areas and loading docks than anyone else.”
You wouldn’t have found this courtyard by accident. The gap between the asphalt and the slope has been repaired with the quick screed
Itäkeskus pots
Itäkeskus’ concrete flower pots have been skated on since the 80s, and Kempas says that the place is one of the longest continuously skated places in Helsinki.
Itäkeskus passengers disembark from the bus at the bus station.
Surely none of them know that this is the first photograph from Finland that ended up in an international skate magazine. It was in the picture Tero Partanen and trick one foot tailgrab.
At this spot, i.e. a skateable spot, the curves are so steep that skating them requires special technical skill. Pictured is the backside pivot trick.
Mikko Kempas has been skating since the 80s. His interest was sparked when he saw skating in the movie Police College 4.
Curved forms are quite rare in the city. The surrounding trees and the light filtering between them and the general jaggedness of the spot make it visually interesting to skate.
Visibility is important, because videos and pictures play a big role in street cooking. Videos are often, for example, compilations of tricks the length of one song.
Kempas himself remembers being there in the 90s to watch the big American skaters of that time. Danny Sargent, John Montesi and Armando Barajaswere doing a demo, i.e. a skate show in the city.
“A terrible pack of little boys followed them around Helsinki, and I was there with them.”
On behalf of Kiasma
“Marsalkka Mannerheim, Suomen’s own king, for me it’s just a good skedema in summer evenings in Helsinki” raps Avain in his song Ruokaa ei aeita, published at the beginning of the 2000s. Skating in front of Kiasma has a long history.
One One of Helsinki’s long-lasting skate favorites is Kiasma’s front. Its black stone cottages make it an excellent destination. Skaters call it Kiasman Plaza.
The urban area around the museum is a good example of a plaza-style spot located in a wider area, or a cluster of spots.
Plaza usually means a park or other open area in the center of a city with steps, corners or paving. Skaters call them curves.
In the picture, the trick is called frontside noseslide.
The traces of years of skating can be seen in the rocks in front of Kiasma. During the renovation, the stones have been turned over so that a fresh corner has been used.
Museum has been sympathetic to skaters.
“Somewhere in the early stages of the spot’s history, there was an attempt to ban this, but Kiasma has always come to the rescue,” Kempas praises.
Even a beginner skater can come and try Kivipaas. The properties of the site are good for that: the surface is smooth and the material of the flagstones is suitable for skating.
In Finland, you usually don’t get fines for skateboarding on the street very easily. That is one of the reasons why professional skaters like to skate in Helsinki. The city is also very suitable for street cooking.
“There are a lot of spots in a small area, it’s quiet here and there’s enough light until late in the evening in the summer.”
Marius Syvänen jumped on the board over the stairs and onto the railing. The picture ended up in the eyes of many skaters.
In the year In 2016, this place was also the site of an international magazine on the cover.
Kempas knows how to tell you that several professional skaters have skated and filmed videos in the area.
“This plaza is such a place that if someone stops in Finland, they will probably visit here.”
The slanted walls of Jätkäsaari
At the top, the acceleration is narrow and the drop down to the road is high and steep. Kempas didn’t take the risk and fell down on his board.
Today, top skaters visiting Finland may ask locals to take them to this particular place after seeing it on social media, for example. Pictured is a trick called boneless sweeper.
Some however, the spots are only available to the most stubborn of fanatics.
Like the crooked walls of Jätkäsaari urban architecture is not found everywhere. A high and angular stone embankment rises from the footpath in Jätkäsaari towards the park area.
The first thing that might not occur to you is that you could descend from here with a piece of wood with tires screwed onto it. Skaters will come.
American professional skater Pat Duffy skated on the walls, and the video ended up in the film of the international skate brand CODE. Kempas says that Duffy is a legend in the circles of the sport.
“Even if you are skilled at Kiasma, you may not know anything at this kind of street spot.”
The scale of the structures being skated in the video or picture is often poorly conveyed. The height, the steepness, the jaggedness of the ground and the road waiting below make it difficult to skate.
Suvilahti skate park
There were skateboarders in Suvilahti on a hot afternoon in early June.
Suvilahti DIY is the most famous skate spot in Helsinki and the whole of Finland. The place is even known by name among foreign skaters.
The DIY abbreviation means that the entire park is built by the skaters themselves. That’s what it’s known for.
At least one world star has flown along these curves.
For example, a legend Tony Hawk and Finnish Olympic medal hope Lizzie Armanto have both skated in Suvilahti and an article has been made in the skate magazine To Thrasher.
“The fact that you know how to skate a factory-made concrete park does not mean that you know how to skate Suvilahti at all. In a self-made park, not all surfaces are perfectly flat and precisely measured.”
Kempas says that he is not very familiar with skating in Suvilahti.
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