John Egertson Skate World Alexandria VA 1977
Killer 1977 shots from John Egertson…A skate Park and Star Wars in the theater…good times.
According to John the park was located on Wheeler (really!) Avenue in Alexandria VA. Moguls, a pool and that crazy vert wall.
Anyone remember any of the SkateWorld Team Members: Connor Mulroney (Dermot Mulroney’s brother…Really!) Miles Rolf, Mike and Dave Alexander, Jimmy Treece and Steve Kelleher. If you are out there or know any of these peeps…. get em!!
Pat Clark, Mike “Micro” Mapp, Bruce Adams and Mike Kresky (Powell Peralta) are all known to have skated here….So there have to be more pics!
Original Skate World sticker
If you have any pics from Skate World or know any of these peeps send me an email.
Thanks for the pics and research John
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Bobby Jimmy Miles & Steve are still in Northern Va.Conner I think is in Boston. Bobby still ownes Scotty’s Fire Extinguisher on Washington St. Oldtown Va. Jimmy may still work for Bob.I allso have a killer board from Skateworld (Team Model).
Hey there…………I remember skateworld and I took those photographs of John Egertson…..loved that place………got more photos……someplace…..
JAMIE !!!
Jim Treese here!!! Living in Cape Cod w/ wife and two kids. Selling pools and hot tubs. Hit me back dude.!!!
David–I have been searching for you and your brother for a couple of years now. contact me–John Egertson
johnjanete@comcast.net
Hey bros –
This brings back some cool memories! I have quite a few old Skateworld pix, but always interested in seeing more! Miles and I hit up the new City of Alexandria public skatepark which is right off Wheeler Avenue… just like old times!
Cheers,
Meigs Hodge
Meigs, send those old skateworld pix in, maybe Jason will post ’em! I’m always wanting to see more. The old Skateworld sure was better than the new city of alexandria modular park…
John Egertson
Damn, talk about a wild return on your yahoo search. I lived just off Gordon street and skated there during the construction and afterwards.
Great times, learned how to smoke, drink and skate. Went to school with Jimmy, Miles and the rest.
I’m in touch with Dwayne Wyatt, lives in Florida.
I don’t have any pics of park. Glad to see folks are still out there, as its a short time on the rock.
See ya, Grimm
Forgot to add, Steve Kelleher is a painter at Auto Body of Vienna.
cegrimm@embarqmail.com
Chris!!!
WWWWAAASSSUUUPPPP!!!!! my bro!. Living up here in Cape Cod, Doing the pool and hot tub thing. So busy in the summer and spring, I have gotten into wintertime surfing. Cold as a BEE-ach!!! but good waves. Say hi to Steve C. outin Veanna Va. for me. Yeah, we smoked alot of rope back in the day huh!! Had to give it all up myself…was in my best interest said the judge!!! Brother Miles and Meigs!!!! I miss you guys…come on up north for a visit.
Oh yeah..one last thing…say hi to Dwayne for me
skateworld was great, I was on the Mall wall team which was the springfield virginia skateboard park. We would ditch out any chance we got to go to skateworld.
Hey Pat! Call me homey! Skateworld was a blast. Who else could do forever front side carve grinds in that tiny bowl. Pat Clark. Jimmy Treese, Myles Roth, John Hargedon (sp.) Mike Mapp, Phil Burcher, Allen Chaney, Gilbert Boyd, the entire Toke Team, Mike Kresky, Brady Bird, Wildman Dan Resendez and many more called Skateworld home. I worked at Mall Wall for a while with Jennifer Souders. And lets not forget Willy Clark, Pats brother.
Hey Jimmy, How you been brother I thought you where still living working in Va w/ Bob Sutton. E mail back
Jimmy Treece
dellinger98@hotmail.com
i hate you….lucky….lol
I remember the Mall Wall. I was about 7 and had just started to push around. I was WAY too itimidated to skate it. I think I did go inside the fence too. I remember once it closed me and some friends went by and weeds were growing heavily. Later in the 80’s I used to hang at the CCCC ramp. Great times that I will never forget. Later.
Darrin
I remember going down to that park when I was in 5th/6th grade, I only made it down a few times before the park closed, and several more times after it closed 😛 . It was fun times between there and the Mall Wall in Springfield Va.
Wayne
whats up dudes!!!duane(aka)piglett,down here on a island in fl.still skateboarding with my 10 yr.old son.
piglett!! what up my bro!!!
I skated at Skate World in ’77 and ’78. I took a bunch of photos back then. As soon as I dig them out of my attic I’ll post them. I live on the Northshore of Oahu and skate with Jay Adams and the Banzai Skate Park and at Cholo’s bowls (Steve’s place right above Banzai).
Better late than never…..Pat Clark, Mike Mapp, Mike Kresky all still homies. Skateworld was my first skatepark ever. My first taste of pool coping, Gaithersburg was my second (Tom Inoye cover shot..Skateboarder mag.). Treece, Miles and Connors, ripping locals that I looked up to. Lets not forget John Hargadon!!! Mogul field eh!! bad ass. I’ll send pics tommorow.Oh yeah and WILDMAN!!! Dan Recendez I think, him and Miles both showed up at Cedar Crest back in the day after “the days”.
Hey Bruce,
youtook photos at the rabbit ranch ramp in springfield for lapper mag didn’t you? Mid 80’s I would love to see some photos of that ramp and the locals from there
hi my name is jimmy mcintosh and i helped build and skated at the rabbit ranch in springfield va in the 1980s and in 1984 lance mountian signed my fishstick skate board
Just picked up a 4 foot bamboo sector 9 long board to ride the island with.It hall’s ass!It’s wheels are soft like old kryptonic’s.My son is 11 now & I’m 47 now.We still skate hard.We were skating for a team called outback.The owner I met in O.C. 20 year’s ago,he has a skate shop.My life is well and my job is great.What are your guyes phone #’s.
Get Back To Me Megs And Treece.Where’s Miles?
skated in springfield with some buds. we were all from dalecity 1982 man memory really shot now im 43 and can’t remember shit!!!! any way keep on keepin on im doing my 17th year in the u.s.army and waiting for my 20 year letter!!! anyone out their hear from brian hubbard or steave soltice? lost cont
act in 84 when i moved to ny with my dad. later
Don’t forget the ‘Wildman’ and his 8-wheeler.
I’ve got 5 or 6 pictures of me riding the pool which I’ll post (sometime).
I’m still suffering (at 47) from the dislocation of my shoulder on the half pipe. Need surgery on it.
Remember the two chicks that used to hang out there every day? Dana and her friend … I think it was Zina or something. They are in a picture that I have sitting on top of the pool behind the fence.
Yeh, Kresky, Mapp, Gilbert all hit the Annandale ramp as well.
Got a pic or two of that as well.
ltr!
Mike
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i grew up skating that park, i have been dieng to see photos, i am in shock…
I remember all you guys and got plenty of pics of everyone which i will be making a movie with sometime in the near future.friend me on FB my name there is “still Waves”
As a member of the Doudican Skateboard team we, I was part of the grand opening for the grand opening of skate world and I think my friend Mike Mckinnon may still have the old super 8 movies. Hopefully we can convert them and post someday!
Bruce,
I was reading your blog about being at the grand opening of the Skateworld skatepark in Alexandria back in the 1970s. Can you tell me what date that was, the exact opening date? Also, do you know when it closed? I’m trying to do some research on the old Washington area skateparks from the 1970s-80s so that would be helpful. Thanks you, Brian Marquis
Hey Brian, As I said in the comments earlier. Me and the team from Myrtle Beach came up for the grand opening for the park to demonstrate how to skate the banks and pool. I think it was the fall of 1977 because we took off school and drove up and stayed at the owners house who was probably shocked to find their liquor cabinet empty whe they came home LOL! The skaters all went straight in the pool bowl did a kick turn and came straight out. We showed them how to carve the bowl and do back and forth wheelers and tailtaps and grinds. The local TV crew fimed it for the news but we were on to another park before we could see it. I’m not sure what station but it would be cool to see it! Go hunt it down and keep skating.
Hey Brian,
As I said in the comments earlier. Me and the team from Myrtle Beach came up for the grand opening for the park to demonstrate how to skate the banks and pool. I think it was the fall of 1977 because we took off school and drove up and stayed at the owners house who was probably shocked to find their liquor cabinet empty whe they came home LOL! The skaters all went straight in the pool bowl did a kick turn and came straight out. We showed them how to carve the bowl and do back and forth wheelers and tailtaps and grinds. The local TV crew fimed it for the news but we were on to another park before we could see it. I’m not sure what station but it would be cool to see it! Go hunt it down and keep skating.
Heya i am for the primary time here. I came across this
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Skated Skate World and Mall Wall. Nearly killed myself on the snake run at MW. Wanted something closer to home so we built A-Town. A-Town had a plexiglass section early on (pre-expansion) that was salvaged from Mall Wall when it closed. I met a bunch of the folks mentioned on this thread soon after. Good times.
Glad to have found your site. I live and work in Alexandria now but grew up in nearby Falls Church and skated at both Skateworld and the Mall Wall back in 1977, ’78, 79 and ’80 I think. I don’t have any photos but do have other mementos from those 2 parks and others including Skateworld and Mall Wall T-shirts, a Skateworld contest poster, Skateworld letterhead, newspaper ads and many skateboard articles from those years. I was in school studying graphic design back then and ended up doing some graphic work for the parks, designing the Skateworld skatepark logo, the Mall Wall skatepark logo and a logo for the St. Charles Skatepark out in Waldorf, MD. I still have all of the original art for those logos as well as copies of some print ads, their letterhead and even a business card for Dan “The Wildman” Resendes, one of the owners of Skateworld if I recall. After the Mall Wall briefly closed in 1978, it was bought by Skateworld and re-opened. Skateworld was located at 3700 Wheeler Ave. in Alexandria. None of the old park still exists, a building is there now with the Child & Family Network Center.
Back in 2002 and 2003 I worked with the community group here in Alexandria pushing the city to build the first public skatepark. I designed the logo for that skatepark, designed the park T-shirt, ads, flyers, stickers, banners, etc. samples of which I still have. That park opened in 2003 and is still open and appears to be doing well.
I have recently been looking back at this old skatepark material as a new skateboard shop has recently opened in Alexandria, “Dust Farm Custom Skateboards”, 1608 King St. The owner has some classic and vintage skateboard memorabilia around his shop. We were thinking of putting out a new T-shirt that reprints the logos and some information about the old Alexandria area skateparks from the 1970s-80’s. As I recall, all of the area skateparks, Skateworld, Mall Wall and the St. Charles skatepark, were all closed by about 1981, but I don’t know exactly when they all closed. (Or when they officially opened either)
So If anyone has photos or any other material about any of those skateparks, I would be interested. There were also 2 other skateparks in this area in the late 1970s-early 80s but that I wasn’t involved with, Skateboarding U.S.A which was out W. 66, off Suddly Rd., and Freestyle Skatepark of Rt. 355 in Fredrick, MD. I only skated there once in the early 1980s,
For any material about these former Washington DC, northern Virginia skateparks, please contact me. Brian Marquis at Brian@MarquisGraphicDesign.com 703 519-7916.
Bruce,
Thanks for the additional info and recollections on the opening of Skateworld back in 1977. Wonderful to hear that the opening was filmed, that would be great to see. I don’t think I discovered Skateworld until 1978, which was the year I did some work for them and the other 2 parks providing graphic design. Do you remember who the skatepark owner was back then, where you stayed? I have a copy of a park newsletter from December 1978 and it is just signed by Tim and Bill, but no last names. I’d be curious to know if they might still be in this area or moved away. But if you find any more materials about any of those early park days, please let me know.
Brian Marquis
703 519-7916
Brian@MarquisGraphicDesign.com
I used to drive Pat and Willy Clark there in my 1972 Subaru station wagon. I remember maxing out that flat wall many times. Alexandria was the first decent cement park we had and we would smoke out and listen to DC101 on the way . Good Times !!
My parents would not let me go to the parks back then. Me and and my friends could only watch from the fence. Later we hit up Franconia, ravens dale ditch, some sketchy ramp in the woods near ft. Hunt.we had some hidden gems you might remember : Woodbridge ditch, and a ditch we found on the campus of nova in Woodbridge. There was our secret little ditch near the big Catholic Church on Franconia, in the woods. The best of times
Likewise with all you guys… I also am Skateworld and Mall-Wall alumni. Before I had my license, I used to ride my skateboards from Burgundy to Wheeler Drive and skate till my brother picked me up on his way home from work. I remember a couple of these names but I lived over off of Telegraph Road and didn’t make it in daily the way it sounds like you guys possibly did. Lots of fun though.
I live in PA now but still work in DC a few days each week. 53 years old and a fat guy now. But I still keep an Alva board in my truck and even pushed around the newer Duke street park last year once. Pretty cool. Couple of the young guys there were nice and tolerated my old Skateworld stories for the afternoon.
Have any of you guys picked up an esk8 board yet? I got a Boosted Board and a DIY board, Geez, it’s like a second wind for me. I scoot around all the time now. My kids can’t keep up.
Great memories skating a Skateworld! The location of the park was at the current location of 3700 Wheeler Ave. The site is now home to The Child & Family Network Center. Form Historic Aerials photos is looks like the last year in operation was 1980. In the 1981 aerial photo the skate park had be demolished and the site was being prepare for new construction.