Tale of Two Canadian Cities
Tale of Two Canadian Cities
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, April 2005
This is my first piece for The Skateboard Mag. More to come.
Toronto and Vancouver. Vancouver and Toronto. Two large, major Canadian cities. Two metropolises where skateboarding is quite popular. The difference is that I seem to know a lot more about Vancouver skateboarding than Toronto skateboarding. Why is this? I dunno. You would think, since I've been skating for sixteen years and grew up on the East Coast of the United States, that I might have acquired some knowledge of Toronto over time. But no. The shit is a skateboarding mystery to a Yankee like me. Even torontoskateboarding.com hasn't been updated since June! How am I supposed to know anything? What kind of representation is that?
As for Vancouver, it always seemed common to know of the thriving skateboard scene—Red Dragons, The Skate Ranch, Concrete Powder, The Whiskey video series, Slam City Jam, Rick McCrank, Chris Haslam, Anti Social skateshop, Rick Howard, Colin McKay, Tony Ferguson, the first operational “Skate Plaza,” Color magazine the list goes on and on.
When I think of Toronto, though, all that comes to mind is Bill Weiss and Skateboard Canada magazine. Sorry. But this is all I know! That and the fact that Toronto has a lower murder rate and higher elevation than Vancouver.
Could it be that, much like the USA, Vancouver is the West Coast, with warmer weather and perhaps more of a “skateboard Industry” so to speak? This and the fact that it is closer to California—acting as a portal for skateboarders to make their way from Canada to the big time in the USA/California world of skateboarding? Most skaters in the USA migrate from east to west as well seeking warmer climates and opportunity. Would Canada be any different?
Hoping for some balance, I asked Justin Reagan, Emerica's Brand Manager and guest editor for The Skateboard Mag issue number 21 what he thought might possibly make Toronto more significant than Vancouver in the skateboarding world. He replied:
“One word makes Toronto skating more significant than Vancouver skating for all time: Jimbo (owner of Shred Central skatepark in Toronto and singer of band Dayglo Abortions).”
Despite insisting that “only one word” made Toronto significant, Justin went on to add more:
Bank to Curb (best spot ever!), Department of Water hubba (R.I.P.), Scott and Andrew Pommier, Gailea Momolu (I think) and Ummm ... Jimbo!”
Jimbo sure must be special to get a double mention here. This list was followed by a second e-mail from Justin:
“Add Bill Weiss' mom to my list of things that make Toronto better than Vancouver! She fuckin' rules!”
So there you have it. A list from an expert in the skateboarding industry. Even I learned more about Toronto from it.
Speaking of Mrs. Weiss, I asked ex-pro, Toronto veteran, naked McTwister, and Blind team manager Bill Weiss for some insight. Rather than talking about Toronto, he just wrote some really long captions for me. And judging from his descriptions he's got some Toronto pride—so the city, although mysterious, must be somewhat cool. He only wrote captions for his teamriders, though, which is a bit selective and biased of him, but how often do you see an article with a guest caption writer? We're breaking ground here.
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