DC area Skateparks in the late 70's
The grounds where the Tokers started paying their dues
Have you been to any of these parks?????  Please give up some pictures.
Washington DC area (late 70's) riding the skateboard parks in the area, these are the ones I remember riding and do not have any pictures, just memories.  Please for all that is good and grindable, if you have been to these places, let me know!!!!!!!   danrea@hotmail.com 

Finally, More pictures of parks, thank you to Tim Cline for his Crofton Submissions that have been on the page for a while. More pictures where loaned to me by Pat Clark, he was more local than I was, he road for my local skatepark and local skate shop and didn't live in the town that they were.  Anyway, check these out.
Belair Boards Started it:  For me, it was started when a shop called Belair Boards opened.  Chris Chaput was like Tony Hawk back then doing all the 360's and stuff.  Bowie MD, mid 70's, urethane was a new thing, I started skating.  I had been on a board before this time (clay wheel steel wheel my brothers had), but this was the foundation.  These guys had Jersey's, that was a big thing back then.  Could you imagine that today, glad that changed, but it's part of some of our history.  Here's a couple pictures of Willie Clark showing you how it's done upside down.
Yup, that's what you did back then to be a cool skateboarder, along with nose wheelies and 360's.  Willie was the Md state champion.  I tried doing the elbow stand on my back porch and skinned my shoulder on the rough concrete, thus I gave up of the inverted maneuvers.
Gaithersburg MD
This was the first Skatepark I had skated, unless the Ocean Bowl in Ocean city was it, I'm not really sure, it was like 77 or so.  Anyway, I wish I had some pictures other than one ad that the park is in, in Skateboarder Magazine.  
Alexandria VA
Don't kick my ass if I get this wrong.  It had, I believe a tight left handed kidney, (it seemed really open to me, though I was only like 11 or 12.  It had a mogul field, that was crazy back then I thought.  I always had a picture in my mind of kids laying on top of the moguls with broken arms.  The place even had a half pipe with no flat bottom, of course the half pipe was made out of asphalt, yeah that's right, asphalt I say.  It had an asphalt 1/4 pipe to cinderblock wall.  I've been corrected by 2 people that were locals, the half pipe and 1/4 pipe were concrete, not asphalt, I don't know whey I thought that, I didn't smoke pot back then either, huh.  I got an email from Meigs Hodge that seaid he and a friend patched the halfpipe up with concrete after the park was closed and rode it for a while.  Thanks to Michael McCarthy for correcting me on the materials used on the Halfpipe, as for the "kidney" it didn't have a shallow end so it wasn't really a kidney.  What do I know, I was like 11 or 12 years old then.
I went to the park in Alexandria VA a few times, it was called skateworld I think.  Most of these pictures are I believe are of Pat Clark or his brother Willie.



Picture from back in the day.  Meigs Hodge circa 1978 riding
the "fish bowl" at Skateworld in Alexandria Va.  
Fiber Rider in a Roller Rink in MD   "The Glasswave"
I don't remember what town this was in but I thought it was Gaithersburg or around their.  They had the modular blue fiberglass skatepark.  It had a 4 foot half pipe that had flat, an 8' or so half with flat.  A kind of track like thing with an on ramp to get speed for this big clam dish that you carve to the right, then 2 or 3 pump bumps, ending with a 1/4 pipe with loads of vert on it, which will move you towards the beginning again.  The coolest thing they had though was the fullpipe.  Actually I can't recall if it was 3/4 or full, since it was modular it could have been either.  I think it was full though, not like I was going over vert anyway, if I was lucky I did.  I actually skated a similar park in Arizona in 1988, it had the same pieces except it had the 4' high corners and bondo keeping it together.  Hosoi was there going high in the slick blue fiberglass.

Thanks to Robin Goldberg , daughter of one of the owners for the pictures she sent me, this was the Glasswave in Gaithersburg Md, Robin worked in the Pro shop and skated along with her sisters and brother.
This is part of the "Fullpipe"  though since the ceiling was too low, they did completely assemble it.  Over vert, non the less. Here is an old piece of fiber rider park, I believe this piece ended up outside of Ocean City.  This may have been the 8' tall section that was in the roller rink.  The Toke should be able to tell me.
Waldorf MD
Ah, probably has the coolest park pool I have ever skated.  It was a 2 titty bowl, I don't know what else to call it.  It was like a huge bra, 2 bowls connected by a shallow in the middle.  Yes, the word is symmetrical.  It had some kind of freestyle banked stuff too as I recall.  The pool is what kept my attention though, so I don't really recall the other detail of the park.
Crofton Skatepark MD
Yes, this was my local park.  As I recall, there was the down hill run (looked like a bike path going around a quarter of the park ending in a pile of hay bail in front of the capsule pool (Metcalf's Canyon).  A left handed Kidney, a Capsule pool (I think it was 12' one end and 8' at the other.  Also, there was a huge reservoir out of concrete.  I would estimate depth at 12'-14', but I don't know for sure.  Oh yeah, a banked freestyle area.  I want to thank Tim Cline for supplying these pictures of my old local park.  He visited for a day and these are 2 of the 3 pictures he was able to produce.  

 

This is the Capsule, named Metcalf's Canyon.  The dude it's named for was totally gnarly.  The Capsule was gnarly that's for sure.  Wish it was around today. The Kidney with the reservoir in the background.  These are the two that I skated most.  Shit, why do people have to destroy such great places.  Thanks to Tim Cline for these pictures.
 

 

 
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More Crofton Pictures


What the hell is going on here.  It looks like a dang circus.  When I road Crofton I think I tried to ride the halfpipe one time.  The thing was silly, maybe revolutionary in it's design, but certainly silly.  I remember it being closer to the reservoir.  Check out the waterslide!
You may shit your pants now.  The Capsule pool was at the far end of the park, but I guess they filled that in first.  Yeah, I skated this park more than the others when I was young.  Thanks to Pat Clark we can now drool over what was.  Here's one of his fiancé and her sooped up beach cruiser.

 

 

While this isn't a park that I rode when I was a kid, I wish it was.  This I believe is Marina Del Rey, back in the day.

I'm starting off slowly, spoon feeding these pictures that are to come.  I'm sure a lot of you used to skate parks that you would kill to skate again, I bet you have pictures as well.  I don't and I've borrowed some pictures of my local 70's parks.  Met Pat Clark, who road for the local skateshop as well as the local skatepark.  I don't know what's up with the Outer Banks, but I've met at least 5 people originally from MD and now live in the Outer Banks.  Anyway, look for some history and pictures of wild parks in my DC area parks page in the weeks to come.
Here's what it's all about!  Photo supplied by Pat Clark