A little #berlinupdate made by one of our favorite locals.
Tag: berlin
video recap – Wassertorplatz Invitational 2019
This was the best event since your last event together.
London Lee, Wassertorplatz, 2019
And with that introduction, we would like to welcome you to the recap video for our Wassertorplatz invitational table tennis tournament. The idea started last year after /// teamed up with us for our first ever non-skate tournament, in fact, it was a table-soccer or Fooßbal competition.
Won in style by the ever-competitive Felix Lensing and his friend that night sparked a series of ideas of which taking back our Anchor for at least one day was a part.
Now, ever since they changed our famous skate spot into a playground area we have been veiled in black and to be honest the “Platz” has changed a lot as well. When we went to shoot the trailer for the event it was literally riddled with weeds. Needless to say, the new locals had not shown it the love we had :(…
So what better to do than to return and give the place “a years worth of love” in one day! And even though the city and some of the people didn’t seem to want us there they accepted us showing up this day to celebrate the place we love.
Of course, we adapted to the changed plaza and organized a Table Tennis tournament as well as 2 best trick sessions, recreating the rooftop ledge especially for this occasion.
The people came out and celebrate we did and truth be told the platz, the cops and the people living around wtp the place all showed up (the cops blessed us by not showing up) and celebrated with us.
A very special thank you goes out to adidas Skateboarding!
Enjoy the video and we hope to all see you at our next competition.
Read all about the loss of Wassertorplatz as a skate spot here.
Obstsalat – A Video By Felix Schubert
Anyone who is following what we are doing on our website knows that we are suckers for videos from Berlin, for many obvious reasons. This one is another gem from the Kreuzberg / Neukölln locals straight to the rest of the world. All filmed between fall 2017 and summer 2019.
naïve number four
Our friends from Naïve are back with their fourth video in series. All captured in 2019 it gives you a good example of how skateboarding in Berlin can look like. It’s rough, rainy and pretty bumpy. Loving it!
Vans – GSD Berlin ’19
June the 21st has many names “Midsummer Night”, the longest day of the year or “Go Skateboarding day 2019”.
This year Berlin was the city, MBU the location and Vans & Radio skateboards the supporting brands but most importantly Valentin Cafuk was the MVP!
Valle told us the day before, “Either I am going home with a lot of cash or I am going home hurt but either way, I am putting it on the line!” and he did just that. The next day though, he spent it all on art supplies…
So now since GSD is over and the sun on the longest day has set. It is all downhill from here but at least we can relive the moment with this video!
We would like to thank both Vans & Radio Skateboards for their support and we will see you all next year. Let’s hope that these obstacles will stay at MBU until then!
Lea Schairer – A Gizmo Premiere Review
We had the pleasure to combine the launch of our all-new “Stefan Marx Issue” with the Berlin premiere of Nike SB’s all-women video “GIZMO”. Now you might think, “What do those two things have to do with this article I am about to read?”, well, our trip had Lea Schairer on it and she skates for Nike so when we got the call to ask if we wanted to talk to any of the girls we had a plan.
The plan was this: Lea would integrate and spend some time with her team-mates while they would go through their media rounds, a Pappelplatz skate sesh and finally the premiere of the video. She would then take a moment, regain her thoughts and note them down for us all to read.
I mean what is better than having a woman evaluate a major moment in all of skateboarding but women’s skating in particular. Nothing right?
Well, you better start reading now!
Drawings by Stefan Marx
Intro by Roland Hoogwater
Text by Lea Schairer
Finally, there is a queue
Right before the video started I already tried to fight my way to the toilet but failed, because after three beers I definitely was ready to pee! But I was too busy talking to people and was too excited for GIZMO to start that when I was finally able to go in, the projector was already switched on. Since I didn’t want to miss anything I told my body to hold it back. I actually forgot about it watching the video, also because there were two guys standing next to me who couldn’t stop saying: “Dude! What?!”, literally every trick they saw. I was wondering where they had been in the past five years. It’s not like you wouldn’t expect those girls to blow your mind. Because their level of skating just went through the roof during those years. These people are – with a handful of others – currently the best female skaters out there! Thinking of a new skate video being released featuring any pro there is, you would already expect a certain level of tricks… I think we should definitely be in a time where you should expect the same from female pros.
I was fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with the crew of the GIZMO video, which means Sarah Meurle, Elissa Steamer, Nicole Hause and Ashley Rehfeld, who is a co-producer and athlete coordinate at Nike SB. We met at Civilist, we went skating and we talked a lot. It’s great to see that with skateboarding we had a connection right away – I knew I’d get along with these women, even though I had never met them. All of our experiences and impressions about skateboarding coincided.
It was also great to feel the vibe that gets shown in the video when skating with them in person. It was impressive how the skate park sort of shifted their attention towards these women.
We talked about gender equality, equal or at least adequate prize money at contests, how well women are integrated in the skateboard scene now, that, even though all of us have been skateboarding for 11-17 years (Elissa more like 30 years), it’s just now that some of us have the possibility to live from it – despite the already existing high level in women’s skating many years ago. Having trouble finding a sponsor in earlier ages and now asking yourself: well, is it really the skating that drives the companies to support us or is it just because girls who skate are so marketable?!
Fuck! That is definitely a major downside of female skateboarding becoming more popular.
It’s important to know that GIZMO is NOT the first all-women skate video – there have been a few, all privately financed and produced. It’s the first one a big company has produced and put its name behind; which is amazing and is a big step in the right direction. It probably means that more will follow… already shown by the premier Vans had in London with their Bali skate trip video.
Unfortunately, we didn’t speak much about the video itself and how everything came about. And then again, there is actually no need for that. When you see the video, you see the same things that you see in any other skate video. There are struggles, there is the pressure everyone puts upon themselves because they want to deliver the best part possible. There are the super fun times, going on tour with your friends and just hanging out, there is the hype after landing a tough trick and there are the times of doubt.
With my bladder still filled, a few drops went into my pants when I saw the tricks, where those two guys behind me yelled the loudest. There are nose grinds on handrails, bs tailslides flip out, tre-flips over motorcycles, super high grab less alley-oop bs airs in deep-ends, and much much more you will be impressed with.
Even though it can be a little annoying having guys scream into your ear for 10 minutes straight, I was obviously also flattered by the guys’ comments, because it means they have now realized on what kind of level female skating is. It also shows that men are starting to dig the different styles of those women skating, mentioning things like: ”Damn, I wish I could do this trick like that!”. It’s just that the implicitness is still missing!
There were also several other people who came up to me with different perspectives to the video. For example, two super shy girls saying how much they enjoyed seeing me (and the other girls) skate. This has never happened to me and I found it more than flattering. I can’t imagine how many times this must have happened to the GIZMO team over the past days… the motivation for those who are starting to skate has probably risen to a maximum watching this video. It’s just so cool that now there are female role models (several) in skateboarding and that these are all over the world and not just in some far away place. I think this is a big push for skating in general!
All in all, it was an overwhelming vibe. It was so great to see everyone being hyped about the video. There was a lot of cheering and yelling, clapping and laughing. An honest: “Ouhhhhhhhh” when seeing a bail and the same honest: “Whaaaat?!?! Yeahhh!” when seeing a banger. The place was packed, the drinks were cold and people even started bouncing to the tunes of the video.
When the video was over I remembered what my bladder was telling me, also realizing that it should move right now to let it out! I hurried, in the expectation that at video premiers it’s not a problem for girls to just walk straight into an empty booth. After finally fighting my way to the toilets, I found myself waiting in a super long queue… Fuck! That is definitely a major downside of female skateboarding becoming more popular.
Watch GIZMO again here.
Place Presents – Harlekin Berlin
Design is often based on other design, how many Ferrari shaped bedsheets or My Little Pony shaped birthday cakes have we not seen in our life?
So when Nike remastered the Janoski for its 10-year anniversary they also looked outside, they probably looked at animals, the sky, cement patterns, but in the end, I believe they simply looked out of their Beaverton office window onto the parking lot and there they found the answer sitting in the swooshes own parking lot.
(disclaimer: this might not be factual, they might have just found pictures of the car on the internet)
Photos by Danny Sommerfeld.
Text by Roland Hoogwater.
The story continues below…
The Volkswagen Polo “Harlekin’s” story connects to the Janoski in multiple ways. It was in 1994 that the German company wanted to draw attention to their newly-updated Polo model but the problem they had to solve was:
“How do we get people to look at the newness?”.
The answer came in all colors! They devised a special showroom model of the new 6N, this model would breathe NEW! But this model was only meant to show off in the showroom it wasn’t available to the public… Well a couple of the showroom models actually did get sold afterwards and those cars began to create “word of mouth” on the streets and when the streets are talking the people at VW were listening.
1995 swings around and featured in the catalog is the now legendary VW 6N Harlekin as demanded by the public and in 2019 a similar story can be told about Nike SB’s Janoski shoe. Like the Polo, it looks similar but it is not quite the same, from little leather linings to the tape on the sole, everything has been tweaked for ’19 and that is where the two stories meet.
The story concludes below…
Fast forward to the 10th of May, Denny Pham, Jan Henrik Kongstein, Peter Buikema, Leo Preisinger and myself find ourselves driving around Berlin in a VW Harlekin wearing the Janoski Harlekin, we are putting both through the wringer for the next 2,5 days.
We didn’t do that alone, of course, we invited some Nike riders and Berlin locals to test it with us along the way.
To be honest the car has had a bit more mileage than the shoe but both held up quite well during our time even though Leo had his doubts about the car.
After the 2.5 days we concluded a couple of things:
- Denny Pham skates like he is playing THPS.
- The “new” Janoski looks better than the “old” Janoski (look closely).
- Jan Kliewer can shove his board like it is 1991.
- Jan Henrik like all people in Norway is hella tech.
- Michael Mackrodt drives a car the same way he skates.
Thank you for the support Skatedeluxe and Nike SB <3
432 by Vierzudrei
Nils Werner is back with a new “Vierzudrei” video called: 432. Good spots, good people, good music, very good video – do yourself a favor and watch it!
House of Vans Berlin 2019
Last week you might have noticed that Vans touched ground in Berlin with their trademark House Of Vans. Well, we will be celebrating that moment today and this is the first little piece to go out.
Stay tuned for more later today!
10 Days of CPH Open in 34 Chapters
10 days of carnage, joy, pain, music, and side-missions now culminate into 34 chapters for us to muse about and for you to enjoy whether you were or weren’t there when it happened.
Luck has it that we just released our CPH Open special issue that you can grab in selected skate shops.
Place Presents – Testing the Vans Berle Pro
Elijah Berle has gone through many phases from his emo the smiths look all the way to his current look which feels like an in-between version of a skater and a fan of DIY cowboy culture we didn’t know what to expect.
A couple of years back, Gilbert Crockett explained to us his shoes were inspired by early 1900’s sports shoes. A fact which makes a lot of sense because of his affection for thrift shopping.
We all know that when it comes to designing shoes that it can be a difficult, long and tedious process at times. I mean if you would get the opportunity to do everything what would you choose?
Durability, stability, board feel, cupsole, vulcanized, a slim silhouette or a bulky shoe? And what about the materials and the sort of shoe? A dress shoe, a basketball shoe some wallabies or a cowboy boot can most likely all lead to your first pro-model.
I the end, Elijah Berle made it through and created a very solid shoe, one that we believe will be on peoples feet for a while. The shoe simply looks nice, not too bulky not to slim and with a special cupsole construction that promises to combine board feel with protection and durability.
We took Vans Germany skater Valle Cafuk and Vans flow trash Peter Buikema for a run at one of Berlin’s many parks to put words into action and weartest the Elijah Berle pro.
Both were surprised by the way the shoes felt right out of the box, cupsoles often need a bit to break in but these worked immediately and allowed them both to skate and feel safe do the protection a cupsole gives.
In the end, Peter even learned a variation of an Elijah Berle signature, doing his first Crooked grind Nollie flip out! Action speaks louder than words and learning new tricks is a sure sign of approval. So press play if you haven’t already and watch the Vans Elijah Berle Pro in action.
Thank you to Vans for the support!
Photos by Steffen Grap
Text By Roland Hoogwater
Polaroid Recap – International Women’s day Berlin
Last Friday Nike SB, Skatehalle Berlin & Skatedeluxe teamed up to put on an event in celebration of women all over the world. This event took place in the city we call home, Berlin. The event’s organizers asked us to document the whole thing and we answered by asking if we could add some karaoke in the mix?
“Karaoke, how? The event is at the skatepark”
“There are these Karaoke caravans you can rent for the day, we can park it in front of the park!”
And sure enough our wish was their command and the celebration was on!
Now meet the women that made the event special.
She was shorter than her board but twice as tough, had a need for speed and had the entire skatepark crowd following her every move like a tennisball at the wimbledon finals.
The karaoke bus was like a flytrap, and she was stuck!
An event you must attend this year.
Be on the look out, you will see more of her sooner rather than later!
She was born in AZ and has traveled the world! We would love for her to start doing stand-up comedy because she is extremely funny!
Eventually though the funk in the van was too strong and even she had to join in song and dance!
She did a second try Frontside Boardslide 270 right in front of my eyes, said hi and had to keep it moving!
“Certified, you know I’m gang, gang, gang…”
Scroll down to see what song was being performed at this exact moment.
A sincere THANK YOU to all the women & LGTBQ+ people that came to celebrate with us in the booth we are truly happy to have sung together with you.
A special thank you to Sara Parson-Texas for all the work you put in and Nike SB, Skatedeluxe & Skatehalle Berlin for putting on the event and making people skate and sing their hearts out!
Place Present – A SHRN of absurdities
Sometimes you just can’t express yourself in a language that is not your own, sometimes things are best expressed in your native tongue. The jokes, the customs, the tones, and your culture are all cropped together in the way we speak. I mean how would you express the loss of 3 days of footage in your own language? Kurva, Scheisse, Merde, Godverdomme, Caralho or maybe just a simple FUCK!
Anyway, our friends from Munich made it work and we are dropping this just in time to give them their slightly belated birthday wishes! Congratulations on turning 6 and we hope that the shop and the teams will stay as Bayrish as SHRN needs to be!
Intro by Roland Hoogwater.
Text by Mixen.
Photos by Biemer.
Jawoi! Berlin! —— SOO HOT RIGHT NOW!
Wirklich sau griabige Idee: Hey! Lassts uns moi wieder mim Team wos unternehma, irgenwo hi fahrn? Aber wo hi denn?! Moskau? Mongolei? Türkei? Naaaa, vui z’weit weg und z’stressig! Ah, wahr is, pleite samma a, oder? Ok dann fahrma hoit nach Berlin… Billigtourismus basst a sogt da Münchner.
Na Schmarrn!
Etz gemma nach Berlin, dann kennan mir song dass ma wo hi gfahrn sand, aber mia sparn uns an Diredare für unsane Berliner Teamspezln!
Wia?! Wos?! Berliner Teamspezln?! Ge leck! Ja mei de sand hoit noch Berlin zong de Deppn. Sonst warans irgendwo woasst?!
Klar weil, mi z’München hamma eh so vui Leit vastehst?! Do gibts ne mehra mehr de fia uns fahrn kanntan. Drum schaun ma bloß no wo anderst. Aber scho gwandt ge, dreissg Freid zum packa und koan Diredare! Haha! Deppertster Shopsponsor überhaupts. D’Regierung gfreit si dass oana ned obsogt damits ned so deier werd, hahahaha!
Naa, ganz so schlimm is ned. Aber ehrlich gsogt, mia san a Bande saubana Schlawiner, des is doch wos oder?! D’Leit vo wos woass i woher, aber olle hobn Bock!
Mei, wurscht, mia hams gschafft a Tour hi zum griagn. Is ned ganz einfoch weil immer wenn mia wos macha woin, hots no nia mois ned klappt. Koan Diredare, vastehst?! Oda Faivorite Tour oder Kaaslatschnlsponsor Wettbewerb wos woass i.
Kimmst vo München is Berlin eifoch scheiße. Woass koana warum. Berghain gibts koan bei uns, vielleicht deswegn? Gift is illegal. Mia hobn aber leider vui z’vui Leit de ma meng z’Berlin, desweng meng mas. Aber de meisten Leit fahrn wega da Mess hi. Aber d’Mess is oreidig. An hauffa Dampfplauderer, Deppen überoi de irgend an Schmarrn vazapfan dassd dei Diredare do und do zum deife naus haun soist.
Desmoi aber hamma an guadn Grund! Skaiteboard fahrn, an Kaffee sauffa, bissl an happa happa und a bissl wos sauffa. Irgend a preissn Gwasch wos do hoit so her geht woasst. Z’Berlin is a ned so koit und ma glabt ma is in Espana, brutal!
An dera Stell muass ma ganz ehrlich „Merce“ song bei de Buam von da Place. Sunst hätt ma goa nix fahrn ned kenna. Des brauchtma auf so oana Tour nämlich. Merce ge!
As beste am Diredare sparn is dass ned hi haut!
Mia san noch Berlin gfahrn und unsane Berlin-Spezln san ned do. Deppn greislige. Da Miche Mak hot se sicher seine Haar irgendwo am Meer wachsn lassa, des riach i bis do her. Da Sommerfeld moit de Schmier auf seine Brettl, wos woass i wo?! Wahrscheins weil er sei ruah braucht.
Dafia hamma uns an Roland den oidn Holländer ausglieha und an Pannemann glei no obn drauf. Griabige Burschn sans! As näxte moi machma dann de Tour mit de Civilisten vo Mitte. Saubane Bazen san des, mei liaba!
Was mi friara am Limited brutal oglacht hot war, dass da Gentsch olle zwoa Monat an hauffa Contestberichte gschriebn hod. Und zehn Maß hot er a obe zong. Zefix, brutale arabt!
So etz werds a bissal oag lang drum kirz ma ob:
Mia a brutales Team des ois zam fahrt wos her geht! Wurscht wo und wann oder wos, ois werd her gfahrn das nur so rauscht! Brutal guad de Buam und des Madl!
Is a wurscht auf oana Tour. De zoangs jeden Tag aufm Brettl, in de ganzn Heftl oder am Fernseher. Manche sogar am Wettbewerb. Aber woasst wos d`Hauptsach is? Olle san guad drauf und gschmeidig unterwegs. Voigas gebns uns san zu 100% SHRN. Des werd da klar wennst mit dene unterwegs bist. Merci für eian Einsatz und den guadn Ratsch, is immer a rechte Gaudi mit eich!
SKÄITBOARDING ROCKS!
Bussi, eier SHRN.
Lukas Garbaciauskas in L # 2
Christian Hemmer aka. El Janitore is starting strong with a new Lukas Garbaciauskas section. More of this, Lukas!
Place x adidas – “JUS KICKIN IT” Photo Recap
Most of the time in skateboarding events happen because of a product launch, a video premiere or as the continuation of a festival ala CPH open. For this event, we wanted to create 2 pieces that clicked together like lego but would still stand up as separate entities. We teamed up with adidas Skateboarding to present you “JUS KICKIN IT”
All photos by Daan Dam.
Text by Roland Hoogwater.
PIECE 1:
The first piece was this video by Nizan Kasper in which skateboarding and table soccer were connected. The idea being that we as skaters often frequent bars and participate in barroom activities for fun. We found a table soccer bar called “Kickerbar Platzwart” were we could one, record our table soccer adventures and secondly host our event.
PIECE 2:
Our second piece was our first table soccer invitational tournament. We invited some of Berlin’s finest last Saturday, December the 15th, to join us and play in our 16 team – Two VS Two style – tournament. People were excited and thus showed up in high spirits hoping to win the 300€ “winner takes all” prize purse home with them.
The tournament started with all the teams being divided into 4 different groups, like in a world cup every one in the pool played each other which would culminate in the top 2 moving on into the KO phase of the tournament. Hopes were high but so were the skillsets between the teams, certain people found out right away where they stood where others fought to stay in the tournament with mixed results.
At the end of the first KO round we were left with the 4 best teams that then battled it out in the semi-finals: Team Lensing VS Max Obert & Eric Erhardt and Paul Röhrs & Finn VS Sascha Scharf & Philipp Oehmige. Needless to say, the games got more intense, hands got sweaty and nerves got tested as the money got closer to the winner’s pockets.
The finals ended up being the best versus the best, Team Lensing played Paul Röhrs & Finn the number 1 and 2 of their respective groups. Paul and Finn had beaten Team Lensing in the group phase and as such, they were feeling confident as the finals approached. On the other side of the table, Team Lensing was hungry and focused on winning not only to win the money but also because they wanted to restore their damaged pride.
In the end, Team Lensing got their revenge and beat their competitors 6:0 in a long and hard-fought final game. Both teams shook hands and agreed that the score did not represent the level of competition in the finals but the right team had come out on top.
Radio Baws and Kreuzberg local Arne Krüger then took everybody outside for the ceremonial champaign money shot!
What is left to be said? First off, Thank you to adidas Skatebarding for the continued support!
Platzwart Kickerbar and Mirco in particular for helping us before, during and after the event!
Arne Krüger (announcer) and Daan Dam (photographer) for covering the event together with us.
And last but not the teams and the crowd for showing up and giving your all. We hope to welcome you again for our next tournament in 2019!
LEVI’S SKATEBOARDING’s “Berlin Bound”
It is always interesting to see new teams coming to town and find their own way and flow in the city of Berlin. The Levi’s Europe squad is pretty young and their latest addition to the team is no stranger to us.
Feat.: Manny Lopez, Edouard Depaz, Quentin Boillon, Ale Cesario, Val Bauer, Lilian Fev, Charlie Munro, Mikey Patrick & Kalle Wiehn.
Place Presents – JUS KICKIN IT
It is with great pride we present to you our newest video by Nizan Kasper with the support of adidas Skateboarding.
This video is almost entirely shot in the “Park am Gleisdreieck” spread through the district Kreuzberg and Schöneberg, located in the heart of the city. Shot within only a few days, we managed to catch the very last good days of the year to spend outside, just to eventually end up at the bar playing Foosball.
Did we ever tell you guys that we low-key really like Foosball? More about the topic bar sports coming soon.
Featuring: Jun Kummer, Valeri Rosomako, Tjark Thielker & Benny Vogel.
Film and edit by Nizan Kasper.
over it
Lenny Cornelius has been following his friends around Berlin with his VHS cam. Good stuff!
Featuring: Jun Kummer, Luis Waterkamp, Basti Eckert, T-Time, Moritz Alte, Anton Jaeger and more…
Neverwhere – MICHAL JURAS
If you ever have the chance to meet him you will love him! Michal Juras is the friend that hypes you up to skate, helps you land your tricks and has a nation on his back! Go get it strawberry!
Ziggy Schaap – “The End”
Sebastiaan Vijverberg, Rob Maatman, Justin Wagener, Robbin de Wit, Pascal Moelaert, Patrick Reins, Woody Hoogendijk, Jelle Maatman, Remco Stolze, Bert Roeterdink, Nick Bax, Bram Schlangen, Jesse Voerman, Billy Hoogendijk, Alex van Zwietering, Jan-Willem den Haan are featured in Ziggy Schaap’s newest video “The End”.
The title of this video is not related to Birdhouse in any way. Instead, it is a way to get some footage out before it ages like milk. Joking…joking there is some really top-notch stuff in here press play to see what we mean.