Skateboarders Revel in Newfound Freedom at Ventura Mini-Park

Five skateboarders swooped down the side of the bowl, did a midair flip and shot back up the other side.

The only sounds were the thwack of wood against concrete, the scrape of wheels on metal and the clatter of skateboards landing.

There were no shouting store owners, no patrolling policemen, no honking cars and no irate pedestrians.

With the official opening Thursday of the city’s second mini- skateboard park at Pacific High School near the Buenaventura Mall, Ventura’s midtown skateboarders now have a place to catch some air in peace.

“I like it. It’s cool,” said 13-year-old Teague Savitch between stunts. “You can skate here without getting harassed. At the bank, the workers come out and tell us to leave.”

“Or the cops come and take our names and our boards,” added his friend Logan Debone, 14.

The circular bowl-like park is about 65 feet in diameter and 3 1/2 feet deep, with curbs and mounds to simulate skaters’ favorite spots on city streets and parking lots. There is a perfectly round bowl with a metal rim. On the other side is a kidney-shaped area with launching points.

Around the edges are concrete rails to slide along.

The Pacific High School park is the second of three skateboarding mini-parks opening across the city to give frustrated skateboarders a place to flip ollies.

Each park has different features, said Mike Montoya, Ventura’s park manager. The first park, featuring a circular bowl and a railing, opened July 10 at Westpark on Ventura Avenue. The Pacific High School park has a separate rail slide.

A third park is scheduled to open at Hobart Park in east Ventura in about a month, Montoya said. That park will be rectangular and sport a rail slide and jump features.

When the city decided to ban skateboarders from downtown several years ago, city leaders promised to find the teenage stuntmen a place to do their thing.

It has taken three years and $129,000 to fulfill that promise, but at last skateboarders will have somewhere to go that is free.

Rather than constructing one large skateboard park, city leaders chose to build three small parks.

They decided to spread them across the city so children could easily reach them on their bicycles or by public bus.

Politicians, city officials and more than 50 skateboarders turned out for the official opening of the Pacific High park.

“It is really gratifying to see the skateboard facility in use,” Montoya said. “Kids were using it even before it was officially open. It looks like we really hit the nail on the head this time.”

The only strange thing was there were no girls.

“I’ve seen one,” Teague said. “But I guess they’re intimidated.”