Vans Sk8Five2 Indoor Skatepark opening x Thrasher Photo Exhibition

Last night Vans hosted the opening of the new Sk8Five2 indoor skate park in Hong Kong's Kwuntong industrial area.  It also served as the opening of an exhibition of 30 years worth of skate photography from Thrasher Magazine (a photo exhibition which was recently shown in Shanghai and has now moved here to HK).

Here's some of the photos I took of the facility:

They did a good job packing a lot of ramps and steps and ledges into a relatively small space.  Although you can't get massive air in here,  the fact that team skaters can now practice all night rain or shine is a big bonus.

I'm not a big fan of taking pictures of pictures, but I think this was my favorite of the exhibition...  Tommy Guerrero in the late 80s at Battery Spencer on the Marin Headlands looking over the Golden Gate Bridge's North Tower.     I've said it before, I'm an old schooler when it comes to skateboards. if it doesn't have Gorilla Ribs,  it doesn't count. :-P

A lot of celebrity guests in the house.  That's Sam Leeof course.  The 24Herbs guys were also present as well including Ghost Style on the DJ decks. 

Photo op time!

Congrats to JBS!

After a bit they started doing some skating demos with the 8Five2 riders.   It was cool to see the place 'in use' as designed:

I had a bit of trouble getting a good pic of the guys against the black ceiling though!

Because of the dust in the air (this is a giant cavernous industrial building mind you!)  flash photography didn't work too well for me. :-P

But still got some good angles. ;-)

Not having skated in a good ~20 years,  I decided to focus my attention on the other special item of the night....

the waffle sole waffles! :-P

Vans commissioned this catering guy to make an iron in the shape of their signature waffle sole.  Unfortunately because of the diameter of the iron,  these are the equivalent to like women's size 3 shoe....  unfortunate because they tasted so good, I wish they were bigger!

This was actually my 2nd of 3 I ate...  (once the line died down I went back for 2nds and 3rds).   This time I topped it with chocolate and peanut butter.  yum! :-D

Good chance to meet up with my homies Desmond, Nat and Ryan!   between me being in Beijing, and guys like Ryan poppin' kids out,  we don't get to hang as often as I'd like! Good to see everyone.

Thanks to Vans and 8Five2 Shop for the opportunity to check out the new facility!  If you are in HK and want to skate indoors,  check it out at D&E Hang Seng Industrial Building, 185-187 Kai Yip St, Kwuntung, KLN, HK.