A Weekend in Venice Beach

Run back the beginning of Video Days, the London footage...

The madness began Friday evening in the concrete Venice Skatepark. The bowl jam had a new tombstone element thanks to Keen Ramps and the Cash for Tricks went off. Then the tombstone was removed and the next event was "Longest slide or grind that's not a 50-50." We did our best to capture the action. Peep the IG recap:

Sky Brown went nuts, local Haden McKenna shut it down, Issei Sakurai did mach-speed frontside feebles, Yuro Nagahara held onto the longest frontside boardslides and Cory Juneau did a backside lipslide we didn't think possible.

Next up was the head-to-head death races starting in the snake run next door. Sky Brown won the women's bracket while Cory Juneau won the men's

Then it was onto the Natas-inspired hydrant spin challenge. Andy Anderson and Ryan Decenzo were able to pull off some Natas Spins, then it was onto a good old fashion "tricks over the hydrant" jam. Make sure you watch the above video until the end. All that, and we're only getting started!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning we were treated to a private brunch thanks to Red Bull and Juice Magazine to honor Tony Alva on his 68th birthday! There was also a touching tribute to photographer Wynn Miller with his family present. Wynn's photography of TA and the Dogtown scene was so important in capturing that seminal scene and educating us all about the roots of skateboarding in Venice.

Shepard Fairey even recorded a couple of video messages wishing TA a happy birthday and showing off some new collab art with Wynn Miller's photos and Jim Muir's decks.

After the amazing morning, we were off to the basketball courts to see some insane wallriding:

Unthinkable heights were reached, but in the end, Roman Pabich went the highest.

With the afternoon came the Main Event at the Windward Plaza setup that Red Bull built especially for this event which incorporated remakes of famous Venice landmarks like the beach hubba, the volcano pillars at the Pits and the double kink rail that Gonz slid in Video Days. Did you run that part back yet?!

Check out our IG recap below, and the official Red Bull replay on Youtube below that.

At the end of the day, CJ Collins' tricks on the smoking pillar were probably the highlight of the weekend. Check them out in this video:

After all that madness, the sun set on Saturday and we mingled with everyone from the youngest skaters to the elder team managers at Belle's Beach bar a block away. Venice may be overpriced and still a bit grimy, but the ocean water was warm and legends from all over the world pulled up and put on a show. Venice Beach's place in skateboarding history will never be forgotten.