Ben Raemers. Crailslide. Photo: Jai Tanju

Grandpa’s DIY – La Selva Beach – California

My son Thomas called me at home and told me there was a spot that he thought we could build on. It turns out it’s this neighbor kid Lucas’s house. I really didn’t like this kid much. It seemed to me that they were always fighting, but I rode my bike down there anyway to see what was up. It turns out it was a piece of property that his Grandpa gave him.

Matze Weiland. 5-0 grind. Photo: Benni Götte

Mister Wilson Outdoor DIY Park – Kassel, Germany

A few years before we found the place where we built todays little skatehall paradise including germany’s first indoor concrete bowl and a big wooden street / flow section, we had a much smaller skatehall, just a few hundred meters from our current place.

Antti Vierola. 5-0 nose grab while Juuso Aalto is working. Photo: Samu Karvonen

Suvilahti DIY skatepark – Helsinki, Finland

We had this small skatepark in the early 90s where we built skateable obstacles. Some neighbors complained about the noise and the city people tore it down. We didn’t have a permit to build anything but that didn’t stop us because there was no other skatepark anywhere near. We ended up building several different parks but every one of those were destroyed by the city of Helsinki….