Hello Summer 2009 part 8 of 11
A barbecue grilled slabs of meat and a bonfire shot plumes of smoke into the orange sky. If trucks weren’t off-roading in the surrounding hills, they were below romping in the stinky mud. Music tumbled through shrubs and into the unpaved distance and dozens of skateboarders traded turns rolling into a taco shaped drainage. When a professional skateboarder moves in with a best friend’s family, an 8 year old is instantly introduced to a new lifestyle. The year was 1989 and I learned to skateboard at Taco Land.
Taco Land has managed to remain after over 2 decades of development and other encroaching threats. The bright graffiti is no longer sprayed across the banks and the wax covered parking curbs saw their last grind years ago. A father’s ankle, which broke during a shoeless skate, has long been healed and a family dog lost to a baby rattlesnake still hurts. Plywood again runs along the top like years ago, but from the opposite side and the urban mosaic of shattered glass has all been swept up. The adventure to Taco Land once consisted of a trek through stinky mud, migrate worker camps and crab and razor-clam infested canals. The toughest obstacle today is finding parking along the neighboring road. For someone who was introduced to their first passion and encouraged to keep skateboarding by the most promising skaters, a day at Taco Land can’t help but trigger memories of early childhood adventures… just watch out for rattlesnakes!
As a child growing up in Carlsbad, what local spots were you taken to?
hello summer 2009 parts 1-11 visited and photographed on June 21st
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good old taco land. glad to hear it’s still there. and ya watch out for snakes. I had a buddy get his shoe bit when lifting the plywood. a rattler was creeping under there and launched at his shoe. crazy.
some early spots i remember skating are the hope ditch, the tamarack ditch, and tanglewood street spots. that little ditch off Elm and El Camino was skateable way back in the day before they put the curb in it.
Now I finally know what to look for ! There’s actually wuite a bit you COULD skate down there, but I see that U shaped bank now, and wow….do I need both a short and longboard to hit this town correctly. SO as a 38 year old skater from Detroit who HASN’T SKATED in 15 years, bam, Can’t wait !