His Story of HSA
April 13, 2001 / Revised November 19, 2002

In 1987 the only skatepark that existed in Hawaii was Aala Park. There were a couple of backyard ramps, Grant's, Nalo and a few scattered mini-ramps, most of these were reserved for exclusive skateboarders. We lived in Hawaii Kai and skated mainly schools and ditches, with the occasional field trip to town. Fourteen years ago skateboarding was even more unaccepted in these "public" places than they are now--rollerblading was only a twinkle in an ice-skaters eye--skateboards were 10 inches wide and 30 inches long, they sold lappers and rails and nose-guards and skid-plates. It was a time when we dreamed of these slick banks in the schoolyards of California and the possibilities in skateparks such as Upland Pipeline and the Del Mar Skate Ranch. It was a time when we only dreamed of more places to ride our skateboards. Ahh, what to do?

It didn't take long for each of us to build ramps at our houses. There were launch ramps, quarter pipes, slider bars and bank ramps. This is what we ended up skating after school. They were pushed out into the roads, cul-de-sacs and sidewalks near our houses. Scattered sessions went down everyday. It probably wasn't until some nervous parents wanted these ramps (sessions) gone that we decided to move them to a mostly-vacated basketball court in Kalama Valley. Ok, some may blame the skateboarders for the lack of basketball rims at these courts, but not so. It was a combination of low rims, heavy locals and heated slam-dunking sessions. Out of the three full courts I think there was one-maybe two rims left, albeit tweaked. So, banking on the inability of the City to maintain the courts, we moved in. Kalama Valley became our playground. We were there everyday after school. Skateboarders from all over Hawaii Kai met there. It was packed everyday, but it wasn't until the infamous "Kalama Valley Skate Jams" that this place blew up. It'd be a Thursday at school and we'd just say, "Skate Jam this weekend boys, spread the word." The word spread in two days and on Saturday the place would be crowded with kids from all over the island. It was an amazing feeling to see what we started and how crowded it became every weekend. We built new ramps, took away old ones. People would drop off unwanted ramps, we'd fix them up and skate them. We held competitions here, totally underground. It was our first real skatepark and it lasted about a year. One day we showed up and everything was destroyed. It looked as though some people took sledgehammers and saws to it. There were splinters of wood everywhere, nails and screws sticking out of everything. To this day we still don't know if it was drunken locals trashing it for fun or City and County finally taking action, we bet on the latter although they are probably one and the same.

1988 must've been an election year because Mayor Fasi announced that he was going to build twelve skateparks around Oahu. And to his credit he started. He built the Kalakaua (Kalihi) and Kailua half-pipes. These were attempts at having ramps at existing recreation centers. They were to be staffed facilities and full-pads. These ramps were free, but obtaining a "Green Card" (cause skateboarders are like illegal aliens) to skate was a standard two-week City process. Kalihi ramp shutdown pretty quick, but not because no one skated it---it was because they were too lazy to staff it. It would've shutdown earlier, but Mr. Ching would volunteer his time to watch the ramps so his kid Edison could skate. He (Mr. Ching) brought many sessions to that ramp that wouldn't have been if it were up to the City. Kailua ramp stayed open longer, probably due to a more motivated (hip) community and staff. These weren't the only parks out of the twelve that Mayor Fasi promised; he built Ewa Beach and Waianae skateparks, which are still around. They are still around because they were done right from the beginning. They were built out of concrete, not wood and they were not only free, but also unstaffed (like a baseball field or basketball court or volleyball court or tennis court). Even with these parks there was a void for most the skateboards on Oahu who lived in town and Hawaii Kai area.

Despite the weekend trips to Kailua, Kalihi or maybe Waianae we still skated in Hawaii Kai. But now we were forced back into the ditches and schools. My fascination with ramps and skateparks didn't die. With each new skate video we saw new possibilities. While the kid next to me in summer school was drawing the "perfect" wave on his notebook, I was drawing ramps---many ramps. I remember showing this one particular ramp I drew to this kid next to me and he gave me this snide, "Why don't you build it then?" remark. "I will." I replied.

That weekend we collected some wood and began constructing. We built this spine/hip/quarter pipe in about three hours. We stuck it at the same Kalama Valley courts, but on the far end in the volleyball courts, which I have never ever seen anyone use. It'd had been a year since the old Kalama Valley Skatepark was demolished, but the same heads came around to check out our newest creation, and we were getting better at it. This thing was solid. In the six days that it was up, it generated a lot of interest from the neighborhood. Cops would drive by everyday and not say a word. How could they really? We were contained. We all met in a park and skated. We weren't in the streets as much or the ditches or the schools. For six days we skated. On the seventh day, Officer Blank came. Asked us to tell him who built it, after all it had to be adults, since it was so well constructed. "We don't know who built it." we stated. One of our ragged hammers was behind the ramp, he took it and claimed it. When we said it was one of ours he demanded a receipt for it right there. A RECIEPT! Who the hell was he kidding? This hammer was like ten years old. He took our hammer and began beating our ramp with it. Now let me see if I can illustrate this to you: Here we are about thirty kids and parents, there they were two cops with our hammer. They were pounding this ramp with it, trying to dismantle it. This thing wasn't going anywhere. It was a hilarious sight. He had to call Parks and Rec to come in, they were not happy. They were this close to burning it down, until we politely reminded him that it looked like (and was) treated wood, and by burning it they would put the health of the neighborhood at risk. That idea was scrapped and they began dismantling it. It took them seven hours that went into the night. The next day we went back and the pile of wood was there, nails sticking out and all---looking somewhat reminiscent of a year prior. Oh and we got it all documented on video.

Now what? Well by then Hickam AFB was becoming a decent park, with a 16ft wide 10ft high vert ramp and a fun mini. Problem being, you had to either be military or be in bed with someone military (this problem still exists today). Between that park and a few new backyard ramps, we seemed pretty content for a few years, mainly skating streets and schools and back in the ditches, with the occasional backyard pool session.

Well we had all finished high school and became college students, the average trespassing bust didn't seem so funny at nineteen. We had to change and so did our attitude. We became proactive with the politics of skateboarding and skateparks in Hawaii. At this time Hawaii Skatepark Association (HSA) was only an idea. We had attended several meetings with parents and followed the voice of the communities. But in 1995 we knew that something had to be done.

(The following four paragraphs below have been revised on November 19, 2002. Names and events may have been omited or changed to protect any concerned parties. We aplogize for any misunderstandings.)

We started getting ideas on paper and discussing what it would actually take. Through one of these meetings we attended we found out that there was some land available on our side of the island. They wanted to throw some benches and launch ramps there on the weekend. I saw this as an opportunity to revisit what we had nearly ten years prior, only now it was "legal" and organized. So we got a hold of Toni Robinson, with the Department of Parks and Rec., who in turned put, us in contact with a small organization, I guess they had put in the request to construct and build the park.

Weeks were spent working with them on a business plan. After a while I realized that a more realistic approach to accomplish our goal was to set out on our own with a much larger organization. So here is the catch. In order to get the land we needed two things: 1. Federal Non-Profit Status (501-C3) and 2. Insurance. Well the 501-C3 takes 6-12 months and about $1200 to get. This small organization had previously applied for this way before the skatepark. I hadn't, I couldn't afford it. They also were working close with an insurance company . What to do.... what to do...

One day I realized that working with them wouldn't work out so I called up Toni Robinson again and asked her if she had a problem if I did the skatepark without this small company. She didn't and that was that. This small company was pretty upset with me and gave me motivation to press on, ultimately telling me that if they got their 501-C3 and insurance before I did that they would take the park from me.

I learned what to do and not to do from the experience with this company and moved on. That week I got really organized and got a new team, Alf Kondo, Mike Bremner, Chad Kahunahana and formed the Board of Directors for HSA. We became a legit Hawaii Non-Profit organization and began the mission. We approached the YMCA of Honolulu. When we met with them we had already got the land reserved, we got the business plan going and we had done all the research about the area and we had met with the community there. They owned their own insurance company and they have got to be the world’s largest federal non-profit organization. So if we could convince them, we got our insurance, and 501-C3. It took a little persistence but it paid off. Kendall Hirata, the Director of the Central YMCA was very instrumental in getting the park in motion. Even though we had everything we needed (except the funding) it still took a few months for all the paperwork to get signed and approved. But it happened and then Kendall asked me to submit a wood list, so I did. I had the wood delivered to the site and called the volunteers down.

It took us four days to build the park and we opened it on July 27, 1997. Check out the YMCA Kapahulu Skatepark page for more info on the park. HSA would run and operate the park under the YMCA. We had several contests and pro demos held there. We would think of things to build, generate the funds and build it. It was Kalama Valley skatepark all over again, but now it was legit and no City and County workers could come and tear it down.

But that last statement isn't totally true. In fact government workers did, with really short notice, come in and literally tore down the skatepark. Read more on the Demise Of Kapahulu page. You know that earthquakes are so prominent in Hawaii that the structural integrity of the freeway was in danger and they needed to so "seismic retrofitting". It was suppose to take 3 months but now it's pushing 2 years, and that's your federal taxes going to work. They probably did finish it in 3 months and are just parking equipment at the site, preventing us from using it---after all it is a great shady spot, a great place to put equipment, but a better place for ramps and kids to keep them off the street.

Maybe one day Kapahulu Skatepark will open again. Maybe there will time to play the politics of it and put future Mayor Candidates to the test to see who really wants to help the skaters of Hawaii get skateparks. Only time will tell, until then the skateboarders need to unite, remember their roots and see if they can perpetuate the dream that they had over ten years ago.