ENCINITAS — A trio of local skateboarding retirees are working hard to convince the city to support the construction of a new public skate bowl at Moonlight Beach.
Encinitas residents Barry Blumenthal, Doug Marker and David Skinner have brought their idea to install a 5,000-square-foot skate bowl near the state beach to the attention of the City Council and the city’s Parks and Recreation staff multiple times over the last several weeks.
According to the group, their proposal has seemingly been disregarded or overlooked.
“We can’t get a response back,” Blumenthal said. “It’s been crickets so far.”
The residents are urging the city to look at other ways to attract visitors to the beach and embrace its unofficial title of “Skate Capital of the World,” which its supporters say it rightfully deserves.
“Encinitas is the world’s capital of skateboarding. All the best skateboarders either come or live here – they should be embracing it like a jewel,” Marker said. “This is our sport. Someone is going to claim that title and it should be where it belongs, which is here.”
The skate bowl would also help to ease the crowds at Poods Skate Park, which can get pretty cramped for skaters at times, according to the three men who frequent the park. The group also pointed out that skateboarding is becoming a family pastime for multiple generations.
“You have grandpa, mom and the kids all out there skating,” Blumenthal said. “You have us – three retired guys – who are skateboarding and want this. The dynamics are changing.”
A new skate bowl could also attract professional skateboarders worldwide and serve as a potential location for a national or international competition like the Olympics.
“We need something iconic,” Blumenthal said. “We need to think about the next 20 to 30 years and how we will attract people here over Carlsbad or another beach town. People want to see something cool. We have the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. It’s not a reach to say they might come out and hold a competition here.”
Blumenthal said the skate bowl must include adequate seating to accommodate a large event, such as an international competition.
According to the group, the city needs to contact the county to request permission to build the skate bowl just like they did with the children’s playground in the early 2000s.
The men also plan to raise the funds privately rather than use public coffers, estimating the skate bowl will cost approximately $500,000. But the group says the city has not responded to their plans.
The Coast News contacted the city for comment. Lois Yum, a spokesperson for the city, said the city had discussed the plans with the group, but the project has not moved forward.
“Our Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts Department has discussed with the group and provided information on the available options,” said Lois Yum, a spokesperson for the city. “Currently, there are no official plans to proceed, and no directives have been issued to advance the project.”
Despite the apparent impasse, all three residents vowed to continue pushing the city to build a public skate bowl at Moonlight Beach.
“We’re not going away,” Marker said.
For Blumenthal, having a skate spot on the beach makes perfect sense, given the sport’s history stemming from surfing.
In the late 1940s or early 1950s, California surfers who wanted to continue surfing even when the waves were flat would attach roller-skate wheels to wooden boards that they called “sidewalk surfers” or “land surfboards” to practice their moves on the sidewalk.
“Skateboarding came from the water,” Blumenthal said. “When you’re skating here and you see the ocean, you start connecting all the dots – it’s beautiful.”
