This place reminds me so much of The Wig. It sits just behind an abandoned recreation center. The best part of it is seeing everyone come together for common good. There are so many different weird things to skate that you rarely see at skateparks, and it’s great to see that it’s not all built by the same person. As time goes on it seems to get better and better, can’t wait to see what gets built next. I feel super lucky that we have something like this again. -Evan Hutchings 

Interview from Derrick Dykes.

Last time we did a feature with you guys The Wig was still standing. It seems like a lot has happened for Detroit skateboarding over the last two years. What are some highs and lows? 

The Wig lost it’s fight with gentrification on September 19th, 2019. It suffered the slowest death of all time and will be remembered by thousands. Fortunately, it’s not all a loss because we identified a new space about 300 feet away where 5th Pocket will be building us a new plaza in 2021. Jesse and Sloan have really been doing some great things across the world and I’m excited to see what they can do here. It’s a perfect fit. But, just before that, we opened Riverside Skatepark, a 20,000 sq ft gem built by Grindline. It’s definitely a different vibe then what we are used to here. We worked so long on getting that big, shiny, million dollar park and now that it’s done, I rarely go there. It’s lit all night and almost always busy. It’s really great to have, but it’s not the heartbeat of the scene here. 

Community Push has really grown as well. What’s going on with the non-profit and what are some accomplishments you’d like to share? What’s next? 

When I started CP in 2014, I wanted to use it as an instrument to be able to do The Wig, while we worked on the larger scale, regional park that ended up being Riverside. But since then, it has turned into much more. It really grew too much, too fast and I wasn’t ready. I struggled to build consistency with it’s staff and operations and just tried to do it all myself and in doing so, burnt myself out. After a two week long pop up we did for “Murals in the Market” the weight of it caught up with me at once and I thought about just walking away. It was working well better than I ever had dreamed, it was and continues to be a success, but I wasn’t happy doing it. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to fix what was ailing me on the fly, so I took some time off and started seeing a therapist. I was fighting with anxiety and depression and had to get control of my own affairs before I could put any more of myself into this. I was falling apart, I didn’t want to skate, let alone volunteer my time helping skateboarders. I was on empty. But over the last year, I’ve learned more about myself than I have the previous ten, and I’m really excited to start CP all over again with some new faces and we’ve got an indoor project coming up as well as a handful of other park/spot projects to come in the next two years. I want to reach every corner of the city before we are done. 

How are the twins and the rest of the kids from the Wig doing these days?

Unfortunately, the gang has been kind of split up since The Wig got dozed. Amir and Rashad moved out of the neighborhood and Jamaree and DaiDai haven’t skated as much as they used to. They’ll still get together when they can get rides and such, but it’s not as easy as it was for them before. I miss seeing those kids all the time, it was really motivating to me seeing them fall in love with skateboarding and progress as fast as they did. They kept me in check. 

So what’s up with this new spot? City approved diy? 

Bishop kind of popped up when the city closed down Riverside for Covid related reasons. A local, Jameson brought up a couple of wooden boxes and it didn’t take long for the cement to come after that. It’s been really cool to see how everyone has come together to work on the space. Almost every build has been a different crew and it’s been like a chess match and speaks volumes of the strength of the scene here. Skateboarders, rollerbladers, and BMX’ers all getting their hands dirty. It’s a bit different than The Wig in the sense that we had got permission to build before, and now we are retroactively trying to adopt the land so it can be a staple for years to come. 

This curb taco looks amazing, anything else going down before winter hits? 

I’ve wanted to build that thing for years. Joey Pepper sketched it up a few years back as part of this design workshop we did with Levis’ and later built it at their indoor (The Grotto). When it was our turn to build at Bishop, that’s all I wanted to do. I hit him up for dimensions and he sent them over with some pointers on what they would do differently if they could do it again. So we took their advice, and it’s one of the coolest things we’ve built so far. 

You work for the city now right? Did you ever expect illegally building something would lead to working for the government? 

Man, I never thought building shit with my friends would get me to where I am now- with CP, or my day job. But, I’m about two years into working for the city’s Park Development Unit as an operations assistant. It’s been great so far and I love the people I work with. They know my background and know what I love to do, and they are letting me do my thing. Skateboarding is such a small part of recreation as a whole, but they recognize the strength of the skate scene here and have started to invest in it. For what it cost us to replace a slide on a playground, we can repurpose an old tennis court into a new spot. So we are starting that next year. You don’t need a million dollars to build a skatepark, you need a creative rec department that trusts skateboarders. 

Any advice to people trying to get involved and really do something within their communities?

Any and all help is important. The person picking up the empty bags of Quikrete are just as important as the one holding the finish trowel. It’s always going to be more work than you anticipate and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Nobody does this on their own.