Photos: El Granada Halfpipe, a Skate Ramp With a View

On any given day new school skateboarders and old (those from the pool, street and freestyle era, you know who you are) can be found testing their mettle on El Granada’s new and improved skate ramp.

As surfer’s suit up in the lot at Surfers’ Beach, skaters practice their tricks on the halfpipe. It's a dreamy California scene for most.

The old 3-foot mini ramp was replaced with a 4-foot halfpipe this July thanks to local skater Tim West, who raised the funds for the materials through donations last spring. At the time of his fundraising, West estimated that it would coast $4K for all of the materials. Soon thereafter, friends Adam Upvall and Mike Oliphant were out there building the new halfpipe with 5-foot tombstones made of weather proof material made to last.

The halfpipe sites alongside Highway 1 in the dirt parking lot at Surfer’s Beach in El Granada, a strip of land with property lines not clearly defined as to whether it’s owned by the Granada Sanitary District or the Caltrans highway easement.

Artists Brendan Foster and Pete Collom painted some wonderful artwork on the ramp and there’s a small bench of broken and bent boards that’s surprisingly quite comfy to sit on. Trashcans are around and so is a brown recliner but with regular beach cleanups happening, it probably won’t be there for long.

What hopefully will stay is the skate ramp since it's getting so much use. So come down to see this community project in action. There’s some amazing skating happening right here in our town.

Have you or your kids tried the new skate ramp? Tell your neighbors about it in the comments.