Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Streets on fire: Greetings from Santiago!
An estimated 20,000 skateboarders reside in the greater metropolitan area of the Chilean capital city – let's roll with them!
South America is skateboarding's great untapped wellspring. The first to make their mark internationally were the Brazilians, of course, but in their wake almost every country in Latin America has made its own contribution to skateboarding on the world stage, from Argentina’s Diego Bucchieri and later Milton Martinez, to Peru's Angelo Caro, Colombia’s Jhancarlos Gonzalez, Chile's Matthias Torres and so on.
One of the reasons for this emerging phenomenon is that skateboarding, with its relatively low requirements for terrain on which to learn and cost impediment to beginning, is almost tailor-made for South America's youthful gusto.
Marcelo Jiménez – Smith Grind
© Alfred Jürgen Westermeyer/Red Bull Content Pool
Go Skateboarding Day in Santiago
© Red Bull Content Pool
Welcome to Santiago
© Cristian Saavedra
Jesus Munoz – Monty Grind
© Luis Barra/Red Bull Content Pool
Marcelo Jiménez – Frontside Air
© Alfred Jürgen Westermeyer/Red Bull Content Pool
More city skate reports...
It's often pointed out that skateboarding is massive in Brazil (the country has its own hermetically-sealed skate industry), but skateboarding is a gigantic movement in several South American nations. Mike Vallely’s one-man demo in Mexico City in 2008 drew in excess of 100,000 devotees for example. Of those largely unknown skate nations, Chile is the sleeping giant, with its capital city, Santiago, home to an estimated 20,000 skateboarders.
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Where's good to skate in Santiago?
- Military School - This handrail meet-up spot for skaters across the city serves as a starting point for missions down through the descending streets of the city below.
- Las Condes - Home to the proving-ground LAN stair-set, the smooth surfaces of this relatively affluent neighbourhood make it a favourite location for night sessions.
- Providencia - This district is where you'll find the wallrides of Los Leones church, which have been skated continuously for over 30 years. From here you can also take the funicular railway up the San Cristóbal Hill and then skate back down with staggering city views toward the Pacific.
- Parque Bustamante - This staggeringly successful DIY skatepark at the confluence of all the city's radial boulevards is the most central skatespot in the city. It also has a cool bring-and-buy fair, which is a great way to meet the locals and buy (or trade) some cool stuff.
- Los Reyes - Santiago's superb first public skatepark introduced bowl-riding culture to Chile. It kick-started Santiago's neighbourhood skatepark revolution, which runs to the dozens today.
- The Warehouse - The city's first indoor spot has proven a winter lifeline for a skate scene where the latitude and proximity to the Andes mountains makes for punishingly cold winters.
Skateboarding was effectively imported to Santiago in the late 1970s when, as legend has it, a group of kids visited the USA, brought a grip of boards back and, in effect, started a shockwave that brings us to the present day.
Marcelo Jimenez was just another face among many at Go Skateboarding Day
© Luis Barra/Red Bull Content Pool
In the streets around here you always find people or situations that are unique – you might even say surreal
When, in 1989, Chile's military dictatorship gave way to democracy, the economic flourish which followed saw an effective rebuilding of Santiago's downtown area.
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Need a skate shop in Santiago?
- Try Life Boardshop in Providencia or Trauma Skates on Bombero Adolfo Ossa.
Marcelo Jimenez taking it easy on Go Skateboarding Day
© Luis Barra/Red Bull Content Pool
It wasn't until the emergence of Go Skateboarding Day in 2004, however, that the city council realised the demand for skateparks and the city began to become a skateboarding trailblazer – not only as a destination for skateboarders throughout Chile, but wider Latin America as well.
More great South American skate content
This episode of Greetings From Santiago hears that remarkable story, as told by the skateboarders who made it all happen. Just wait until you see how many skaters hit the streets of Chile's capital city every year to wild out!
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