Finally, a Safe Place to Do the Noseblunt Slide

By Peter Bailey

Sean Peterson admits that his "desire to be creative can be destructive." The photographer, 29, from San Bernardino, Calif., has been arrested six times for his skateboarding activities--on charges ranging from trespassing to, most recently, skating without pads. As authorities across the country crack down on illegal street skating and push to make plazas skaterproof, a growing number of cities are creating spaces in which street skaters can do their acrobatics with impunity. There are already more than 1,000 of these skate parks, but they're getting overcrowded, and they typically lack the handrails and steps of city plazas that make popular tricks like the noseblunt slide and switch backside tailside possible.

That's where Rob Dyrdek comes in. In conjunction with DC Shoes, Dyrdek, a professional skateboarder from Kettering, Ohio, decided to "re-create the ultimate plaza" in his hometown. The $640,000 park, set to open in late November, was designed by Dyrdek to mimic urban plazas like Philadelphia's Love Park. "We're creating a skater's dream, no-holds-barred and skate at your own risk." For the nation's 10 million street skaters, that's an invitation hard to resist. --By Peter Bailey