A place to go when board

Deirdre Newman

When 8-year-old Kole Escher wants to skateboard, he opens up his

garage door and starts grinding on the halfpipe in his driveway in

Costa Mesa.

Devon Speth, 13, also has a halfpipe -- a U-shaped ramp used for

skateboarding -- in his front yard in Newport Beach.

When Ryan Groat, 29, wants to skateboard, he goes to Volcom’s

private skate park in Costa Mesa that is for employees and their

friends only.

These three illustrate the lengths to which skateboarders will go

in order to fulfill their passion. The skateboarding culture in

Newport-Mesa is almost as pervasive as the surfing addiction, the

sport which it evolved from. Skate clothing companies, like Volcom in

Costa Mesa and Quiksilver in Huntington Beach, have their U.S.

headquarters in the area.

And after a decade-long push from skateboarding fans, Costa Mesa

finally approved a skate park in October so the boarding faithful can

have a hub to make their four-wheeled pilgrimage to.

“It’s cool because we can have a closer place to skate” said

Thomas Terry, 8, a friend of Kole’s. “Most of the places we skate are

pretty far away.”

Skateboarding grew out of surfing in the 1970s. On days that the

waves were flat, surfers would attach rollerskate wheels to

two-by-fours and skate around the parking lots near the beach, said

Jim Gray, who led the decade-long charge for a skate park in Costa

Mesa.

Skateboarding has attracted its own faithful followers -- some of

whom have never surfed -- and surfers have dubbed some of their moves

in skateboarding lingo, like “ollies,” Gray said.

Many adults who are passionate about skateboarding refer to it as

a meditative experience.

“It’s like a gym release, you can forget about everything -- then

you go back [to work] refreshed and sweaty,” said Ben Brough, 26, an

artist at Volcom, where employees who have keys to the indoor skate

park can skate whenever they want during work.

Meanwhile, kids say they like skating just for the enjoyment of

it.

“I just like having fun,” Kole Escher said.

Kole started skating when he was 2 years old. A neighbor across

the street showed him some basic tricks, and he was hooked, he said.

Kole’s mother, Kathy Escher, was a little nervous, though. After

Kole received his first skateboard for Christmas, he slept with it

for two weeks, she said. Two years later, Kole scored his first ramp.

That first, three-foot ramp is now half of the halfpipe in the

driveway of the Escher’s home. A four-foot ramp completes the

makeshift skate park, which has become a popular skating spot in the

neighborhood.

“By 5 p.m., there’ll be five kids skateboarding here,” Kole’s mom

said. “Kole has made new friends and has friends of all ages.”

Kole said he learns different skating moves like the “rock ‘n’

roll,” “grabs,” and the “manual” by hearing about them or seeing

other people do them. He also enjoys playing skateboarding video

games, he said.

He’s a fearless skateboarder who is not afraid to try moves like a

handstand -- which he saw on a video game -- even when he wipes out

and has to take a short break to recover. And, he always wears a

helmet when skateboarding, he said.

Kole is such a good skateboarder that now he’s teaching his

neighbor -- who introduced him to the sport -- new tricks, his mom

said. And he teaches some of his friends, like Carly Searcy, 8.

“He taught me how to skate when I was four years old,” Carly said.

Devon uses the halfpipe in his front yard at his home, “with

everyone else in the neighborhood,” his father Doug Speth said. He

also skates at schools like Newport Harbor High School and Huntington

Beach High School and at skate parks.

“It’s a thrill. It’s just like you can’t get it from anything

else, like jumping off stuff,” Devon said. “It’s dangerous and it’s

fun and you can make new friends from it too.”

Volcom keeps its skate park in a private warehouse because

otherwise it would be overrun with skateboarders, said Steve

Stratton, 26, who manages Volcom’s website and is one of the select

few who has a key to the company’s park. The park was just built six

weeks ago and replaced the company’s former onsite skate park. It

contains a mini bowl, a big bowl -- which is 14 feet high, at its

tallest point -- and a street course that unites them.

“This [park] is mostly ridden by elite skaters,” said Gray, who

goes to Volcom to skate. “It’s a specialized training round for

insane pros.”

Because the park is indoors, the sound of the metal wheels

slamming against the wooden floor creates the kind of cacophony only

skateboarders could love.

“It’s a beautiful sound,” Gray said.

All the skateboarders agree that Costa Mesa’s park is long

overdue.

“I think there’s a lack of places for [skating], so I think the

park is the perfect fit, especially with the kind of people who live

and work in the community,” Stratton said.

While Devon said he would probably use the new park in Costa Mesa,

he said he would like to see a skate park in Newport Beach as well.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.