Skateboard Parks in San Diego

Skateboarding culture has always thrived in San Diego, and recent changes in liability laws have encouraged a jump in the number of skate parks. A good number of top pro skateboarders live in San Diego and often practice and perfect new moves at local skate parks. Pads and helmets (always a good idea anywhere) are required at all parks.

Escondido Sports Center (3315 Bear Valley Pkwy., Escondido, 92025. 760/839-5425. www.escondido.org) has a 22,000-square-foot skate park that includes a mini-ramp, street course, and vertical ramp. Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA (200 Saxony Rd., Encinitas, 92024. 760/942-9622) is very popular among the many pros in this beach town. It has a competition street course, two cement pools, and a classic vertical ramp, installed for the 2003 X games. Ocean Beach Skatepark at Robb Field (2525 Bacon St., Ocean Beach, 92107. 619/525-8486) is the largest park in the city. It has a huge street plaza, bowls, ledges, grind rails, and quarterpipes.

Great Leap

San Diego skateboarder Danny Way, who already held world records for distance and height on a skateboard, set a new world record on July 9, 2005, when he became the first person to jump over the Great Wall of China without the use of a motorized vehicle, and live to tell the tale.