Maybe this is an overly New York-centric opinion — or maybe it doesn’t matter because the following statement is so fucking stupid — but it is possible that the ride-on rail behind Stuyvesant High School in Battery Park is the most consequential ride-on rail in history.
In paying homage to Alien Workshop’s heritage by switch 5050ing the rail that Lennie Kink had grinded across in the nineties, Jake Johnson ignited a road to acceptance for ride-on grinds in pro skateboarding videography. They had existed before as a mere novelty, but Jake’s Mind Field part rustled awake the world’s third eye towards their possibilities, just as it had for other much-discussed facets of post-Jake-in-Mind–Field skateboarding. Ride-on grinds have been everywhere in the ~15-plus years since.
And now, it’s gone. Or at least slated to be any day now as part of a wave of climate resiliency renovations alongside many waterfront parks in Lower Manhattan. Those token ride-on grind deniers in the comments of any modern video can rejoice: their original enemy has been vanquished. But a million clones have, and will continue to follow in its wake.
