Park Profiles: Salem, Mass.

The Ryan Brennan Memorial Skatepark in Salem, dedicated to my cousin who passed away after a rollerblading accident, is my home park. This wasn’t the first skate park I rolled, but is definitely the one that I roll most often.

During my teens, and into my early twenties, I would spend up to eight hours a day here; this is where all the local booters session. It was great to know that if I went to Salem there would always be someone skating there. This park became the starting point for all of our crews sessions, no matter where we were going to skate that day.

The park, which is concrete with round copings, isn’t as large as most of the other concrete parks in the area, like Gloucester or Manchester, but it has possibly the best flow.

At the far right of the park there are two concrete benches which have been generously waxed for grinding. Moving to the left, there is a banked-kicker followed by two mini-bumps.

Next to these things is a flat-kicker that rolls right into the low-round rail. In the far right corner of the park is a mini-mini-ramp, which is about 1 ½’- 2’ high with a flat roll-in on the park side.

Down the middle of the park is a 4" spine with 4" bookend-quarter-pipes. These are perfectly spaced, allowing you to keep your speed and put together nice long runs.

On the far left of the park, from the back corner, there is a 4" mini-ramp that has a flat-roll-in on the park side. This roll-in leads right into the fun box, which has three flat sides, one of which rolls right into the 7" quarter-pipe in the front left corner of the park. This is the perfect line for grinds and airs, and since the park in small you can easily keep speed between tricks.

I’d recommend this park to any skaters out there who can get to the North Shore. It has a lot to choose from, and the round copings make it very booter friendly. If you do stop by, I’ll be the kid in the Mindgame-tee and White/Black USD Realms.

See you there.