KCDC will be hosting fundraiser party for the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti. We ask you to PLEASE stop by and show some support. All details are on the flyer below. Thanks. – Everyone @ KCDC!
Created by a life-long skater Nevett Steele III and model Amy Gunther, KCDC Skateshop sets the standard pretty high in terms of skate shops.
Located in the now super-trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn, KCDC has stayed true to the roots of skating in Brooklyn, keeping the beat of an old school community alive and kicking… and pushing.
Aside from just being a super legit skate shop with sick clothing, shoes and skate gear, it’s one of the coolest places to visit, spend the afternoon skating the mini ramp and chilling with Danny Falla http://5boro.com/crew.php#, the most recent addition to the 5Boro pro team. (He’s so cool.)
What impresses me most is that it is accessible to anybody.
As a female I sometimes find it intimidating to walk into a shop for the first time. Not KCDC though. I happened to catch Amy on The Daily Habit on Fuel TV. She isn’t only gorgeous, but super cool and her attitude toward encouraging more girls to skate is awesome. There are rumors that there will be an all girl skate jam on the KCDC miniramp. I’m so down.
“KCDC doesn’t exist to give off heavy vibes; we just want to keep skating positive and keep people skating.”
Despite its hardcore appeal, there is no ‘tude at this shop, just good old fashioned customer service and a lot to look at.
What you’ll see when you walk in the door is the infamous KCDC 6 foot mini ramp, where contests like The KCDC Carnage are held that give skaters a chance to win a little $ and recognition.
Local Shop – Local Brands – Shoes in Girl sizes??!!!
KCDC carry a variety of skate gear, including clothing by local designers. The girls selection is really good, which is unusual for skate shops and the shoe sizes actually run in my size. In fact, I had been trying to find Lakai Manchester Selects in a boys size 5 for awhile now and there they were, in my favorite color, featured to the left.. man they are pretty, comfy too!
And an Art Gallery?
What don’t they do? In addition to the shop, KCDC has gallery space that features art openings, video premieres, and other parties because the owners feel very strongly about promoting up and coming artists and companies in the community.
If you were looking for a place in Manhattan that specializes in longboardings, then you’ve finally found it. Plus you can get yourself that emo haircut you were always looking for. I’m a huge fan of innovation and creative thinking, I don’t think you could possibly get more creative (or cool) then a barber board shop.
Sergio’s features Bustin Boards, which you I talk about a lot because they are a quality group of guys who put 200% into what they do. Plus they host several longboarding events, such as Green Skate here in the city that are generally open to any skater, any age, at any level. They are super cool so don’t be afraid to just walk up and say "hey".
Sergio’s Barber Shop is at 45 First Ave between 2nd & 3rd.
The place is hard to miss with its neon signs and dope grafitti mural inside, and will soon be featuring the new Bustin Sojoutn as well. So the next time you’re in the LES, check it out and support yout new local Bustin distributor….and if you know whats good, you should stop by Puebla Mexicana a few doors down for the chicken mo-le (thats hot peppers and chocolate) burrito with homemade sour cream, the best this side of the Rio Grande. -Brooklyn Barbarosa
Blades sometimes catches slack in the skater community for being a “corporate” shop.
The “core” elitists can gripe all they want.If you are looking for the absolute best customer service, a HUGE variety of shoes and skateboard product, and a genuinely nice store to shop in, then Blades is a place to check out.
Fantastic Skateboard Selection For Every Level of Skater
Blades carries an affordable selection of completes, which are boards that are already set up with hardware, as well as a wide selection of trucks, wheels and bearings.
Longboards: As the popularity of Longboarding grows, it would be cool to see some other brands mixed into their usual stock of Sector 9s. They sometimes carry Earthwings too and some SHUT oldschool stuff. Would love to see some local brands, like Bustin.
Two Locations
NOHO Downtown – 659 Broadway, NYC(212) 477-7350
Upper West Side – 156 West 72nd St, NYC(212) 787-3911
Our favorite of the two stores is the Upper West Side location. Of course we live uptown, so it’s the most convenient, but as a local…. I just like this store better.It’s busy, but never too busy.
#1 Customer Service
We’ve been to every skate shop in Manhattan. While we don’t pick favorites, we definitely can say that when it comes to service and convenience, Blades is on the top of our list.We visit the Upper West Side location regularly.
Chuck and George, the managers of the Upper West Side location are avid skateboarding enthusiasts, yet they are cordial, unintimidating and they type of personable role models that you’d want your kids to look up to.What really amazes me, is how much pride they take in their job. They recently put a lot of work into redesigning the UWS store and the new layout is fantastic. On a daily basis, the staff of both Blades locations are quite meticulous at keeping the store tidy and the boards neatly displayed, and the displays change frequently enough to keep me curious to see what’s new.
Why?Because the owner empowers his employees
I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard really great things about the owner, Jeff. He encourages his staff to more then just ‘dudes working in a skate shop’ and the pay off is evident when you walk in the door. Many of the shop decks were designed by employees of the store. Some of their designs are amazing works of art.
Just yesterday, Joe and I hit up the West Side Blades looking for shoes.As can be expected of this establishment, the staff was 100% on their game. In fact, Joe was completely on the fence about buying shoes, but when he was asked “Hey why don’t I go grab them in your size so you can check them out?” he couldn’t say no.Joe loves his new grey Adidas.
Part of the skateboarding community
I’m a moderator for a local Skateboarding Meetup Group.On about a monthly basis, we have our social mixers at the Blade’s Upper West Side location after the store closes.They host our little party after hours, hook us up with Pizza, skate videos and a nice little discount. Our Meet Up group really appreciates that the staff and the owner host this event for us. Thanks guys!
NYPD – The Upper East Side’s core surf, snow and skateboard shop in Manhattan.
New York Pipe Dreams Located at 1623 York ave (between E. 85th & 86th st) in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City 10028 is open daily from 11am-8pm Monday – Sunday.
When you want to take your kid somewhere to buy a skateboard, this is the place. The guys and girls at the shop will help you out and tell you about all the best spots to skate. If you are looking for a new skateboard, protective gear or some super sick clothing labels, New York Pipe Dreams is your spot to hit up.
Sick Team
You can find some of their team guys hanging out playing S-K-A-T-E at Carl Schurz Park at the clay courts. Those guys are super sick, but don’t worry they are really cool so don’t be afraid to say hi.
Awesome selection of clothes this season!
Dante did good work this year. The bags are sick! The clothes are dope. And the shoes are Es, Emerica, Etnies, Zoo York, Volcom, Nike SB, Hurley, Billabong, and more!!! So stop by and check this stuff out.
Girls Skate Clothes and Shoes
Finally!! A shop that knows girl’s skate too! It helps that one of their staff is a girl skater. Say hi if you see her. Call her Stank, dunno why. That’s her name.
Rival Skate Shop in Tribeca is not, in any way, glossed over for commercial appeal and is clearly a venture driven by devotees of the east coast scene.. skateboarding… Nike sneakers… and hip hop.
$45 Skateboard Decks with grip (no tax) is hard to come by in Manhattan, actually it was impossible unless you get lucky with the toss out pile.
The product Rival carries is legit and a lot of it is local and/or features local skaters like Jason Dill and Stevie Williams. You’ll find decks by 5 BORO and SHUT, Alien, DGK, Organica and Expedition. There was bike stuff too.
"Dude, that’s Vinny Ponte. He’s like the first guy to ollie the love park 4 in 1993. "
The ambiance may be minimalistic but it is organic to skateboarding with exposed brick, cement floors and a box to sit on. The guys there “mess around with it outside sometimes”. It was pretty gnar. My feet dangled. I would totally want to see what went down though.
$45 Skateboard Decks with grip (no tax) is hard to come by in Manhattan, actually it was impossible unless you get lucky with the toss out pile. This is one the primary reasons I think Rival is my favorite downtown hardcore shop. My favorite display in the entire store was a tall cardboard “bronation” box by the door that read $5 skateboards. If you have old boards lying around, drop them off so that some kid can get lucky one day. It’s just a cool thing to do.
If you are a skater, a NIKE SB lovin sneaker fan, or hip hop mixtape head, then you have to drop down to Tribeca and check this place out. There’s a likely chance that if you do, you could come face to face with a local legend…
..but Vinny Ponte is a pretty cordial guy so you can just lurk about and stare at the selection of sick merchandise (while pretending to not be impressed). Whatever you do, it’s worth your time. If you’ve ever seen videos of Vinny skate he trucks, hard. You can find some ill videos of him and Danny Supa hitting New York and Philly on youtube, Vicious Circle and All Systems Go. Vinny, aka djRiddler, can also be found in some ill hip hop footage with Raikwon, from Wu-Tang. Wu-Tang!
Formally known as SHUT Skates in the 80’s and responsible for the upbringing of Zoo York before they handed it off to Marc Ecko. Shut Skates were the most memorable decks from when I was a kid. The print color/stain combos pretty sick and I particularly love the graffiti art that they still used to this day.
Buy From Local Shops: When you go to buy a skateboard, remember where you are and to support your local brands.
The guys who started companies like SHUT (Rodney Smith/Bruno Musso) and 5 Boro (Steve Rodriguez) are the same guys who have culitvated and supported the local scene.
They host and sponser events and hand out free stuff to city kids, but mostly they are diplomats of the NYC and the hardcore east coast scene.
SHUT is one of the oldest East Coast skateboarding brands still operating (for the second time). Rodney Smith, a local OG skate hero and legend, was among some of the first to realize that in order for the East Coast to get any recognition, the skaters would have to do it themselves, because the fact was that nobody was paying attention at the time.
They were doing it before anybody else, grinding handrails, skating ledges and plazas and holding guerilla style skate competitions, rigging electric from light posts to run PAs.
The skateboarding industry was strictly a west coast operation. The image that appealed to the big industry boys was the blond hair, surfer look. Rodney and his crew took to the deteriorating urban landscape and explored their world with a “new school” vision.They didn’t have skate parks, pools, or ramps like they did in places like California and Florida. Instead they innovated ways to turn private, public and forgotten spaces, into their playgrounds, the hard streets into their sanctuaries and their frustrations and motivation evolved a simple toy into freedom and expression, an achievement that modernized street skating.
That was the thing, nobody was skating as hard core as the East Coast regime, yet the industry wasn’t making the kind of decks that they really wanted and they didn’t exactly approve of the image either; Enter SHUT Skates Take I.
Spearheaded by a gang of unknowns like Jefferson Pang, Sean Sheffey, Coco Santiago, Chris Pastras, Barker Barret, and Felix Arguelles, the Shut Skates Team terrorized the burgeoning Street Skate scene.It wasn’t long before California got Shut’s message. They got it loud and clear. Eventually, the Shut team members were drawn to California by the skateboard establishment. End Act I. Begin Intermission.
I’m personally a huge fan. Have a small collection of originals including an original and a super fly, personally autographed, shark. Thanks!!! I saw Rodney at Deathbowl to Downtown, met him briefly. Though at the time he was injured and not standing, he’s a stand up guy. Jermy Henderson was always a legend in my family. Felix Arguelles is one of my favorites, as is Luis Tolentino, currently the record holder for the highest ollie.
If you were looking for a place in Manhattan that specializes in longboardings, then you’ve finally found it. Plus you can get yourself that emo haircut you were always looking for. I’m a huge fan of innovation and creative thinking, I don’t think you could possibly get more creative (or cool) then a barber board shop. 
Two Locations
$45 Skateboard Decks with grip (no tax) is hard to come by in Manhattan, actually it was impossible unless you get lucky with the toss out pile. This is one the primary reasons I think Rival is my favorite downtown hardcore shop. My favorite display in the entire store was a tall cardboard “bronation” box by the door that read $5 skateboards. If you have old boards lying around, drop them off so that some kid can get lucky one day. It’s just a cool thing to do.
I’m personally a huge fan. Have a small collection of originals including an original and a super fly, personally autographed, shark. Thanks!!! I saw Rodney at Deathbowl to Downtown, met him briefly. Though at the time he was injured and not standing, he’s a stand up guy. Jermy Henderson was always a legend in my family. Felix Arguelles is one of my favorites, as is Luis Tolentino, currently the record holder for the highest ollie. 
