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!

225 Hudson Street; 212-929-7222