A New York City Skateboarding Vacation

After an early morning flight and getting settled in, Pat Stiener took us to the BQE spot down the street from his place. It's a skate vacation so I decided to leave the camera gear behind and just enjoy the pushing around the city and skating these spots.

Pat Stiener and Josh Stewart live in this Brooklyn loft. Thanks for the couch space.

It seems like every Brooklyn residence has an amazing rooftop view and chill zone. Porpe and Clem are soaking it in before we go on another mission pushing through all that concrete.

That looks like a fine patio to kick it.

One of Pat's neighbor's.

In Florida, we don't know what these things are.

Pat's leading us through traffic to the next spot.

Sometimes things get tight, but it does seem like everyone just accepts skateboarders and bikes weaving through traffic here, at least in this part of the city.

An average city street corner in this neighborhood.

These bikes are $9 a day, $25 a week, or $90 a year with stations all over the city where you can pay by credit card.

In terms of random run-ins with people, New York City is the smallest city in the world. We were taking a break on some stairs and Danny Falla walked by.

And just a few blocks away, we run into Pete Thompson, former skateboarding photographer from the early 90's. He's got some stories.

A fantastic skateboard tourist mission is skating over the Williamsburg Bridge.

There's a great view of the city at the top in the center.

Porpe doesn't want the chicken wire in his photo.

On the other side is a nice mellow downhill cruise.

And then it's right back to the traffic weave.

Pause at a familiar skate spot. This is really hard to get to.

The ride from Manhattan to New Jersey where Street League is goes on in this mobile rave roller with a stripper pole in the center. It's mellow now, but the ride back was super live.

Porpe has to stop and get the Monster girls on his website.

I didn't bring my camera with me today so all I got is my phone and cell phone edit clips, but it looks like everyone else has it covered on the photos.

We're back in the streets pushing around with sore legs now. Pat's got a frontside quickslide here.

Porpe is on it with the frontside quickslide, too. You know who looks better.

We came to Harlem and it's sure looking different than Williamsburg.

The Apollo is just about 100 years old now.

It's a little different skating through the streets of Harlem. I don't think they're as used to skateboarders sharing the roads.

A standout building in Harlem.

We came out here to check out this bank spot in Harlem. It's pretty damn hard to skate. Certainly much harder than you would think a bank is. Ryan has a backside tail stall on it.

A few blocks away, we had to visit the big salad place. Pat Stiener has a quick snap over the fire hydrant. With Jerrry's recent comments on skateboarding, this seems appropriate full circle.

Your mind will explode thinking of all the different possibilities at this spot.

If you have a camera on the subway, you can't not take this traditional photo.

Lots of late nights combined with early mornings means rest whenever you can. What's more gangster than a subway boss nap?

You can get some pretty decent cover band entertainment in the subway.

Now we're at Nike SB's party celebrating the release of Brian Anderson's new shoe. First person I ran into was Brian Delatorre.

What a nice baby mosh pit that started. Ishod is at the center. Does Neckface still need to hide his face or is that just out there all the time now?

Pause for a scene check and some skateboard bid'niss small talk.

Kid Will, OG Polk County, Florida resident, is now a product of the big city.

Rob, Kevin Wilkins from The Skateboard Mag, Kevin Graver from Team Pain, and photo bomb by Matt Milligan from Girl. First place in the blood alcohol content contest is Graver.

Steve Nardelli and RB Umali from 5Boro.

Erica Yary has Porpe's haircut. Dylan Perry and HiDefJoe are reunited Tampa residents in the city this weekend.

Former co-workers before the mess was made at Skatepark of Tampa.

Porpe, Ishod, and Danny. There's clear evidence that it's an open bar. That would be both of Porpe's fists occupied.

Thanks Nike SB and Brian Anderson for a great shoe and nice little party.

Brad Staba will cross any sexual line you put in front of him, even the zipper on your pants. We should all have that level of comfort.

Porpe and his hair cross sexual lines like Brad Staba.

The Street Mayor of New York, Billy Rohan.

My party circle for the minute: Pat Stiener, Joe Pelham, Porpe, Eric Lovejoy, and Danny Falla.

Kevin Graver and Pat Stiener outside deciding on the next bar.

Pat, Kevin, Jeff, Ryan, and Jay. Guess which one is sober.

At a bar around the corner, we found Yonnie and his girlfriend for another excuse to hang out even later.

I went to the bathroom and found this photo on my camera when I came back.

Yonnie's down for the PDA.

Clements and I broke out early to get some sleep, but Josh and Pat weren't home, so some sleep was had on the rooftop. Not a bad sky to nap under.

One more look at that view and we're out for the night.

Early the next morning, it's right back to pushing around.

If you go to New York City, get the unlimited subway pass.

We're at the LES Skatepark now where Chris Pierre Jaques has a switch heelflip over the apple. This kid is killing it.

Vern Laird is fueled by a nice vegan lunch we had.

The LES is a damn good public skate park. Apparently it gets super crowded, though.

Check the sequence to see Chris Pierre Jaques' feeble to frontside noseslide.

Chris has a frontside flip over the apple.

Rockets to Russia with a local going over the apple.

Andrew Singh is Chris's homie. They're both killing it. That's a nollie backside bigspin over the apple.

Vern's about to stomp the bolts on this pop shuv over the apple.

Jesse Fritsch from the Ride Channel and Asphalt Yacht Club also has a rollaway from a pop shuvit on the bolts.

HiDefJoe has a kickflip on his 100 pound filmer wheels.

Porpe is trying his hardest to level out this ollie.

Another random local with a Rockets to Russia snap.

Porpe's switch ollies look better than his regular ones.

Vern's taking a skateboard break. There's no bolts to land on here.

After skating all day, we headed over to catch the Street League Finals. Congrats Chris Cole for taking home 200k. I left my camera behind and took the night off. All I got is some phone photos.

After Street League, it's party time that starts in the streets where the smallest city in the world proves itself again with a random run-in with former Tampa resident, Piro Sierra.

Spotted in the party are some Nike Air Mags. Wow, how can you be comfortable with $10,000 sneakers on in the club? I had to poach an obnoxious cell phone flash photo of them.

We couldn't spend too much time at the Diamond After-Party due to the great problem of having multiple parties to attend. Thanks to Asphalt Yacht Club, we're invited to the MTV Video Music Awards After Party. We're rolling in with Stefan and Jess. Stefan's gear of choice is two t-shirts with the outer one cut down the middle. He calls it a shirtigan.

Once we were in the VMA Awards After-Party, it was mind blowing for commoners like us. Every single girl in here seemed like she was nine feet tall and straight off the pages of Cosmo. People at the door were pleading to get in while the bouncer made announcements that everyone should stop wasting their time trying to get in if they weren't on the list. We saw Leonardo Decaprio cut the dance floor and go up to hang out with 2Chanz here while he did a few songs. I could have people-watched the whole damn night in there. Thanks Asphalt Yacht Club and Jesse for having us in here. What a night.

When we left the VMA Awards Party at about 4am, there were still tons of people outside trying to get in or maybe get a glimpse of a star, plus full families hanging out with children in tow. What a night. About three hours later, we had to get up and head to the airport to go home. Best skateboard vacation ever in NYC. We'll be back. Thanks ya'll.