Hey everyone, another month has passed and we have been blessed with a lot of new videos and events in general in the Baltic skateboarding community. Let’s take a look what has happened!
Starting of hot, Tikari skateshop dropped their indoor video Gym MEGAMIX from the Spot center. This video is a must watch just because of the crazy amount of tricks fit into this 6 minute video and the absolute chaotic music used. Speaking for myself: I love this video! Everything is happening so fast I had to rewind at times to understand what was happening. Again a must watch! Rob did a sick job with the whole it.
Keeping with Tikari for a bit, my good friend Ed Gaba got on the Tikari team! it’s amazing to see him officially sponsored. I can’t wait to see all the clips from Gaba in the upcoming Tikari videos! Congratulations Gaba!
We (rajontv) were also also busy lately, Gaba and Niklavs Vetra headed down to Lithuania to skate the Lithuanian skateboarding federation indoor park. As a result Gaba made a pretty cool video.Also, it is cool to see Lithuanian skateboarding federation President, Justinas Ivoška rip on home turf.
We have also dropped our new merch. Get yourself a piece at your local skateshop, Clockwise or Tikari! The items are available only in skate shops and are limited. Don’t know when we are going to make more.
I my self also have been busy. My fisheye has finally arrived and the same day it came I went out to The Spot Center and got a bunch of filming done for a Fisheye test part 1! after getting a tip from a friend to turn off the stabilizer, I filmed Fisheye test part 2! Stocked how it all worked out and more vids are definitely coming soon.
Some Riga heads who are particularly immune to the cold sessioned outside. Gaba and Edijs Plume were spotted at Hansas perons, some other Og heads at Maxlas. Big thanks for cleaning up the big square at Maxla and making it skateable. Videos provided by Rob who keeps making dope videos with his own style. Keep it up Rob!
The 3rd Girls Only skate and inline Jam has seen a new record of people! Hope to see one in March too!
Weather has been improving a lot recently we got a few days where we could skate street and parks. If you see me and Leo Druka out in the streets of Riga come up and say “Hi” and we will let you in on a secret. Haha that’s about all I have for this month thank you, goodbye!
Winter skatepark content usually has a low rate of re-watchability. But this new video by Tikari skateshop team might be up to something good that will make you want to give it another watch or definitely another listen. Props to the crazy master mind Rob who once again open new dimensions of skate videos.
And as for the rest of us, “Let’s keep on rolling.”
Linards Viksniņš – Front BluntMiks Graņtiņš – SS BS TS/ Not seen on video thoughRob and his third eye
It has been a while since we had a good session on a corner. Riga just has no good corners in indoor parks. But it was not always like that. Both versions of Monster park used to have nice corners, close to 90s style ones. They had banks with the right angles that could through you high if you wanted to. The first version of the park had a steeper corner which mellowed out a bit in the second reincarnation. However, designed by BMXers, these things were still moreon the massive side. Gtiim skatepark on the other hand, had a more modern approach to corner building. Gtiims corner had more democratic proportions which made it accessible to all skill levels and types of people. Even die hard corner haters like myself skated that thing with joy.
The corner in Vilnius SkateHub aka Lithuanian Skateboarding Federation TF is a thought out piece. It is both a nod to 90s’ massiveness and a bit of equality. One side has a steeper bank and the other a smaller and milder slope which is nice to land to. It is big and small at the same time: a biggie smalls of corners. The park has its doors opened to skaters only and that probably made our last session on the corner more enjoyable.
Not a lot of Lermantov parks’ regular dwellers are aware that the concrete bench next to the abandoned library house is a DIY skate spot. Located on the top of the park’s small hill, the bench feels hidden and blends perfectly in the surroundings as if it’s been there all the time. Riga DIY built that bench in May 2020. Ironically both real park benches got destroyed by some vandals (not skaters) and the DIY bench became useful for regular park users. One day we came to skate it and found two ladies sitting on it. Probably after a hard day at work, the bench was a perfect chill spot for them to sip cocktails and chat. We didn’t ask them to move. Instead we left to skate another spot. After all we skate stuff not meant for skating all the time. So it just seemed fair to let people sit on something that was not meant for sitting. They are just the same as us, enjoying their free time.
The bench was perfect and smooth as if build by pro skatepark builders
During building, a passer was intrigued by our work. He observed from a distance, making us feel nervous. Who knows what’s on his mind, he might call the police. To our surprise he was not only supportive of our work but also wanted to give some practical advice about concrete work. He went on to say that he enjoyed moments when generation can meet and exchange experience. Probably this is what DIY is about.
Huge shout out to Riga DIY and it’s founding father Fricix for making this crazy vision a reality.
Hello everyone, Big Mac’s here and it’s already been a month into the new year with many Insta videos coming out and not only. Lets get right into January.
Straight Forward Skateboards posted a trailer for apparently a new video. Just coming off the heat of ‘Viss Taisni’ and already going to work on a new video, excited to see what the team has in store for this one. Insta post says that the company got a hold of some new camera gear for this new project. Does it mean we won’t see the classic (criminal) Hi8 look anymore? That would be a great loss for our community. Also, Straight Forward put out some new gear which is cool, but the mugs got to be the best collectible item yet. Don’t tell me you are going to drink coffee out of it.
Fricis being Fricis hit the streets in January. Out of all winter spots he choose the most unsuitable for the weather conditions.
Our homie Roberts Krūms posted a new video on his instagram called ‘learning to fly’! If you are into art house and weird stuff with philosophical meaning you might not regret watching this vid.
Taking it to Estonia we got a video from Rainer Kaur ‘Nilsi kiire Loigus’ a nice short edit at one of the indoor parks in Estonia. Video has a bit of a quick pace with some really cool looking tricks and a nice laid back song.
Back in Latvia we had another girls only Skate/inline Jam and Lindahas a few sentences about it: We were a bit scared before the first event because we thought we won’t be able to get together because of omicron, however there were 18 skaters. It is awesome to skate together as you want go faster and jump higher.
Seemed like a good time, we hope to see another Skate/inline Jam soon again. They also managed to get some cool pictures too! Photographer: Kristiāna Eglite
Yeah that was about it this month, we got some ideas and plans sometime soon but for now its quiet and empty, stay tuned for next months recap we hope to see the weather get better and maybe even a day or two where we will get to skate outside.
In 2014 Roberts Krums lived in Jersey and would come to Latvia once or twice a year. That August of 2014 he stayed for around three weeks and we’d filmed a bunch of stuff. Mostly the clips got used in R City 3 where Rob had a part.
Fun times. LNB was completely fresh. It had different tiles and no skate stoppers. We’d skate there a lot but also around other spots. There wasn’t really a hangout spot at that time and instagram videos were just becoming a thing, so we’d skate everywhere and filmed everything that happened on the camera. And now we can watch it.
The start of the year was quite interesting. I didn’t know what to write about for some time although I have topics planned out for the future. I felt like I want to do something different.
We had a meet up on 30th of December. It was really cool to see so many girls together in one place. We were 21 in total: 16 skateboarders and 5 inline skaters. @sb.girls came from Ventspils. Big up for that! I heard that someone even placed bets on how many people will show up. We surpassed the expectations. But there was a wtf moment like where were all of you before? Hope we will all skate again. Overall, it felt great.
I was asked to define what this column is about in general. Thinking about that, I can’t say anything specific, rather, we have a chance to witness the rise of skateboard culture among women in Latvia. I have a chance to be a part of that, share it and live it. Of course we will talk about more specific topic here. It is like a living organism that develops or stagnates. Where will it all take us? I don’t know. I smile and hope that this will lead to at least a couple of great sessions and on at least on sick trip. Well, let’s wait and see…
Not going to talk a lot today, will just grant you a hip hop/ trap playlist from myself, Linda, Uma, Karlīna, and Tīna.
Another year has passed, and Latvian skateboarding is still in the same place as before. What this place might be you ask? It is a special place. As always most of the best things that happened around here were DIY initiatives by selfless fanatics. Rarely any budgets or any other gain was involved, so everyone who’s in the scene do it because they enjoy it. And that is pure and beautiful.
In this quick recap we look back at some of more memorable moments in our small scene form 2021. This is RajonTV view on what was going on, so if you think we missed anything, feel free to express yourselves in the comments below.
Linards PRO!
Linards. Pro as FUCK 🙂
Linards Viksniņš pro inauguration was the most talked event this year! Linards already had an interesting skate story. He grew up in a small village of Grundzāle and developed his powerful style skating DIY constructions in a shed. Upon arrival to the capital, he quickly got noticed and hooked up. That could have been the pinnacle of skateboarding career development in Latvia, but no! Linards went further. In summer of 2021 Straight Forward Skateboards turned Linards pro! This made Linards the second professional skateboarder in Latvia. He even got paid in beer. Congrats Linards! We love you!
Viss Taisni
Viss Taisni by Straight Forward Skateboards was the biggest video in 2021. Armands Baumanis, the video author, took the film on a premiere tour around Latvia, making three premieres. Every premiere had something special and we will mention some of these special moments in this list too. In a classic Pis Taisni fashion the video had a lot of surprises, hijinx and dope moments. If you haven’t seen it already, you are blowing it. Either one clips or a full part, the video features almost everyone in our skate community. Aramands filmed a lot of it and also got a full part with an ender at Uzvara. The movie big ender is Olafs Suņux’s kickflip down Barax Gap that he worked on for 7 years. Bravo Suņuk! woof. woof! Respect.
Skate Arcade
Skate arcade is a fun contest format where everybody could participate. Madars Apse set a weekly trick challenge and skaters had to repeat the tricks and submit them for review. The video editing and creative ideas were also evaluated, so no matter how good you were at that trick you could still impress Madars and get scores. Best scoring skaters would get a chance to skate in the final showdown on a roof top of Domina. Our Gs from the Latvian Skateboarders Collective (LSK) put in good work to build that park. Some obstacles migrated to other places after. Good thing that the contest was broadcasted live, so everyone could enjoy some thrilling contest moments.
VEF DIY
VEF in October 2021
Latvian Skateboarders Collective (LSK) saved VEF DIY from its inevitable doom. The demolition of the DIY had already started with the main quarter getting beaten up. Quick reaction from the community led to a few meeting with people at VEF. Thankfully they were interested in keeping the place. VEF DIY could have turned into a parking lot, but it is still with us and is an important skate spot in our city. Take your visiting homies there next summer.
RIGA DIY
This summer Riga DIY & co. made some DIY upgrade for go skateboarding day in Riga. The Miera street ledge got an extension and a bank. The BMXers rail spot got that pickup truck with a kicker. Also, the Piena Ledges were born which was probably the most important DIY contribution this year. That place defined warm summer skate days. You could meet up at Maxlas Muzejs skate there a bit, cruise up Skolas street and get to Piena ledge. Shout out out to Riga DIY for these upgrades.
The Trip
Tikari skateshop made a comeback to the scene this year. The shop was opened all summer and brought some diversity to the brand mix in the city. The guys are also actively supporting local heads. This summer we went on a trip with them to Cesis to hang out and film with their young team riders: Edijs Plume and Artis Strazdiņš. Looking forward to what the guys are going to bring.
Granja Game of Skate Champ
Viss Taisni prem in Liepaja got a big portion of Riga heads out of Maxlas and Piena ledges. Besides the screening, Straight Forward skateboards held a game of skate championship where Miks Granja had to defend his title of Latvian Game of Skate champ. Denčik promised to fuck up Granja, but we all know how that ended. Normal čaļi always win!
Latgalian Cruise
Our trip to Latgale was the biggest we ever done in terms of people on board. At one moment we were rolling 20 heads deep. We made a video and zine after that. Our man Maks made a full comeback to skating this year. The went on our trip, got the last part in the vid and a cover for the zine. Right after that, Maks got hooked up by Clockwise. Fricis, on the other hand, pushed his creative skating further by mostly skating non-spot or how we call them archeological sites. Also, we would like to give a major shout out to Arturs Nesaule for organizing this trip as well as Riga premiere party, and Arturs Bogdanovičs for putting the zine together. See you this summer for the second tour.
Maxlas Upgrade
Maxlas Muzejs upgrade was the most anticipated event in the recent years. Our beloved meet up/ hang out spots Maxlas Muzejs got a serious update: a quarter pipe and a ledge. Karlis Bogustovs designed the obstacles and spend some of his best years dealing with the bureaucratic machine. Thankfully Karlis has some dedicated allies on his path and the project finally saw the light of day, after 3 years in the works. Respect!
Happy New year everybody. After an extensive break, Rajon is getting back on track. For the first quick post of 2022 we bring you a recap of December in the Baltic skate scene.
Linards Vīksniņs blunt at Ģertūdes street came out as a raw tape, seeing the struggle he went through to land that amazing blunt, good job Linards!
Arturs Bogdanovičs first street part came out called ‘Radi Boga’ and is honestly a must watch to any tech nerd who enjoys inward heelflips to manuals to a large drop type stuff, sending 9 stairs with a shuvit to an amazing song.
In Estonia, Meelis Erm is back with a small video titled ‘indooria’ absolutely shredding an indoor park with some amazing Estonian music in the background.
Taking a trip to Lithuania, Boards.lt came out with a full length skate movie called ‘MOMENTAS’. Some amazing camera action and clean tricks in this one. Definitely a must watch! Even some clips from our local Barax and Barona Skatepark slipped through.
Coming back to Latvia we had our SLS Winter championship 21‘ with Rudolfs Rorbahs taking third, Niklavs Vetra second, Arturs Bogdanovičs first places. Congratulations to everybody, especially my dawgs from the amateur group. The event was also filmed from 2 different perspectives, check out ‘Edvard Gaba‘ and ‘Linda Lindenberga’ recaps.
We also had our first Girls only only skate and inline Jam in over 3 years and it was a success and there’s a plan to have another one on the 27th of Janurary.
Arturs “Boga” Bogdanovičs first full street part. We filmed this mostly in 2021, however, there are some older clips too, one even dating 2017. Filmed entirely in Riga.
