Three locations, one of which was the site of Upland’s famous Pipeline Skate Park

Three locations, one of which was the site of Upland’s famous Pipeline Skate Park. 2019 © Scott Banks Three photographs displayed here in a sliding carousel controlled by three dots below. Physical version consists of the three photographs printed side-by-side on single sheet of aluminum 12″ X 54.”

When I was a boy, a friend became excited about skateboarding, and then about a place he called “Pipeline.” I went with him and we got membership cards, with tiny Polaroid ID photos pressed between clear plastic. We walked through the shop into the park, and after watching some boys diving with their skateboards into dry concrete bowls, I found an unused section of the lot that had some short, banked slaloms. I tried to stay on my board as I slowly coasted down them, swaying from side to side. I don’t think I ever went back to the park.

When I left Upland for college, I discovered that many people considered it very important in the history of skateboarding, and to them personally. I had felt sure the town of my boyhood was unremarkable. I was surprised to find out it included a place that was special, even though that place had not meant anything to me.

The Pipeline closed before I graduated from college. In 2019, I wondered if I could remember where it had been.