The Channel St. skatepark was built in 2002 as two little bumps in a park-and-ride that was nestled under the 110 Freeway in San Pedro. It was a spot in the city that was occupied by the homeless, and stood as nothing more than the breeding grounds for shady things to go down. With the overwhelming support and dedication of the volunteers from the SPxSA those two bumps turned into a bowl, and the area that was once looked at as nothing became a place for kids and skateboarding.
Although the skatepark has fostered a close knit and massive family of local and seriously talented skaters from not only San Pedro, but all around, it is now facing possible shut down by Cal Trans and POLA. Both government organizations started construction on the 110 Freeway that sits right above the skatepark last April, which resulted in the skatepark having to be closed for one year. The SPxSA and every skater that skates Channel St. has respected the workers, rules, and regulations that were set for construction, with a promise from Cal Trans and POLA that the park would be unharmed (there has since been minor damages to the park).
After one year - it's supposed to open in April according to initial agreements - the skatepark would be back to it's regularly jam-packed nature, however now Cal Trans and POLA have required SPxSA to pay for numerous permits, liability insurance, and possibly rental costs for the property to be able to come back to their own skatepark that they created from nothing.
SPxSA has been campaigning via GoFundMe in order to raise the required $15,000 - as of now the campaign has received $6,755. In order to help further the campaign, Salman Agah's new Pizzanista location in Long Beach are making a “Channel Street Supreme” pizza with all proceeds going to the gofundme.com/channelstreet to help save the park.
To contribute head to gofundme.com/channelstreet!