The Island, The Overpass and The Grey Rectangle: Cape Town City Bowl’s Skate Park Triple Threat

The Mother City finally has a roster of world class skate parks to be proud of – but how do they measure up against each other? Here’s the breakdown after rolling through the best that the Waterfront, Paarden Eiland and Gardens have to offer.

By Hugh Upsher.

At their best, skate parks are basecamps for the surrounding skater communities, and at their worst, they’re curiously-shaped white elephants slowly cracking and sinking back into the earth. But fortunately the era of sketchy concrete monstrosities or splintered fun boxes on tennis courts are long gone for Cape Town skateboarders, and these days City Bowl based skaters have the benefit of bouncing their sessions between three proper parks that all have something special calling you back for more. 

 “On most afternoons at Mill Street you’ll find crews that spend the majority of their session smoking swazi on top of the back bank. You’ll have the guy who brings a friend along to spend an hour trying to get a clip of his kickflip to crooked that he promised he had dialled in.”

Mill Street, Battery Park and The Shred have become essential touch points for skaters to hammer home new lines and figure out where they sit on the totem pole of talent. They’re where kids can go to try to land their very first board slide – and where regulars can meet up, talk shit, and plan their inner-city street skating excursions.

Mill Street Skate Park, Gardens

The fact that this park exists is a miracle in itself, as all South African skate parks are. It came to life as a winning proposal submitted to an international design competition back in 2013, becoming the CBD’s first skate park worth mentioning. The NYC style concrete and stainless steel construction has taken an absolute beating over the last eight years, but thankfully, that’s exactly what it was designed to do.

On most afternoons you’ll find crews that spend the majority of their session smoking swazi on top of the back bank. You’ll have the guy who brings a friend along to spend an hour trying to get a clip of his kickflip to crooked that he promised he had dialled in. 

You’ll also get the guy on the wrong side of thirty who rolls in after 5:30 pm and is happy to pull off the same airy pop shove-its he was hitting a decade earlier (yes, this is me). 

Obstacles: With banks, quarters, gaps, rails and stairs this park is probably as close to street that you will get in a Cape Town, without actually skating outside the confines of a skate park.

PROS:

• Free to use during opening hours 
• A constantly updating gallery of graffiti pieces
• In the cool shade of an overpass bridge

CONS:

• Tucked between three busy multi-laned roads
• All the trash and tangy odours that come with any overpass skate park 
• The caged overpass environment can feel a bit claustrophobic

Battery Park Skate Park, V&A Waterfront

This park seemed to appear overnight in late 2018 as part of a larger outdoor urban park that included the neighbouring basketball court. The first thing you’ll immediately notice when rolling in is how sterile the whole space is. No graffiti, no trash, no vague stench of urine. Does it even qualify as a skate park?

Battery Skate Park is a fully concrete build and has held up well considering all the things that can go wrong with these surfaces. I find the setup a little cramped and line options are dictated by the rectangular bowl-like space in the heart of the park.

The crowd here also leans much younger, with a small audience of eager yet anxious parents standing on the sidelines armed with Powerades and plasters in their pockets.

 “Battery Park is a fully concrete build and has held up well considering all the things that can go wrong with these surfaces. The crowd here leans much younger with a small audience of eager yet anxious parents standing on the sidelines armed with Powerades and plasters in their pockets.”

Obstacles: With a big quarter / wall ride, several small banks, 2 half pipes, a small rectangular bowl, flat bars, a four set of stairs and rails and plenty of creative lines between them, this park has got something for everyone.

PROS:

• Free to use if you’re not paying for parking (though it is free to park on weekends)
• Well-built and well-maintained surfaces
• The Board Hub Skate shop and Balmoral Cafe are a set of stairs away

CONS:

• Peak hours can get too busy to enjoy
• The scale of the banks and obstacles are on the smaller side
• Strong security presence, which is great for safety but not good for a sly joint

The Shred Skate Park, Paarden Eiland

The guys behind this warehouse park are true champions of the Cape Town skate scene. The space opened around 2015 and they’ve been hosting regular events and shape-shifting their layout ever since. The most recent addition of a beautiful concrete bowl has put their park in a league of its own in Cape Town. 

Being situated in the middle of an industrial area means they get fewer people pitching up for the vibe and more people repeating the same line over and over like some tortured gym routine.

“The guys behind The Shred are true champions of the Cape Town skate scene. The Shred’s Instagram posts not only do an awesome job of tempting you back for your next visit, but they also a reminder of who’s absolutely ripping at the moment.”

The Shred’s Instagram posts not only do an awesome job of tempting you back for your next visit, but they also a reminder of who’s absolutely ripping at the moment. Admittedly, this is the spot I’ve ridden the least, but personal favourites of mine have to be the mini ramp and the big pyramid. 

Obstacles: With a burly vans bowl, small mini and medium mini ramps and plenty of quarters around the street course, this park has plenty for the transition skater; but the street course reigns supreme, with a variety of obstacles to keep the Cape’s best skaters happy for days.

 

PROS:

• Multiple sections to bounce your skate session between
• A good chance of sharing the park with some of SA’s best skate talent
• A great chill area offering chow and drinks

CONS:

• You have to pay to play, but it’s money well spent
• The warehouse space can cook in summer
• A little more out of your way for a casual session

So there you have it…

The introduction of these three parks, along with Nantes skate park in Athlone and Eyethu skate park in Hout Bay, means Cape Town has finally been able to mature into a real contender for the skate capital of SA. As exciting as a sneaky city street spot can be, park sessions are where those hard battles over a new flip trick are won. 

They’re where isolated riders can find a new crew to keep them hyped for one more attempt. They’re where eleven-year-olds can out skate guys three times their age and feel quietly smug about it. The best part of having these parks around is that it guarantees a steady flow of pumped up rippers coming through the ranks for years to come.   

Check out The Shred Skate Park’s website for more info.