A Former US Skateboard Mecca Lives Again in Sweden

A legendary Philadelphia skate spot has been reborn—thousands of miles away in Sweden. Writing for the New York Times, Willy Staley recounts his trip to Malmo, where local officials teamed up with skateboarders to rebuild a replica of the iconic Love Park plaza, incorporating granite and fixtures salvaged from the Philly original. The park had been a mecca for skateboarders in the 1990s and 2000s before being demolished in 2016 as part of a redesign that eliminated the skating elements. "Love Malmo," meanwhile, sits between a school and a church in Sweden's third-largest city, and it aims for authenticity, right down to the "loud, responsive, almost springy ground," which "delighted" Staley more than any other feature.

But the project isn't just about nostalgia, he writes. It's about a new approach to city planning that treats skateboarding as a force for urban vitality rather than a nuisance, an effort buttressed by Malmo's robust skate association and a different legal and social climate than in the US. For Staley, a former skater revisiting the sport as he nears 40, the trip is a meditation on aging, memory, and the enduring appeal of what he calls skateboarding's "tactile pleasures." The article ends on the image of a small child learning to skate at Love Malmo, oblivious to the history underfoot, which is just fine with Staley. "Skateboarding is a culture that is constantly recreating itself, so authenticity resides not in its origins, only in its practice." Read the full story.