![]() When Jak came for a visit and happened upon the venue's locked door, he called the landlord and sold the owner on letting Jak have the space for rent that was originally $2,000 a month. The venue originally was another skate park, called Rampsterdam, which the landlord had shut down because the rent was in arrears. 1, 1998, shortly after Jak first moved to Toronto. The atmosphere at Shred Central grew out of that same clubhouse culture. Underneath one of the ramps, protected from West Coast precipitation only by a sheet of Astroturf, was a clubhouse where Jak hung out with his friends. ("Gymbo Jak" is a band name he's gone by for so long, he says, that he doesn't disclose his real name.) Jak also had a background as an expert skateboarder thanks in large part to a pair of halfpipes he built at his parents' farm in Nanaimo, B.C. Gymbo Jak, now 37, was from 1994 to 2007 the lead singer for the Canadian punk institution, the Dayglo Abortions. The park's culture flowed from the personality of Shred Central's owner. And then once you learn how to skate the ramps, once you've earned the respect of the people who hang out there - when you've gone from outsider to local - then it feels like it means something. You're not supposed to feel comfortable when you're a kid and you first go to a skate park. "But the vibe there was always a little intimidating to newcomers, to the sort of young skaters who are just starting out. "Jak and everyone else at Shred were actually really nice guys," says Mr. As the years went by the downtown venue became known as the antithesis of the hyper-regulated suburban venues, with their brand-sponsored seating areas, and the parents monitoring their children's every move. They drank beer, they skated without pads, and they barred BMX-style bikes and inline skates from the facility. Locals at Shred Central had a reputation as being a little older than at other parks. It wasn't the sort of place parents would drop off their kids after school, you know, to let Gymbo babysit." "It was everything I imagined the city to be - kind of gritty and raw. Peech, who grew up in Winnipeg and Calgary. "I visited it for the first time in 1999, just after I moved to Toronto," says Mr. The skate park and its locals were the area standard-bearers for the sport's alternative ethos, and its anarchic, anti-authoritarian sensibility. "It was a winter haven," says Justin Bokma, 36, a Parkdale native who says he grew up at Shred Central, and who credits his frequent trips to the park with helping him to become a skateboard pro.īut the park's value to Toronto skate culture exceeded its usefulness as one of the few snow-free places to skate in February. For most of its nearly 13 years in existence, Shred Central was the only place downtown where kids could go when the weather turned cold. The sport requires dry, flat surfaces - a rare commodity on Toronto streets from late November to mid-March, when snow and ice cover the ground and salt corrodes bearings and other metal parts. It's a legendary institution."įor years, Jak's indoor skatepark has been integral to the city's skateboarding scene. "Every skater in Canada knows about Shred Central. ![]() "It's sad," says Brian Peech, the publisher of SBC Skateboard Magazine. ![]()
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