Highsnobiety
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this JW Player video.

In the first part of our series spotlighting the creative communities that make up some of the most vibrant American subcultures, we turn our attention to New York City’s parks and playgrounds. New York has played a crucial role in the development of modern sports and street fashion. It’s why we’re showcasing the adidas Originals Forum alongside these communities. Once a hoops classic that dominated the court, the Forum has transcended its athletic heritage to become a sneaker made for all pursuits.

We connected with CODA Skateboards owner and fabricator Pat Smith who’s been actively contributing to building more play spaces for young people in NYC’s public parks. Founded in 2003 in Brooklyn, CODA began as a creative outlet for Smith and a way to give back to a sport and community that gives so much. After nearly two decades in business, his core principles remain the same: support community and creativity without business objectives getting in the way.

Read our interview below to get acquainted with Smith and his work as we document some of the parks and playgrounds he calls home. Learn more about the adidas Originals here and check back here for the next edition in our series spotlighting LA’s bboy scene.

Medhane., Patrick Smith, owner of CODA Skateboards.
Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety

How were you introduced to playground culture?

Skateboarders always kind of want to search out architecture, new stuff, open space. We need a little room to breathe and to escape, where you just want to be outside. You want to explore your environments. And then somewhere in there, you naturally make some of them your home. It becomes a meet-up spot. Here at Martinez playground, like Blue Park, it's a meetup spot. You'd start here if you live in this neighborhood and your crew gathers up, warm-up for the day, and then you go out and take on the rest of the city from here.

The playgrounds here have high energy compared to other cities. Why do you feel that might be?

The energy in all the playgrounds has a lot to do with the population density. I mean, even the buildings we're next to, you can see how many people are packed in them and then to be able to come out and reclaim that space, get out in their environment, interact with other people and just go out and play.

There's nothing better than seeing the people come over and claim their barbecue spaces and have their huge family gathering in the corner of the park, it's that energy level. And then being adjacent to it, if you're in a skateboarding environment or a basketball environment, it creates more energy, which then feeds off each other. It can become a really positive experience.

Raven AKA Searon Hancock., From left: Sudan Green, Jamier Burden, Veronica Eahdami, and Giselle Hernandez.
Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety

Can you tell us about any recent projects?

Last year when everybody was locked down and all the social movements were happening, friends and I came together and we wanted to give back in a way that we knew how. Being a fabricator builder I had access to space and materials. We brainstormed a concept to build curbs, then my friend and artist Marcus Manganni came up with the concept to paint the LGBTQIA+ colors on the curbs to communicate these ideas of inclusivity. Skateboarding spaces are inherently inclusive and a curve is a perfect object where you can learn basic moves as a beginner skateboarder.

How do you decide where to place some of these new curbs?

Being a skateboarder you’re kind of just aware of spaces in New York City where there’s likely a need or a desire for that. We work with communities and sometimes the kids will be like, ‘Oh, you make the curves, can we have one?’ We work with the kids and we just know where and have a sense of what could be utilized best in what spaces.

How does the adidas Originals Forum connect with your community and how you express yourself?

The adidas Originals Forum just looks sick. And to see everyone rocking them in the park, having a great time and representing, highlighted the connections we all have as a community and the common spaces we share.

Instructor Aurelia Casey with her students., Handball enthusiast Nazir.
Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety

How do parks and playgrounds contribute to your city's culture? On the flipside, how does the city inspire what you do creatively?

One of my joys and is being proactive and contributing back to the communities that gave us so much and you're actually doing it for others instead of doing it for yourself. I'm not of an age where I'm out skateboarding 10 hours a day and I don't have the time to do that, but to see, to be able to give back and see people enjoying things that we've come together and built is just as good as being able to skateboard on it now. I think it's always important to give back to things that you love; the communities, your neighbors — it can be internally fulfilling.

What keeps you going in this subculture? Who is pushing the scene to new heights?

I love New York skateboarding culture. I love the intersections of fashion and music and art and how specifically in New York those things can come together, and how those things can really come together in a playground or park setting. You got the music over in the corner, the volleyball players, random people, the hula hooping, and you have the skateboarders and dog walkers. You've got all these people coming together and mixing it up in these open spaces — just being a part of that is its own reward.

  • Executive ProducerKlaudia Podsiadlo
  • ProducerChloe Snower
  • Talent ManagerSunny Park
  • Project ManagerCandice Grevious
  • Creative StrategistGeorge Ocampo
  • Directed byThuan Tran at Onlunchbreak
  • CinematographySammy Suh
  • PhotographyOnlunchbreak
  • Photo AssistantsRosa Noboa and Jacob Tran
  • ProducerPhoebe Chung
  • ProducerMai Fujiwara @ WildCat
  • ProducerEmily May
  • StylingMichelle Isaacs
  • Casting DirectorJorge Wright
  • Set ProducerEmily May
  • 1st ACReggie Louis-Jacques
  • 2nd ACCam Willis
  • Steadicam OpRyan Gredd Smith
We Recommend
  • Adidas Originals’ Soccer Collection Is an Ode to the World’s Most Stylish Game
    • Street Style
    • sponsored
  • The New Erewhon Is a $200-Per-Person Sushi Joint in a Strip Mall
    • Culture
  • When Cartier Met SoHo: The Next Chapter of Cartier’s Love Story with NYC is Materialized
    • Culture
    • sponsored
  • TikTok’s SoundOn Artist Camp Is Calling All (adidas) Originals
    • Culture
  • Originality Makes Headlines In NYC and LA Thanks To adidas Originals
    • Street Style
    • sponsored
What To Read Next
  • HOKA's Chunky Hiker Is Seriously Smoking
    • Sneakers
  • Veja's New Running Shoe Is a Surprisingly Slick Crossover Sneaker
    • Sneakers
  • The Trader Joes Tote Bag Is No Stanley Cup
    • Style
  • Ghettotech, Bootytech, Sextech, meet the Detroit trio HiTech
    • Culture
  • Kendall Jenner in Business Bottega Is Best-Dressed Material
    • Style
  • 2024, the Year of the Beautiful Celeb Couple
    • Culture
*If you submitted your e-mail address and placed an order, we may use your e-mail address to inform you regularly about similar products without prior explicit consent. You can object to the use of your e-mail address for this purpose at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic tariffs. Each newsletter contains an unsubscribe link. Alternatively, you can object to receiving the newsletter at any time by sending an e-mail to info@highsnobiety.com

Web Accessibility Statement

Titel Media GmbH (Highsnobiety), is committed to facilitating and improving the accessibility and usability of its Website, www.highsnobiety.com. Titel Media GmbH strives to ensure that its Website services and content are accessible to persons with disabilities including users of screen reader technology. To accomplish this, Titel Media GmbH tests, remediates and maintains the Website in-line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which also bring the Website into conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that our efforts to maintain accessibility and usability are ongoing. While we strive to make the Website as accessible as possible some issues can be encountered by different assistive technology as the range of assistive technology is wide and varied.

Contact Us

If, at any time, you have specific questions or concerns about the accessibility of any particular webpage on this Website, please contact us at accessibility@highsnobiety.com, +49 (0)30 235 908 500. If you do encounter an accessibility issue, please be sure to specify the web page and nature of the issue in your email and/or phone call, and we will make all reasonable efforts to make that page or the information contained therein accessible for you.