Skate Mag Scans by Skate Media Nerd: The Pit by Mike Ballard

The Pit by Mike Ballard - May/June 2000 issue of Skateboarder

Below is the article documenting The Pit project, a project put together by then-Skateboarder photo editor Michael Ballard. The text on the first page is difficult to read, so I transcribed it below:

"For awhile, I was without a car - which is unthinkable in Los Angeles. But being forced to walk around, you notice things you normally wouldn't. Within four blocks of my house I came across what looked like a fenced off lot. I took a peek over the fence, and found a giant hole in the ground - an old building foundation, with oozing tar, cracked cement and a chipped tiled runway to a crumbling set of stairs. I must have driven by this pit 100 times. I would've thought that anyone who skated past this spot would have checked over the fence at one time or another. Who knows where you might find a new spot? I looked over the fence for at least 10 minutes and wondered if it would be possible - to turn these ruins into something skateable. It's kind of crazy how a photographer's mind works. It wasn't an easy project, requiring tons of preparation, loads of detective work and massive amounts of heavy lifting. But somehow, with the help of some friends and some key people, I was able to turn an idea into a reality. Here are the photos."

This is a really cool feature that doesn't get talked about that often. For years, the only evidence of it that I'd seen was the Chalmers kickflip (second image below), which was in the Mike Ballard Retrospective article that ran in Skateboarder in 2008. It was cool to finally see the entire article, and I hope you enjoy it as well.