Cherry Hill SkatePark
was Located at 622 Hollywood Ave., Cherry Hill, NJ. CHSP was open from 1978 -
1981 and in that short time, the park gained the respect of skateboarders of all
levels, from beginners to pro skaters from around the world. It was voted many
times over as the best skatepark of the 20th century and has never left the hearts
of those fortunate enough to have skated its perfect transitions. The building
still stands and is being occupied by Keystone Ind., It has been rumored, perhaps
fueled by the hopeful, that under the floor lies all of the bowls/pools and pipe
awaiting what would be an amazing archeological dig to bring it back to life.
Fantasy? Maybe, but one can dream.
This site has been built and fueled by fond memories of the
park forwarded by those who have skated there. It is a forum that we hope will
continue to grow with the help of your stories, photos and videos. For those
who were not fortunate enough to have skated CHSP you will not understand truly
what the world of skateboarding has lost, but we invite you to revisit this
era with us.
While the success of Cherry Hill Skatepark's design is most often attributed
to Wally Hollyday and Duane Bigelow, that claim we have learned is challenged
by the original park owner Bob Hurley.
Two weeks after the opening of the park, Skaterider interviewed Bob Hurley and
Steve Durst.
Hurley, only 25, had cut his teeth in the skatepark business during his employment
with Campo Construction and had since moved on, beginning his own company, Hurley
Enterprises.
Bob was partnered with Steve Durst, and in their interview, the two would concede
that Steve had been "the leg man in acquiring the property and getting
permission and possibly the financial backing. Bob came in with the theory,
the idea and the actual construction." Originally, they had planned for
an outdoor park but had been rejected by the township. Being in the right place
at the right time, Bob learned of an available empty warehouse located at 622
Hollywood Ave. in Cherry Hill, NJ, and immediately wanted to see it. They had
found a solution to the town's concern of unruly children so near to the Cherry
Hill Mall and the Garden State Racetrack and in a win / win situation, they
now had control of the elements with an indoor park. Instantly it clicked.
During this time, Wally Hollyday had gone from his hometown of Cherry Hill NJ
west to California and hooked up with the Lakewood Skate Park. Lakewood was
having transition issues so after a little "lesson" from the young
Hollyday and after he had recarved some of the transitions, Lakewood hired him
on to redesign as they built. Wally received some positive press in one of the
skate mags as a result, and according to him, he was visited in Lakewood by
the contractor for CHSP. The contractor then brought on Duane Bigelow whose
past collaberation with Wally had been successful.
Despite the differences in opinion over who should receive credit, a common
denominator with Wally and Bob is that both 100% believe the basis for the perfect
skatepark lies in the dirt. As Bob explained it "You can cut a box perfectly
and employ a concrete team that really knows what they're doing, and come up
with the perfect park. If you are paying a concrete team a hundred dollars a
yard you want the pool cut precisely so you can work with a minimal five inches
of concrete." (Skaterider)
Enter, Wally Hollyday on the same subject, "I spent a lot of time shaping
the dirt...the more perfect it was the better chance we had of the concrete
being good." And according to Hollyday, it worked out that way, the concrete
was shot, and he then was the eye for the fresno (blade that cuts the wall),
Bigelow advising his crew "Do whatever he says. It's his park and his design."
And I guess it is that last statement that sums up the controversy. After this
site's inception, we were contacted by Mr. Hurley, incensed that he had been
left out of the credits of the park. We did offer an apology, revised the site
to include Mr. Hurley, and invited him to set the story straight from his perspective.
He has not responded to that invitation, so we are left to piece together the
history from articles and interviews with others that had been affiliated with
the park.
Controversy aside, it remains to this day to be one of the greatest skateparks
ever created. With four bowls, a left and right kidney, a smaller intermediate
bowl, and the infamous Egg Bowl, it has yet to be duplicated and for those that
skated Cherry Hill, it has never been forgotten.
Looking back on the Skaterider interview, I suppose even then the skater community
was beginning to feel the impending crash of their scene but Hurley and Durst
remained optimistic about their future. In response to a mention of the market
decline, Steve explained he believed the decline was weeding out the mass produced
garbage that had entered the market as it had become more commercial, but unfortunately,
his feeling that those who had been serious from the beginning, who had the
knowledge and the quality would survive and become stronger than ever turned
out to be untrue...
When Wally was asked how he felt when the park closed, he answered "I felt
like I had been wasting my time." He had never seen the end coming, yet
it came anyway, and the young designer was pushed to pursue other avenues. "A
lot of those guys just grew up. I guess they went to college or something....
there are other things besides hanging out at the skatepark with your friends
every day. Maybe they would come back to it later, but then there was nothing
to come back to."
Cherry Hill Skatepark 1978 to 1981, RIP
CherryHillSkatepark
