Hi everyone and thanks for tuning into episode 7 of skate spot pod. Today we have another 2 skateparks to talk about. The first is a story about a park in Mexico City, a spot that has a turbulent history, with rumours of witchcraft. The second we will be heading to Japan to look at a crazy, Jurassic Park of skateparks, I mean this thing could be a backdrop for the 1993 film. So thanks for joining us again as we kick off our weekly edition of Skate Spot Pod.
Alright everyone so lets travel to Mexico City and we will be looking at a modern skate park that was completed last year called PARCUR Chapultepec. Located in the third quadrant of the Chapultepec Park. Now don’t let the fact that this place was finished last year fool you into thinking that it holds minimal history, as the surrounding area is home to a very interesting story that goes back a few decades starting in 1979. So let’s take a step back in time and recount that history of two iconic businesses that used to hold residence on where this skatepark now lies today. This is the story of Atlantis and El Rollo.
Atlantis and El Rollo, are usually referred to these days as just Atlantis, yet Atlantis was two separate businesses. El Rollo was a waterpark that was opened during 1979, that consisted of a range of different waterslides and a huge wave pool that was powered by hydraulic motors. Atlantis was later built during 1981 and it was a Dolphinarium that allowed the public to get up close with a range of sea animals, including dolphins, seals and sea lions. Stacked with a number of pools and huge open areas for families, these two businesses were thriving places for families and tourists during the 80’s and 90’s. In their peak years, both businesses could have combined over 3,500 visitors per day. So they both were very popular.
Now as the years moved on, there were a number of bad administrative decisions and the decline of popularity for both these places led to low attendance and both Atlantis and El Rollo, closed their doors during 2007. Surprising that they lasted even that long, many waterparks during the late 90’s ended up closing. One such example we cover in Episode 2 surrounding the infamous Wet Willys waterslide in Fenton MO.
Now, the closure was very rapid and this is quite fucked up as Atlantis was abandoned and majority of the sea animals ended up being trapped inside and neglected. Now I hate any type zoo or sea life parks, so this stuff for me gets me really fired up. At any rate, luckily the public were up in arms about these animals being left and finally they were rescued and placed in another facility, hopefully in better conditions than they saw at Atlantis. Like many of these places over the decades, there were stories of animal abuse and neglect.
So once abandoned both places fell into disrepair, now the third quadrant of Chapultepec Park is quite isolated in itself. Now those of you who are not familiar with Mexico City as I was not, this area is a huge place that does attract many tourists as in other quadrants there are many museums, parks etc that are in constant use. Yet the third quadrant is off the grid and does have more of an infamous reputation. So Atlantis and El Rollo, would now attract more people that were wanting to drink and party, it was seen to be quite dangerous and I have read stories about people who were visiting the abandoned parks that had some close encounters with some sketchy people. I also read that there are stories of this place being used in witchcraft, so maybe not the type of place you want to be caught up in at night, thats for sure. So as the years progressed, all the slides became very dilapidated and the pools dried up with just a shallow reminiscence of polluted waters. The buildings started to crumble and the entire place became riddled with graffiti and trash.
So during the 2000’s after closure, Atlantis and El Rollo became a destination for travellers interested in its abandoned setup. So it is featured in a number of videos on YouTube and there are also a lot of images taken from both places. This is actually how I discovered them, and will give a shout out to the site Pink Plankton, for sparking my interest in Atlantis and El Rollo, I have provided the link in the description below. So the first image that caught my eye was of El Rollo and it is a photo of one of their larger waterslides that almost look like some type of octopus and its tentacles are intertwined, leading down to this dried up splash pool, with a thin layer of almost toxic water left in it. The splash pool is covered in graffiti so, I understand why people would want to go and check these places out, because they did look really cool and mysterious.
One of the first things I thought about when seeing just this array of pools and also the massive wave pool was if it had been adopted by skaters, which is why I ended up looking into this place. I read in a few articles that during the 2000’s it was a place that did attract skateboarders, yet there was no evidence of this. So I started Googling it and wanted to see what it looked like from Google Maps. Once I managed to locate it, to my surprise covering the entire grounds where both Atlantis and El Rollo once stood, was now a huge skatepark, called PARCUR Chapultepec. So basically, this entire area underwent redevelopment as a part of a nature and culture project, with the goal of clearing up this area and bringing people back to this third quadrant.
The result is pretty amazing, there are numerous bowls for all different levels, including beginners. Huge flat spaces to skate that have all been really well adapted into the layout of both Atlantis and El Rollo, you can see how they have used areas of the wave pool and some animal pools into the construction of the park. One section resembles the outdoor auditorium where you would have seen the dolphin shows, kind of looks like a small amphitheatre. At any rate it is really cool and amazing that they can put time and energy into a project like this! You can see some images of what this place looks like in the description below. It was finished during 2022 so the skatepark is very new and already looks like it has achieved its goal with bringing people back to this area in a positive way, There is also a number of gardens and playgrounds that are also setup here, which is a huge improvement from what it looked like before.
So there you have the story of PARCUR Chapultepec, if you are even in Mexico City, I would highly recommend that you check this place out! The park looks insanely fun.
Okay so this second park is another interesting one, Located in Mikasa on the island of Hokkaido Japan. Now we can’t get a date for when this one was built, it could possibly be 80’s or 90’s, but it could be even later so we are not really sure. This place is often referred to as the lost skatepark Mikasa. This is the Jurassic Park of skateparks, it is nestled in between high lush mountains, in a really raw and untouched part of the world. Now Hokkiado is the second largest island in Japan, with the capital being Sapporo. The city of Mikasa was one of the birthplaces of coal mining and the railroad industry in Japan. It once flourished with the abundance of coal mining, yet with the closure of the mines, it caused the population to fall rapidly. More recently Mikasa has become more of a tourist attraction, with people being drawn to it for its agricultural beauty.
So this park is fucking gnarly, I have included an arial shot from Google Maps in the podcast description. I have never seen anything like this to be honest. It is made up of this concrete S. It is not connected to anything, it is just like a freestanding vertical wall that bends around in an S shape. Now in the centre of the park there is this huge, cylindrical structure, which almost looks like a flower box or planter box, again super steep and gnarly. There is actually a big tree growing in the centre, so it looks damn cool. The third section is this insane vert pipe run that ends at this gnarly bowl. From the sky it almost looks like a bent thermometer or test tube you would use in a lab or for scientific research. The concrete and just the look of this thing is so ominous, the pipe is really steep and there are 0 coping or even platforms, plus the edges look razor sharp, so it looks like a damn challenge to skate. Plus the concrete looks rough as guts so stacking it here and you would grind off a few layers of skin, that’s for sure!
When you're first looking at this thing, you might think that this is some type of bunker system remaining from WW2. The bowl could be like the remaining foundation for an anti-aircraft gun or something, its nuts. If any of you remember lakewood centre skateboard world they had a pipe that looks really similar to this, so i mean this place could potentially have been built in the late 70’s we have no idea. The style is really unusual, its not your regular skatepark setup that's for sure, it looks like it would only really cater for really advanced skaters, so if this place was open to the general public back in the day, it would have been a death trap for beginners. So we are not sure why it was built to only cater for such advanced skaters, there potentially could have been competitions held at this spot, but we are not sure.
During 2001 it actually made the cover of Thrasher, I have added a link to that in the description below. It also made a feature in a few videos from the 2008 Thrasher Japan Tour video. Apart from that there are a few images on social media and some pics posted on some Japanese skate forums. Yet the details on its history are still pretty hazy, my first thought is that it was built during the time that the mining industry was still quite active and a way to cater for the kids whose families worked within the mining industry, once the mines dried up and people started leaving the city the skatepark was used less and less. It is also said that this place is located on private land and it is closed off to the public. The owner has forbidden the general public to use it because of the risk of injury. Now looking at this place from Google street view, there is no fence or barriers stopping people from entering so many people would just assume that it is open to the general public. There is also a family activity centre located next door and campaign ground close by so it seems like this area still gets people coming to it.