Pat was a Surf 'n' Turf local back in the daze of yore. Nowadays, "I’ve been living in Carlsbad, California for about seven years, and Los Angeles for four before that. I own a little house. I’m a writer of sorts. I surf and snowboard more than I skate now. It’s more forgiving when I slam," says Pat—and you better believe him. Interview conducted via email in December 2001.
How often did you go to Apple?
I only visited twice, but it’s burned into my collective skate memory.
Which areas of the park were your favorite? Why?
The halfpipe for sure, because the tranny was so gradual and it was long. The L-bowl was a blast for roll-in / roll-out speed lines. The keyhole, if I remember, the thing was only like seven feet deep, but felt like it had two feet of vertical.
What tricks did the pros do and in which areas of the park?
Just heard the stories from locals. Duane acid-dropping the kidney, or doing Peters Plants out of the three-quarter into the half, slamming, then going again and sticking it.
What tricks did you do and in which areas of the park?
Laybacks, layback rollouts, ollies in the half. The little keyhole, I remember pushing hard, doing two long backside double grinds back to back, and riding right out cause the entrance run was so wide. Backside tailslides felt cool in there, too. We sessioned the L- bowl a lot—lipslides at speed.
What is the raddest thing you saw happen at Apple?
It was pretty empty when I was there. Just the locals having the lines all wired.
How did Apple rate as a skatepark? What were its strong points and weak points? Did you ever skate a park that was better?
It was really well-built. The thing was, Surf 'n’ Turf (later known as The Turf) was my home park. It was another amazing indoor park. I think Wally Hollyday was involved with both? And Cherry Hill too? I remember first skating Apple, walking out from the pro shop. The L-bowl was a lot like a footie bowl we had, but so much more open. The pools were all so much bigger and wider at Apple, but they had these tight transitions and much more vertical compared to our park—especially the kidney. Holy shit, that thing was deep. I got to ride the Upland Combi once and that was the only pool (in a park, anyway) that was heavier than Apple’s Kidney.
Please describe any vivid memories you have of Apple.
Just the whole experience of road-tripping to skate a new park.
Please describe anything funny or strange (skating or non) that happened there.
The first time I went to Apple, my buddy Barry and I rode the frickin’ Greyhound bus from Milwaukee twelve hours to get there. Greyhound stations are the petrie dishes of America’s lost and disenfranchised, and we stopped at about eight of them. That alone tweaked us pretty hard. We got to Columbus, then walked to find a hotel. The Buckeye State Fair or whatever was on, so we ended up having to pay a lot for a room and one of us had to sneak in. We’d skate / walk to the park each day—like two miles or something. By the night before we left, all we had were our bus tickets and just enough money for two all-you-can-eat salad bar plates and water at Pizza Hut. We had diarrhea the whole next day. The next trip, my friend Keith and I traveled in the lap of luxury: my mom’s ’78 Ford Fairmont. We made it in six hours and about four quarts of oil.
Were you bummed when Apple was destroyed?
Yeah, it’s always tough to hear about a part of your past going under the wrecking ball.