The Skatepark on Treasure Island, Built by Skaters

Jeremy McNamara’s short documentary follows Josh Matlock and the work of building a skatepark on San Francisco’s Treasure Island.

A skatepark usually shows up in a skate video as a place to do a trick. Jeremy McNamara’s 2021 short documentary asks how that place got there. He follows Josh Matlock, a veteran skatepark builder, through the story of a spot that skaters made for themselves on San Francisco’s Treasure Island. They started building without permission.

An overhead view of fenced concrete courts beside a road at dusk.
Photo: Jeremy McNamara

McNamara directed and shot the film, and REAL Skateboards produced it. As you watch, pay attention to the work behind a place that can look finished when you see someone skate it. Someone has to decide where a bank should go, who can help build it and how the spot will keep going once there’s concrete on the ground.

Something worth opening.

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