The Berrics
The Berrics is a private indoor skatepark owned by the professional skateboarders Steve Berra and Eric Koston. It is also a website providing content filmed in the skatepark, as well other skateboard-related media. The facility's name is a portmanteau of the owners' names.
History
Establishment: 2007–2011
In an interview with Pop magazine, Berra revealed that prior to the launch of The Berrics, he had been offered a million-dollar deal to direct a film based on a screenplay that he had written. Due to filming commitments for his skateboard deck sponsor, Alien Workshop, Berra declined the offer and later commenced work on The Berrics concept following a period of reflection:
All I wanted to do is I knew we have this hook because there were a lot of kids that always would ask Eric and I about our building. “Someday I'll come to your skate park,” everywhere, all over the world.
That was minimal exposure of it. I realized we were on to something, like a Studio 54, and I was sitting there one day as I was skating and I think it was Andrew Reynolds that I'd seen do a heel flip backside tailslide on the ledge. It was so perfect and awesome. I never left Nebraska mentally to a degree, like I'm still a fan of anyone who skates incredible, ends up just skating.
So if a kid from Nebraska could see how being on this side of the baker's window, if he could see what goes on here and how we make the bread, and what temperature we cook the bread at, they would be psyched. I just started coming up with ideas of what we could do.
Berra and Koston both purchased a building for the skateboarding facility with their own funds; one of the key initial goals for the Berrics facility was to provide a setting where skateboarders could practice their tricks to avoid spending that time in street-based environments in California, where skateboarding is illegal in most spaces.
Following the website's inception in late 2007, it quickly grew and, according to The Wall Street Journal, in January 2009, the Berrics attracted more unique visitors than the websites of every major skateboard magazine, as well as ESPN.com's action sports section.
Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory was inspired by the Berrics and, in 2012, Dyrdek challenged the Berrics crew and lost, thus having to erect a statue that portrayed the inspiration that he had derived from the Berrics facility.
First address:
684 S. Myers street
Los Angeles, CA
La Jolla Group partnership: 2011–2012
On February 11, 2011, a press release announced a partnership between the La Jolla Group and The Berrics. The Berrics was the first skate category for the LJG, as the company had previously only worked with surf and moto brands. Berra stated in the press release:
With the resources that have been available to us so far, our own pocketbooks, I think we’ve done a fantastic job. When given the opportunity to partner with someone like La Jolla Group, take advantage of their infrastructure, still retain full control and ownership of our company, not have to worry about them having skate brands that compete with our advertisers AND get the job done was something we couldn't pass on. We want to see skateboarding and the people who make it happen, from top to bottom, do better, especially in these tumultuous times.
However, as of November 2013, the Berrics is no longer featured on the LJG website as a licensed brand.
New premises: 2012 onward
On December 7, 2012, the website was closed and a temporary page was displayed to visitors—the headline was "RIP The Berrics " and instead of the standard "Enter The Berrics" option, visitors could instead click on a button that read "Exit the Berrics". The page also featured a short video segment of several skateboarders, including Billy Marks, performing tricks in the facility, followed by a firecracker explosion at the base of one of the stair sets. When the "Exit the Berrics" button was clicked on, a second video appeared, featuring professional skateboarder, Felipe Gustavo, performing a series of tricks on one of the ledges in the park.Prior to December 7, 2012, a series of brief video segments, entitled "Disclosure", were presented on the website over a period of approximately two months. All of the videos were deliberately blurry and, while the name of the skateboarder in the video was revealed, it was difficult for the viewer to properly see where the skateboarder was performing the one or two tricks that would appear. Featured skateboarders included Daewon Song, Nyjah Huston, Kenny Hoyle, Ishod Wair, Matt Miller, and Kelly Hart.
On December 8, 2012, The Berrics was relaunched and the "RIP" page was replaced by a page featuring helmet camera footage from professional skateboarder, Chad Muska, who reveals that he is inside a new Berrics facility—beneath the video frame was a button that read "Enter The New Berrics". Upon entering the new website, the producers of The Berrics revealed that a new facility had been built and a video segment was featured, in which Koston introduces the new Berrics with the assistance of other skateboarders, such as Shane O'Neill, Ronnie Creager, Derrick Wilson, Danny Montoya, Josh Murphy, Marquise Henry, and Clint Peterson.
In the days following, another video segment was uploaded to the website, revealing that the new facility had been built by the California Skateparks company and that Berra had taken photos of actual street/city-based locations that he would like to replicate inside the new facility during the design stage. A video entitled "Full Disclosure" was also released around the same time and featured a compilation of the previous "Disclosure" clips, but without the blurred effect, and with the inclusion of additional footage.
Veteran skateboard photographer Grant J. Brittain confirmed on October 7, 2014, that the Skateboard Mag publication, of which he is a photo editor for, has reached a collaborative agreement with the Berrics. Brittain published the announcement on his Instagram account: "We started a new endeavor, the Skateboard Mag is under The Berrics skateboarding umbrella."
Segments
Since inception, the website has developed a range of features consisting of regularly uploaded episodes that are featured in a section entitled "Daily Ops". New episodes of some features are uploaded weekly, while others are uploaded as they are completed.Weekly
- "Yoonivision"
- "Gram Yo Selfie"
- "Bangin'"
- "Mikey Days"
- "Wednesdays with Reda"
- "First Try Fridays"
- "Instagrams of the Week "
- "VHS "
On January 22, 2013, a new segment, "Instagrams of the Week ", was launched by Berra as a replacement for an earlier segment; Berra wrote in his introduction:
This is the new version of EOTW , only better. Every week we are going to pick our favorite Instagram photos with #berrics and feature them on the site. So, ask questions, make statements, show us a skate spot or a trick we've never seen. Is there a sunset that's just so beautiful you can't possibly imagine the Berrics and everyone that goes on it not seeing it? Then show us.
Regular
- "Off the Grid"
- "For the Record"
- "Field Ops"
- "Est."
Special
- "YOUnited Nations"
- "Shoot All Skaters"
- "Battle Commander"
- "Recruit"
- "Weekendtage"
- "Interrogated"
Maintenance
The skatepark has undergone a significant level of maintenance and rejuvenation during the life of its existence. Berra provided an explanation of a renovation plan as part of a series of short video segments, filmed for the DVS Shoe company four years after the launch of the website:
The park has taken a beating over the last four years, with the amount of people that have skated here... So, we are getting ready to tear out all the concrete, to the dirt, and redo it so that there's no more cracks. When we originally bought the building, it had a real rough surface; so, when I talked to a bunch of concrete guys, you know, they suggested tearing it out and another guy suggested, "Why don't we pour a slab right on top?" So Eric and I paid a whole lot of money to pour this slab on top, 'cause we thought it'd be the easiest and we thought it would be durable. We were wrong.
Contests
Battle at the Berrics
Battle at the Berrics
In 2008, skateboard brand, DVS Shoe Company, sponsored the inaugural Battle at the Berrics contest. Consisting of a professional game of S.K.A.T.E., the competition involved thirty-two skaters competing in a bracket-style tournament. The competitors included Steve Berra, Eric Koston, Rob Dyrdek, Andrew Reynolds, Mike Carroll, Marc Johnson, Erik Ellington, PJ Ladd, Danny Montoya, Chris Roberts, Donovan Strain, and Sean Malto.First place was attained by Mike Mo Capaldi, with second and third place given to Benny Fairfax and Billy Marks, respectively.
Battle at the Berrics 2
Battle at the Berrics 2, the second installment of Battle at the Berrics, allowed the Berrics' viewership to vote for thirty-two of more than 150 skateboarders, with the most popular invited to fill the tournament's 32 competitor slots; the two most popular selections were Chris Cole and Daewon Song. Competitors included Kelly Hart, Chris Haslam, Torey Pudwill, Jimmy Carlin, Greg Lutzka, Stefan Janoski, David Gonzalez, Kenny Anderson, Lucas Puig, Heath Kirchart, Jerry Hsu, Dennis Busenitz, Peter Ramondetta, and Mike Vallely, among others.Battle at the Berrics 2 was won by Chris Cole, who defeated Paul Rodriguez, with Cory Kennedy achieving third place.