Hubba Hideout was one of the most famous

skateboarding spots A skate spot is a location used for skateboarding. A range of locations qualify as a skate spots, as any area where you can ride your skateboard can be considered a skate spot. From the flat ground basketball courts at Thompkins Square Park to th ...

. It was located in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

near the

Justin Herman Plaza Embarcadero Plaza, previously known as Justin Herman Plaza from its opening in 1972 until 2017, is a plaza near the intersection of Market and Embarcadero in San Francisco's Financial District, in the U.S. state of California. It is owned by Bost ...

on The Embarcadero. Its central features were two oversized sets of 6 stairs with large concrete ledges on both sides. The spot is part of a pedestrian walkway but was more commonly used by the local

skateboarders Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

and vagrants. The city of San Francisco made numerous attempts over the years to ward off skateboarders from the spot, and in January 2011 city workers completely demolished its ledges and stairs.

Etymology

Hubba Hideout got its handle because of the nefarious denizens that would frequent the skate spot looking for a hidden place to engage in illicit activity. The nickname was a nod to the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

slang term for crack cocaine: "hubbas." Appearing in numerous skateboard videos and attracting a wide following, the Hubba Hideout eventually gained such popularity among skaters that the term "hubba" became synonymous with any type of concrete ledge that leads down a stairway for example: Black Hubba in NYC or Clipper Hubba.https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/monster-energy-nyjah-huston-takes-210000619.html

History

The first documented trick on the ledge at Hubba Hideout was Wade Speyer's crooked grind. Hubba Hideout gained fame through skateboarding magazines and videos and it became a

mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

for advanced skateboarders visiting

. The frequency of skateboarders eventually attracted the attention of the authorities and resulted in a full-scale skate-stopper implementation (in the late part of the nineties). The ledges were capped (or knobbed) with skate-stopping devices which rendered them impossible to

grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back (me ...

. Skateboarders eventually managed to remove the skate-stopping devices and use of the ledges resumed. In March 2007, local authorities had the brick landing taken out and covered it in

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

. However, this did not render the spot un-skateable. A rather simple impromptu set-up of wood or other material replacing the brick landing would suffice to cushion the initial impact and allow for a clean landing across the sand.

References

External links

Hubba Hideout Videos and Photos

SF Gate

Hubba Hideout at the Subpublic Community
{{coord, 37.795632, -122.397826, type:city_region:US, display=inline,title Skateboarding spots Parks in San Francisco