Spohn Ranch is a

skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, q ...

design and construction firm based in

Industry, California City of Industry is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is almost entirely industrial, containing over 3,000 businesses employing 67,000 people, with only 264 residents as of the ...

. The firm specializes in the construction and design of concrete skateparks and skate plazas, skateable art

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, several styles of ramps, and courses for

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, 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 Profession, job, and a ...

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

and

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

events.

History

The company began in the 1980s when founder and president, Aaron Spohn, was living in

Venice Beach, California Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

. He and his friends would skate the streets of Venice and occasionally build makeshift ramps on the boardwalk. The City would tolerate these ramps for a few weeks at a time before tearing them out. Spohn lobbied for several years for the City of Venice Beach to build a skatepark where he and other skaters could safely and legally skate. Spohn eventually built a

half-pipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ramp ...

in his backyard, which he named "Spohn Ranch". Contest organizers began approaching Spohn about building ramps for their events. In the early 1990s, the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

television network developed the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

annual sports event, and in 1995 Spohn designed and built courses for the inaugural event. After a few years of working with the X-Games and the

Gravity Games The Gravity Games was a multi-sport competition originating in Providence, Rhode Island that was broken down into Winter and Summer adaptations. The competition featured a variety of extreme sports such as aggressive inline skating, skateboardi ...

and Vans Triple Crown, municipalities began approaching Spohn Ranch for help with building permanent outdoor facilities. Spohn asked friends and family members to join his company to develop it into a full-time job. Working with municipalities and groups of volunteers, Spohn Ranch worked primarily in the municipal sector, helping design and build skateparks. The company's work presently focuses primarily on the development of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

facilities for skateboarding, BMX bike riding and

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

. Ramp lines make up about 10% of the company's business, while special events and commercial shoots have been reduced to about 5% of yearly revenue. The company has also developed

pre-cast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast beam ...

skate features for skatepark construction., and designed skateparks as community spaces, or "skateable art" in 2008.

Notable parks

*Daybreak Sculpture Garden -

South Jordan, Utah South Jordan is a city in south central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, south of Salt Lake City. Part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the city lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the banks of the Jordan River between the Oquirrh ...

*Ambassador Skate Plaza –

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

*Bethune Point Skatepark -

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

*Possum Creek Skatepark –

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

*Concrete Bowl -

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ( es, Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by members of the U.S. military) is a United States military base ...

, Cuba

References

External links

* {{official website, www.spohnranch.com Skateboarding companies Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Sports in Los Angeles County, California Design companies established in 1992 Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1992 1992 establishments in California