Star Maps - Dead Spots Feature 1 - Great Western Black Marble, Westwood, CA
Since I began this project in January of 2014, many of the cherished spots covered have sadly been remodeled, further skate-stopped, or outright demolished. Having collected photos of them before they disappeared forever I thought it would be worth posting them here posthumously so that future generations of skateboarders and old heads like myself might still enjoy seeing them in their prime.
Our first ‘Dead Spot’ is the since removed black marble ledges aka ‘Great Western Black Marble’ surrounding the Great Western Bank (Now Chase) that used to sit at the corner of Wilshire and Westwood Blvd. at the entrance to Westwood Village. When I arrived in Westwood to attend UCLA in the summer of ‘94, I first recognized the hydrant and taller ledge along Wilshire from Eric Koston’s line in his 411 Profiles part (93).
JANUARY 2014 SPOT PHOTOS
Aside from the ledge getting some minimal stick-on stoppers and the hydrant getting blocked it looked pretty much the same as it did in ‘94.
These ledges were always a quick bust as the security for the bank and the Westwood Medical Plaza building were right inside that lobby. But the ledges just looked so good it was one of those spots you always kept an eye on even if you never skated them. It just felt good knowing they were there. The spot took on new meaning in ‘97, when my friends and I watched Mark Gonzales run and rainy-day shoe-slide (holding what I’ve been told was a slice of pizza from our favorite spot Don Antonio’s) across the smallest ledge around the corner on Westwood Blvd. in his Kicked Out of Everywhere (By Real Skateboards) part. Mark lived in Westwood at the time and we would see him pop up around UCLA campus and Westwood like Bigfoot sightings. Suffice to say we tried to shoe slide this thing whenever we walked by.
JANUARY 2014 SPOT PHOTOS
The Gonz ledge was still hanging in there in ‘14. It also had some minimal stoppers. But would still catch your skate eye, if you drove or walked past.
A final piece of this puzzle came as I was casually flipping through a classic Oct. 1987 TWS mag not long after posting the Gonz Maps post I stumbled on this classic Tod Swank photo of Julien Stranger doing a powerslide. I had probably flipped past the photo many times but with the Gonz shoe-slide fresh in my mind I quickly realized this was the same Great Western Bank sign on the corner of Westwood and Wilshire. Right there in the Julien photo was the black marble Gonz ledge.
OCTOBER 2024 STATUS: Today the famous black marble is gone. So are the sidewalks that are being remodeled as they continue building the rail link from Downtown to the beach in Santa Monica. I will update this article with whatever this looks like in its finished state. Who knows, perhaps an even better spot will spring up, although for the most part, modern designs and materials do not favor skateboarders these days (at least here in the US).
Just to show the nature of urban evolution, here was a 1938 look at Westwood Village with Wilshire Blvd. along the bottom. Photo: LAexplained.
REST IN PEACE : GREAT WESTERN BLACK MARBLE
Related Hashtags: #westwoodstarmaps #kostonmaps #gonzmaps #julienmaps #deadspotsmaps #skatenerdstarmaps #wilshirestarmaps
