Carmel Valley Skate Park

The Bowl at Del Mar

Back in the early days of skateboarding, when those dogtown fellas were jumping fences and skating empty pools, there was one park in San Diego that kind of stood above what everyone else was doing. The Del Mar Skate Ranch became the ‘it’ place to be seen in those days, with a giant pool and great vibes, but alas, good things tend to live short lives, and in 1987 the land was sold to a hotel developer.

In 2008, the city of Del Mar took the future of their local skateboarders out of the hands of private developers and built a public park. While not the biggest in San Diego, it’s still one of the better atmospheres you’ll find at a skatepark, and the engineers did all they could to stuff as much fun into this 13,500 square-foot park as possible.

The central feature looks and sounds like real brick, and for those of you who didn’t grow up skating the east coast, there’s just something more satisfying about the clack, clack, clack of rolling over bricks. Continuing the skatepark’s relationship with different surfaces, there is a real marble ledge over a bank, and the whole park is made of that super-smooth space-age concrete that only the newest and nicest parks have.

The park has a bunch of different size quarterpipes, and they’re strategically placed so you can basically stay on those if you want, or go back and forth in the street section. About one-third of the park is dedicated to a massive bowl, and it’s one of the few parks where there are still always people there getting their soul shred on.

The park is located right next to the police station, but they’ve never come helmet-hassling. Check it out at 12600 El Camino Real, San Diego, CA 92130.