San Francisco's rollerblading history is long, rich

Jon Julio. Fishbrain stall. San Francisco. Photo by Brandon Smith

San Francisco has always been the starting and end point for thousands of rollerbladers across the world. 

Ever since the early 1990s when rollerblading first began, the Bay Area has been home to an array of talented pro skaters such as Jon Julio, Vinny Minton, Brian Shima and Robert Gurrero. Many local skaters, including sponsored amateurs, are part of the JSF Crew. 

The urban cityscape filled with down ledges, curvy handrails and a perfect blading climate, coupled with a strong heart in the business side of the rollerblading industry, beckon skaters from across the world. 

One of the area's local hotspots — seen in countless rollerblading and skateboarding videos — are the ledges and rails at 3rd and Army.

Some legendary spots like Hubba's Hideout may be rendered nearly un-skateable, but bladers are finding plenty of street spots to skate, along with area skate parks. Local skaters have a regular session Tuesday night at the Walnut Creek skate park. 

Besides the skating, many companies in rollerblading have been located in the Bay Area, including Able Frames, Dyna Wheels, Runner's Project backpacks, Monx, Valo Skate Brand, and Aggressive Mall skate shop. Opened in 2006, D-Structure in the Upper Haight was a haven to bladers, but the shop has since trimmed down its skating connections. 

 In 2000, the underground street skating competition "I Match Your Trick Association" or IMYTA was founded in San Francisco. The IMYTA spread across the globe into a multi-nation grid. It was rollerblading's first organized street skating competition.  Other competitions in the Bay Area have included the Blade Comedy Jam, the Kind Grind Classic and The Grindin' Getdown.

The Web site StabYourselfintheFace.com was founded by San Francisco-native "Tommy Boy" and many of their contributors live in the Bay Area. 

San Francisco and the remainder of the Bay Area are constant features in numerous skating videos. The Hyphy Trilogy was made, filmed and starred Bay Area skaters. The NorCal scene was featured in the highly anticipated ONE Video.