Venice Beach activists defeat Supergirl Jam over new skate park opening event

Supergirl will not skate at the new Venice Beach Skate Park.
(Image © DC Comics) 

Although at this point there is still no date set for the opening of the new Venice Beach Skate Park, the recreational area has been the subject of a significant amount of controversy – as originally reported back in July by this column (see article here),

The issue in the midst of the turmoil is the Supergirl Jam, an all-female action sports festival, plugged by this press release, claiming its third event would happen “in conjunction with the opening of Venice's amazing new beachside skatepark”, on Sunday, September 6 (Labor Day weekend).

All of it without any knowledge or sanction by the Venice Surf & Skateboarding Association (VSA), the principal community organization behind the fulfillment of the skate park construction.

In any case, it is gratifying to see a distinguished skateboarding publication and a major periodical picking up on the story and spreading the word out even further.

Last week, renowned skateboarding magazine Juice reported on the subject following a meeting in between representatives of the VSA and officials of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

Along with a video statement by VSA’s Executive Director Ger-I Lewis, Juice also published a response letter signed by Sophia Pina-Cortez (West Region Superintendent) where she denies the involvement of the DRP in the release of the information to the media, but confirms that the Supergirl Jam will not coincide with the grand opening of the skate park. 

Then, yesterday, in their print edition, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the matter, titled “Locals get ‘first dibs’ on Venice skate park” (California section, page A5). The same article can also be found in the latimes.com web site.

The editorial cites Lydia Ritzman (Principal Recreation Supervisor for the Venice area) hinting an opening date for late September or early October.

The plot thickens when one realizes that the girls-only contest is backed up by none other than mammoth conglomerate Warner Bros.

To produce the festival, WB hired ASA Entertainment, a “full service youth lifestyle marketing agency” that, again quoting their web site, “integrates brands into the fabric of the Gen Y consumer”.

With that in mind, the comments of ASA’s CEO Rick Bratman in regards to said press release are downright dumbfounding – according to the L.A. Times piece, Bratman said it was a “horrible miscommunication” by “publicists who put out the wrong information” (!).