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ABOUT US
An ever-rising skatepark in New Orleans—a park designed by skateboarders, built by skateboarders, and funded by all of us working together. Our approach is holistic. We are all Parisite DIY. 1000s of skaters, fundraisers, designers, engineers, government workers, students, and community members are committed to developing and maintaining…
History
Our story starts in 2008, when NOLA was the largest city in the US without a skatepark. A group of young skateboarders found the perfect place to skate: big concrete slab, hidden by trees, a highway, and some railroad tracks. Skaters were so tired of begging for a public skatepark, they went ahead and started building their own, without any permits. They pooled their lunch money, and the ramps grew slowly, one $3 bag of Quikrete at a time…But it didn’t last long.
In May 2012, bulldozers sent by the railroad flattened the park in a matter of minutes.
New Orleans went back to being the biggest U.S. city without a public skatepark. Once again, it seemed like skateboarders just didn’t have any friends. The park was gone, but the community was still there.Two weeks later, skaters started rebuilding—just a few yards away, on blighted public land under a highway. They transformed a trash-strewn dumping ground into a spot that the kids from the neighborhood could safely call their own. Another new skatepark started going up on Paris Avenue. It became known as Parisite. At the same time, other skaters started making numerous trips to City Hall. In fact, a year was spent trudging down every corridor, having conversations with people at every level of city government.Something amazing happened; what the founders found surprised them; people were willing to take a chance on skateboarders.
After some paperwork and some very honest talk about what was expected of us, the City legalized the skatepark and gave us the green light to improve it: it was beyond our wildest dreams. Thanks to a bunch of skateboarders who refused to give-up and the powers-that-be at City Hall, NOLA now has a place for its skate, music and artist community.
City Hall decided to take a chance on the skaters. As a result, the park is now totally legal and up to code.
In just 7 years, Parisite transformed from a desolate concrete expanse into a vibrant city park. We have completed numerous phase builds, created a huge ramp, peanut pool at the front of the park, built rain gardens that mitigate flooding, planted over 20 trees, and sooo much more.
People come from far and wide, not just to skate or see what we are building, but to pick up a shovel and lend a hand.
Parisite is a legacy project, one that will continue to grow, change, and expand for decades to come.
What's Next
The builds that YOU sponsor are always in development. More funds means MORE infrastructure. More ramps, rails, ledges, smoother flats, a bigger and better street section. Between fundraising, design, approvals, and construction, our phasebuilds take years to complete but the improvements are built to last and are always worth the wait. Our biggest challenge: building permits. The skatepark sits on State land that is leased by the city, under a Federal highway. We must deal with three overlapping jurisdictions: City, State and the Feds. It takes time, and a truckload of persistence, and it helps that we’re skaters because we don’t expect mastery to come easy. The good news: Parisite has already gone through the permitting process twice, so we have a clear road map of how it works. We know the decision makers, and they know us. They also trust us. After an initial period of skepticism, they now see us as solid partners. We expect a smooth road ahead. Piggybacking off the successes of our builds, we hope to maintain momentum as we turn our focus towards building a cultural icon and world-class street plaza. We’ll still have 30,000 square feet of beautiful concrete slab ahead of us to tame and develop.
Location
Parisite DIY Skatepark
1606 Pleasure St
New Orleans, LA 70122