The Nomadic Skaters of Syracuse
The Everson Museum might be the East Coast mecca of skateboarding, but it's illegal to do so on the property.
words by Phoebe Smith photos by Sam Berlin
I
f you’ve ever visited downtown Syracuse, you’ve likely seen a giant concrete building known as the Everson Museum of Art. It’s a relatively popular location, and people can often be seen walking, biking, and skating around the area. The Museum claims “the Everson is for everyone, a place where community connects and inspiration surrounds you,” proudly hanging a banner outside its doors echoing this message, exclaiming it stood “for artists, for community, for everyone.” Well, almost everyone. The Everson Museum of Art is actually a well-known location for the skating community, some going as far as to label it “The East Coast
Mecca” of skateboarding. And while Everson does permit skateboarding on National Go Skateboarding Day, skating on the premises is otherwise considered illegal. Despite the ban, skaters can still be found on Everson’s campus grinding across its intricate concrete courtyard. Though the Everson Museum of Art does reserve the right to ban skateboarding, it doesn’t pair well with their claims of including all communities, especially one in need of a home. In recent years, BC Surf & Sport, a local Syracuse skate shop, constructed a DIY skatepark in one of the city’s local tennis courts to make up for the lack of places to skate. The shop teamed up with DLX’s “The Build Project,” a movement
