Manhattan Days the newspaper arrived on the counter of our East London store yesterday. This was made to mark the coming release of the Converse Cons Polar Skate Co CTAS Pro. Please drop by to pick up this amazing limited publication shot by Nils Svensson. the newspapers introduction explains that the team “spent a week in New York on a very special mission. Inspired by downtown skateboarding and armed with a modified, skateable shopping cart, two steel diamond plates and a pole jam, we pushed around Manhattan skating whatever we found. The obstacles opened up the city and everything became accessible”. Yesterday we knew that more of the same exploration techniques were on the cards led by Polar team riders Pontus Alv, Jerome Campbell, Kevin Rodrigues and David Stenstrom.
We were overwhelmed by the turnout as the crowds arrived
Jerome Campbell was in the store straight from a holiday with a route planned for us all
It was great that this event had drawn people from further afield than normal. We were stoked to see Sid from Fifty Fifty and Tom from Welcome out for the mission
Pontus showed up at the store straight from his flight
He had a quick bro down with our favourite editor Mr Ben Powell
Then it was straight to business. These plates inspired by Trocadero Days and their latest NY invasion got the Pontus Alv once over with a paintbrush
After making short work of it the time had come to wheel them out and start the mission
We skated off and made our way through some side streets before taking a bridge over to an alley near Allen Gardens…
The little alley we found ourselves in is a cycle path between some disused Network Rail land and an elevated train line. It was a perfect scene really, like a yet to be built TBS. The plates found a few new homes and a lot of wallrides went down including some perfectly executed 180 out versions from Pontus. I was lucky enough to capture this frontside wallride where Pontus’ LAD‘s match the paintwork.Gaps in the coverage from here on out are due to my shutter skills which are just starting to develop so I’ll paint a picture with words. This alley was heavily sessioned. From there we made our way out of the park and down Brick Lane.Brick Lane was certainly unprepared for the army of skateboarders that rolled up it yesterday afternoon. It found us outside one of the two bagel shops where a world of possibilities opened up for an electricity box we had never even glanced at
This picture sets the scene quite well. People left their posts at work, passers by stopped and got out their phones, traffic honked and Harry Lintell did this bonkers Wallie 50-50.
From there on we found our way on Columbia Rd at the Birdcage banks which is where this photographic journey ends. I managed to catch David Stenstrom taking the sad face for a spin on this backside tail slide…
Thanks to everyone who came up for this event, it was definitely one of the best ones for a long time. For everyone who made the party in the evening we hope your hangovers haven’t got the better of you. This was all in aid of this collaboration between Polar and Converse…
This collaboration pack goes on sale tomorrow morning at 11am! It will be available from our Covent Garden store only. Shop for other products from Polar HERE