Burnside Skatepark

The Burnside Skatepark is a DIY concrete skatepark located in Portland, Oregon, United States. Burnside was the first do-it-yourself concrete skatepark project and has spawned other similar projects across the globe. It is located under the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The project was started without permission from the city of Portland before being accepted as a public skatepark. Its features include many hips, pools, pyramids, and vertical sections. The skatepark is free-admission and requires no helmet, protective knee-pads, or elbow-pads. The skatepark receives no funding from the city of Portland. The park is regarded as an on-going project that is funded by donations.

There were only a few of us that thought that underneath the Burnside Bridge would be a good spot. It was one of only a few spots that stayed fairly dry when it rained and it rains a lot in Portland. There were other spots that were brought up, places like underneath the Fremont Bridge in NW and some other covered areas around Portland. I think one of the reasons some people didn't want to do anything under the Burnside Bridge was because it was nasty. Nasty as in old syringes, dirty mattresses, crapped in clothes, thick dust on the wall, and sketchy people wandering around. It was also someplace you didn't want to be caught alone at night. The crime rate in the area was very high due to the fact that the area was basically a no-mans land with empty lots and easy access to the passing freight trains.

Wikipedia