Under the Brooklyn Bridge, generations of New York skateboarders came together at a place that has been the focal point of the city’s skateboarding culture for decades.
Red Bull Origin came to the Brooklyn Banks on Sept. 19, bringing an invite-only field of established pros, rising skaters and legends of the sport to the iconic Lower Manhattan skate spot. The event featured a series of challenges built around the Banks’ signature terrain, including a 10-stair session, a subway car showdown, a session on the Big Banks and a 13-stair competition.
But for the skaters who had their careers shaped and defined at the Banks, the event was more than just a competition.
For Steve Rodriguez, who grew up skating in New York, the Banks have had a profound impact on him and countless other skaters, which he summed up in one word.
“Home,” Rodriguez said.
“This is such a home base for so many skaters in New York,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody that comes to New York, whether they’re a skateboarder, BMXer, or a runner, they have to come here.”
The Brooklyn Banks first became a hub for New York skateboarders in the late 1970s. Over the decades, the Banks blossomed into becoming one of the most integral parts of New York skating culture. The park has been an influential part of many skaters’ lives but the park itself has seen countless closures and renovations since its inception. The Big Banks reopened to the public in 2025, with the final phase of restoration completed in time for Red Bull Origin.
Eli Morgan Gesner remembers a very different New York from the one that exists today.
“In the ’80s, especially here, there was way less people. Even in the ’90s, there were way less people,” Gesner said. “New York City was sort of abandoned. No one really cared. So it was like the kids running the asylum.”
Decades later, many of those same skaters have grown up, started families and watched the city and skateboarding continue to evolve around them.
“Now, as you can see, we’ve all grown up and have our own kids,” Gesner said. “It’s kind of like a normal family here.”
Rodriguez sees the sense of community as a pivotal part of what defines New York skating.
“I feel like there’s a resurgence,” Rodriguez said. “I do see more similarities as far as the culture, as far as the progression of the certain trends.”
For Gesner, skateboarding is more than just a sport. He believes much of the sport’s evolution has come from skaters using creativity and looking at things differently.
“All the real great advancements start from the kind of twisted mind of like Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk, and all its, you know, artists … all that kind of creative energy and trying to look at things differently.”
Rodriguez sees it similarly.
“A lot of people would argue that it’s not a sport,” he said. “That it’s an art.”
But Rodriguez does not believe the two ideas have to be separated.
“I’d say it is a sport, and it is an art,” he said. “You can kind of fuse it together, ’cause that is kind of something that’s so unique about skateboarding.”
Eaton said one of the biggest lessons he has taken from skateboarding has little to do with skating itself and more about life. He wants younger skaters to understand that failure is part of the process.
“I think I wanna leave an impact of just that it’s OK to try,” Eaton said. “It’s OK to really try hard and fail and learn how to deal with failure, but also win the process.”
“There is no winning without failing,” he said.
For Eaton, that willingness to keep trying is part of what makes skateboarding unique. The sport brings together people from different backgrounds and generations in the same place, all drawn by the same activity.
“There’s a million skateboarders out here from all different walks of life,” Eaton said. “We’re all here celebrating the great joy that we get from skateboarding.”
That idea may be what makes the Brooklyn Banks more than just another skate spot.
To Gesner, skating became a community that meant more than just landing a trick.
“As soon as I got into skateboarding, that was my family,” he said.
And for Rodriguez, the Banks continues to serve the same purpose it has for generations of New York skaters: a place to meet, skate and feel at home.
The Brooklyn Banks may have changed over the decades, but the reason skaters continue to return has remained much the same.
“This is home,” Rodriguez said.
