Woolstores Forever: The rise (and grind) of Perth skateboard culture
While Perth might be one of the most isolated cities in the world, an innocuous strip of concrete outside the Elders Wool Stores building in Fremantle has long been on the radar of the world’s best skaters.
Article by David Prestipino
Primely located parallel to Cantonment Street in Freo’s east end, the stark, striking building has for years been left to linger alone, but WA’s tight-knit skateboarding community has continued to ride its world-famous side show… A pure, 100-metre-long concrete ledge on the façade of the heritage-listed building, shielded from the elements 24/7.
Woolstores Forever
A few weeks ago energy drink giant Red Bull hosted an international ledge-only competition featuring some of the sport’s best street skating exponents, designed to hype support to save the iconic site, under threat from redevelopment by owners Hesperia, who bought the site in 2022.
But the Woolstores Forever campaign to save the ledge – led by the Western Australia Skate Association – became somewhat of a celebration, after developers just days before the event said a significant portion of the iconic skate ledge would remain.
“Despite the age and heavily jeopardised condition of the buildings, with an inventive project team experienced in working with heritage buildings, the existing structures can be largely retained,” developer Hesperia said last month.
While the concept will soon be known (a development application will be submitted to the City of Fremantle any day now), the WASA campaign kicks on – the association hosts regular events at the site to raise awareness, and is in constant engagement with developers and the council.
The façade recently received a welcome makeover – a display of portraits depicting Freo’s skating community and the soul of the ledge, by local snapper Duncan Wright.
WA Skating Association director Ben Bowring, a Victorian living in Kalgoorlie who, in 1999, relocated to Fremantle to be near the ledge and immersed in WA’s skating culture, said the site attracted world skateboarding’s biggest names, and featured in almost every big skating video from the late 2000s, including Nike SB’s Nothing but the Truth.
He said WASA was ramping up awareness and co-design efforts with developers to ensure the ledge was still a feature and a safe, 24/7 place for skaters, with the Red Bull event a recent campaign highlight: “The event last month was about celebrating the Wool Stores building and the recognition it gets around the world as a one-of-a-kind spot that people travel to from all over the world to skate,” he tell us.
The Ledge
The revival of skateboarding on the back of its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Games has seen more facilities featured in urban and residential developments, but the ledge’s reputation is largely built on its organic design.
“It’s probably more important now than ever to have to preserve something like that,” Ben says.
The 100m-long ledge is unique for its smooth concrete, ideal dimensions and shelter from the sun and rain, making it a 24/7 skateboarding haven for locals and a must-visit for some of the sport’s biggest names, including Eric Koston and Mike Carroll.
“You can do skateboarding lines (basically numerous tricks in a row) and try to skate as much of it as you can,” he explains.
“The other unique thing is its placement on the angle means from lunchtime, the area is shaded all day long, so shelter from heavy rains and our harsh WA sun. The concrete next to the ledge is also very smooth and poppy; it’s good quality concrete, which makes a big difference. And the ledge itself, it is pretty much perfect dimensions, while the steel edging is probably the best of its type in the world.”
Nike SB skater Nick Boserio, a Como primary school boy who skated around South Perth before moving to Melbourne aged 20 with Nike SB, was in Fremantle a fortnight ago for the event, fresh from commentating the skateboarding for Channel 9’s recent Paris Olympics coverage, where the passion from he and co-commentator Mitch Tomlinson was plain to see as Australia won two gold medals in the park skating, including 14yo Arisa Trew, who became our youngest ever Olympic champion.
Boserio says the ledge was steeped in skateboarding folklore but also the ideal entry point for any skaters starting out.
“People just fall in the love with place,” he smiles. “To have something like that, it has quite a low entry point, and is predictable, is unique. It holds a lot of history, people really care about that place, and there’s been really special moments in skating that have happened and will continue to happen there.”
“Even though I was terrible at it, for the two decades I was in Perth, people just met there, that was their starting point, it was their home,” he continues. “It was connected to the (1991) Skateshop in Fremantle, and top skaters from around the world flew to Perth just to skate it.”
Boserio praised Bowring and other WASA leaders like Rowan White and Sylvain Tognelli, a French pro skater who moved down under in 2016, and regards the ledge as the best skate spot in the world.
Saving the ledge was important not only for history but the special moments every skater there had experienced.
“I was always shit at skating Woolies,” he laughs. “I’m terrible at it … I’ve filmed one thing there, everyone has filmed 10 tricks there.”
Positive Culture
Boserio said skateboarding was as much a lifestyle and art form than a sport, despite its new recognition as an Olympic sport, which has helped break down stigmas attached to the activity, which kicked off in Australia in the late ’80s and ’90s.
It was a different beast to most other sports as every skater had a unique creative expression and was accepted by its community-led culture.
“It is really special, the creative expression… you are saying something about how you want to move. It’s like dancing or something, it’s more than just quantitative,” he says. “It’s very different to like a club or a team in a completely intangible way; you encourage each other, and have a sounding board and instant feedback.”
Public perception of the sport had changed for the better since its 2020 Olympic debut.
“For me personally, I still sort of love that outlaw side of it,” Boserio says. “I like playing in traffic (laughs) … I don’t want it all to just make sense to everyone. But the changes and development (since 2020) have been really important, they’re huge, just little things like the skate park, which used to be dog eat dog – not in a competitive way – but kids would just get in the way.”
With skate parks aplenty across Perth and WA now, that side had softened: “Now it’s like, ‘dude, if you want to skate, if you want to be here, just get into it’,” he smiles. “Now there’s absolutely no way I would give grief to a kid at a skate park, just get in there. And that’s always been true within skating.”
Bowring, who is heavily involved in skateboarding on the community, promotion and retail side through the Beyond Skate stores, agrees, saying the positive reaction to skating from today’s generation of parents boded well for its future, with potential for more skate schools across Australia and the integration of the sport into accepted culture.
“Its presence in availability and accessibility is so high now, there’s skate parks everywhere,” he says.
“It is on the TV in the Olympics, so there’s more families with parents that potentially didn’t have anything to do with skateboarding go, ‘Oh, skateboarding, it’s a legit sport… yeah I might get my little girl or boy to give it a try.
“Whereas 20 years ago the stereotypes were all negative. These days, people are seeing the positive culture that it brings, and how it gives kids a chance to try something new and have fun.”
Whether you regard skateboarding as a sport or activity, it’s always been about community and comradery first, and within skateboarding, there’s avenues aplenty.
“You can take the competition route, or you can take the streetscaping, filming route with sponsorship,” Bowring says. “But whatever you’re doing, and it’s just for fun, it’s a release, isn’t it.”
The Future
Skateboarding has been a release for Lalita Perroni too, a 12-year-old from the rolling hills of coastal northern suburb Sorrento, and latest brand ambassador for industry-leading Ghanda Clothing.
It’s a an idyllic sunny Sunday afternoon in winter and she and friend Zara, are sitting on the edge of a four-foot half-pipe, which her dad built in their front yard and has become a local haven for a new wave of young skaters like Lali, who dare to dream of being as good as her hero Arisa Trew, but won’t let that get in the way of having fun and getting better.
The teens were busy customising Lali’s new deck a wild pink, spray-painting and decorating it ahead of another session on the pipe, or at nearby Scarborough Bowl, where she has been busy practicing for the Groundswell Grind competition next month.
The pair are contemplating where they should skate at sunset with their mates, despite two heavy sessions already on the home-made pipe.
The pair skate with friends and other young teens every weekend, from the Bowl in Scarborough to the imposing Bayswater Vert Ramp, an 14-foot monster she recently conquered and proving a breeding ground for WA’s rising stars, including 2024 X-Games gold medallist Mia Kretzer, the 9-year-old Perth pocket dynamo who won best trick in the Women’s Vert.
“I just love skating as it’s healthy and fun all the girls we skate with around Perth are nice,” Lalita beams.
“It’s probably a bit different to a lot of stuff that happens, like at school and stuff. Sometimes it’s a bit the opposite, right? So it’s cool to have a little community of like-minded girls who just want to skate and have fun and support each other doing that.”
The supportive skate culture is alive and humming in WA, with a new wave pushing the limits here, backed by Olympic spirit and government funding.
One day, we may well look back at Perth as a hotspot for nurturing skateboarding talent, like the Seattle scene did for grunge.
Image Credit: Supplied/Red Bull