High Times in the Lower East Side

This past weekend I was lucky enough to head down to NYC to check out 5Boro's Back to the Banks and Red Bull Manny Mania. I went down with Forest Bailey, one of the Red Bull snow am team members, and Dillon Buss, winner of Manny Mania Manchester last June. I was supposed to show them around New York, but I don't know anything about the city so we were at the mercy of whatever random person gave us directions at any given time...which I guess explains why our first attempt to find the Banks led us on a 45 minute skate on the trash-filled streets down by the East River and ended at LES skatepark (we then found out that LES is a seven minute skate directly down Allen St. from our hotel. oops.).

We were staying in a hotel in the hear of the Lower East Side which meant two things: first, we were a short skate away from both the LES skatepark and Brooklyn Banks, which was great because we were to spend all our time at those places over the course of the weekend and second, we were staying in a hotel that was way nicer than any place any of us had ever been allowed inside before. We were definitely the biggest dirtbags there, but I think the hotel employees found it novel that we carried skateboards everywhere we went and that we always looked a little sweaty. The Plan B team was staying there as well, so I think the staff figured we, too, were important professional skateboarders. This of course, is far from the truth. Luckily, they were paid to be nice to us (plus I think we may be the nicest people who have ever stayed there, one staff person told Dillon that we didn't need to say thank you so much) and the concierge gave us tons of help by drawing directions on postcard-sized maps of the Lower East Side.

Friday's highlights include:


Skating around the streets of the Lower East Side.


LES skatepark under the Manhattan Bridge. It was pouring and
t-storming around us, but we were dry. It's a cool spot because
every few minutes trains pass overhead and drown out any sound
other than the clacking on tracks--so city.


Dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. Yeah you've probably been to one
that had tons of meat on swords, but have you been to one that had
never-ending mashed potatoes? Amazing.


Dillon was very excited about dinner.


Yes, that is a beaded curtain separating the lounge area (not pictured)
from the sleeping area. The flat screen tv swung around so you could
watch it from either area, so don't worry about that.