Radio Korea, 3700, Church or JKwon as it is commonly known is a skate spot right in the middle of Koreatown. And is not just any spot, it is the only skate plaza in all of Los Angeles. When I say skate plaza I’m referring to spots like Love Park in Philadelphia, Macba in Barcelona or Anhangabau in São Paulo, street plazas that are constructed to bring people together but really seemed to be built for skateboarders. Much like these plazas, JKwon is a meet up spot, a lot of skaters meet up there, skate for a bit then head over to other spots, but you also see a lot of them just hanging out all day. I’ve done both. I don’t know when the spot was first skated but it first appeared on Blind Video Days, more specifically on Guy Mariano’s part. A skate video that was released on 1991 and was directed by Spike Jonze and keeping in mind he became an Oscar winning director it is considered a film (his first one), it actually has an IMDb page and everything. With that in mind this spot has been skated for over 30 years, which is crazy when you think about it. Street spots come and go in LA so for this spot to have such a long history makes it special.
On Guy’s part he skates one of the handrails off to the side of the plaza and for the longest time the main part you would see on videos were the long ledges on the corners. It wasn’t until later that people started skating the top part right in front of the building. I first saw the spot in person back in 2003, first time in LA I was skating down Wilshire Blvd and ran into the long ledges, I immediately recognized the sign “Kwon Orthodontics” and I took a picture with my disposable camera, it was 2003, long before digital cameras were accessible to everyone, they existed but were expensive. I skated the ledge and the drop for a bit but I didn’t go on the plaza, I didn’t go on the top part, I just stayed on the corners feeling the energy and being in awe to seeing a spot I recognized from multiple skate videos I watched.
I moved to LA in 2014 and it wasn’t until 2016 that I ran into the spot again, at first I felt really intimidated, at the time it seemed like only pros or really good skaters were welcome or you had to be part of the crew, so those first few times I would skate the back of the plaza (there’s a 3 stair), warm up there and once I felt good on my board I would go to the main area. It is quite a testing ground, at that moment it really felt like all eyes are on you and you really needed to bring your best. I feel like nowadays there’s less pressure, or maybe I don’t care, or maybe I’ve gone so many times that people know already know me and they know all I do is the same 5-6 tricks, but hey I have fun, which is all that matters.
A video came out in 2017 about the “last days of JKwon” as the spot was no longer skateable because new management had taken over the building and didn’t want skateboarders around, which I actually find kinda funny because I just went to the spot last Sunday. But I understand the sentiment and idea behind the video, new management did ban skateboarding on the plaza, they put skate stoppers on all the ledges, they would bring out fences to impede access and had security 24/7. But skateboarders are very stubborn and persistent, several people would come at night and remove the skate stoppers and go really early next morning to skate until the police came to kick people out, because honestly not many people would pay attention to security guards, I mean we’ve all seen multiple skate videos where security is not respected, there’s always one more try, now police on the other hand, they would definitely kick everyone out.
Nowadays you only get to skate on Sundays (Church Sundays) and who’s responsible for this? The DGK crew, more specifically Stevie Williams and the team manager Don Cooley, they figured out a way to make it happen and we all have them to thank for the amazing work they did and continue doing. I’ve seen them personally negotiate with management and settle on a day where skating is allowed and it’s amazing because they really care about this spot and more importantly about the skaters that come from all over the world to get a piece of it. They welcome anybody and everybody. But listen there are rules to it and these rules are important to continue having a spot we can all enjoy. Skate only on Sundays, keep the spot clean, throw your trash in the bins and if you see trash around be a pal and get it, take turns and don’t snake others, if someone’s filming skate another ledge, before waxing go faster first, and if wax is really needed make sure others skaters are aware and by no means wax a ledge that you’re not gonna skate. And finally if either Stevie or Cooley say is time to go (normally because of police) listen to them, pack up your things and come back later in the day. We all follow the rules because we want to keep skating this spot for many years to come.
I’ve met many skaters there and often meet up with the homies to either warm up and head somewhere else or just vibe and skate all day at JKwon. You also get to see some of the best skaters in the world and some of the most famous too, skaters like Stevie Williams, Josh Kalis, Dane Vaughn, Andrew Reynolds, Spanky, Justin Figueroa, TJ Rogers, Sewa Kroetkov, Tiago Lemos, PJ Ladd, and many more. I for one have had some of the best times there and get to witness an insane level of skating week in and week out.
See you Sunday!
