Pittsburgh’s skateboarding scene fosters inclusion, DIY energy, and good, old-fashioned loitering

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Hunter Leach catches some air at the Oakland DIY skatepark on April 23, 2025.

I was 7 years old when I was first introduced to the skateboarding scene in Pittsburgh. I went with my older brother to Shady Skates, an indoor skatepark that once operated just off of Penn Avenue, where the East End Food Co-op now stands. We went in to buy our first real skateboard — a Tony Hawk pro model — that we shared. Back then, there wasn’t any help to be had when it came to learning how to skate, and we often feared rolling into the way of one of the older, better skaters, who usually had something harsh to say after the fact. Needless to say, being a young, new skater at the time could be nerve-wracking.

There were other indoor parks around in the ‘90s and 2000s — 885 of West Mifflin and B-Cubed in the top of the Airport Ice Arena — but all have since closed. It took a Pittsburgh-area native’s return to the city for skateboarders here to finally get a new indoor skatepark. Kerry Weber, originally from Washington County, opened Switch & Signal in 2018. What once was a mostly operational but closed bowling alley in Swissvale is now Pittsburgh’s only legitimate indoor skatepark, and it’s one that has helped advance positive changes to the local skate scene.

Weber credits his own childhood visits to Shady Skates for planting the seed to one day run his own skatepark. “That’s kind of the origin story of Switch & Signal, 1989, 1990 Shady Skates, and [me] being completely blown away that this kind of place existed in the first place,” he tells Pittsburgh City Paper.

Weber says his relationship with skateboarding was not always positive. “As much as I love skateboarding, I have not always loved the skateboarding scene,” Weber says, referencing skating in not just Pittsburgh, but nationwide. “When I went to Shady Skates in those early days, it was very aggressive.”

It makes sense that skaters used to be more standoffish or aggressive in their interactions and presentation. “In the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Weber says, “skateboarding was a fringe thing that you did because you were counter-culture, you were an outsider, or you were a kid that was just alone.”

Perceptions have changed somewhat, with the fame of Tony Hawk, the X-Games, and now the Olympics. Some skaters say it’s gotten too soft, but according to Weber, skateboarding doesn’t have to be exclusionary or restrictive to keep its authenticity and counter-culture roots. “I think the difference between us and other skateparks has been that we are going to be a space where you can just come in and skate, but we are also well aware that there are other needs that need to be met.”

One of those needs, Weber says, “is having a better entry point.” One big hurdle for kids and adults getting into skateboarding is the purchase of your first skateboard, or as Weber puts it, “laying out a bunch of money for something that may not serve you.” Switch & Signal tries to correct that issue. “We offer free park boards, and we encourage people not to buy skateboards until they’re sure of what they want.” Switch & Signal also offers free helmets and pads for park use at no cost.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Switch & Signal Skatepark in Swissvale.

At Switch & Signal, beginners don’t have to worry about clashing with advanced skaters during sessions. Each week, the park allotts special hours for different types of skaters. There are multi-level kids classes and adult beginner classes, as well as 12-and-under sessions where parents can also skate for free. The inclusion goes beyond age, with women and trans sessions, and a program that introduces skateboarding to the visually impaired.

Weber jokes at one point that some people classify Switch & Signal as the “woke” skatepark. “I do not take that as a pejorative. We are happily the woke skatepark,” Weber says. “I wear that as a badge of honor.”

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Cameron Taylor stands on his board at Switch & SIgnal Skatepark.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Brad Taylor, Cameron Taylor and Aubray Starks check out the skateboards for sale at Switch & Signal.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Aubray Starks poses for a photo at Switch & SIgnal Skatepark on April 26, 2025.

As a culture, skateboarding is relatively young, only really taking off in the 1970s. Skateboarding culture initially was a boys club without much diversity, creating a petri dish for prejudice and exclusion.

“Skateboarding can have all these positive benefits of feeling strength from accomplishment and feeling independent,” Weber says, “but now we’re able to get all those benefits without any of the negative bullshit that leads to homophobia, sexism, and misogynistic attitudes. One of the things I’m really proud of at Switch & Signal is that we’ve rooted out or exposed all that.”

While Switch & Signal has a small skate shop in the park, they mostly leave that aspect to others, like Radio Skateshop in Bloomfield. Eric Calfo opened it in 2020 after years of skating the city’s streets and hanging out with friends in the skate shops and indoor parks of the past.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Radio Skateshop in Bloomfield

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Eric Calfo, owner of Radio Skateshop, poses for a portrait.

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Eric Calfo hangs sets of trucks at Radio Skateshop on April 17, 2025.

When asked about the driving factor for why he wanted to start a shop, Calfo tells City Paper, “Going to a skate shop as a kid, that’s where I met a lot of my friends I still am friends with today. And I just know how important skate shops are for a scene to thrive.”

Like any good skate shop, Radio acts as a home base for the skate community — an informal social club for skaters. They’re always playing a skate video, allowing folks to hang out on the bench by the window, or by the table out front.

“There’s this group of kids that live in Lawrenceville,” Calfo says, “they would always ride past on the sidewalk with bikes or scooters or whatever, and we’d be sitting there. They’d stop and chat, and we’d ask when they were gonna get a skateboard.” Eventually, they did, and Calfo says all they do now is skate.

As for skate shops that inspired Radio, Calfo says Lotties of Los Angeles was a big one. “I always love shops that push street skating first and foremost and have a good hangout spot for all the kids in the neighborhood.”

While Radio gets all types of customers, Calfo says his favorite is a kid getting their first board. “I just remember how magical it felt going to a skate shop for the first time. You don’t really know that this world exists until you’re in there, seeing all the decks with their graphics, the shirts, mags, the videos playing in the background.”

Radio has produced a couple of its own videos. Their first official shop video, Caller 10, came out in 2023, featuring a soundtrack that nods to radio stations of Pittsburgh’s past and present. The shop also hosts video premieres from big skate brands like Quasi, Polar Skate Co., and WKND.

The latter brand’s video, entitled JIT, came from a team of skaters mostly based out of Los Angeles, but Pittsburgh skaters were psyched to see many of their local spots featured throughout. “That one was really cool,” Calfo says, “because they came here filming some stuff in Pittsburgh.”

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Hudson Abernathy poses for a photo at Switch & Signal Skatepark on April 26, 2025.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Hudson Abernathy rides up a ramp at Switch & Signal Skatepark on April 26, 2025.

As to why Pittsburgh feels so different from other cities for skating, Calfo says, “I think, visually, it’s just a pretty unique city, and it shows anytime someone films here.”

Take the old rink under Bloomfield Bridge, for example. There is now a new deck hockey rink beside the bocce ball courts and parking lot below the bridge, but if you’re not a skater, you may never have looked beh