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Coping with the winter: W’burg bar gets skateboarding bowl

Coping with the winter: W’burg bar gets skateboarding bowl
Photo by Jason Speakman

Shred the gnar — at the bar.

Skateboarders who have been braving the cold, snow, and road salt to get in a few grinds now have the option of warming up for a night’s drinking with a skate session in the newly installed bowl inside Williamsburg’s Black Bear Bar.

“We wanted to do something different and give skaters a warm place to skate in the winter,” bar manager Paul Tamburro said. “We wanted to have something unique in New York City.”

It’s free to drop in, but first, would-be thrashers have to prove they are 21 or older, sign a waiver, and answer questions showing they know how to skate. The bowl, five feet at its deepest, is dry, meaning no one is allowed to pump the corners after pounding a pilsner. Management encourages stunt-wood enthusiasts to stick around for a drink after skating the bowl, but it doesn’t always work out that way, Tamburro said.

“Every single day, there are still people there at 2 am who do not want to leave,” he said.

Since the bowl opened on Jan. 15, it has averaged between 30 and 50 skaters each day, according to the bar.

The bar’s owner built the bowl with the help of the marketing arms of Levi’s and Huf clothing.

The ramps that make up the bowl are crammed into a room and are smaller than the ones most skaters are used to, but that is part of the fun, a Levi’s spokesman said.

“It is pretty incredible what they made in such a small space,” Matt Sharkey said. “It is pretty challenging.”

One sponsored skater said the tightness gives the bowl a do-it-yourself vibe.

“It gives you a backyard feel, instead of a super open, mellow kiddie bowl,” Alex Horn said.

Horn moved to Williamsburg from San Diego and had been sad that it is so hard to skate here during the winter.

“This is amazing,” he said. “We need more of this kind of thing in Brooklyn.”

Skate bowl at Black Bear Bar [70 N. Sixth St. between Wythe and Kent avenues in Williamsburg, (917) 538–8399]. Free. Daily till April, 3 pm–4 am.

Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurf‌aro@c‌ngloc‌al.com or by calling (718) 260–2511. Follow her at twitt‌er.com/‌Danie‌lleFu‌rfaro.