Tony Hawk To Attend Long Beach Skate Park Opening

There's a new place in Long Beach for your kickflips, ollies and sk8ing, and the buzz is on that skateboarding legend Tony Hawk plans to attend its grand opening Saturday.

Hawk and some other skating and BMX bike stars are expected to hold an exhibition at about 10:45 a.m. at McBride Skateboarding Park, for which the Tony Hawk Foundation has partnered with the nonprofit ASK Long Beach youth advocacy group. The event itself starts at 10 a.m.

"THF skatepark opening tomorrow 10am, 1550 Martin Luther King Jr Ave LBC, join us: http://m.google.com/u/m/dg0hLz," @tonyhawk tweeted to his 2.8 million followers.

The Foundation's website celebrates the grand opening Saturday, but does not mention an appearance by Hawk. But the Press Telegram is reporting that there was no public announcement out of fear there would be a mob scene, but that it was confirmed Hawk will indeed appear. And Hawk tweeted an invite with the address.

The park is measured at 9,800 square feet and was developed to emulate favorite street-skating scapes made popular by urban grinders.

One of the skate elements will be Belmont ledges; they're reminiscent of concrete planters that skaters would grind off before they were removed or modified with skate stoppers.

There are also steps, ramps, railings and cobblestones. The park will have a logo reading LBCity. The facility cost $500,000 to build, much of the money coming from Redevelopment Agency funds.

About $40,000 from the Tony Hawk Foundation will most likely go to buy equipment for skaters, according to the Press-Telegram.

The Foundation's website said Friday:

"Long Beach has been a leader in providing its at-risk youth with safe, quality public skateparks, and the McBride Skatepark is the latest addition to its comprehensive skatepark program. The Tony Hawk Foundation is proud to partner with the Youth of Long Beach, local leaders, and the nonprofit ASK Long Beach youth-advocacy group to help make this skatepark a reality for Central Long Beach."