‘There were no rules down here’: New York resurrects popular skate park

The Brooklyn Banks, known for being a melting pot' of skaters, bikers and artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, were closed off over a decade ago - until now

The Brooklyn Bridge, an icon built to connect once separate cities, is 140 years old this year. But underneath the connecting roadways on the Manhattan side was a series of sloping red-brick embankments that in the 1980s became the birthplace of a gritty New York street-style of skateboarding - the Brooklyn Banks.

Last week, the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, took a break from dealing with his city's social and economic headaches to reopen the cambered banks - waves" in skateboarder speak - and pay tribute to the skateboarding pioneers who helped turn the kick-flips and grinds of teenage outsiders into a global culture industry.