“Brooklyn’s Iconic Skate Park Reopens with New Name, Los Arcos, Bringing Joy to Community”

The tables were heard rolling and a community was observed smiling big. After thirteen years she reopened the emblematic skate park located under the Brooklyn Bridge, this time under the name Los Arcos.

“This place is very important for skating in New York because the history and culture of skating started here,” said Steven Rodriguez, Gotham Project Co-Founder.

On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams, other elected officials and organizers from The Skatepark Project and Gotham Park, who spearheaded the project, opened the space, which also featured skating displays.

“A new area where young people can skate and many more games, a little park where the community can enjoy next to this historic bridge,” said Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President.

“In the 1980s, the banks of Brooklyn, under the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, became a skateboarding mecca.

“In 2010 it was closed due to renovation of the bridge.

“Today we reopen it. Beginning of an exciting new project to recover 9 acres of public space,” Levine also wrote in a message on social networks.

In the 1980s the Brooklyn Banks, under the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, became a skateboarding Mecca.

In 2010 it was closed due to bridge renovations.

Today we reopened it. Start of a exciting new project to reclaim 9 acres of public space. pic.twitter.com/byiw17wCjc

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) May 24, 2023

Before, the space was known as The Brooklyn Banks and now it is back at the service of the public coinciding with the anniversary of the iconic bridge, which turned 140 this Wednesday.

The park is on the Manhattan side, next to its first arches, at the intersection of Gold and Frankfort streets.

Through the project, the community near this area, mostly low-income people, will have a new outdoor leisure space in a sector of the city that lacks green and open areas.

“Communities like the one you see here, the Smith Houses, public house communities, and the colleges that are here Mary Bartram, and for a long time, more than a decade, they haven’t had vacant space. They haven’t had a park, they haven’t had had a community plaza,” said Antonio Quesada, The Skatepark Project.

Here you can play basketball on the courts and enjoy the local commerce. For connoisseurs, the park is iconic.

“You know, when the tourists come and go to the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, the skaters come here or to Thompkins, because this is a point of reference,” said Beatriz Domond, skater.

“It’s in all the videos, the skaters say ‘I want to skate there,’ it’s a historic point for us,” added Jamie Reyes, also a skater.

This is just the first phase of the Los Arcos project. It is expected that in a year from now several hectares will continue to be opened under the Brooklyn Bridge that will serve as recreation for locals and visitors.