By Chuck Harp
By day, it lives as a pit stop for those seeking employment and headrest central. A rainy-day safe haven. And by night it’s a nocturnal hideaway the destitute grip as a concrete congregation section. The Home Depot DIY in Los Angeles has been embraced by many, but there’s one group who calls this glass shard setting home once a year in the wee hours, Less Than Local.
“Home Depot is the event!” Andrew Meredith, co-founder of LTL, told me. “We birthed the Jam there since we first started skating there 10 years ago!”
But it isn’t just the same old thing each time. Making things exciting and new does bring about challenges.
“I would say the biggest challenge this year wasn’t even my challenge, but rather Michael Adams,” Andrew mentioned. “He took it upon himself to dream up and build the jigsaw puzzle bump to bar/pyramid/rail on his own. Also the quarter pipes he made from last year’s wall rides! He’s a beast and beauty. Also shout out to Clint for the wood donation.”
Showing up, one is instantly absorbed into a sense of lawlessness on the eve of Devil’s Night. Traffic lines are ignored. Bodies swerve in every direction like zig-zagging banshees hollering. Curbs come calling like the inevitable grave.
An event of this magnitude invites many ghouls. Like a woman babbling half-speak incantations, flashed smiles and then some. Passersby slithered in and grabbing drinks. Even a clown car, replacing the stereotypical tiny vehicle for a limo, exuded fog and a bright otherworldly glow.
Tradition came calling in the form of the pumpkin jump. Participants threw themselves over before they capped it at thirteen, inevitably smashing the survivors. After two brave souls climbed atop the moving truck to careen down the ramps, the night came to a close with the product toss, with Santa assisting. And what keeps the LTL crew coming back to wrangle this insanity every spooky season?
“Rony at KINGSWELL. Every time I go to the shop, no matter the season, he tells me how excited he is for the Halloween Jam,” Andrew explained with a chuckle. “So I guess the idea that the jam is something people look forward to, and not just a headache for me, keeps it alive.”
Today, where skating is found in Olympic events, outsiders imagine barrier-based spaces for spectators. But here that doesn’t exist. What’s attractive about Less Than Local events is the erasure of that divide. Whoever comes correct is the hero that day. Whether that’s the bloody skater killing themselves on the ramp, or the homie with the bottle opener.
“Thank you to everyone who came out and skated and supported the Jam over the years. I really do love it and never thought I’d be a guy hosting parties under a bridge. And thank you Chuck!”
Thank you Andrew and Less Than Local for another great season.
LESS THAN LOCAL 8TH ANNUAL HOME DEPOT HALLOWEEN JAM
Filmed by Shane Auckland and Andrew Meredith
Edited by Andrew Meredith
Photography by Jon Brown
Ramps Built by Michael Adams
