FIVE PLACES L.A.

02: Lizzie Armanto

Episode Summary

There have always been amazingly talented women skateboarders but there's no denying that Vans Pro and Tony Hawk protégé, Lizzie Armanto, is one of the most groundbreaking ladies in skateboard history. Pouring sweat, skill, and creativity into full parts for both Thrasher Magazine and Birdhouse in 2017, she also became the first female to be featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboarding in addition to Thrasher cover honors. Armanto is also one of the leaders of a new onslaught of fierce women skaters making names for themselves in the Vans Park Series circuit. If that's not enough, she's also the first female skater to successfully complete Tony Hawk's 360 Loop, in addition to being featured as a primary character in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 video game. With over 30 awards on her mantle, along with the first-ever Gold in X-Games Womens Park competition in 2013, Lizzie's path is paved in milestones and setting the tone for generations of women in skateboarding. (Bio via VANS.)

Episode Notes

Lizzie Armanto’s Five Places:

The Cove skatepark: Official website / IG page, with announcements about girls sessions
Galco’s soda pop stop. If you know about the “atom” drink that was Lizzie’s favorite, please reach out to us!
The bridges over the LA river and the tunnels, in particular the 2nd street tunnel where many movies were filmed. Note that this episode was recorded before the 6th street viaduct opened on July 09, 2022. Thenew viaduct was designed by architect Michael Maltzan and engineer Deborah Weintraub to be not only functional and beautiful, but become a public space in its own right. From the Metropolis article: “ When the City of Los Angeles officially opened the new 6th Street Viaduct on July 9, a crowd of Angelenos swarmed the bridge deck, much the way New Yorkers had celebrated John A. Roebling’s Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. It’s rare for a piece of civic infrastructure to get such a welcome. But the original 1932 6th Street Bridge was the most revered of the fourteen historic bridges crossing the Los Angeles River, and the new bridge, called the “Ribbon of Light” by its architect Michael Maltzan, came to embody a feeling of communal pride during the years of waiting for the span to reappear. “
The original Farmer’s Market, with its annual Mardi Gras celebration.
El Coyote Café, built in 1931.

Other links:

Lizzie on instagram

You may notice a pair of crutches behind Lizzie in the podcast video. Two months before, in October 2020, she had broken her femur during a devastating slam. She kept it quiet during her recovery and spoke about it in an exclusive on the Hawk v. Wolf podcast:Lizzie Armanto on her Devastating Slam, the Path to Recovery, & Overcoming Adversity

Thrasher magazine “cold call” video: “Lizzie’s got a green thumb and a deep bag of moves on her backyard ramp. Check the session with Burman, Ronnie, Axel and Allysha joining the jam.”

We very briefly touched on the complex issue of the unhoused. A few LA-based information and action resources: the Skid Row Housing Trust, which “provides permanent supportive housing so that people who have experienced homelessness, prolonged extreme poverty, poor health, disabilities, mental illness and/or addiction can lead safe, stable lives in wellness.” And The UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, which “advances radical democracy in an unequal world through research, critical thought, and alliances with social movements and racial justice activism”, and provides research and resources on housing justice.

Skateboarding and Precalculus: An Unlikely Pairing Made Possible by Olympian Lizzie Armanto

Vanguards | Style, Creativity and Skateboarding Their Own Way (VANS): Featuring Vans skateboarders Lizzie Armanto, Yndiara Asp, Mami Tezuka and Brighton Zeuner

Lizzie Armanto is the first female skater to complete Tony Hawk’s 360 loop. More on the loop and the events of that day here.

Dogtown, the birthplace of skating

Rip city skate shop: Santa Monica’s classic skate shop since 1978

Show credits

Videos of Lizzie skating (all videos except our intro video): courtesy of @LizzieArmanto

Special thanks to Brian Adams and Rick Boisdeau for making the Cove skatepark such an amazing place, and for putting us in touch with Lizzie.

Logo design: still room (www.still-room.com/)

Animated logo: Bee Murphy (@supadupabee on Instagram)

Music: Guido Parisi, www.pond5.com

Produced by: Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design

Production team: Emmanuelle Bourlier, Anali Gharakhani, Quynh Nguyen, Jayna Zweiman

Host: Emmanuelle Bourlier

Special thanks to: Nina Briggs, Anne Predock

This podcast was recorded on Chumash, Kizh, Tongva and Micqanaqa’n land.