Burnside Skatepark was created in the early 1990s by local skaters seeking shelter from Portland’s relentless rain. Built without permission at first, it became one of the earliest and most iconic DIY skateparks in the world, later legitimized and embraced as part of the city’s culture. Its gritty concrete forms and unique location under the Burnside Bridge have earned it global recognition, even inspiring the Portland level in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series. Fittingly, an ambulance call center sits just across the street, ready for when ambitious tricks meet hard landings.