Skatopia.net is where my journey to find my skate crew began. I’m Ken Hada, and I’m the person behind the Skatopia Skatepark website. As my high school reunion was approaching its 30th year, I found myself reflecting on my time at Skatopia, which had been one of the most significant periods of my life. Unlike today’s social media-dominated world, this was a time before Facebook, and there were fewer ways to reconnect with people from your past.
Given my profession as a website developer, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create a website for Skatopia, hoping it would somehow lead me to my friends from way back in 1979. It was a bit like the “build it, and they will come” mentality.
Soon after launching the website, people started searching their way to Skatopia, contributing to the message forum. While many of the usernames from those early days have become inactive, that forum essentially marked the birth of this website. Surprisingly, it wasn’t long before the forum was buzzing with people who shared the same deep affection for Skatopia. Meetups started to occur, Skatopia Reunions were organized, and within just a few years of creating the site, I found myself sitting in a skatepark once again with my old crew.
I genuinely hope that Vic Peloquin, the man who originally built, ran, and owned Skatopia Skatepark, knows the immense impact he’s had on skateboarding and on each one of us who cherished Skatopia. In closing (I know it might sound a bit cheesy to some), Skatopia will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Finally, I had the privilege of reuniting with Vic Peloquin, the man behind Skatopia, first at his home and then via Zoom. During our conversations, I made sure to express to him the profound impact he had on the world of skateboarding and on my own life.