LOVE Park (JFK Plaza) is a plaza located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The design of LOVE Park turned out to be perfect for skateboarding and the plaza became internationally famous as one of the best places to skate in the world until a 2000 skateboarding ban was enforced in 2002. The park is nicknamed LOVE Park for Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture which overlooks the plaza.
History
LOVE Park is the brainchild of former Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon and architect Vincent Kling. The park is across from City Hall and was designed as a terminus for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The park, which was designed by Vincent Kling, was built in 1965 and covers an underground parking garage. The main features of the plaza are curved granite steps and a single spout fountain which was added in 1969. What was once the city visitor center was closed down for five years, but opened up in May 2006 as The Fairmount Park Welcome Center. The park was dedicated in 1967 as John F. Kennedy Plaza after President John F. Kennedy.
The now famous LOVE sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza in 1976 as part of the United States' Bicentennial celebration. It was removed in 1978, but the sculpture was missed and the chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., bought the sculpture and permanently placed it in the plaza.
The large space, granite surfaces, and curved steps made the plaza attractive to skateboarding and in the 1980s it became a popular location for skateboarders. In the 1990s LOVE Park's international reputation as a skateboarding locale had been strengthened by the successes of some its most famous users. Internationally known professional skateboarders like Josh Kalis, Stevie Williams, Anthony Pappalardo, and Philadelphia native Ricky Oyola made their names in the multibillion–dollar skateboarding industry by being identified with their frequent use of LOVE Park's ledges and stair sets. Additionally, the status of LOVE Park in international skateboarding culture led to Philadelphia being chosen to host the 2001 and 2002 X-Games, viewed by 150 million people in over 18 countries and attracting nearly a half million spectators during its two year stay.
But LOVE Park has been more than the proving ground for professionals or a source of international media interest in Philadelphia, according to Rick Valenzuela, author of City Paper article, "A Eulogy for a Fallen Landmark"[1]:
"...LOVE hosted dozens who were content merely to skate there. These were the [skaters] who composed LOVE's core of regulars—kids who rode the El (the Market-Frankford subway) from the Northeast and Frankford, skated downhill on Market Street from West Philly, through the neighborhoods of South Philly, Center City residents who moved specifically to skate nearby LOVE. It's these folks whose daylong sessions generated the murmur that would eventually spread throughout the East Coast and to the [skateboarding] industry."
Love Park's prominence among the great skate locations ended almost simultaneously with the X-Games. In 2002 Mayor John Street engaged in a campaign to enforce a ban of skateboarding at the park. Increased fines for skateboarding and his focus on enforcing an ignored two–year old ban of "skateboarding on all public property unless otherwise authorized" diminished LOVE Park's skating activities. Placing the final nail in LOVE Park's status as a world renowned skate–spot, Mayor Street ordered the park to undergo a $800,000 remodeling which added planters to block ledges, covered other areas with grass and flowers and replaced stone benches with wooden ones.
Some reports suggest that the decision to start enforcing the ban, as well as the renovation itself, are connected in whole or part to the opening of luxury housing near the park, and designed not only to keep skateboarding out of the park, but also the homeless (by such means as redesigning benches so there is a strategically placed rail preventing someone from lying down on the bench).
LOVE Park's skateboarding became a minor issue in Mayor Street's reelection campaign, culminating in his opponent riding a skateboard (and quickly falling off) at the park. Mayor Street countered with a promise to create a city–owned location for skaters. As of 2005 the replacement skate park is still in the planning and funding stages.
On June 1, 2004, in hopes of reopening LOVE Park to skateboarders, DC Shoes offered the city of Philadelphia $1 million for the maintenance, security, upkeep and replacement of obstacles due to skateboarding in the park. The offer was turned down.
- Eric Koston
- Andrew Reynolds
- Bam Margera
