Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Ciaglia.
Joe Ciaglia and California Skateparks is the unique story of one person starting from scratch with a business model of quality services and the innovation of unique products that has grown into a multifaceted industry leading design + build construction company that is focused on public and private skate park developments. Parent company California Global originally started with their first company California Landscape & Design (still in business today), which provides landscape architecture and design services to various businesses and municipalities in Southern California. When one of those municipalities asked if Joe could assist them with building a public skate park, he took the job and delivered a thriving skate park hailed as a huge success, with attention to craftsmanship, detail and landscape architecture like never before. Fast forward 25 years – Joe and California Skateparks are now widely regarded as the world leader of skate park design + build projects.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road to success in skate park design + construction is tricky, to say the least. A successful municipal concrete skate park must be safe, structurally sound and satisfy the needs of skaters. Much of Joe and California Skateparks high regard is a response to the company’s commitment to quality and innovation in their skate park design and construction. Concrete is a very unforgiving medium requiring Joe to invent and create many construction techniques that have never been done before. Most concrete contractors simply don’t build the curves and contours that are standard in skate parks. California Skateparks commitment to quality has meant that sometimes if something does not go right during construction, it needs to be taken out and replaced.
Most companies resist this step in order to save money, but California Skateparks has always had the belief that mistakes are part of the process and the only way to learn and achieve perfection. To a large degree, this is how California Skateparks developed the reputation of being the best skate park builder in the world, always striving for perfection because every skate park is important and likely a skater’s home away from home.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with California Skateparks – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
California Skateparks is a full-service, fully integrated firm that designs, engineers and constructs skateparks from beginning to end with our own expert and passionate hands. Working together with our clients including ESPN X Games, Street League Skateboarding, US Open of Surf, Vans along with the top skateboarders and BMX athletes in the world, we are proud that our creativity and customization has contributed in pushing the progression within the sports. Since the firm’s inception in 1998, California Skateparks has designed, built and landscaped over 350 parks throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia; and has gained the trust of professional athletes and celebrities including Tony Hawk, Rob Dyrdek, Danny Way, Nyjah Huston, Ryan Sheckler and many others. California Skateparks expertise ranges from small-town community skate parks to event-ready, high-profile skate parks, and their extensive experience services the wide-ranged needs necessary to develop architecture and landscapes for skateboarding including skate park design, construction, project management, ornamental metal, skateable art, landscaping and more.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We see the industry evolving towards more dynamic multifaceted skate parks in the future. Fortunately, the days of taking down a tennis court net, adding a ramp and calling it a skate park are long gone. The skate parks of today and the future are dynamic places for skaters to hang out and practice their sport. The parks include work by artists, sculptors and become an integrated community resource that benefits all of the stakeholders in the areas they are built. We are also excited about skateboarding being part of the 2020 Olympics in Japan. This will be a giant step for skateboarding with respect to awareness and world recognition.
Contact Info:
- Address: 273 N. Benson, Upland CA, 91786
- Website: www.CaliforniaSkateparks.com
- Phone: 800-CASKATE
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caskateparks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaSkateparks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cask8parks
Image Credit:
All credits to Ray Zimmerman / MRZ except for the first personal image of Joe, the large skate bowl and the Guinness Record for the World’s largest skateboard (measured 11.14 m (36 ft 7 in) long, 2.63 m (8 ft 8 in) wide and 1.10 m (3 ft 7.5 in) high). Those are courtesy of California Skateparks
