Photo: Jody Morris
Lincoln Ueda flies in front of Tony Hawk

Despite grey skies and rain, a sold-out crowd of 1,000 guests attended the 7th annual Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks signature benefit in Beverly Hills. Celebrities, athletes, fans and friends of the Tony Hawk Foundation returned to Green Acres Estate, the home of Ron Burkle, for what is considered to be one of the most unique and exciting family events in the Los Angeles area. The event raised $750,000 to further its mission of assisting low-income communities in the effort to build free, quality, public skateparks.

Photo: Jody Morris
Chuck threw shakas

Celebrities including Tony Hawk, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Johnny Knoxville, Chuck Liddell, Leeza Gibbons, Arsenio Hall, Ben Harper, Patrick Dempsey, BMX legend Mat Hoffman and legendary skaters Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain, and Mike Vallely enjoyed the interactive booths while waiting for the stage and vert ramp to be dried by crews. The show went on and the expansive estate was transformed into a veritable action-sports festival highlighted by a special performance by Jane's Addiction and a private Vert Demo with Hawk and some of the best skaters and BMX athletes in the sport. Fundraising efforts included a live and silent auction featuring one-of-a-kind items: a Hawkized DUB edition GT 5.0 Mustang from Galpin Auto Sports, a Roland Sands designed Harley Davidson, and a role as a playable character in Tony Hawk's next Activision video game, among others.

Photo: Jody Morris
Perry Farrel & Jane's Addiction performed
Special pledge drives for specific skatepark projects have become an annual occurrence at Stand Up For Skateparks events, and have assisted communities including Compton and the Watts district of Los Angeles. This year's drive benefits the McBride Skatepark project in Long Beach, California. Local skaters from the neighborhood that have played an integral role in the project joined Tony Hawk onstage to pump up the crowd and generate $41,500 in pledges.


The crowd cheered as philanthropist Charles Annenberg joined Hawk onstage to deliver the exciting news of a special gift of $275,000 from Explore.org, through the Annenberg Foundation, to complete the Watts Skatepark - a project whose fundraising was launched at Stand Up For Skateparks exactly a year ago.

Photo: Miki Vuckovich
Tony and Co. signed autographs for the kids

The Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks benefit was made possible through the support of Activision, Ex Drinks, Mondrian Los Angeles, Dynacraft, Quiksilver Foundation, and T-Mobile USA. To learn more about the benefit, or for information about Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks at the Wynn Las Vegas on Saturday, November 6, log on to www.standupforskateparks.org.

Photo: Miki Vuckovich
...And the kids were stoked

Individuals wishing to support the Long Beach McBride Skatepark project can still contribute. Text the word RIDE to 90999 via your mobile phone to donate $10 to the Tony Hawk Foundation. Through October 30, 2010, all text donations will directly support the McBride Skatepark project in Long Beach, California. When prompted please reply with YES to confirm your gift. Full terms at mGive.com/a