This weekend I met up with about two dozen veterans of TLL Skatepark — a beloved skate spot in Bandung that closed down in the early 2000s.
Outside of skateboarding, these people went on to found some of Bandung’s pioneering independent clothing brands, become respected artists, drive the independent music movement of the ’90s, and hold executive roles at major companies.
It was a good time.
Why “Bandung Skateboarder Reunion”?
I call it a reunion because that’s basically what it was — a gathering of people who hadn’t seen each other in years. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people have skated in Bandung since the ’80s, so calling this the definitive Bandung skateboarder reunion might be a stretch. But what else would you call it?
Choosing to Come Back
A few months ago I realized I needed to start exercising again, the way I used to. I considered the usual options — swimming, jogging, fitness — and tried each one:
- Swimming: good exercise but hard to make a habit of.
- Jogging: tried it, hurt my knees after two weeks.
- Fitness: boring.
The only thing I’ve ever stuck with long-term is skateboarding. So I bought a board and decided to get back into it.
Finding a Place to Skate
Board sorted. Now I needed a place to skate. Greenpark Skateboarding Park at TMII was nearby, but after checking it out a few times I concluded it wasn’t beginner-friendly. I’d need to skate regularly for a while before feeling comfortable there, and I simply didn’t have that kind of time. The board sat unused for months… until this weekend.
I’d heard about the new skatepark under the Pasupati flyover in Bandung about two months earlier but hadn’t made it there yet. Curiosity grew when I started seeing friends getting into longboarding. So I posted in the “I Love TL” Facebook group — dormant since 2009 — asking who was still skating.
People replied. Adi, Eric, Arin, and Febby — and word of a Friday morning session at the Pasupati skatepark, run by Robby. I was immediately interested.
The Weekend
Friday morning I showed up at the Pasupati skatepark. The spot under the flyover is surprisingly good — smooth concrete, mellow transitions, beginner-friendly in a way that Greenpark simply isn’t. I spent two hours there, fell a few times, and left tired and genuinely happy.
Then Saturday, the full reunion happened. Around twenty-something people from the old TLL days showed up — some I hadn’t seen since the early 2000s. The skating was secondary. What mattered more was the reminder that this small community of people, who spent their formative years pushing around a skatepark in Bandung, had quietly shaped a significant part of the city’s creative culture.
It felt good to be back on a board. It felt even better to be back with these people.