Ode to Pools Past: The "Good One"

It's been noted that pools get way better names than ramps or parks or other such made-to-skate terrain. That's because most pools get named after some element in a pool's shape or location or history that gets right to its essence. That said, I've looked back and wondered about the names of some of the pools I've ridden. They don't seem quite right. For example, I actually liked the name "Dumbass" for one pool when I thought it was named after me (I slammed on my face and bit through my tongue there). When I found out that it actually got its name because it was off of "Dumas" street, I had to wonder.

When there's an abundance of pools, you have to get to the point in naming them without missing what's essential in the pool's character. To my knowledge, there were over 30 pools being skated in Houston in 2003 thanks to the work of a small crew of dudes who were on a serious tear back then. Just about every one of those pools was a keeper, the type of pool you would look back on and wish you could get at just one more time. So the fact that the pool pictured below was simply known as the "Good One" says something.

Pictures really don't do this place justice, but I only have this one anyway so it wouldn't much matter. The place was about to be dozed, as I remember it, by the time I got to ride it but I'm damn glad I made it down there. Like all these one time hits, I have mixed feelings: Glad to have skated it at all, but wishing I'd gotten more of it.

Fuck it. It's done. The pool, like pretty much everything else I've skated over the years, literally doesn't exist anymore. Seems like I never got enough runs, never took enough pictures, can't remember it vividly enough... Where was it? Who was there when we hit that one? Was it really that good? Yeah. It was. The fucking "Good One." That was one well-named pool.