One of the most recognisable concrete skateparks in the U.S. started as a forsaken coincidence of urban infrastructure. The space underneath the east-end of Portland’s Burnside Bridge was out of the way, dirty and forgotten, until skaters started building concrete ramps that made the bridge pilings into walls of ad hoc vert ramps. Eventually, skaters got permission from the city to let their skatepark stay and Burnside’s ramps, bowls, hips and pyramids have only gotten better and better.

It has ended up in a host of vids, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series, and yes, even the movie Free Willy. It doesn’t get much more iconic that that.

Burnside Skatepark Video: