The Wallenberg Set, also known as the Wallenberg Four or simply Wallenberg, is a popular location in the skateboarding community. Located at the Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School in San Francisco, California,[1] it consists of four tiers of pavement and curbing, adjacent to a stairway and next to a parking area. The section notable for skateboarding measures 4inchesft4.8inchesin (ftin) in height and 16inchesft6inchesin (ftin) in length.
Since becoming notable, the school has re-profiled the "run up" to the set, and it is no longer possible to use adjacent Vega Street to gain speed in order to jump the entire set; speed has to be obtained from a ramp, roll in, or by some other form.[2]
The address of the school is 40 Vega Street, San Francisco, California 94118. The GPS coordinates of the Wallenberg Set are 37.7801°N -122.4466°W.
The Wallenberg gap first appeared in Mark Gonzales's part in "Video Days," a 1991 skateboarding video released by Blind Skateboards.[3]
In 1999, Danny Gonzalez performed a Kickflip to Melon grab as seen in Transworld's "The Reason".[4] [5]
In 2004, Thrasher skateboard magazine hosted "High Noon at the Big Four" at the famous spot. Unlike traditional skateboarding competitions, there were no rankings or standings; the event was billed as a "big tricks contest." In order to encourage skaters to attempt difficult tricks, cash prizes were offered for landing specific ones. Andrew Reynolds was the first skateboarder to successfully perform a frontside flip. Darrell Stanton performed a switch backside 180. Lindsey Robertson landed a heelflip over the set.[6]
On 30 May 2009, Thrasher magazine's Back to the Berg contest was held at Wallenberg, in which another set of difficult tricks were landed. Jordan Hoffart's varial heelflip, Nick Merlino's switch heelflip, Chris Cole's backside 360 and switch frontside flip, Cody McEntire's backside bigspin, Andrew Pott's hardflip, and Lizard King's 180 ollie north, ollie disaster, and scarewalk.[6]
Andrew Reynolds backside flipped the set.[7] The trick appeared on the cover of the May 2007 issue of Thrasher and was also added to Reynold's part in Emerica's Stay Gold [8] released in 2010.
Chris Cole was the first one to 360 flip it in New Blood a skateboarding video by Zero Skateboards. Some of the most popular skateboarding tricks that have been performed include Frank Gerwer's kickflip over the set. Lindsey Robertson performed a backside heelflip over the gap at the Thrasher contest. Some other tricks include a backside 180 (Diego Bucchieri), a pop-shove it (by Steve Nesser - 411VM #66), a switch ollie, a switch frontside 180 (by Tony Manfre - montage in Free Your Mind from Transworld Skateboarding), a pop-shove it to melon grab (Jeremy Reeves, from footage featured on Thrasher magazine's website).
Forrest Edwards landed a Switch Kickflip down the stairs; there are photographs of the feat in the April 2013 issue of Thrasher, and a 'magnified' clip of the trick on Thrasher's YouTube channel.[9] On the same day, DJ Gaudin landed a Switch Backside Kickflip.[10]
Chris Joslin performed two tricks down the set for his Etnies Album part. The first was a hardflip backside 180 which was only captured from one angle since he landed it on his third attempt. The second was an inward heelflip. Both tricks had never been done (NBD) at this location.
On November 9, 2019, Miles Silvas switch back heeled the set after five trips to the spot spanning over four years of attempts.[11]
| Year | Skateboarder | Trick | Video | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Mark Gonzales | Ollie Indy | Blind - Video Days | |
| 1998 | Diego Bucchieri | Backside 180 Ollie | Think - Dedication | |
| 1999 | Danny Gonzalez | Kickflip Melon | Transworld - The Reason | |
| 2002 | Frank Gerwer | Kickflip | 411VM 60 | |
| 2002 | Tony Manfre | Switch Ollie | Thrasher - Jaded | |
| 2003 | Tony Manfre | Switch Frontside 180 | Transworld - Free Your Mind | |
| 2004 | Steve Nesser | Backside Pop Shove It | 411VM 66 | |
| 2004 | Andrew Reynolds | Frontside Flip | Thrasher - High Noon at the Big Four | |
| 2004 | Darrell Stanton | Switch Backside 180 | Thrasher - High Noon at the Big Four | |
| 2004 | Lindsey Robertson | Heelflip | Thrasher - High Noon at the Big Four | |
| 2005 | Chris Cole | 360 Flip | Zero - New Blood | |
| 2007 | Jeremy Reeves | Pop Shove It Melon | ? | |
| 2007 | Andrew Reynolds | Backside Flip | Emerica - Stay Gold | |
| 2009 | Chris Cole | Backside 360 | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Chris Cole | Switch Frontside Flip | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Jordan Hoffart | Varial Heelflip | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Nick Merlino | Switch Heelflip | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Lindsey Robertson | Backside Heelflip | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Cody McEntire | Backside Bigspin | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Andrew Pott | Hardflip | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Lizard King | Backside 180 Ollie North | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Lizard King | Ollie Disaster | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2009 | Lizard King | Scarewalk | Thrasher - Back to the Berg | |
| 2013 | Forrest Edwards | Switch Kickflip | Thrasher - NDB at Wallenberg | |
| 2013 | DJ Gaudin | Switch Backside Flip | Thrasher - NDB at Wallenberg | |
| 2014 | Zach Wallin | Nollie Backside 180 | Enjoi - Oververt | |
| 2015 | Shane O'Neill | Nollie Backside Heelflip | Shane Goes | |
| 2015 | TJ Rogers | Switch Frontside Bigspin | Blind - IOU | |
| 2016 | Ryan Decenzo | Frontside 360 Ollie | RDS - Enter the Red Dragon | |
| 2016 | TJ Rogers | Switch Frontside 360 Ollie | RDS - Enter the Red Dragon | |
| 2018 | Chris Joslin | Hardflip Backside 180 | Etnies - Album | |
| 2018 | Chris Joslin | Inward Heelflip | Etnies - Album | |
| 2019 | Miles Silvas | Switch Backside Heelflip | Primitive - Encore | |
| 2020 | Switch Hardflip | Sk8mafia - The Sk8mafia 2020 Video | ||
| 2024 | Fakie Kickflip | Primitive - Daydream | ||
| 2024 | Nollie Backside Flip | REAL Skateboards Presents Toby Ryan |