DC Plaza

The DC Plaza is an excellent skate shoe, but buying a pair provides more than just something to skate on - it helps provide someplace to skate AT. Every purchase of a pair of DC Plaza skate shoes donates money into the Rob Dyrdek / DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation. The Foundation is raising money to help build skate plazas all across the US. Skate plazas are a new idea in skating - different from a skate park, skate plazas provide true city street terrain rather than bowls.

The future of skateboarding is tied directly to there being places to skate at. More and more cities make their best skate spots illegal to ride at, or worse, they bolt "skate stoppers" on every grindable surface. Skate parks have popped up all over the place, but these don't usually provide the rails, curbs and steps to skate on that make street skating what it is.

Rob Dyrdek saw this problem and got together with DC Shoe Co USA to build the Skate Plaza Foundation. The dream is to raise money from the sales of the DC Plaza shoes to start building skate plazas, rather than parks. Plazas are just what they sound like - a large concrete area with steps, curbs, rails, benches - all the fun stuff to skate, but it's there to skate on rather than wasted space in front of a shopping center.

However, a large part of this plan relies on the sales of the DC Plaza skate shoe, right? So is it worth the money?

The short answer is yes. If DC had skimped out on the design of this shoe, I would be bashing it to pieces, and so would everyone else. The shoe isn't top of the line, but it's still better than most shoes out there. It's highly abrasion resistant (not just the toe cap, but the whole shoe is built for skating), features a Velcro strap and lace protection - it's a solid shoe built for one thing - skateboarding.

Drawbacks? Well, it's not the most breathable shoe, and the sole is nothing too technical, but these are minor points. Besides, what better way to support skating?