Cal Skate Skateboards (Portland)
Portland, Oregon, US
A shop that has outfitted Portland skaters since the 1970s, now run by someone who started as one of its kids — whatever era you last skated in, it was stocked here.
Services
Widely recognised as one of the oldest skate shops in the world, trading in downtown Portland for close to fifty years and recently handed from founder Howard Weiner to Chris Nukala, who bought his first board here at eight and never left the scene. A core shop with the deepest possible roots, a short ride from Burnside.
Cal Skate predates most of the words we use for skateboarding, and it is still on NW 6th Avenue downtown. When ownership passed to Chris Nukala after nearly fifty years, local news covered it as a passing of the torch: “I got my first board at Cal Skate when I was eight years old,” he said, “the experience changed my life.” That continuity is what a returning skater is buying into. Check current hours before you go — they were not published at the time of listing — and pair the visit with Ed Benedict Skatepark for mellow street plaza lines, Burnside for iconic transition under the bridge, or Commonwealth Skateboarding for indoor sessions.