As we noted last week, Vans opened its new, state-of-the-art event space, the House of Vans, this past Saturday night with 900 of its closest friends in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood in an evening filled with food & drink. If that wasn’t enough the party contained two of the hottest hip-hop acts today. You are probably thinking to coincide with the name of the park, HOUSE OF PAIN must have been one of the surprise guests. Nope but there were surprise performances by Mos Def and Public Enemy. The House of Vans is a 25,000 square foot renovated warehouse featuring an indoor concrete bowl & outdoor street course, a permanent stage for concerts and enough space to pretty much do anything our imaginations allow. The House of Vans will be Vans’ East Coast hub, with two full-time employees to start.
Festivities began Saturday night with the opening of the bowl & outdoor street course. Nearly all of the Vans skate team was on hand including Tony Alva, Steve Caballero, John Cardiel, Geoff Rowley, Jeff Grosso, Tony Trujillo, Dustin Dollin, Omar Hassan, Anthony Van Engelen, Johnny Layton, Gilbert Crockett, Andrew Allen and Curren Caples. Other Vans team riders in attendance included Joel Tudor, Zac Marben, Ryan Guettler, Robbie Morales, Chase Hawk and Dakota Roche. Built by California Skateparks, the design of the bowl & skate park was led by Lance Mountain and Brian Pino.
John Cardiel and Tony Alva led off the music for the evening with DJ sets as artist Mike Giant began creating a custom piece on the back wall by the bowl. Gilbere Forte followed up with a rap-infused set as the crowd began to grow in anticipation of an appearance by Public Enemy. Mos Def then quietly took to the stage and quickly stole everyone’s attention in a surprise performance. Chuck D, Flava Flav and the Public Enemy crew then turned up the energy another notch in the highlight of the evening. The Blackouts, Atiba and Ako Jefferson, then eased everyone into the night with a reggae-infused mix.
