Sam Rea spends an afternoon at Babylon on La Brea, an open skate center-slash-clothing store, and befriends a few of the skaters.

Sam Rea spends an afternoon at Babylon on La Brea, an open skate center-slash-clothing store, and befriends a few of the skaters. One of them she encounters named Sarah says, “Everybody here is super nice and friendly. Everyone is always supporting each other and skating together. It doesn’t really matter who you are or where you’re from… Every time I’ve come here, I’ve been welcomed with open arms. [There are] always nice people here.” Sarah later points to the skate bowl outside and says she is still “trying to master it.”

Thalente, wearing a red tee and baseball cap adds, “It kind of makes sense why people would want to come and be attracted to [skate] here, because everyone is pretty cool. You can come here and not feel judged.”

Sam asks third-time Babylon goer, Caleb: “Does it inspire you being here in this environment with everyone skating?” “Oh yeah, there’s always room to improve. I just met that guy, Thalente, and bro, he’s a beast. Everything he’s doing right now [skate-wise], I’ve been practicing all my life to really get and I haven’t mastered it yet.”