Prince Skatepark (aka Alex Road Skatepark)
Prince Skatepark in Oceanside, California, is a 22,000 square-foot concrete skatepark that includes a small street plaza, vert bowls, and flowy snake runs.
Also known as Alex Road Skatepark, the park is popular among locals and visiting pro skaters alike, especially bowl aficionados. This is one of the best skateparks in San Diego, or in California, for that matter.
Details
| Location | Oceanside, California, United States |
| Address | Alex Rd & Foussat Road Oceanside, CA 92058 |
| Coordinates | 33.221428, -117.345204 |
| Features | Combi bowl, backyard bowl, snake runs, street plaza, banks, handrails, hubbas, quarter pipes, Euro gap, ledges |
| Riding Allowed | Skateboards, roller skates, inline skates |
| Construction | Concrete |
| Hours | Dawn to dusk |
| Fee | No |
| Phone | (760) 435-5041 |
Prince Skatepark Overview
Alex Park Skatepark, which was renamed Prince Memorial Skatepark in honor of a local skater who passed away, is one of the best parks in the San Diego area. The park was designed by Grindline and built by California Skateparks.
Located in the eastern part of the town of Oceanside, next to Oceanside Municipal Airport, the park is a destination spot for Southern California skaters. This place is a treasure, especially for people who like to skate concrete bowls.
Visit the park on a busy day and you’ll likely see skaters abusing the pool coping on the park’s combi bowl or the back-yard style pool. Oceanside has a long history of producing some of the best parks and skaters in the country, and that tradition continues at Prince Skatepark.
At the park entrance, there is a small shaded area that leads into the park’s two snake runs, one of which has an over-vert capsule at one end. The snake runs are perpendicular to one another and form the boundary of the park’s unique combi bowl.
The combi has a deep square bowl and a round bowl connected at a right angle to one another with a large quarter pipe forming the outside of the connecting bend. It’s hard to describe. Pool coping abounds.
Beyond the combi is a three-lobed backyard-style bowl with tiles and pool coping. You gotta love the sound of skaters hitting the tiles then the coping.
The park narrows as it moves away from the pool bowl into a smallish street plaza section. This is pretty standard street fair, with a quarter pipe, handrails and hubbas down a bank, a Euro gap, and ledges. There’s a cool wavey pump bump section that ends in a jump ramp of sorts.
The location of the park is interesting. Next to the airport, it feels like you’re kind of in the middle of nowhere, even though the hubbub of downtown Oceanside is only three miles away. I didn’t look in the restrooms, but the locals have been complaining for years to the city about there being no running water or flush toilets.
That one gripe aside, this park should be on every skater’s bucket list, if only to watch the locals tear it up.
Cover photo: Ruby Lilley blasting an air in the combi bowl at Prince Skatepark
