{"id":99686,"date":"2025-12-18T14:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/99686\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:07:12","slug":"grlswirl-is-transforming-venice-beachs-skateboarding-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/99686\/","title":{"rendered":"GrlSwirl is transforming Venice Beach’s skateboarding culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Steph Sarah recalls a time in Venice Beach\u2019s mythical skateboarding history \u2014 long before the sandy expanse on Ocean Front Walk became the world-famous skate park, a concrete playground where pro skaters are born. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all boys,\u201d says Sarah, a 36-year-old Venice Beach native who learned to skate at age 12. \u201cIf you did come across another girl skating, they were your competition, because there wasn\u2019t even enough room for one girl to skate, let alone multiple girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The \"From \"The <\/p>\n

The group welcomes all skill levels and jokes that they\u2019re the \u201cworld\u2019s okay-est skaters.\u201d (Gabriella Angotti-Jones \/ For The Times) <\/p>\n

On this Thursday night, that is distant history. As fog rolls in over the Venice Pier, Sarah skates alongside dozens of women on the coastal path. They belt out the lyrics to \u201cHey Jude\u201d as singer Chloe Kat serenades them with a guitar in hand. Curious fishermen eye them, their fishing lines cast into the black ocean. But they pay no attention. Twirling under the moonlight, the women resemble a witch\u2019s coven \u2014 their spells are good vibes, California weather and the boards beneath their feet.<\/p>\n

Since its inception in 2018, GrlSwirl<\/a> has been a leading force in creating a more inclusive skateboarding culture in Venice Beach \u2014 and across the world. The Venice Beach-based organization fosters community among female skateboarders. Twice a month, the group hosts nighttime \u201cgroup skates\u201d for women and community members. The event has exploded on social media<\/a>, often attracting over 100 participants on warm summer nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to witness what it\u2019s like for people to break all the rules and show up fully as themselves,\u201d Lucy Osinski, one of the co-founders of GrlSwirl, says of the group skates. \u201cThe weirder, the sillier, the more authentic, the better.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Participants <\/p>\n

Participants dodge a parking barrier gate during a nighttime group skate. <\/p>\n

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Growing up in the world of professional ballet with its restrictive body standards and intense discipline, Osinski found newfound freedom in skateboarding. \u201cI went from feeling so fragile and weak to so powerful,\u201d she says. \u201cIt made me feel like I belonged and liberated in a way I had never experienced before.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when she moved to Venice Beach in 2017, skateboarding as a woman invited hostile attention. \u201cEvery time I would skate, people would catcall us or yell at us to do a kickflip,\u201d she says. (\u201cDo a kickflip\u201d is considered a skateboarding taunt<\/a>.) \u201cI started chasing down any girl I saw on a skateboard. I made a text chain. I called it GrlSwirl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osinski began posting about group skates on Instagram, where GrlSwirl gained traction. \u201cThe next week, 20 girls showed up just from word of mouth, and then the next week 40, and then the next 60, and then we had over 100 girls.\u201d Soon, the group\u2019s reputation attracted brand sponsorships and inquiries about starting chapters in new cities.<\/p>\n

Today, the organization also doubles as a nonprofit that teaches underprivileged communities to skate worldwide, including surf-skate retreats that empower women and girls. Osinski explains that GrlSwirl has hosted skateboarding clinics from refugee camps in Tijuana to the first-ever women\u2019s skate jam in the Navajo Nation. GrlSwirl has an international following with chapters in more than seven cities and an online community spanning 80 countries.<\/p>\n

\"Lindsey <\/p>\n

Lindsey Klucik, left, dances with friends to Christmas songs at the Venice Pier during a GrlSwirl group skate. <\/p>\n

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\"Lucy <\/p>\n

Lucy Osinski rolls in with a skateboarding move. <\/p>\n

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019ve done from Day 1 is to make spaces and find ways to build community through skateboarding,\u201d says Osinski. \u201cPeople want to be in a village, but they don\u2019t know how to be a villager. GrlSwirl is the village.\u201d<\/p>\n

The popularity of the bimonthly group skates has even attracted out-of-towners curious about the event. Osinski says the event has drawn tourists from Japan, Russia and more. Traveling from Salzburg, Austria, Karoline Bauer joined the skate with her partner while on vacation after following them on Instagram. \u201cWe were just looking for some community. We don\u2019t have that back home,\u201d Bauer says.<\/p>\n

The group skate welcomes skateboarders of all skill levels. As a motto, the group jokes that they\u2019re the \u201cworld\u2019s okay-est skaters.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re not looking for people to be shredding like crazy,\u201d says Naomi Fulta, a team rider for GrlSwirl. \u201cWe have people who come here who literally have never stepped on a skateboard, to people who\u2019ve been skating their whole lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yuka Okamura has been attending GrlSwirl\u2019s group skates with her 10-year-old daughter for over five years. To her surprise, Okamura began learning to skateboard when her daughter started taking lessons. \u201cI had no idea that I would start something new after I had a child. It\u2019s amazing to share the joy and the experience with her,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\"Yaya <\/p>\n

Yaya Ogun, a GrlSwirl team rider, poses with the group. <\/p>\n

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

For Yaya Ogun, one of the team riders, group skates are an opportunity to build community and make friends. Skateboarding naturally lends itself to community, she explains. Ogun attended her first GrlSwirl event alone and now rides as a sponsored skater. \u201cYou have to go someplace physical, you\u2019re gonna meet people, you\u2019re gonna make friends,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Ogun is a self-proclaimed pandemic skater. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge wave of us who started either during or after the pandemic,\u201d she says. \u201cI grew up wanting to skate, but I just never had the time. And then all of a sudden, I had a lot of time,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

As a transplant from Texas, Ogun was drawn to GrlSwirl because the organization is anchored in the local community, which has experienced rent hikes and the closure of local institutions in recent years. \u201cThis is a special place, and it\u2019s changing a lot,\u201d laments Ogun. \u201cWe want to respect it and raise it up and not change anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osinski credits GrlSwirl\u2019s success to its birthplace, Venice Beach, a place that celebrates uniqueness and community. Venice is a mecca for skateboarding, home to the Z-boys who revolutionized the sport in the 1970s and the subject of the documentary \u201cDogtown and Z-Boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GrlSwirl <\/p>\n

GrlSwirl aims to inspire people to \u201ccome together through the simple act of trying something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cVenice is a place of creation. You don\u2019t have to look like a Venice skater to be a Venice skater. It\u2019s about growing up and giving back,\u201d Osinski says.<\/p>\n

The girls skate into the evening, the sunset casting an orange light onto their smiling faces. Ogun declares her contempt for longboards \u2014 not to mention penny skateboards, which she says are a death trap. In the distance, waves carry surfers to the shore after their last surf of the day. As darkness falls on Venice Beach, the promise of something new swells.<\/p>\n