Atiba Jefferson, 45, photographer, director, DJ, restaurant owner and skateboarder: I think the coolest thing about Hollywood High is that you can always drive by and see what’s going on.

Ryan “Beagle” Ewing, 41, filmmaker and skateboarder: It’s good that it’s open to the public — anyone can just admire.

Jamie Foy, 26, professional skateboarder, three-time X Games medalist and Thrasher’s skater of the year in 2017: It’s just so accessible. Obviously, the name of the spot is the name of the school. There’s no hiding that spot. A lot of times in skating it could be like, “Oh, I don’t want people to know about this spot.” But Hollywood is a big a— spot, and everyone knows where it is. And everyone is more than welcome to go get their piece if they want to.

Dashawn Jordan, 25, professional skateboarder sponsored by Nike, Toy Machine and Spitfire: Every time I drive by, I almost want to go look at it just ‘cause.

Geoff Rowley, 46, professional skateboarder, Thrasher’s skater of the year in 2000: I mean, it is a spectacle. It’s right on the side of the road. Parallel to the sidewalk.

Paul Rodriguez, 37, professional skateboarder and actor, eight-time X Games medalist: There’s an energy of history that’s gone down there, where these historical moments happen.

Atiba Jefferson: It’s the Great Western Forum. Or Staples Center, really. It’s Lambeau Field or whatever iconic battleground. It’s pretty wild that it can exist.

Beagle: It’s one of the only spots in L.A. that will never be knobbed. The handrails are still there, and it will never be knobbed because it’s basically a tourist attraction.

Zion Wright, 23, professional skateboarder sponsored by Vans, Real Skateboards and Red Bull: It’s kind of like what people go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower. If you’re going to California, if you’re going to L.A., that’s definitely one of the spots you’re trying to hit or go see.

Patrick Praman, 26, amateur skateboarder, sponsored by New Balance, Real Skateboards and Spitfire: There’s other 16 stairs in the world. But it’s just the perfect rail and 16 stairs.

Arto Saari, 41, professional skateboarder and photographer. Thrasher’s skater of the year in 2001: It’s just a weird high block of concrete in the center of L.A. that doesn’t mean much to most people. Most people just walk right by it. They don’t think anything of it. It’s just another staircase, another rail, whatever. But as far as the skateboarding world goes, the rails are pretty perfect for how big it is. And how gnarly it is.

Paul Rodriguez: It’s a historical landmark for skateboarding. There are certain buildings in certain cities that can’t be touched because they mean so much to that city. And the government protects it from being changed. I feel like it’s the equivalent of that. It should be a landmark that’s protected and never allowed to be changed.

Erik Ellington, 45, pro skateboarder and owner of Deathwish Skateboards and Human Recreational Services: To me, the architecture of it symbolizes what I envisioned as a Los Angeles high school to look like. There’s something beautiful about it even without knowing what the history of skateboarding is. You’re just gonna look at the two sets of stairs or sit and look at the mural. It’s kind of like an altar.

Arto Saari: In a skateboarder’s eyes, it’s an incredible — incredible — spot, and it has a lot of history. As far as people who don’t skate, they probably wouldn’t look twice at walking by. They’re not looking at how smooth the concrete is, how perfectly the angle of the rail is and what kind of steel it is. Has it been skated? Has it not? Does it grind good? Or is it gonna stick?

Dashawn Jordan: I would describe it as a 16 stair. It’s one of those spots that’s a staple in Los Angeles skateboarding. You could be not even a skateboarder and you know about Hollywood or know that people have skated there or know — in some type of way, shape or form — what that spot is. That high school has a history to it — it’s right there, the mecca of Hollywood. The spot just holds so much weight, and it’s continued to be talked about for years. It is definitely a piece of history.

Geoff Rowley: The first time I saw Hollywood High was on the cover of Slap magazine. It was Pat Duffy doing a 180 nosegrind down the rail that looked like it was so steep that you shouldn’t be doing that Trick down it. This was in the early ’90s. [Duffy appeared on the cover of the February 1993 issue of Slap.] And I moved to the US in ’94. When I started to skate all kinds of rails and big gaps and harbors, I was looking for every bit of terrain to just annihilate and go after. I remember that photo of Pat and going, “Why have I never seen that spot again? Why have I never seen that spot anywhere? Like, It looks like it’s in California. Where is it?”

Atiba Jefferson: You think about that Duffy cover — I mean, I was in high school. It was kind of one of those things that became [something] overnight. Like, wait, that’s that spot? That spot, to me at least, was kind of this overnight success of the standard of what big skateboarding was, whether it was via stairs or via the handrail.

Jamie Thomas, 48, professional skateboarder, owner of Zero Skateboards, and X Games gold medalist: I remembered seeing the photo. And I was like, “How’s that possible? How could you 180 fakie nosegrind?” He definitely had an amazing ability — he was a pioneer of modern rail skating. He had an amazing perspective to be able to try things that previously weren’t possible.

Geoff Rowley: It’s Pat Duffy’s fault that everybody skates Hollywood High. Because he was the first to step up to it.

Beagle: The first time seeing it was when Jamie Thomas did the back[side] lip[slide] on the Hollywood High 16. I think that was 1999. Back at that time, back lip is like, “Wow, what else can you possibly do on that rail? Like to beat a back lip?”

Mike “Lizard King” Plumb, 39, professional skateboarder: I was just like, “Holy s—! This dude is next level!”

Paul Rodriguez: I remember all of us just freaking out about it. And me not realizing where that was. I was 14 when that video came out. You know, I have a really bad sense of direction. I had no idea that [place] was called Hollywood. One day, I forget who I was with, I don’t know if I was with my mom or my friends. Whatever. We’re just driving. And we drove right by Hollywood High. I’m looking at it: “Oh my God. That’s the Jamie Thomas [spot]. Oh my God. It’s right here. I can’t believe it’s here. Wow!” And that. That was my first time realizing, “Oh, s—! That’s the spot. Right?”

Jamie Thomas: Someone once asked me: “What’s the best feeling you’ve ever felt riding a skateboard?” And I’m like, there are a couple of tricks I’ve done in my life where I just felt like they came from heaven. [Where] I was trying it and then all of a sudden I was riding away. There’s this euphoric feeling of riding away from a trick that you don’t even know how it happened. Anyway, this was one of those tricks.

Erik Ellington: Funny story — Jim [Greco] and I were on that session. Jamie went there to backside lipslide the 16. He tried it for probably about an hour while me and Jim were sitting there like, “OK, you ready to go to the next spot?” And then went across the street to Kenny Rogers Roasters. It was was across the street before the Mel’s Drive-In. Way before all the development and stuff. We ate a full plate of food, sitting there, watching him keep trying it. Jamie tried it for probably 2 1/2 hours. It got to the point where it was getting just dusky. In the footage, you see it’s getting dark. We went back over there, and we spent another half hour, 45 minutes. So that was one of the most intense things I had witnessed on [the spot].

Jamie Thomas: I just had this vision of doing it. I’m like, “I’m going to do it until I make it, or until I seriously die. I’m going to do it no matter what.” I had never really stuck very many back lips on a rail that big. And I just got into a rhythm of sliding on, but never putting it down. It started getting dark. I couldn’t even see the rail anymore. The L.A. smog was so bad that the ground was kind of blackish. And I had a runway where I had been trying it for an hour or two. And I just followed the path. I could see when the stairs came and I just ollied, guessing where the rail was. But I’ve done so many that I was like, “I’m not going to stop. I’m not going to stop until I make it or until I clip.”

I was trying it over and over and over and over and over. And I knew it was so dark that I had a few more tries. And then I put it down and I was riding away. And I didn’t even know I was riding away until I went over the little metal triangle thing that the gate rides on. I hopped over that. And that’s when I woke up and was like, “Holy cow. I’m riding away. This is the best thing ever. I fought for this trick. And I’ve dreamed about it. And now I’m riding away from it.”

Geoff Rowley: The backside lipslide that Jamie did was a turning point.

Beagle: Andrew Reynolds’ varial heelflip down the 16 — I think it was in 2010 — was just such a big leap. It’s such a big deal. That’s one of my personal favorites there.

Dashawn Jordan: Reynolds killed that spot. So clean and precise. He made it definitely look like it wasn’t a 16 stair.

Paul Rodriguez: I love the way Reynolds jumps down stairs. So fluid and graceful. My favorite thing to see.

Geoff Rowley: You don’t have to look very hard to see a picture of Andrew Reynolds doing some ridiculous flip trick down the 16 stair — the varial heelflip. And then you go there, and you see that it’s way over your height. Any normal human recognizes that jumping off 15-foot walls all day long, and flipping and spinning your boards, is crazy stuff. And that’s what skateboarders do.

Andrew Reynolds, 44, proskateboarder and owner of Baker Skateboards, Thrasher’s skater of the year in 1998: Erik Ellington, Jim Greco and I used to live across the street, so we would hang out on the front part of the school and skate with the kids. There’s some small stairs and ledges on that side. To me, I just liked that it was close to my house and we could all skate the front and sometimes get sparked enough to go get a clip on the 12 or 16, and still be a mile from home.

Erik Ellington: Some of the things that are my favorites may not have been the best tricks that have been done. Just because it was so impactful to me: Chad Muska nose sliding it and crooked grinding it. Dustin [Dollin]’s kickflip crooked grind on the 12. At the time, doing something that technical down a 12 stair was just totally crazy. I filmed Arto’s switch frontside boardslide from the top. At the time, that was just so unheard of. And then Dustin’s blunt slide, because he had just come off of knee surgery. Jamie Thomas’ backside lipslide the 16.

Arto Saari: The strongest memory that comes to mind is probably Daniel Harold Sturt’s photo of Jamie Thomas doing a back lip. That image is imprinted in my head.

Sean Malto, 33, professional skateboarder, Street League gold medalist and the recipient of Transworld Skateboarding’s rookie of the year award in 2009: One of my favorite tricks right now is Jamie’s fakie 5-0. It’s a simple trick that is scary as hell.

Patrick Praman: [Jamie] Foy’s fakie 5-0. Nollie-ing is one thing, but popping fakie is so brave. Zion’s half-cab, back Smith is like, That’s not a rail you do that on that.

Jamie Foy: When I first moved to California, I did a 5-0 on the 12. Going into my skate career, I was like, “If and when I go pro, I would like to have a fakie 5-0 that is outstanding [compared to] all my other fakie 5-0s.” So what popped into my head was I want to bring it to the 16.

The 12 is tall and petite. And the 16 is kind of long and mellow. It makes a big difference. When you get to the 16, you can’t really just jump to the bottom of that thing anymore. You gotta just send it and be ready for what’s to come. That’s what’s cool about it, you’re up there at the top, ready to try a trick. Like, “Whatever I’m gonna try right now is gonna be like, you know, try to be up to par with what I’ve seen in the past.”

Zion Wright: The lead-up to me going to try it, I had a dream about it. Like, “I’m gonna go try Hollywood.” When I had the dream, it was more so on how I did it. And I did it with my foot coming off of the board. And literally the way I did it, my toe was kind of hanging off and then it adjusted as I landed perfect. It was like I had the vision and had the dream about that. We hit Chick-fil-A after.

Jamie Thomas: So much crazy stuff has gone down on the rail. Like the Yuto trick — nollie 270, switch back lip. All that stuff is so heavy. It’s really mind-boggling. All the Jamie Foy tricks. Skateboarding has gone nuts.

You know, one of my favorite tricks, though, was Chris Haslam’s kickflip back Smith on the 12. And he flips right into the rail at the top. And it’s the most beautiful back Smith after kickflipping in. I just remembered being totally shocked at how good he did that. It was phenomenal. He did it so, so, so good. It’s probably the one of the best kickflip Smith’s ever done. I remember staring at it for an excessive amount of time and being totally blown away.

Chris Haslam, 41, professional skateboarder, recipient of Transworld Skateboarding’s reader’s choice award in 2005, sponsored by Brainchild Skateboards: I was living on Lanewood. We were right there every single day. I was doing that trick at best-trick contests. I was doing that a lot back then. I’m not a big rail guy. So my heart was in my throat. It took me about 30 minutes of constantly rolling up to shut my brain off so I could commit. I was so nervous.

It was mellow that day. Usually, I don’t want anybody watching or a huge crew of dudes skating — I don’t like any of that stuff. But I was so focused; I knew that I had to get that. It was such a big opportunity for me. I wanted to have something that would impress people, really.

Jamie Thomas: He did it as good as you could do that trick on anything. Like you couldn’t have done it better on a flat bar.

Dashawn Jordan: I would say Lizard King front nose. That was kind of crazy. I believe it was a cover. He had the headphones on. Front nose is such a scary trick down a rail in a 16 row. I just remember being like, “Whoa! He front nosed that!” All the homies are there in the background under the little shaded area. It was so sick. It’s so much stuff that’s been done. Derrick Wilson, nollie heel. Nyjah [Huston]’s tricks. But it was definitely the front nose for me.

Lizard King: I always wanted to skate it. And I always wanted to front nose it. But it took me some time to mentally prepare myself for what the hell was going on. Then one day, someone was talking s— to me. And I was just like, “F— it, today is the day. I’m going there.”