Chad Dravk remembers when skating through Kensington meant getting pelted with rocks and trash. It was the 1980s, and Dravk was first finding his way into Philadelphia's skate scene.
"The locals, they didn't like anyone who wasn't from the neighborhood," he said. "No matter what race you were, you were getting chased."
Today, Dravk runs Zembo Temple of Skate and Design at 2421 Frankford Ave., where he's trying to build the kind of skate scene he wishes he had found as a kid.
It's taken time to get there.
The Frankford Avenue shop is Zembo's third home since Dravk opened the business in 2018. The original location closed in 2020 when the building was sold. Dravk moved to Amber and Berges streets, but the space, tucked beneath the El, struggled to attract walk-in customers. He eventually moved again, leaving behind the skate park he had built there behind.
"We really needed to be somewhere where the foot traffic was, and this is great," Dravk said.
So far, the move is paying off. Business is better than it has been since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when outdoor hobbies boomed. The shop now benefits from foot traffic along Frankford Avenue, near Thunderbird Salvage, Philadelphia Brewing Company, and Great Circles, the record store next door.
But Zembo is more than a retail space.
While the shop draws skaters, it also reflects Dravk's background as a designer. Art supplies, old cameras, action figures, and VHS tapes line the walls. Beanies and clothing hang in the back. A few small ramps give staff a place to skate.
The details are intentional. A Progress Pride flag hangs on the rear wall, and a rainbow flag flies out front. Decades ago, Dravk said, skate culture could be cliquish and unwelcoming. At Zembo, he's trying to create something different than that.
"There's no hate here. [We] just want to be here for that, to support that, and make people feel comfortable," Dravk said. "We just want like the mellow chill place to come get a board, some grip tape, maybe some new wheels, you know?"
That shift isn't limited to the shop.
At Pops Skatepark, a few blocks away, Dravk said he now sees a mix of ages and backgrounds skating together, something that would have been rare when he was younger. He and his team help maintain the space and stay involved in the local skate community.
"That's what gravitated me towards skateboarding, is that if you're just out there skating, you don't have to be good as long as you're going for it and having fun," he said.
Zembo volunteer Greg Paschell said skate culture has become more open over time.
"It's not as cliquey as it used to be," Paschell said. "Like you can kind of show up to any skate park or any session and you'll be friends with people immediately."
He remembers a moment working at Shallow End Skate Shop on East Huntingdon and Collins streets more than a decade ago: a customer walking in with a bag of recycled cans and buying a board with the deposit money.
"There is poverty, but you can see people have this thing that works," Paschell said. "An 'I'm going to make it happen' sort of spirit."
Dravk is trying to build on that sense of community through events at Zembo. At the former Amber Street location, the shop hosted live music and art shows. He said he's still figuring out what the Frankford Avenue space can support.
"Perhaps bring back some live music, but just like acoustic style," Dravk said.
In addition to running the shop, Dravk and his team are helping build a new skate park in Fishtown under I-95.
For now, he's focused on what is in front of him: a busier shop, a more visible location, and a growing skate community in Kensington.
It's the kind of scene he didn't find in the 1980s.
He's trying to build it now.
