Skate Legend Tony Hawk Kicked Out of Los Angeles Plaza While Recreating a Scene From His Own Video Game
On October 30, 58-year-old American skateboarding legend Tony Hawk went to Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, to film a tribute video for the 25th anniversary of his classic game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, only to be kicked out of the plaza by security during the shoot. He posted the finished video on Instagram that day with a self-deprecating caption, and the clip quickly went viral, with the New York Post, KTLA, Kotaku and other outlets following up.
"Fun fact: we got kicked out of Pershing Square while shooting this today," Hawk wrote. According to the New York Post, the video shows him rolling past the plaza's signature red spheres and a nearby car wash, recreating his game character's wobbly idle stance, set to the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"; after the real-life skating, the footage cuts to the game itself, where his virtual character performs the tricks. According to Kotaku, Hawk said the guard simply shooed them away, an ending he called "very anticlimactic."
The plaza is the real-life model for the game's Los Angeles level. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was released in North America on October 30, 2001, sold about 7.53 million copies worldwide, was the series' first title with online play, and was remade in 2025 as part of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 bundle. The game never names the plaza, but its red spheres and other landmarks match the original site for site.
Commenters quickly turned the moment into an internet set piece. "Security was waiting their whole life for today," one person joked. Another borrowed Hawk's best-known running meme: "That guy looks like Tony Hawk" - the legend is famous online for repeatedly meeting people who do not believe he is really Tony Hawk. Other players wrote that the game was what got them into skateboarding and opened up the world of music for them, calling it the start of "the best childhood and beyond."
Source: New York Post
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Tony Hawk滑板资料图（2022年摄，底特律市政府，公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons）
