Philly skateboarders stole a legendary 300-pound “Green Bench” from New York City

A group of skaters in Philadelphia took a U-Haul truck to New York City and stole a legendary skate bench from Tompkins Square.

The “Green Bench” or “AVE Bench” is a piece of skateboarding lore and a band of thieves from Philly decided to steal it. Skaters in New York City were heated that the bench was stolen and started posting “Missing” images all over social media in attempt to track down the group of “masked individuals” that pulled up in a U-Haul van and stole the bench. 

Green Bench Missing Flyer

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A post shared by Tompkins Flatground (@tf_report)

In one of the greatest moves ever, Philadelphia skate videographer Harry Bergenfield then shared a photo of the prized bench sitting outside City Hall. 

Green Bench in Philly

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChsmNWKpH2x/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

He then posted a picture of the thieves and the U-Haul with the caption “What’s This”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch25hWBJuFP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I absolutely love it. I have no idea what the hell is happening here but anytime a group of skateboard kids from Philadelphia come up with a plan to steal something very important from New York City, sign me up. Also, one hell of a guerrilla marketing campaign. 

According to reports…

The bench has since been relocated to Cecil B. Moore Station Plaza near Temple University, which is kind of the Philadelphia skate scene’s analog to Tompkins Square via Philly Voice 

The Fox29 crew visited the park over Labor Day Weekend and talked to skaters about the heist. 

Green Bench on Fox29

Look at all these skate kids bragging about grinding on this bench with smirks on their face knowing that everyone in New York City is in complete shambles over it. The best part about the video above is the fact that no one seems to care about the band of thieves that stole the bench in the first place. It’s more of a “well the bench is here now, so we’re going to skate on it” type vibe. I respect that.

Who knows how long the bench will remain in Philly. If we have a “capture the flag” situation here where different cities are going to try to continue to steal the bench, we’ll definitely keep you posted.