On a cloudy Wednesday afternoon in April, skaters in ripped jeans and wide-rimmed hats jump their skateboards, grinding down ramps at the Wilson Skatepark. Someone wipes out on the cement, but he’s back up in seconds, trying the same trick again as his friends are cheering on his close attempts

Skateboard culture in Chicago is not solely for hipsters and punks. This scene has firmly established its presence in Chicago throughout several decades, attracting all ages and professions, by giving many people who often felt like outcasts a sense of community and belonging.

“It’s a giant family,” said Stu Jacobs, who works at Uprise, 1820 N. Milwaukee Ave., one of many skateboard shops in Chicago. “We’re all different types of people, but we all have skateboarding in common.”

In 1996, Chicago skateboard culture was beginning to establish its roots, so when he was 17, Jacobs decided to leave his homesuburb of Palatine and move to the city.

“I used to come to the city at night,” he said. “I’d take the train in and skate all day,”

Jacobs, now 32, said his skateboard crew would run into other skaters and all of them would hang out together, sometimes for the entire day. Many of his closest friends are guys he met this way.

“If you never saw them on skateboards, you’d never know they skated,” Jacobs said.

He said he considers himself part of the skateboard scene, but its atmosphere has changed. A new wave of skateboarders has come along, and not all of them share the positive attitudes of the older skaters, he said. When he was getting into skating in the ’80s, he said it wasn’t part of mainstream culture. It was about rebellion.

“[Back then] it was all punk rock,” Jacobs said. “We were outcasts everywhere we went. Now there are all these hipster kids with their skateboards. It’s cool that it’s spread out to the different neighborhoods, but some people get into it for all the wrong reasons.”

Hipsters and rebellious youth today are less interested in the community aspect of the sport and more interested in doing something to look cool, Jacobs said.

“[A skateboard] is like a fashion accessory for some guys,” he said. “There are some people [who] just bum me out.”

According to Justin Nalley, 23, a Columbia alumnus who has skated for 11 years, the scene changed when skateboarding became popular, like when the X-Games gained a following in the ’90s.

Despite the influx of the hipster crowd, Jacobs and Nalley agreed the skateboard community is strong in Chicago, especially in skateparks. With ramps and smooth cement, these are places where skaters can practice tricks around fellow enthusiasts. The parks seem to foster a sense of belonging and community according to skaters.

“At skateparks, you’re all there for the same reason,” said Brad Hendrickson, junior creative writing major, who has skateboarded for 10 years. “I would say it’s the community aspect I like the most.”

Age, race and gender are irrelevant at the park, and everyone can feel accepted, Hendrickson said. He added that the culture is what people make of it. People can skate competitively or for fun. They can learn tricks or cruise down the sidewalk.

“Everyone in the skateboard community is supportive,” Nalley said. “It’s such a personal battle that no matter what skill level you’re at, everyone is supportive of you.”

There are several parks in Chicago, including Wilson, 700 N. Wilson Ave.; Logan Boulevard Skatepark, 2430 W. Logan Blvd; and Burnham Skate Park, 3400 S. Lakeshore Drive. Also, check out the “How to Skateboard” video on the Chronicle website.