Street Canoe

Skateboarding makes me smile because even if I’m having a rough day at school, my Welcome broom is waiting for me at home and wants me to shred it. I might still only be a beginner but there can be lots of happiness in learning something rad.

- Daniel

Skateboarding makes me smile because of its creative outlet, it’s ability to keep me from drinking all the time, and of course the community aspect of it!

- Patrick

I was never very talented on a skateboard but what made me happier than anything was finding a huge hill and bombing that son of a bitch as fast as I could and praying that the speed wobbles wouldn’t kill me. Once I conquered them it was rocks or holes and at night they are difficult to avoid. Road rash was always welcome and it never hurt bad enough to walk back up and do it again and avoid those bastards! Blowing through intersections and stop signs without a care in the world!

- Mike

Skating makes me more than smile. It completes me. I’ve always looked for something to fill In this void in my life. I’ve used drugs, sex, and other things. Only skating has brought me unlimited memories, great friends, good health, and just a better life. I feel free from life’s trials when I skate. Just me and my friends getting down. No problems from the world, just wheel bite. Skating does more than makes me smile. It’s my way of living. I owe it all to skating.

- Aaron

Skateboarding makes me smile because it has always been there for me when nothing else was. And the feeling of possibility from what would seem useless by the normal eye of society. I can’t ride my skateboard without smiling.

- Jonathan

Skateboarding makes me happy because I feel the heavy weights of life float into the sky, off my shoulders, as I glide freely on four 54 millimeter wheels and push myself faster and faster. The simple push from point a to b is all I need.

- Roy

Skateboarding makes me smile cuz its my best friend. Indifferent to my joy or anguish, a constant ant companion who asks no questions of we’re you been or what’s wrong, only let’s fucken roll brother!

- Alan

Skateboarding makes me smile cause it’s the best thing ever. Stickers also make me smile! The feeling I get when being out with all the friends, traveling to new places is crazy! I feel iv learned more things through skateboarding and friends then I have from school! My whole life revolves around skateboarding and that’s what keeps me smiling and so happy! Why else would I go play outside in this 10 degree weather!

- Thomas

I would also like to add that skateboarding makes me smile because that’s what it’s supposed to make you do! Ha.. For me personally it’s a few things: It’s a fresh griptape job, putting stickers on your board, hooking up a nice new set of wheels, and the anticipation of riding your new setup for the first time. It’s that anticipation and the journey into an uncharted area that makes me smile. As long as those feelings are still there, I’ll be smiling for a long time!

- Mike

This thing that i love so much has unlimited ways of making me happy: it allows me to challenge myself, be free, meet new friends, get artsy, travel to different places while having hook-ups through the world wide skate family and that just scratching the surface.

- Mike

Skateboarding makes me smile because it releases a surge of dopamine into my synaptic cleft, causing me to experience a bout of pleasure and heightened motivation. This is also why it is so addicting. Skateboarding allows me to take a fresh perspective and create every day that I want to.

- Erik

Skateboarding makes me smile because it represents a break from the drama, constraints, pretension, and frustration. skateboarding makes me smile because it’s a connection to the good times, characters, and places from the past, present, and future.

- Rex

Cause there aint nothing funner!

- Gordon

It’s hard to believe that I struggled writing a response to this question. After writing full responses on three occasions, I started to think that my college philosophy classes had finally gotten the best of me. But, then I realized that skateboarding has literally taught me more about life then school could ever teach me. For example I’ve learned, that falling and getting back up is only normal, having the balls to try it again is extraordinary. I’ve learned the value of competition; not everyone is your friend, especially when they’re all out trying to one up you. I’ve also realized that through skate videos, I have seen to more cities and countries then most people could ever imagine, not only have i seen these places, but I’ve realized that the architecture that make up these cities are things to seriously be marveled at. This is why skateboarding makes me smile! These daily occurrences bring new countries, art, pain,joy, and friends into my life that I couldn’t get anywhere else.

Thank you skateboarding, you’re killing it!!!

- Kevin

Skateboarding makes me smile because you can learn it for life, and you get to learn it with your best friends. It’s an endless amount of joy and pain, success and failure, it’s easy and it’s hard, it’s up and it’s down. It’s like a great movie that never ends, and there’s actually a camaraderie between skateboarders that allows for REAL happiness and connection with others. You don’t have to WIN. . . You just get to go skate and be you.

- Joe

From a young age to now 37, from learning/landing a new trick to just goofing with my friends, skateboarding has always made me smile. Friends and fam, have come and gone but skateboarding has always been there, to put a smile on my face. I have met and continue to be friends with some of the greatest people I know who I probably would not have ever met, had skateboarding not been a part of my life.

Just the other day I was watching an old friend rip and caught myself with the biggest grin on my face. It’s powerful.

-Cary

Skateboarding makes me smile because as much as people want to turn it into a sport and rank people within, it’ll never fit the ‘sport’ mold. Because its as true of an art as you can get. Everyone has their style. Skateboarding’s principles can be learned but I’ll always own the way I skate and I may only land a certain trick once in a day or once in a lifetime. Dude, I might break a few bones on the journey but you’ll never stop me from pushing to the end. Friends come and go, but skateboarding is for life.

-Nate

Posted by jay on January 29th, 2014

LB: Brad, what’s good, where are you at right now?

BW: I’m in Brooklyn, NY right now. Just got back here from a week between Baltimore and Richmond. Things are great! Skateboarding and freight trains!

LB: Rad!! What’s good in New York with Matt Price and the Brimley squad?

BW: Arizona pretty much decided to take over New York for the month of June. Peter Vlad rented a place in Bed-Stuy for a month and the entire Brimley squad and adjoining homies came along for the ride. It’s been so rad to see so many friends out here skating together in New York. Reminds me of old Tempe park sessions.

LB: Alright, we have a ton of history skating together, but instead of me telling everyone about you, why don’t you fill us in with you. Where are you from? When did you start skating? Who were your influences at a young age?

BW: I’m from Indianapolis and started rolling around on a shitty Toys-R-Us skateboard in my unfinished basement on rainy days when I was 10 years old. I spent a good 3 months messing around with skating without any outside influence or knowledge about the skateboard industry (magazines, videos, etc…). Eventually all of my neighborhood friends also got skateboards and we started rolling around together trying to learn how to ollie all day long. I was really lucky that my friend Tom Eusey went to the same elementary school and introduced me to Rise Skateboard Shop and all of the older guys that skated, and pretty much showed me the way. My influences at a young age were mostly local Indiana skateboarders like Rick Eusey, Buddy Best, Nate Olp, Scott Wilson, Tony Allanson, Mike McGiness, you (Lee Bender), Ryan Smith and some others as well.

LB: Since I worked at the skate shop in town, I know you had a pretty close crew as a young kid, where are all those guys now? How did you make it out compared to a few of the places some of those guys ended up?

BW: I had a good crew of friends to skate with when I was really young (10-13yrs old) but as it always happens…some of my close friends started to skate less and instead engage in some self-destructive shit. It’s something that was really hard for me to understand at a young age and is still difficult for me to understand now. Myself and others tried to get these guys back out skating, but to no avail. People are going to do what they want to do regardless. The last I’ve heard is that a few of those guys are doing a lot better, but I have mostly lost touch with all of my original crew except Sean Waeiss and Casson Valiyi who are still out there skating and killing it. I have never dabbled in drinking/smoking/drugs but would not categorize myself as straight edge…it was just a conscious decision I made at a very young age to stay away from that shit. I am still so grateful for the older skateboarders I had to look up to who purely skated and didn’t fuck around with anything else, and I think I definitely owe those dudes a lot because without those positive influences, things might have ended up a lot differently.

LB: When did you start traveling to skate and where were some of your first trips too?

BW: My first out-of-state trip occurred when I was 13 years old. I always wanted to skate shit outside of my hometown and the older guys would always go skate the park in Louisville that was lit 24 hours a day. We made it through a lot of winters by carpooling to Ollie’s skate park in Florence, KY. Each year during school breaks I would travel further and further away to Arizona, California, and Florida. The most influential trip though was when at age 15, I convinced my parents to call me out of school to spend 9 days skating in Arizona.

LB: Who else was on these trips?

BW: Oh man, too many people to name. We would just pack into as many cars as we could. Buddy, Rick, you, Hutch, Tony, and Ryan Smith were always the dudes I remember spearheading the Louisville and Ollie’s sessions. My trips to California and Florida were usually with Sean’s family and Casson went on a few of those too. We would just skate around and explore without knowing anyone or where any spots were. As we would come across them we would skate until we got kicked out and move on. The first Arizona trip was Nathan Schmaltz, Tim Devlin, and myself. We got a hotel in Mesa and no one was old enough to rent a car, but you were there to save us and ended up driving us around for the whole trip. We took the bus to the Wedge a couple times when you were working but you came through so hard! Thanks!!!

LB: How did you end up living in Arizona and why did you choose the college you did?

BW: When I was a senior in high school I wasn’t really planning on going to college. I had a halfway decent job in Indy with promise of promotion and felt good about the Indiana skate scene at the time. I thought long and hard but realized that there was a lot more out there that I wanted to discover. I love Indiana, but I would have fallen into monotony with my job and the same routine, so I made a decision to start applying to colleges in other states in hopes of starting something brand new. I was accepted to a couple of schools in the Midwest as well as some schools out West. As I weighed my options, Arizona just kept coming up in my head. I graduated high school in June of 2007 and moved into a small one-bedroom apartment in Tempe, Arizona on August 1st 2007. I chose an Arizona school because it just made sense to me as I would be able to skate everything; pools, ditches, street spots, and the plethora of well lit skateparks. I didn’t know many folks out there but you, Tim Ward, and Michael Tubbs were my guides into the Arizona skate scene. Moving to Arizona was easily the best life decision I’ve made thus far.

LB: Do your parents know that’s why you choose Arizona?

BW: They definitely were surprised as I am the oldest child and they didn’t expect me to move across the US. More than anything though, I think they were just excited that I was pursuing further education. We all laugh about it now, but skateboarding was a great vehicle to get me interested in psychology, which is what I eventually went on to study at Arizona State University.

LB: Who are or were some of your influences now? You seem to cover a very broad sect of skating. One day you’re with a few guys that are both 40+ bucketing pools on the west side of Phoenix and the next, you’re jumping down stairs with kids that are 3 or 4 years younger than you in Tucson. How is it comparatively speaking, skating with Hoss Rogers and Wez Lundry one day and then skating with someone like Chris Millic the next?

BW: As far as influences in skateboarding goes, my friends are the ones who get me more stoked than anything else. It’s great to get older with your friends and keep skating all the way through it. My favorite part about skateboarding is that it has no age cut-off. Older dudes might not still be jumping down stairs but it doesn’t mean they can’t get the same feeling out of skating by turning to pools, ramps, and skate parks. One of my good friends Hoss Rogers is 52 years old and still grinds pools every week. Wez Lundry is getting older too, but is always ripping! When I first moved out to Arizona Tim Ward introduced me to the younger dudes who skated street and you introduced me to some of the older dudes who skated pools. Even though I couldn’t skate pools well at first, I was so intrigued by the different backyards we would trespass in while skating pools and as a photographer really enjoyed the ever-changing scenery and process that goes along with finding, cleaning, and then covertly skating pools. There’s just something sacred about the whole process. Typically, a lot more goes into skating a pool than does driving downtown to skate a ledge. It was also really fun to go out street skating with all of the dudes my age and spend all day exploring downtown Phoenix and ending up at a skate park at the end of the night. I just like to try and skate everything which is the reason why I go out with the older dudes to skate pools some days and then the younger street skating guys other days.

LB: You’re all over the place with hobbies/issues, besides skating, what else are you into and how did you get into it?

BW: I’m definitely into too much random shit and need 2 lifetimes to sit down and focus on things. Skateboarding is awesome at exposing kids to other creative endeavors and ways of thinking. I was exposed to a lot of different people who then imparted bits and pieces of themselves onto me.   In 7th grade, I remember getting really really into Minor Threat which was kicked down from Rick Eusey to his little brother who then turned me onto it. I spent a lot of my free time researching music which is still something I love doing. When I started going on skate trips at 13, I began to take disposable cameras along because I really wanted to bring those memories home. Eventually I bought a 35mm Canon slr and began shooting anytime I went out skating or on trips. Taking some photo classes in high school really solidified me as a photographer. I’m also really into documenting freight train graffiti and oilbar monikers. Through learning about the history of oilbar monikers, I began reading about the depression era hobos and their migration by freight trains in search of work. It got to the point where I wanted to ride a train and felt comfortable attempting it, as I knew how to carry myself due to spending a lot of time in train yards photographing the graffiti and monikers. My good friend Ceech took me on my first train ride in the summer of 2009 and I’ve been riding any chance I get since then. I’m also very involved in Jai Tanju’s Filmporvida Print Exchange Program.

LB: Hopping trains seems pretty far outta place for someone from Indiana, doesnt it?

BW: Well, the funny thing is that I moved out West and started to get really into the freight train culture but there are far more trains in the Midwest! Almost all of the riding I’ve done has been on the West coast but I definitely want to do some Midwest and East coast rides in the next year.

LB: What is Black Butte, CA?

BW: Black Butte is a small stretch of land between Mount Shasta and Weed, CA. There is a small black lava butte, along with the Black Butte Center For Railroad Culture (which is a railroad museum some of my friends run) which borders the Union Pacific mainline tracks and is across from a 1920s era water tower that was used for steam locomotives. The BBCRC has retained some historical old cabooses and wooden boxcars that are on site and have renovated them into libraries/movie rooms/galleries/stages. They also have extensive gardens and forest restoration projects. The whole area is so rich in railroad history. Black Butte is one of the favorite places I’ve traveled to and I always look forward to my yearly stops by the BBCRC. If interested, check out bbcrc for more info.

LB: And what about photography, where did that come from and what have you been able to do with it as of late? Ive seen a few zines youve made and a few others that you were highlighted in, care to explain?

BW: I got into photography from going on skate trips and wanting to take the scenes from the road home with me. I didn’t have any understanding about the technical aspects about photography, but read a lot and learned a ton from my amazing high school photo teacher Kevin Daly. Even though I had completed his class, he would talk with administration each semester and tell them that I would be doing an independent study with him for the semester. We ended up running this scam all 4 years of high school, so I pretty much had my own private darkroom and free reign to print whatever I wanted. I really fell in love with photography during this time and gained a deep appreciation for the darkroom processes that go along with silver gelatin printing. I didn’t buy a digital camera until my sophomore year of high school when I started experimenting with flash photography in skateboarding. I shoot almost all film photos but use my digital camera when shooting skating with flashes. I do an annual zine called Over & Out that is full of skateboarding, mail art, freight train riding, as well as monikers and graffiti but have taken the last year off to work on other projects. I’ve worked with some other photo collectives and done some other zines over the past few years. I think zines are really important because photos that are posted online or on instagram just get lost in the digital abyss. It’s so nice to be able to hold something in your hands and put it in your bookshelf to pull out and look at for years to come.

LB: Do you plan on taking that anywhere else in life?

BW: It’s hard to say. I would love to make a living as a photographer without doing anything much different than what I’m already doing…which is the main reason why I haven’t pursued it too hard. To me it feels a lot more pure to just be making photos for photography’s sake without any other bells and whistles involved (deadlines, assignments, etc.). I will never stop taking photographs and currently work another full time job in order to fund my addiction to photography and traveling. There’s no money in making zines, it’s just a way to put your work on paper and trade it with other like minded individuals. I’m eventually going to put out a book, but that is a long way down the road. I still do enjoy shooting skate photos and trying to find them homes in magazines and other publications.

LB: I almost forgot, you set up a traveling railroad art show that started in Alabama of all places, where’s it going next and when?

BW: Yeah, that turned out really awesome. I partnered with my amazing friend Byron Sonnier from Birmingham to do a show called Reading the Rails and we both began to contact railroad related artists who sent in work from all over the US and Canada, while Byron located a gallery that gave us free range to do anything we wanted for an entire month. Byron and Albert Kuhne played an instrumental role in setting up the show and handling all of the business on the ground. The result was unbelievable! The amount of freight train folklore present in one gallery was astounding. We hope to do one show out East and one show out West and are currently brainstorming on how to fund it and make that happen.

LB: Is this something you plan on doing for a while?

BW: With proper funding, I think that would be something really fun to take around. People would really appreciate the variety of work in the show.

LB: What would you suggest to younger guys , or older, looking to get in to something like this?

BW: If you want to do an art show, just spend some time networking with other artists. Get to know some of the folks who run galleries in your city. Look at other people’s work as much as possible and try to stay current on what people are making out in the world.

LB: You also teach, what’s the details on that?

BW: I am very lucky to work with kids with special needs during the school year. You remember when teachers always asked you what you wanted to be when you were older? I could never come up with an answer but knew that I didn’t want to sit in a cubicle all day, didn’t want to sell anyone anything, and wanted to have genuine human interaction while working a job. As I got older and was going through college, I realized that I wanted to eventually teach and work in the schools. My job is really great. I get to work with a lot of amazing kids who bring me so much joy. The other great part about my job is that I have a lot of school related breaks which works well with traveling around by freight or for skate trips. My last day of work was on May 23rd and I came out to NYC on May 24th and will be traveling all summer until school starts back up.

LB: I know how hobbies/lifestyles, whatever you want to call it, can take over your life, but how do you find time to teach, skate, shoot photos, ride trains and everything else you do?

BW: Ahh man, trying to find a balance is the hardest part of my life. It’s really stressful sometimes but I guess I’d rather be overwhelmed than bored. I try and keep things as simple as possible but that can be hard. When I’m in Arizona working most of the year, a typical day for me is working until 3pm, scanning some film when I get home, sending out some postcards, grabbing some pizza, skating a park or pool with some homies, and walking through the train yard to end my night. Getting in a good routine while I’m back home in AZ working really helps me as a photographer. I shoot a ton while I’m out on the road and when I come home I spend a lot of time archiving my film and deciding what I want to do with my images.

LB: Will you tell me about your most recent train ride and the train stopping before the conductor came running down the tracks screaming at the top of his lungs?

BW: I was riding trains through the desert and I caught an eastbound night train in an open boxcar and everything was going great. I dozed off to sleep but was abruptly awoken up by the train slamming to a harsh stop as the train was traveling at 55mph. I immediately knew something was wrong. Freight trains go into “emergency” which is when all of the brakes lock up and the train stops all at once. This may happen for several reasons, such as an air hose breaking, a coupler snapping apart, or a train getting into an accident. I got off of my boxcar and quickly realized that I was pretty much in the middle of desert farmland but could make out some housing from a small town on the other side of my train. I found a small concrete full pipe to hide in on farm property close to the train. I watched the conductor get out of the engine at the front of the train and begin walking the train with his flashlight. At this point I was assuming he was just trying to locate the defective train car and fix it. He came up to a train car that was only 5 or so cars in front of my boxcar and started screaming and crying at the top of his lungs, “fuck fuck fuck fuck, help help help!!!!!” I have never heard a human make sounds like the screaming and crying he was making, and my initial suspicion was confirmed that our train had struck, dismembered, and likely killed someone. Minutes later the area was crawling with police and I had to hide out with the fear of being caught and somehow implicated. It was a pretty terrifying experience. As daylight broke, my suspicions were confirmed…a local man had stepped out in front of our train and been struck and killed.

LB: How have those events changed how you look at life or even your priorities with what’s important to you?

BW: Well anytime I’ve been around death, it just makes me appreciate being alive that much more. I’ll never get the conductors screams and cries out of my head though. I think a lot of people have painted quite an unrealistic picture of train hopping when in reality it is a very dangerous activity for a multitude of reasons, even though that dude stepped out in front of our train.

LB: Being a teacher, what do you plan on doing the rest of the summer?

BW: Well, I’ll be out East here for a little while longer and then I’m headed back out West and traveling up the coast of California into Oregon and then on into Vancouver, BC. I’m just traveling alone and meeting up with friends all along the way. It’s really nice not to have no agenda other than to be back to Arizona in a few months to start working again. I’ll just be skating, riding trains, shooting photos, hanging out with good friends, and eating lots of good food.

LB: You’re still young, but how long do you see that this can last?

BW: I’ll move around like this until I can’t walk anymore, but even then I’ll still try and get out there. For me it’s just the key to happiness. It’s simply wanderlust. I’m never content…there is too much shit to see and skate. I’m only working 182 days a year in the schools, which leaves me over half the year to get out into the world and make shit happen.

LB: What do you want from skateboarding?

BW: Skateboarding has given me everything I could ever have asked for. I never really cared about “making it” as a skateboarder and always knew it would be a very long process that I wasn’t really interested in pursuing. These days, it’s nice to just skate for fun all the time without being worried about filming and putting together video parts. There are also a lot of other great things out there in the world besides skateboarding, so I would encourage other skateboarders to seek those things out and find something else to put your energy into while you’re not out skating.

LB: At this point in your life, what dreams have you actually lived out? Dreams you thought you would never accomplish, but have and do on a daily basis.

BW: I just put it into perspective how stoked my 10-year-old self would be about what I am doing these days and what I have done leading up to the present. I never imagined where skateboarding would take me and all of the amazing friends I would make through it. I am definitely really grateful for all of the amazing humans that are a part of my life.

LB: Is there anything else, any stories, ideas, or dreams you want to live out, share, or explain?

BW: I definitely want to ride trains in Mexico, as well as doing some longer hops from West to East and back. Those are things on my checklist for sure. There are a couple of skate spots on my radar that I really want to seek out and skate. I’ve also been working on a book that will be coming out in a few years.

LB: Who do you want to thank after all these… well, you’re still young as hell, but after this past decade of skating, traveling, and train hopping?

BW: So many people have helped me out over the years and I could write about it for days. I’ll thank my amazing family for all of their support over the years. I’ll thank you (Lee Bender) for getting me out of Indiana and everything else you’ve done for me. Buddy Best, Rick Eusey, Hutch, Ryan Smith, Tim Devlin, Tony Allanson, Rob Walker and all of the other Indiana dudes that played a positive role in my youth and helped me out so much along the way. I’ll thank all of my East Coast friends such as Jersey Drew, Phil Jackson, Steve Marino, and Bruce B for putting me up and showing me the ways. My friends in the North West Erik Ursin and Kevin Willrick who continue to put me up year after year. Kevin Erst and Melissa Rodriguez for saving my life. All of my brothers in the railroad are constant inspirations and have contributed a lot to the culture. All of the NSL boys in Vancouver. My friends down south in RVA and Birmingham. Neil Shoemaker, Tim Ward, Ari Shiffrin, Matt Price, Nich Kunz, Jai Tanju and all of the film por vida family, the BOTY homies, the LFL boys, Benji Wagner at Poler, Sean Waeiss, Casson Valiyi, Dylan Messer, Brett Reed, Wez Lundry, and Hoss Rogers. I feel like I’m leaving some folks out but I just feel grateful for all of you! At the end of the day, my friends are the ones that really inspire me and keep me moving forward. Keep skating, doing whatever creative things you all do, and continue to leave your marks in the world.

Street Canoe would like to send out an extra special thanks to Brad and Lee. It’s skateboarders like them that make me happy to be alive and proud to be a skateboarder. Forward motion until the end my friends.

Posted by jay on January 2nd, 2014

Posted by jay on December 26th, 2013

Posted by jay on December 9th, 2013

Posted by jay on November 27th, 2013

Posted by jay on October 30th, 2013

Check out the video below featuring Shawn, Tony Manfre, Brian Warner and Ben Gore as they skate around San Francisco and stop at some of their favorite spots along the way.

Posted by jay on October 17th, 2013

Portrait photo by Bryce Kanights

Five minutes prior to the skies opening up, the crew & I decided to venture to a nearby field with my 1950′s Speed Graphic camera. This portrait was taken in the heart of Amish country, Pennsylvania. Because the Amish never want kids running out in their fields, we had to be quick. Evan is one of my favorite people & his relentless positivity always seems to outweigh any potential disaster. In this photo, Evan points towards his bright future while holding the ominous storm clouds against his back.

The man who has seen it all partially hides behind his Leica M6. He once told me, “Some people decide to spend their money on a Rolex. I bought a Leica. A Rolex tells the time while a Leica tells of a time.” This quote makes perfect sense when you look at Bryce’s photography.

Every one of BK’s photos is just as classic as the last. Bryce has absolutely mastered the ability to capture the stories behind his iconic images in his extensive career as a photographer. Like many others, he is a true inspiration to my work & I am incredibly honored to use Bryce’s portraits of myself for this feature.

Although there is a gap in generations between myself and Ryan, we have much in common due to growing up in the same area of Massachusetts. There is a certain undeniable raw humor that comes from being a skateboarder on the East Coast, which is why this photo makes laugh every time I see it.

Gallant visited Woodward this past summer as a visiting pro with a few other Expedition teammates. We decided to look at “the lighter side” of skate camp in this portrait. Ryan channeled the excitement of all the young campers who were living their dream of being at Woodward for the week. Ironically, we know exactly how they feel, as Woodward would have been heaven on earth when we were their age!

Rullaman flashes the DBN gang sign against the barn at my old house. Ryan and I shared last year’s bitter cold winter in PA as we both were full time employees for Woodward. Because we worked nine to five on weekdays, we had plenty of time to goof off after work. To me, this polaroid shows a glimpse of the amazing times we had while living in the middle of nowhere for an entire year.

If you ever have the opportunity to be neighbors with Jerry, you’ll soon realize how much he enjoys life. His love for photography, skateboarding, & his close group of friends make Jerry a pleasure to be around. Not to mention that his sarcasm is on another level. This portrait was taken the afternoon before I moved out of LA. After the polaroid developed, it began to sink in that I will have a very tough time finding another neighbor as epic as Jerry!

First polaroid in Los Angeles, as well as one of my personal favorites. I had only been living in California for a couple weeks, & had no idea what laid ahead. For this reason, I have always seen this image as a representation of looking into the future.

Living a block away from the new Odd Future pop up store on Fairfax instantly introduced me to an entire crew of new kids. Regardless of how successful Tyler & his friends are, I can assure you there is nothing they would rather do than sit in front of a store all day and talk shit to each other.

When I think if there is a person who embodies skateboarding, Dressen is the first to come to mind. Genuine & humble don’t even justify how epic Eric truly is. These polaroids were taken one night when he decided that it would be cool to tattoo me after the shop closed. He had absolutely no problems with staying late because he knew how stoked I was & he viewed me as a friend over a customer. When it boils down to it, Dressen is a great human who has dedicated his life to skateboarding.

Street mission in mid July to break away from Woodward’s perfect facilities. These common missions were inspired by the desire to feel the familiar pavement beneath our boards.

Above are the first portraits which I have shot of these two. I feel that it is important to state that they are my first portraits of Ben & Arto, because it looks like I will be shooting many more with them as I am currently moving to LA to work for Flip. The opportunity to be with a team that I idolized as a child, is more than I could have wished for.

Although there is so much work to be done, the future looks very promising & I feel incredibly fortunate that I have been able to surround myself with the best people. I thank skateboarding for all of these images, simply because I know that becoming a skateboarder was the best thing to ever happen to me.

Posted by jay on October 14th, 2013

On the inside with Dan Depetro – 100% skateboarder

I ramble…. a lot. So I’m not going to plague this interview with a bunch of my relentless thought/mouthed/typed out garbage. What’s to come, well, you’ll either get it or you won’t.  Dan is your working class skateboarder, but not in your typical “he works construction” or “3rd shift at the factory on the outskirts of Reno”. He was one of a few (Joey Tershey included) that helped produce, promote, and push ALL of the DLX boards for the last few years that they were still made in the states. I’m writing the intro before I’ve even thought of the first question simply because this is going to be too good! Also, by the looks of the texted conversation back and forth with him, this ones gonna be for the vaults. These are the behind the scenes stories that have never see they day of light. So, world, from the Street Canoe Syndication in Oakland, California. With honor, Dan Depetro, 100% skateboarder.

- Lee Bender

LB: Dan, I only know a little about you. I know you’re from Redding, Ca. and now live in Reno, Nv. But theres a whoooole lotta experiences between those two points of your life. Firstly, lets start out with your current situation. Family? Home? Job? How long have you skated? All the current stat stuff that pertains to the interview at hand.

DP: So, with that said, I wanna take it back to when we first met. I was driving from Santa Cruz to Indianapolis for some reason. I stopped in San Jose to hang with Justin Bell and he needed a ride to his friends wedding, which happened to be yours. So Justin jumped in and voila, a few hundred miles later, we meet and were headed south on 395, off to skate Gardnerville during your last minute scramble to get married. Skating was always first priorities typically, right?

LB: Was that 2002 or 2003?

DP: That was 2003. He was on his way to Reno to stand in my wedding as my best man. Being that at that time you were living in Reno, I’m assuming that was after you put in your time at ERMICO? The powers that be closed the wood shop in San Francisco and outsourced our jobs to China and Mexico.

LB: For the younger guys, what was ERMICO?

DP: Ermico was the name of the “death star”. Everything that was anything came out of Hunters point. including but not limited to Anti-Hero, Real, Rasa Libre, Think, Adrenalin, Spitfire and all related wheel companies. Venture, Thunder, and Independent trucks were also manufactured across the alley from my office at RPM. Now bear in mind that all decks were delivered in one of my flat bed trucks to Printime for screening. It was homegrown, as local as it gets under the watchful eyes of Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello. The corporate title of Ermico came about with the mish mash of initials, you had Fausto, Swenson and their partner from NHS in Santa Cruz. ( Michael Parry. ERic Swenson MIChael Parry FaustO Vitello) They decided over beers and left handed cigarettes one day in the late 70′s that Ermico worked for all involved. It stuck and continues to stand strong to this day in spite of their untimely deaths.

LB: What did they produce?

DP: -see above. Also as a writers note for the rookies out there it should be noted and clearly defined that the three men previously mentioned founded High Speed Productions. Thrasher, Slap, Juxtapoz, Twist Grip. with the assistance of Ed Riggins and Kevin Thatcher and countless others over time. Thrasher magazine was founded as more of a catalouge in the early days to show case their goods. It obviously bloomed into the premier skate mag of all time and is considered the bible amongst those that know what the fuck time it is.

LB: When did you start/end working there? and how did you get the job?

DP: This question could easily turn into an essay. I will keep it short for the readers. I started there in 1996. Eric Swenson (the man) hired me based on a solid referral from none other than Shawn Martin whom at the time had just taken over the reigns as wood shop foreman. Tony Perez founded RPM and decided to quit haphazardly one day leaving my homey Shawn at the helm as boss #1. I walked into a proverbial shit show initially. Tony was the glue and Shawn was overwhelmed with work (understandably) We quickly adapted as friends and as skaters do and next thing you know we were hitting our numbers in terms of production which not only surprised but pleased the boys in the main office. Anti-Hero was young. Really young. I was all about it. The future was on fire regardless of magazine sales. We attacked that shit full on. Every day presented a new challenge. We were in charge of 20+ immigrant workers with communication barriers all around. Bosnians, Vietnamese, and several Latinos kicked serious ass well into overtime so Huf and Julien had proper decks to ride. I was in the middle of it all. Sometimes I had to yell to get my way… it was all for the greater good. We made it a point to send out quality boards on a global scale. We cared. We are skateboarders. It was our everything.

LB: Earlier you mentioned Joey Tershay, but who else was involved?

DP: Shawn Martin was my immediate supervisor and taught me everything he knew… which is a shit load. Rick Blackhart was always around as well. Rick’s position was a do all and everything sort of guy and didn’t actually work for our shop per say.. however he did a ton of work to help out over the years. As time went on demand increased and the need for a swing shift was born. That’s where I really start to shine. I jumped all over the opportunity and we started really cranking out some decks. the place seemed to run non-stop. Swenson assigned me eight solid workers to handle the midnight hours and as a side note let me say that commuting from the Excelsior to the Hunters point naval shipyard back in those days was fucking gnarly. Especially at two am. Joey Tershay handled any and all Independent trucks business. He was the team manager and continues to be a good friend to this day as the man at Ace trucks along with his brother and Steve “Shrewgy” Ruge. There were so many others that pitched in to make Deluxe and all related companies what it was and continues to be. My room mates all worked in the industry, literally. Franco was running shit as the shipping manager at Thrasher. His girlfriend was helping run the magazine (Jen Houghton) as General Manager, Scott was in the shipping department at DLX Josh was working at Printime with Jeremy Fish, my girl was working at Dudley Perkins for Chris and his Father. It was all in – every day.

LB: What were your main responsibilities?

DP: Where do I start? Quality control was first and foremost. I had to oversee my guys and Shawn had to deal with the day crew. Production was a constant and more often than not a machine would break down or somebody would call in sick and then my work load tripled. Glue ratios in the mixing bins had to be exact. Are the boards receiving the proper amount of glue per run? Keep an eye on the presses make sure they get the full time per cycle. Of course we had to drill the correct wheel base per run before we could cut out each and every deck by hand on the dated but somehow reliable R-9 router. Then it was off to the sanding room for a scene right out of the old bones video where my guys would sand the edges and plane the tops and bottoms rendering them suitable for graphics the next day. That’s the tip top of the iceberg. We had to deal with Massive deliveries from Wisconsin when the wood truck came in it was Shawn and myself running around like crazy to make room for all the veneers. Pallet after fucking pallet of wood, It smelled amazing kinda like a new record or maybe an old book, anyways we had to stack all that business in the “dry room” for curing and ultimate pop. Nobody else in the industry bothered with this step. We did. There seemed to be a delivery going out of my shop three times a day at one point. Thousands of boards a week. It was non stop, the dust never settled- the noise was relentless and I was in heaven.

LB: Whats one of your favorite stories from that warehouse or more simply, those days in the SF skate scene?

DP: The SF scene was righteous. We always look back at the glory days as well the salad days, however.. I knew it was going off. We lived downtown off Bush and Jones and Union Square was our daily jam. Green benches, perfect curbs and ledges. China Banks was just a few kicks down the block not to mention all the other spots on the way, brown marble, black rock, B of A, EMB at night, Kearney bump…. I could go on for days. Wednesday night we would hit Wiggy’s ramp in Oakland skate Jim’s on that day, if the stars aligned we would hit Max’s ramp. There were not a ton of parks like you see today. We didn’t give a rats ass. I wanted to skate street and home made shit. We made our own scene. skating the dish in HP on lunch break was timeless. The sessions always varied. Noah Peacock was a staple, Danny Sargent, Tommy G made a couple, Blackhart, Franco, Ronnie Marshall, Coco, Julien, Arco was always lurking and making our day with laughter, Stacy Gibo, Matt Newtown, Joey killed it always.. fuck man I could go on for days. we all kicked it, we all wanted the same thing outta life.

LB: Who was your favorite artist to work with? Any good stories about him?

DP: Mark Gonzales. He approached Shawn and myself about this upcoming art show in Germany. He was working with Cheryl Dunn and for what ever reason the ball was thrown in my court. So now I have been assigned Gonz. The initial order was for three really long boards. I was pumped, who wouldnt be. Seeing him in our office is a memory that will never fade. As it turns out we got along pretty well and I ended up shaping by hand with no mold; 5 long board samples and four “tribute” boards for fun. I made him a couple of his old Blind shapes and two hammer head shapes as well- …. he was amped. I was on cloud nine. The art show and it turns out the film they made while in Dusseldorf were a success. He loved all the boards and thanked me with an oil painting that is unlike anything I have ever seen from him. He sharpied all over the back of the frame, little drawings and sayings, things like “ollie pop” and “baby Huey”. All through out this process he would sketch out ideas on my desk or envelope or whatever the hell was lying there for him to draw on. He is absolutely brilliant. anyone that disagrees has never kicked it with him on a level. I never thought I would see Mark again when the shop was closed down on us. I was wrong. He showed up at the bar I was tending in SF a while later with Phelps. “ha ha I found you DAN”..!!! I cant say enough about the guy. what has yet to be said. He’s not a fucking game changer– he’s the game.

LB: Besides bringing it back, if you could, what would you have changed about ERMICO?

DP: OUCH. smoke break… okay I’m back. If i could change one thing selfishly I would still be at the controls producing what I thought were killer American made decks born and built in the USA from the ground up because they were. From the wood outta Wisconsin to my hands at RPM then to be screened right down the street at at Printime by Dustin, Duane and Jeremy. It was as real as it’s ever gonna get. Skaters looking out for one another at all times. Other than the obvious I would change the way Rick Blackhart was paid. The dude made Indy what it was from the ground up, literally. He had the option to take 10 cents per truck back in the 70′s and shined it on for a measly ass pay out because he was a young skate rat and didn’t see the long haul. No fault of his own at the time but I have had many a conversation with the man and trust me he got screwed on that deal. So we could start there but my crystal ball is on the shitter so who knows.

LB: You recently showed me a few items from back then, but whats your most prized possession directly from that wood shop?

DP: I have some items that I consider family heirlooms. My vertical ply Julien Stranger board, we only pressed four and the one I kept was screened with his graphic at the time. All the formulas for our glue and the notes I kept in regard to the machinery, hand written notes from Shawn and even a couple from Tony. The long board that Tommy Guerrero gave me as a sample for Mark’s project, the painting that Gonz made me of course and all the decks that currently hang on my wall as a tribute to the sickest fucking wood shop that ever lived. I hope you guys enjoyed the fruits of our labor because we were all in.

LB: We were recently comparing our DIY spots, mine in Atlanta with Stormy Pruett, Jerimiah Babb, Scott McKenzie, Brian Hutcherson and more, yours in SF. Can you tell us a bit about the warehouse you guys took over in the city?

DP: That was really on Jasin Phares and the Boban brothers. I did a shit ton of work along side my good friend Jymi Shores but I really gotta give props to the three dudes I just mentioned. It was raw, it was in the heart of SF and for a while it was all of ours.

LB: Who found it and took the initiative to get it started?

DP: From what my saturated brain recalls it was Jasin running shit. Upson would come through with Corpsey, so many dudes… It was endless.

LB: Layout? Quarter pipes? bank ramps? barriers? wood? concrete?

DP: Yes on all of the above. It’s one of those places in time like all D.I.Y. parks or spots do, the landscape was forever changing. Sick little jammer ramps, a really decent wallride, I think Julien shot an ad in there for Anti-Hero. Curbs borrowed from across the way, we built a fun little wedge ramp, two hip ramps it was so fun.

LB: Who was your favorite person to watch skate it?

DP: Julien and Jasin. Coco came through a couple times and just shut it down, Danny Sargent as well. Danny is beyond comprehension at times, so good. Just being there on rainy days in the city when every other covered spot was a bust was such a blessing. I did my best to never take it for granted because we knew from day one it was not gonna last, we made the most of it though.

LB: Do you have a story that stands out with this guy on or off the board?

DP: Have you ever seen Julien skate in person? that’s what pops into my brain…shit was the gnarliest thing to go down there, skating or not? Julien, Coco and Shawn.

LB: Being that involved in the skateworld as a fully hands on operation, being skateboarder for skateboarder, producing some of the best boards on the planet, what skater was most involved with the layout, shape, design of his board?

DP: Honestly man.. Keith Hufnagel. He really cared about his shit and I’m sure he still does. Dude was on it. We did a 9-ply run for him, these crazy light but super poppy boards, they were so sick. He was in the middle of this high ollie contest training or whatever. We made him some rad boards for all that. Cardiel liked a shorter wheelbase and rode 7 3/4 inch boards forever, young Tony T wanted a longer wheelbase and cared enough to come down to the ship yard to sort it out. Max and myself rode the same shape- the template was the A-181 most dudes didnt trip too hard or really care. They would just straight kill it right out of the box. If that makes any sense.

LB: Who was your favorite to work with?

DP: Shawn Martin, Rick Blackhart and Joey Tershay.

LB: Tell us something about working with them.

DP: It was on the daily unless Joey was in Africa or Brazil or some shit, those dudes inspired me to keep doing it when it seemed like the “world of skateboarding” didn’t give a shit. We knew that the core of dudes cared, the crew was backing us, nothing else fucking mattered.

LB: Were there at times people hard to deal with? How did you go about working with them … or not?

DP: Don Fisher at Think was a hand full at times. Greg and Keith were always pretty cool. I had to deal with so many different attitudes it got to where after a while- (and it didn’t take that long trust me).. the celebrity kind of wears off and before you know it– I’m like what the fuck do you want, I have 12 dudes to babysit at my shop and you are gonna piss and moan because you and the team are hitting the road in two days to go skate, get drunk and handle a bunch of road betties. Fuck you man I’m dealing with grown man shit over here, I got three dudes up my ass about the weekly numbers and you are upset over a graphic..? not to say I became jaded but….. I had a job to do.

LB: Can you tell us the story I’ve heard from Jim Thiebaud about the missing scientist and his formula for Spitfire Wheels?

DP: @shrewgy

LB: You just told me that Jason Jesse had sent you some stuff on the day of your first daughters birth, care to share any of those stories/photos?

DP: I was lucky enough to skate with and get to know Jason a bit. This was in the late 90′s so it was a different time for all of us. My friend who’s more of a brother; Justin May went to work for Consolidated as a free lance artist of sorts. He did some rad shit for them and the fire/water graphic turned out to be a hit. They made that shit into a blanket, anyways I got the intro- we skated the ramp, one session turned into a handful more then Jason and I started talking Harley’s. That was our real connection I suppose and at one point he was gonna sell me his FXR for 8 grand. I couldn’t raise the money fast enough, my loss. Sitting in his tiny little cave of an office at Consolidated was the shit. I enjoyed that more than anything. He would show me insane pictures, we would talk shit and ultimately make our way outside to check out whatever crazy ass car or truck or motorcycle he was driving that day. I feel the same way about Jason as I do about Gonz.

LB: Being that most, if not all, of the skateboard companies have moved to china or mexico, what would you do differently to make things “better”?

DP: It’s out of my hands at this point. We gave it what we had and it seemed like we were killin it then the phones got ripped off the wall.. people like cheap. America is not cheap so I guess I’m gonna brush up on my Chinese. They have us by the balls financially and anyone that thinks otherwise needs to do something besides upload pics of their dinner on Facebook because we are in debt for the rest of our kids kids lives.

LB: What do you think will happen with all the megacorporate sponsrships climbing aboard?

DP: Tim Payne hired Shawn and myself to assist in building the mega super hyphy X games complex in 1999. It was the year that Tommy Eagle landed the 900 or whatever – I remember him saying it was “the best day of his life” right in front of his his wife and kids. Fuck him. I never stepped foot on a Powell board, EVER. been skating since 1983 and I never got down with their shit. I was all about Neil Blender and Mark Gonzales. Their bearings are the deal but that’s where it ends with this kid.

LB: When do you see it crashing…again?

DP: I have seen every twist, tomorrow wouldn’t break my heart.

LB: What do you think about some of the gnarliest dudes that are riding for those corp. companies?

DP: I think Bob Burnquist needs to step off Danny Way’s shit- let Danny Way have the helicopter thing dude- he’s a bonafide Legend one of the greatest of all time!!, our very own Evil Kneivel- you gonna go back three the great wall of China next???? Fuck you… that guy pissed me off when he went rafters at Wiggy’s ramp after John handled that shit backside.. and I know Cards has love for him still and I love you John but that was your shit, dude never should have went there. Fuck with my Nor-Cal homeys and I will call your ass out. Maybe I stand alone on this one, I couldn’t care any less… I’m used to being the black sheep in the crew. Just don’t act like you dont know that’s all. Go hook up another sponsor from Nissan and Duracell Bro, I’m not impressed.

LB: Twenty years later and thinking back to the mid90s skateboard scene, whats good and bad comparatively?

DP: I think kids are stoked now days right? I mean parks in every city and town.. how cool is that. I dont know? We had to fight for our shit man. I don’t think anyone cares.

LB: Will there ever be people like Hsiang? Orkin? and/or Shao?

DP: I feel the same way sometimes. How gnarly was Curtis? That dude was born to skate, ate that shit for breakfast, they all did. I feel blessed to have known and sessioned with them all.

LB: Do you have anything you want to share with us about any of those guys?

DP: I have fond memories of skating with Rube and Curtis. We would hook up at Wiggy’s or Jim’s or whatever pit was empty at that time. That was the craziest blow to all of us. Losing them. Talking about it hurts to this day. I never got to know Phil too well, he came down to the yard a few times, obviously he was sick as hell on a skateboard.. mind blowing lines everywhere he went. Let’s talk about Ft. Miley for a minute… come on.

LB: Knowing that there are skateboarders behind most every skate product on the planet, sans a few ridiculous companies that we all know to avoid, Who/What stands out to you?

DP: I’m really proud of the Tershay brothers. I remember Nick with his first ever run of bolts. He was showing em off down at the Thrasher warehouse one day out of the trunk of his car and I was like “bolts”??? Yeah… the rest is history. Goes to show what I know about skateboarding.

LB: Who are you most stoked on company wise, be it board companies, shoe companies, trucks, wheels, park builders, tech decks? shaun white? Anything at all thats really sparked a new interest in whats going on these days.

DP: RED from Oregon. Karl Swanson from Redding. The Shred Sundays Crew out here in Reno.

LB: How does that compare to when you were a kid coming up in the skateworld?

DP: When I was a kid I was the one putting in work.

LB: Hows the scene in Reno? There hasnt been many people come from up the hill recently or am I wrong?

DP: There are some rippers out here. Seems like everyone is good now, Keep an eye out for Mitch Haight.

LB: Who or what shops should people be supporting in that area?

DP: Classic Skate Shop. Owned by a skateboarder named Eric Lanto. It’s connected to Ace’s Tattoo. I’m backing both spots. Por Vida.

LB: Fast forward 15-20 years and youre in and around Reno, what are you doing these days?

DP: Hopefully hanging wheelies on my Harley, ripping around the hills. who knows brother…… “the future is unwritten” Joe Strummer.

LB: How did your skateboard turn into a motorbike?

DP: Hands down the best question in an interview ever. It started when I was little, like 4. my dad bought me a nifty 50 Honda when I was 5. donut tires, no gears just twist and go.. best times ever. That evolved into a trails 90 then an XR 100, CR 125′s CR 250′s then im racing my shit… it all leads to the street at some point and my dads been a biker since Christ was a kid so the progression felt natural. Street bikes led to my first Harley a 1998 Sportster sport, dual plugged heads.. I did the fairing and thunderheader with all the rest of the cafe style shit I could find at the time. There has been a Massive Harley rage going on in the past 10 years around the “skate scene” and I’m down for it, I could bitch and be like hey I was commuting to work on my Harley in SF when the rest of ya’ll were riding the muni, but those that know get it. The more bikers on the road the better. That’s honestly how I feel.

LB: How long have you been riding and or around bikes?

DP: Since Day One.

LB: How do you compare skating to riding cycles?

DP: They are closely related. Maybe it’s the way we view the world or the way we anticipate bumps in the road, I look for curb cuts to jump off of. I kind of miss my FXDX for that alone. That bike was so nimble. My road glide is the shit but there is something about a Dyna that feels right. My dad’s FXR-T is first class, well save that shit for another time I guess. I truly am a motorcycle enthusiast for the record… I want another dirt bike really bad.

LB: Anything else you would like to say?

DP: Shawn made a valid point years ago when I worked with him at Ermico. We were the only skater run wood shop ever…. I know that probably doesn’t mean a hill of shit now days in this world but I’m telling you it was an honor to do what we did for as long as we did. I never took it for granted. Every day I drove down there meant something to me.

LB: Who do you want to thank after all these years.

DP: My daughters Maisy and Miley first and foremost. Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello for having faith in a skate rat like me. The Reno Crew, The Redding and Sacto Family, My Frisco family, Bay Riders, Frisco 81, Reno 81, Every single one of you that rode our shit over the years thank you for making the scene what it is today.. Team Sacred Cow, Paris street house, The Gravediggers, Room 21, ERMICO, RPM, ACE TRUCKS, Hartnell House, JULIEN for always making rad mix tapes, GONZ, Jason Jessee, Todd Congelleire, Max Schaaf, Grape Street, Coco, Sarge, Noah, CARDIEL, Andy, The Ventura crew, Phoenix family, Spokane, Panama, Denver…..MOMS AND POPS-      Thank you Lee Bender for shining a light on the underground.

Street Canoe would like to send out an extra special thanks to Dan, Leeboy and the City of San Francisco.

Posted by jay on August 6th, 2013

Rhino has been (captured)

Brad McClain, backtail slide. Fresno, CA

I was on a random 3 day pool mission with Raybourn, Berard and Brad up in Fresno. Brad just hammers out tricks in pools, I shot a few other things in there. It was a good pool but just the standard kidney shape, which has been shot a million times over and over. I was just hanging in the shade for a few and noticed the reflection of them skating in the window.

Dakota Servold, front feeble. San Diego, CA

Dakota likes the kinked rails, you don’t see that many skaters doing front feebs through kinks.

Div Adams, Backside tailgrab. Washington St. Park

Div over stayed his 6 month visa a few years ago because he liked skateboarding in California. He also spent a lot of time under the bridge and hit that spot hard. The sessions are not the same since he went back to Scotland!

David Gravette, frontside air. Australia

There are so many concrete skateparks in Australia, I forgot the name of this one. I think it was the first day of a Creature trip, blazing sun and an over vert pocket.

Jared Huss, Tailside. San Diego, CA

A curved rail with a kink, not much more to say. A few people got served up on this thing, Jared got away with this tail slide fairly easy. The Bones video came out before the photo could get run in the mag.

Julien Klincewicz, Boneless off roof into bank. San Diego, CA

A pigeon shit roof into a cheese grater bank that smells of dead fish because of the trash around the back from the Vietnamese restaurants. I’m sure you know what I mean.

Kevin Kowalski, Front bluntslide. San Diego, CA

Kyle Berard and a few other built this DIY spot. I wish I had $10 for every person that has been there and skated it. It was hard to keep up with tricks because people were hitting daily. A few front bluntslides may have gone down but the more the better.

Darren Navarrette, Indy air. Bucky Lasek’s Bowl

One of the many Indy variations up Darren’s sleeve, 13 foot backyard bowl.

Omar Hassan, Corner air. Buena Vista Pool

The legendary Buena Vista pool in Santa Cruz has been skated by some of the best over the years and is still going. A NorCal staple, the owners of the property are down for skaters. They just ask that you keep it clean.

Ben Raybourn, backside boneless. Norwalk, CA

This spray painted pool is in between two occupied houses, It’s insane how much spray paint covers the backyard. Kids just hop the fence to tag and not even skate. I guess the reason for skaters being kicked out was due to them. I took Ben there to check it out one day without a filmer and Ben destroyed the pool from his first run to his last.

Pedro Barros, Corner air. Lisbon, Portugal

This bowl is at the Quiksilver shop across from a famous surf spot outside of Lisbon. Pedro has a lot of power when he skates and is fun to watch.

Al Partanen, Crail tap. Anaheim, CA

This pool was skated back in1999 for a few years, the new owners were not into it. It was checked on the regs for awhile and it was empty because they were doing work to the pool. So we would hop the fence and skate it while they were not home. We thought they were putting some new plumbing in and redoing the decks. A few weeks passed and when we went back to skate it, they filled it in with dirt to make a parking lot in their backyard.

Willy Akers, Pivot fakie. San Diego, CA

This spot is a drain catch for the gutter of a office building’s drain run off with a steep kink. Not sure who designed it but looks like a skateboarder was in on it. Willy just learned pivot fakie’s recently and decided to step it up to this thing.

Posted by jay on June 27th, 2013

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