What prompted you to start skating?
I was walking home with my cousin
Terrence and I saw a board in the trashcan.
I took it and have been skating ever since.
Where did you learn to skate?
The Salk ditch. That was the first thing
around. That's where I learned how to work
walls back and forth like a halfpipe. It's in
between two schools. Everybody still works
it, it's been around for years.
That was about eleven years ago. Then I
started going to Skatopia, Big O, Concrete
Wave and Sadlands. I got real serious about
skating at Skate City in Whittier when I met
Lucero, Grosso and Spidey. We all started
skating when we were kids. Skate City was
the main turning point in our skating lives.
We'd all go there every day and practice hard.
Is that where you started competing?
Yeah, ASPO was around there. We'd com-
pete in ASPO and go to all kinds of parks all
over the L.A. and San Diego area.
What was your favorite park back then?
Whittier was my favorite, and I liked Marina
a lot, too. I went up to Winchester once and
that was pretty bitchin'. When Skate City clos-
ed I built my own ramp. After two years of
bitchy neighbors I had to tear it down.
What tricks were you guys doing then?
There weren't really a lot of tricks back
then. Layback airs was the classic air. We
did a lot of airs, just starting out.
Do any particular contests stand out in
your memory?
Upland, when I skated against Micke. That
was when they had Pro/Ams. I was an
amateur skating against the pros and I took
second. I was stoked to be up there with
those guys. After that contest I turned pro.
Another good contest was in Del Mar, I took
second in that. I had fun going to contests,
really, all of them.
What is one of the gnarliest things you've
ever seen done on a skateboard?
It would have to be when McGill brought
out the 540° Nobody was expecting that.
When he started doing it everybody freaked.
Did you look up to any skaters at Whittier?
Definitely. Neil Blender was number one.
I used to watch Neil skate every day and
idolize him. I wanted to be on his team, I rode
the same stuff he rode.
How did your new company develop?
I used to skate for Sims and I'm still
sponsored by Gotcha and Airwalk. I decided
would be better to have my own company.
We have boards and wheels and clothing.
it
I have one rider, Adrian Demain. Everything
is distributed by Tracker and they scout too.
But I make the final decisions.
Is skating different now that you have your
own company?
70
Yeah, it's work now. I have to be more
responsible. I can't just go out and do what-
ever. Things are not just for fun anymore.
When I was young I was into skating. Now
I'm older and still skating but I'm also part
of the business side. It's totally different from
the inside than it is from the outside.
Where have you been skating most lately?
At Sadlands. I go there almost every day
with a couple of friends. We'll get some food
and go out and skate, find some pools, find
some ramps, whatever's going on.
Is it valuable to have a spot like Sadlands
where you can go every day?
Oh yeah, you need something like that.
You've got to have a spot.
What's the Sadlands story?
It's been around for years. It was around
before I started skating. I remember seeing
a photo of it in an old, old Skateboarder. They
built it for no reason, just to resemble the
moon. We call it Moon Park or Brookhurst
Park. They used to try and stop us from
skating it, but we didn't pay any attention.
They never bothered to change the terrain
to stop us.
And you guys keep it cool around the park,
don't bother the family picnic?
Yeah, we're pretty cool to everybody. We
take care of it. We're the Sad Posse. A lot
of gang people think we are a gang, so they
come around to check us out. We're just
skaters, not a gang. I don't want to be
associated with that so we don't do any more
hit-ups (paint on walls) to encourage them.
stuff we just paint the parts over. The gang
If some gangs come around and spraypaint
activity in our neighborhood used to be pretty
heavy, but we haven't seen that much lately.
I'm tired of the gang scene.
Any hot underrated locals at Sadlands?
There are a lot of shredders. The young
guys come, we call them the Dream Team,
because they're not ripe yet, they're just
coming up. They rip the Sadlands.
Does the fact that you were brought up
skating parks and pools affect the way you
skate ramps now?
Definitely. You can tell by looking at
somebody when they skate a ramp whether
they skate pools or not. Pools are totally dif
ferent. You have to be way more aggressive.
There's more feeling skating a pool than
skating a ramp.
Does that affect your contest skating?
Well, the only reason I don't skate a lot of
ramps now is because I get hurt a lot. I like
to skate ramps, though, I fully dig it.
How do you perceive your image?
I'm basically a homebody (this could
Opening Pages: Lester contemplates life and crails
a tall stall at Sadlands. Previous Spread: Not a man
of many words, Mr. Kasal pays his lip service with
metal on cement (at the Sign-in Bowl). Right: Lester's
daily routine never gets stale, even if his grabs do.