HOLMES
INTERVIEW BY DAVE DUNCAN PHOTOS BY BRYCE KANIGHTS
Known worldwide for his power, style and massive air, Christian
Hosoi can and will rip it all. In the mid to late eighties he was on
top of the world and to this day he is still pushing the limits. Ask
anyone in the know and they will tell you it is all about Holmes.
What's up with your life?
Lately I've just been living in Huntington
Beach and working, doing Focus Skate-
boards and Snowboards, and skateboard-
ing pools and street. I've just been main-
ly concentrating on skateboarding and
keeping in physical shape. I just got back
from a trip to Japan for two and a half
months, and then I went to Hawaii for two
months. I've been taking care of business
since I've been back; there's been a lot of
stuff to do since I've been gone. There's a
lot of skating out here, between Kelly's
and Chicken's pools to Basic pool down
the street. In San Diego there's that new
ramp at Missile Park. There's just a lot of
vert skating going on.
How did skateboarding evolve?
In the mid-seventies they were into rac-
ing and slalom, and then downhilling was
getting big, because it's like big waves or
something, when you go down, you go
down big, it's a gutsy thing. And then the
radicals came out of it, I guess because of
A good pump and fat snop mean a big backside
ollie, Christ (left) has it down. The only way to do
layback airs is the way that Holmes (below)
does them. Ready for battle (right) with the next
wave of pros in 1985. The Venice beach ramp
was the site of many Hosoi air shows-this
crooked cop (top) in 1988 was bad to the bone.
the surfing crossover in sidewalk surfing
Those guys wake up early and go surfing.
Skaters like to stay up late and go skate-
boarding. Same thing, right? It's glassy
and there's no one out.
What it's like to be going ten feet out
above a twelve foot ramp?
It's comfortable after doing it for years
and years. Guys like Mark Foo and Brock
Little, those guys will drop in on huge
waves, and it's like nothing to them. You
can tell by the look on their faces, it's like
nothing. They're just going to go out.
drop in on a huge wave, and then they
know they're going to eat shit, and just
jump off, dive in, and it seems like they
probably almost died in there, but no,
they're used to it. Kind of like how I feel
when I'm flying up on those ramps. It just
feels normal. And when you get a good
pump, you get that adrenaline rush of, "I
can make it! But the
real rush is right when
you land it, because if
you don't make it you
don't get the adrena-
line flow of having to
survive. When I'm bail-
ing, I'm falling, I'm like,
"Ah! Everyone's all,
"Woah, that's high!"
But it wasn't anything
until you made it.
RASHER
THRASHER
THRASHER
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