TOMMY
INTERVIEW BY JIM THIESAUD PHOTOS BY BRYCE KANIGHTS
THE HILLS OF SAN FRANCISCO taught Tommy Guerrero how to skateboard.
Born and raised in SF, his foundation was built on those hills. Skateboarding
was always about moving and adapting to new terrains. It was never sta
tionary. Skateboarding was commitment. Skateboarding was speed. The
hills taught him that knowledge is power and you can never stop learning.
To this day Tommy is still in school. On any given day, chances are that if his
work is done for that day, Tommy is back in class. Maybe it's Backside 9th or
maybe it's the 40+ block downhill run to the beach. It doesn't matter which
hill it is, it's still skateboarding as motion for Tommy Guerrero.
So you were working at Concrete Jungle set-
ting up boards and being a pro skater, and
then all of a sudden your board came out on
Powell-Peralta, how did that change things?
Well, I quit the job, I told them that when my
board came out I'd quit, because that would be
my new job, basically, and I wanted to skate
24/7. It really changed things, because i started
feceiving money for being professional, selling
product with my name on it. And when I got my
first check, I got a bank account and moved out.
That was the first time you moved out?
Yeah. I told my mom that once I got some
money, I was gone. Things changed drastically
for me, because once I got some money. I want
ed to get out of the house, because my mom
Had been taking care of me for all that time, and
it'd become such a burden, I just felt that once
got my shit together. I really needed to get on
my own, it was funny, because I moved out
before my brother, and I told him when I sixteen,
and he was nineteen, "Dude, I'm moving out
way before you." And he's like, "Fuck you. No,
you're not was like, "Watch, you'll see. I was
gone. I rubbed that shit in his face.
Do you think he got jealous?
I don't know if he got jealous. He would never
overly show me how he was stoked for me, but
bebind my back, he'd tell people he was totally
stoked, but up front he would just beat me up.
Looking back on the eighties, doesn't it seem
like the Bones Brigade was larger than life?
Yeah, when I was on Powell, we called it the
Dream Team, Powell was insane. They had that
whole marketing idea behind it all. The whole
Bones Brigade, yeah, it was larger than life. It
was larger than me. It was larger than I'd ever
thought I look back now and fuck, what a whole
freak show. It was planned, it was contrived, it
was heavy, but it was amazing too. Once I went
pro and got my board, they'd put me on the
road and I'd be on the road all summer long. If
I wasn't here in the US, I was in Europe or some
thing, just promoting and skating. I look back on
it and it was just amazing to have the chance to
get to go. Powell did such crazy shit like building
that mini-ramp that folded out, touring it all.
over, setting it up at the mall, it was insane.
How long were you on Powell?
turned pro in 185, and I was on like a year
before that, it was 84 when I first got on and
then I can tell you when it ended, have the
photos from the contest of September 5, 1990,
wearing a Real shirt, before we had boards
What about Stacy Peralta? He was like the
driving force behind Powell-Peralta.
Yeah. Mainly, whenever I thought of Powell, J
always thought of Stacy George was over in the
shadows, doing his trip, and he would take
care of the business, but Stacy was the heart
and soul of the skateboarding at Powell-Peralta,
no matter what anyone thinks, I'm really grateful
to Stacy learned a lot from him in so many
different ways just about life and about myself.
How did you feel about your last SF contest?
It was weird. It was obviously favoritism and
all that shit, local boy blah, blah, blah, that shit
always bummed me out. I always felt the pres
sure whenever we had the contest here in the
City. That and the first contest | skated for
Real, at a mini in San Jose. Stacy was there,
and that's when he shined me and Sluggo, and I
was having anxiety attacks, shortness of breath,
I had to go outside and sit down and collect
my shit together. That was the only time that
ever happened to me at a contest, a physical
manifestation of being nervous like that
freaked out, I didn't know what was happening
until skated, and then I was like, "Oh, okay
They were bugging on you.
Oh man, vibes were flying, Stacy was there, 1.
had a Real board, yeah, it was heavy. But that
last SF contest, it was what it was. I gave the
trophy to Mike Carroll and I took the check
because I was at a point where I was in finan
cial straits, and that check came like heaven
sent. If you look at it, they judged on consis
Tency and all this, I fell, but I'm not a technical
skater. I never was, It was hard. It made me
never want to enter contests again.
Do you think you'll ever stop skateboarding?
One thing that I always will know is that you
can't stop skating unless you physically cannot
skateboard, because it really helps me out when
my head's fucked up. I'm frustrated, or some-
thing's going on, and I skate, just get it out of
me. Lately I'vo just been feeling like I want to
skate more. I still want to progress.I still feel
that the passion is there. You see someone skate
like Ethan Fowler or Mark Gonzales, and you
Two San Francisco originals collide
head on above Kearny Street, TG
(opposite left) and China Banks.
This ollie over the bench in 1990
was far ahead of the game.
Smooth lines (opposite right) from
the bassman. Limle Tommy (left)
pops one at the Laguna Honda
quarterpipe in 1980. Tommy
Guerrero (right) can blast fat
air at Santa Rosa Skatepark.
just want to skate your ass off, Like I went up to
Burnside, that was beaven on earth. That to me
is what skateboarding is. Total freedom. It was
amazing. One of the best times I've ever had up
there with Julien and all those guys,
Now that you're retired, are you more com-
fortable with where you are?
Definitely. Just as a person I've become a lot
stronger and mare sure of myself and who I am
and what I'm doing in life, So, I think that plays
a big part of it, me just being secure with myself
and who I am. Every once in a while I'll go some
where, and it's just like, "Oh you're Bill, let me,
see a funky twist, or some shit, and you're like,
"Dude, those days are gone, Iain't gonna per
form for you. I don't have nothing to prove."
But sometimes I still feel a bit pressured, and it
sucks because I just want to skate and not even
be looked at like that. I go to demos that you
always set up around the Bay Area, just skate
board, not even feel any pressure or anything
Once in a great while I still feel it, it's still there.
Do you think skateboarding is more positive
than it was six months ago?
3 feel it's headed in a better direction as far as
attitudes go. For a while it got really strange,
now it's kind of beck around where it's more
freedom, self-expression. Like wallrides are back
in, big allies, more flowing stuff, faster, longer,
higher things are just coming back in other than
just technical like, "Oh, you can't do a blah, blah,
blah, you're out, these real little cliquey things
were going on before, but now [think things are
coming back around where everyone's being
accepted as an individual again. Like, "Oh, this
guy's a boneless guy, right on." It's all skate-
boarding, and I think people are understanding
that more, which is definitely great. And it's
crazy how things are coming back around now,
how everybody's learning about the roots of a
skating, like the longboards or the old skaters or
style or whatever, I don't know how it started
and what triggered it, but the old school men-
tality is mixing in with the new school tricks