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Ollie, Benicia
C
hen did you start skating?
When I was like eight or
nine. I used to ride a little
plastic GT skateboard.
Where were you living then?
In Aurora, Illinois.
Is that where you grew up?
Yeah.
What was your next big move?
One of my neighbors found an
Executioner in the school yard and
used it to fix his car, so he'd let me
ride it when he wasn't using it.
Aurora's near Chicago, right?
Yeah, Aurora's like half an hour
outside of Chicago. One of my
best friends was two years older
than me, and he moved out, and
wherever he lived, I basically did
too, because he was my best
friend. I lived at his house and
never paid rent.
Who's that?
My friend Juan Chavez
Does he still skate?
Yeah. Shouts out.
So, you basically grew up skat-
ing in Chicago?
Yeah.
When did you leave.
Chicago?
November of '94
So, you've been
living out here
in California
since '94?
Yeah.
But you've been going back and
forth, though.
Yeah. Puerto Rico and Chicago
Two US tours?
No, three. Because when I
first left Chicago, I went on
tour first for like a month-
and-a-half, and then I
came out here in the
middle of December
How's skating differ-
ent in Nor-Cal than
it is in Chicago?
Well, for one,
there's hills here.
and it's definitely
flat in Chicago.
And Chicago,
obviously it's a big-
ger city, so you can
just skate all day and
find shit that hasn't.
even been skated
yet throughout the
whole city. And
there's not
as much skateboard media
there as it is here, so of
course everywhere you
skate here it's been
documented pret-
ty much, most
of the spots.
And then.
skateboard-
ing.
the
more
changes, the
more the
obsta-
cles...
you may
look at
on e
obstacle
that you
would've
looked at
five years ago,
but
you
wouldn't
have done.
the same thing on it now.
that you would've five
years ago, obviously, the
way skateboarding is now.
How many years have you
been skating?
About eleven.
How old are you?
Twenty-three.
How has skating affected
your everyday shit?
That's a crazy one
But you're living off of
skating, right?
Yeah, so skating, that has
made me think that anyone
could do something that they
love and make some sort of liv
ing at it. And, if it's something
you love, then you'll appreciate
it a lot more. Try harder and
you'll be into it more because
it's your shit.
Who have you been skating
with recently?
Recently I've been skating a
lot with Huf when he's here, Brad
Staba usually, because he lives
pretty close to me.
Where do you live now?
In Berkeley. And I skate
with Bobby Puleo, Scott
Johnston, kids from
the DLX store.
and Joey
from FTC
Smith stop, backside 180,
Jim's ramp
P