Don't get me wrong. Parks had their
special moments and they definitely
had some of the best terrain ever
made for skating. But for me and
most of the people I skated with at the
time, we had a hard time being told
what to do, or how to do it. I think I
got kicked out of every park I ever
went to. Reseda's owner, Lou Peralta,
must have hated me. I mean every-
time I ever went over there I got
kicked out. Now I'm older and I real-
ize the rules were meant to protect
everybody. But when I was 16, no
way. I thought every rule was made
to make life harder. I hated wearing
gloves and especially wrist guards.
And at a lot of parks it was manda-
tory skate wear. There were always
kids yelling "Next!" We were like,
"Yeah, right kook, fuck off."
Everybody got snaked. And we
were the kings of skating. I remem-
ber Marina Dog Bowl. 20 guys and
one little hole to drop through. Alva
would go 10 times more than the
other guys. And people would get
pissed. TA got his eye socked real-
ly bad by some guy at Reseda. I
think that guy got mobbed after
that first punch. But Tony's eye
was ruined.
We Dogtowners were hated
probably more than any other
group of guys at the time. We'd all
go to some park out of town and
try to take over. People would fol-
low you around all day trying to
out do you. Everybody wanted to
be the best. Skatopia had some
really gay rules. Like you couldn't
get out of control or radical, as
they put it. I think that was my
favorite rule to break. Now that I
look back on it, there is no way I
could act like we did back then.
We were 100% out of control in
everything we did; skating, par-
tying or driving down the free-
way.
I remember being in Mexico
City. Some park flew us down
there to open it up for them.
The owners must have been
down with the police because
that's who we scored our weed
from. This guy takes us to get
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: EARLY 60'S
HAWAIIAN FLOW JUICE NOSERIDE AT STOK-
ER HILL. 70'S VERT BERT AT THE 006
BOWL. THE MAN SPORTS A THRASHER TAT.
JESS "THE MESS" MARTINEZ, JT AIR IN
VENICE, SOMEWHERE IN THE 80'S.
some weed and up comes this police car. The cop was his friend who
opened up the trunk and pulled out a handful out of a trash bag full of buds.
I was thinking, "Shit like this doesn't happen back home." Cop's are a skater's
enemy, not the guys you score yourweed from. That same trip Alva broke the
phone in my hotel room. The owner had the cops come down to make me pay
for it. I was like, "I didn't break your lame ass phone." TA was laughing his ass
off the whole time. I think he threatened to keep me in Mexico if I didn't pay
for it. I really can't remember most of our trips to places like that. They were
filled with skating all day, then drinking tequila and getting hookers. I was like
16 or 17. I remember being in this full on legal whore house and this big fat
Mexican lady was trying to get me. I was running away from her yelling,
JAMI V BEACH AB
"Fuck you, fat ass, I want your friend over there." My
friend who was with us who spoke Spanish saved me.
Shit, she was squirting milk out of her tits chasing me
around. I was young enough it freaked me out pretty
hard. We got to travel around the world just skating
and acting like crazy kids.
As far as I'm concerned, the professional part of
skating ruined it. People got too serious and lost most
of the fun it started out with. It became a joke to me.
Everybody ripped me off, taking advantage of my
name at the time. The best part I remember about
skating was when I was a kid. My stepfather would
take me down to the lumber yard. We'd pick out a
piece of solid oakwood, cut it out and drill all the
holes. That was the hardest part for me 'cus if you
misdrilled, the board wouldn't turn right. For me that
was the soul of skateboarding, making your own
board. Nowadays getting a skateboard is like ordering
a Big Mac. They are all the same. I mean there are dif-
ferent shapes and sizes. But nobody puts their heart
into making it anymore. The last ones that were orig-
inal were the early Dogtown boards when Wes
Humpston made them. He was an unreal artist and
would hand shape them. Then he'd draw an unreal
drawing on the bottom. No two were ever alike.
Everybody had their own design on the bottom. But
each one was different. Skating lost that part of it. The
reason for this is money. Money and greed fucks every-
thing up. Everybody wants a quick buck. I mean skate-
boards work if they are hand shaped, massproduced, or
squared off front and back, but nobody really cares
about what comes out, as long as they sell a lot. Surf
boards don't work like that. Surfers and their shapers
have a personal relationship. Each board is an original.
Skaters were like that in the beginning. I think every-
Money And Greed
fucks everything up.
body should make their own deck some day. The only
problem is after you make one you're too proud of it to
fuck it up. It's like a new girlfriend, you're proud of it and
you want to show it off to all your friends. I guarantee
you'll appreciate it more than any board you got out of
a skate shop. Shit, put a couple hours into making one
and see how you feel about fucking it up so quick. All of
a sudden you care about what's under your feet.
Living here in Hawaii we don't have a whole lot of
places to skate. Well, maybe if you skate the streets.
But as far as pool or bowl riding goes, they are few
and far between. I've been doing a lot of downhilling
again. I forgot how fun it is. They repaved this 3
mile run out here on the North shore. Plus we got a
new bike path. All the surfer kids out here are on a
longboard frenzy. The stores don't have enough in
stock. Everyday I get asked where can I buy one of
those long skateboards. So, here in Hawaii vert is
real popular, but sidewalk surfing has made a big
comeback. Every kid from Brazil to Bali rides long
skates down the bike path. I'm stoked because when
I was a kid I lived on my skate, I had no bike or car,
everywhere I went I skated. We knew every hill and
curb from Venice to Santa Monica, and it makes me
happy to see kids here doing the same thing I did as
a kid. What comes around goes around, and here in
Hawaii sidewalk surfing is back.