Daewon presses the plastic on a buttery switch noseblunt skimmer in San Pedro.
would have to care if you were just like sitting
home every day and not doing anything. I was still
doing stuff, but I had that injury and I didn't ever
enter contests, but they had never made me. Then
I started entering contests on my own.
I'm still nervous, though-as nervous as I
was the first day.
What was your first contest?
Do you get stoked to meet kids at demos?
Yeah, of course. I like to see all the kids. I espe-
cially like to see different kinds of kids. Like, I like
it when I see many different races of kids skating.
he "Picnic tables to me
are like construction
In San Diego, at that contest by the
Sports Arena.
How long had you been pro before then?
That day I turned pro. Like, "Get in
there!" "All right."
What place did you get?"
Probably first from the last.
Do you ever compromise your style of
skating to try and do well in contests?
Yeah, actually I have. Like people
wouldn't see me do a fingerflip in a video
part, but in a contest, hell, I got to keep
that board as close as possible-keep a
grip on that baby.
blocks and tinker toys
that
Have you ever thought about training for contests?
Yeah, I thought about that, about getting a per-
sonal trainer, but then I saw the movie Rocky and
saw how his trainer passed away. I don't think I
could handle that pressure.
Those fingerflips come in handy, don't they?
Heck yeah. When the crowd's looking down and
depressed, you spread your legs, whip one of them
babies, and the crowd's lookin' alive again. I have
to do fingerflips at demos. I like them. They're fun.
Fakie flip, fakie 5-0, frontside half-Cab out.
had when
you
you were a kid."
Everybody needs someone to look up to. That's
why when I started skating I looked up to the Z-
Boys. I heard they went to contests and beat up
people. Those were my heroes. George
Watanabe's skating good to this day. He busts.
Will you always live in Gardena?
No, I might move up the street. It seems like
Gardena's sketchy to some people, but not to
me. When I go on tour it's cool to see other
places, but I'm always happy to be home. At
home you can relax, you know, walk around in
your boxers and sit on the toilet with the door
open, stuff like that.
Do you like to see skateboarding on TV?
I have mixed feelings about that stuff, 'cause it's
cool that everyone can watch it, but at the
same time it kind of sucks.
When did you first start skating picnic tables?
Well, I was eating on one, and then I decid-
ed to put my board on it. The first trick I
learned was a 50-50 to shin. I learned 50-50s
to shin on the seat, not on the top.
Why do you like them so much?
Picnic tables to me are like construction.
blocks and tinker toys that you had when
you were a kid. You can pretty much con-
struct your own obstacle. There's so many
things you can do with them. And plus I
get sick of the same old things. You can
just create your own spot. With tables,
you can make over forty different types of
table setups: you can go up and over, you
can go across a volcano, you can make a river,
you can turn on the garden hose and make a lit-
tle waterfall stream. That's not all I like skating.
It seems like it though, 'cause most of the stuff
I have is on picnic tables. You can just do more
with a table than a block, 'cause the block just
sits there. I like everything, though.
Have you ever lived in a skate house with a
bunch of skate dudes and videos and all that?
Nah, I used to trip on that. I used to go to San
Diego and they had like, the H-Street house and
all the skaters lived together. I thought that was
cool. Around here there aren't that many skaters
and everybody who does skate lives kind of far
apart. A lot of us used to go up to Guy's house. We
used to go kick it at this guy's house, Sam
Barewall, too. Skating was just more fun back
then. Skating is still fun but you know how it is.
Can skating ever be as fun as when you
were a kid?
Nah, I don't think it will ever be. Sometimes it
is, when all your old friends are around, and
everybody's there. But contests and filming and
stuff, there's fun in it, sometimes, but there's a
lot of stress in it too. That's why I don't think
kids nowadays should stress themselves out on
filming. They're stressing themselves out for no
reason. Like I drive down the street, and all
these kids are filming, you know. And some
kid's all, "Aaaghh," gettin' all mad about filming.
Like, "Aaagh, I got to make it," and just break-
ing themselves 'cause they want to get spon-
sored. What they gotta realize is that over half
the guys that are sponsored these days were just
skating and were found. They were just skating
and got picked up.
Why are kids so video crazy these days?
All kids just do what they see. I mean, we're all
at fault.
Did the magazines create this?
The magazines have gotten crazier, but I think it's
just the whole market that's created all this stuff. A
lot of kids want to be hard and a lot of girls want to
dress all trashy. I think it's the TV and groups like
the Spice Girls that make people want to do this
stuff. You've got thirteen-year-old girls who look 20
and want to get into bars, get fake IDs.
"A lot of kids want to
be hard and a lot of
girls want to dress all
trashy. I think it's the
TV and groups like
the Spice Girls that
make people want to
do this stuff."
Why do all teenage girls in Southern California
dress like prostitutes?
They don't really realize it, but they just see
videos on TV and they want to look like that.
They learn from TV. They see people being hard
and throwing up signs and all that and then you'll
go to someplace that has no gangs or anything
like that and you'll see a bunch of kids imitating.
There's nothing wrong with it, though. If you like
something, go for it, but keep in mind what
you're imitating.
When did you first meet Rodney?
1990, I think. He used to always skate at this
school, Adams, up in Torrance, and I'd be
afraid to talk to him. He'd show up in his
Camaro, and he'd talk to my friend, but never
to me. Then I saw him at 135 a week later and
I was surprised that he was skating street and
he was like, "Hey, maybe we can do something
for you," and gave me a few packages. Then I
got on World.
Does it ever bother you when people criti-
cize Rodney and Rocco for some of the
stuff they do?
Yeah, I would hear people talking, but I could-
n't say nothin' 'cause I had no knowledge of what
was going on. I didn't have any information to
come back and say, "Hey, you're wrong." Now
I've learned a lot. I'm sure that World has done
some stuff that was crazy, but that's their whole
image. What you've got to realize is that every-
thing's just a joke. Like the devil, they're not wor-
shipping Satan, it's a joke. Or like the Shit Sold Here,
with a pile of shit. It's just funny, but I guess it's not
funny once you get older or something. Then you
have to write some letters and complain.
Has World ever done anything that you were
worried about?
Not really, but a little bit with the devil thing. I
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