MARK GONZALES
W
HAT WAS THE
Thrasher you ever s saw?
FIRST
I can't really remember. One of the
big ones.
The first mag was a big one-which
one, do you think?
Maybe the one with Allen Losi.
The fakie ollie thruster?
Yeah, but it's hard with the memory
I got.
As you get older?
Yeah.
Do you think it's weird that Thrasher is
20 years old?
I told you before I think it's weird.
Time just flies, or what?
Time really does go by super fast.
When you think about what you've
done in skateboarding, how do you
want to be remembered?
I don't think of myself as wanting to be
remembered, 'cause I'm still alive and I
still enjoy skateboarding.
Is it still the same for you as when
you were a little kid growing up in
South Gate?
Sometimes.
not that they don't think about it or
aren't aware of it, but when you do a
move differently each time, you let the
place dictate it. You let the time and the
feeling, everything around it, dictate the
move. Sometimes it sparks new things.
That's why I think it's always good to
have a looser feel. In my personal opin-
ion it's better because it's more of the
moment-it's not all the same.
Spontaneous.
Yeah, but what they're doing is really
"TIMING IS EVERYTHING"
THRASHER
CAPOLA STREETSTYLE November 1984
THRASHER
THRASH
SANCHEZ
THRASHER
September 1986
June 1993
May 1994
April 1997
What's the hardest part about dealing
with it?
Now that I'm getting older some people
give me funny looks, like, why are you
skateboarding?
When you're pushing at something you
say to yourself, "This is what I want to
do." You're not even thinking about
anything else but making it. Is that the
best escape for you?
I definitely think so. The best thing is
through traffic.
In and out of cars, weaving, seeing
things coming at you, and where you're
gonna be it's all timing, right?
Timing is everything.
When you were a kid, your style kind of
emulated what you saw in magazines.
Do you think kids still do that?
Yeah, but they want to be more square;
they want to move in straights.
Are they more trick-oriented than
concerned with style?
No, they want to emulate the skate-
boarders, but it's more squares and
straight lines. Before that was considered
ugly but today modern street skaters
might think it's good. It's like martial arts
in a sense because they want to move
without curves or angles. They want
everything tight, like karate moves
almost. So when they do an ollie tailslide,
they're thinking about popping and
landing at the perfect angle every time so
it's almost like perfecting the move.
They're trying to capture the move so
they can do it the same every time. It's
smart too, and it's really new. It's just
more like martial arts.
I see what you're saying. A lot of
those guys, like Mike Carroll and
others, if they're going to frontside
flip something really big, they get on
their feet five times before they stick
it. They know that it's there, they've
gotten to that point, they take it
apart, and then they pull it. Like you
said, there's no room for spontaneity
just rippin' down the street. It's way
different now.
I also never thought street skating
would come this far. When I was popu-
lar for street skating I also rode vert, and
I wanted to be a vert pro as well. So it
was hard. I wanted to be pro for street
skating but I wanted to still continue
entering 3A amateur vert competions,
'cause I liked vert.
Generating that kind of speed is why
ramps rule.
And that's why I like skating with
Lee Ralph.
Are you surprised that street skating
has come this far?
I never thought that street skating would
propel to this level. It's like a science.
It's pretty scary that the kids nowadays
see you in the videos, and then they go
out and they're 14 years old and tail-
sliding down 15-stair handrails. It's
pretty burly shit.
It's more fun on bigger boards
though, really, because it's more like
you're riding something.
BROLED St
E-KESAS HAMBURGERS
ace Steak House
PARKING
McCOY
Kilty McBagpipe over an SF rail.