SKATEBOARDING IS NOT FOR TRANSPORTATION (all the time) (Copy)

1988, I was riding high and at the top of my game as a skateboarder, a Street Skater calling the streets and sidewalks of Santa Ana, CA as my personal playground.

I had just taken 1st Place in a CASL Contest in Escondido, Dave Duncan was a judge at that contest and he rode for Alva Skates and managed their AM/PRO Teams, he wanted me to ride for Alva. I was down 100%. We set-up a date for me to stop by the Warehouse, get some boards and gear. On he day I took along a friend at the time, as this was somewhat customary back in the day "Sure, cruise along, all good." My friend wore a Vision Street Wear shirt to the Alva Warehouse with me just getting on the Team, I’m more clean cut than Eddie Rategui. A guy with dreads and tattoos in the warehouse screening boards at the time made him take off the shirt and hand it over. This guy proceeds to screen the ALVA graphics for the board all over this dude's shirt, pretty cool shirt to have with a good story. But back to this photo...

Me, sliding one of the handrails at The Santa Ana Courthouse, officially The Civic Center, this is one of the handrails out front, the long ones. Some are still there. This was my playground for years, I knew every bump, crack, trick spot, ways out, I knew it all, it was so rad when this guy started taking photos of me "Cave-Manning" this handrail, not an ollie to it, but run with the board and jump on it as it hits the rail and slide on down... these ones, these rails were big. The board made a unique sound when it hit the razor sharp edge of the metal rail, typically used to stable oneself by holding it and proceeding carefully down the stairs. I chose to slide this one, after mastering the 2 smaller rails, 1 well known in the Orange County area, The infamous Courthouse Rail, I was there the first day someone ever got up on it.

Steve Saiz, Powell Peralta Team Rider, also "Shop Sponsored" by EL DORADO SKATE-SHOP in Lakewood, CA, his brother Marco was there, Chris XXX who rode for SIMS, and myself, we all were sponsored by EL DORADO at the time. I was only shop sponsored at the time I won the contest, but I was able to skate in the "FACTORY TEAM RIDER" group. It was such a great time.

Then this day, the guy taking photos is SPIKE JONZE, he's photographing some BMX'RS launching off the concrete, brick ramp shaped planters all over the place. SPIKE ask's me to hit the rail again, he would take some photos, he did, took my name and the end result is this photo, on this page of CLUB HOMEBOY MAGAZINE in 1989. SPIKE JONZE would go on to become an Academy Award winning Writer/Director. Shortly after this was taken and I was only getting better as a skater I blew out my right knee, some asshole from the neighborhood threw a basketball "at" me instead of "to" me (jealous prick) as I flew off a jump-ramp, just fucking around.

I was in an immobilizer for about six months, with a blown ACL and eventually a knee brace that felt like a torture device. The "ORTHOTECH PERFORMER" you can see it in some photos, all after 1989. My hopes and dreams were crushed that day when becoming a Professional Skater was off the table. I was limited by the brace and my friends had all surpassed me, were now skating at a different level, while I was out and getting Physical Therapy. I never finished the PT as my Therapist, Suzy had died in a house fire one night before I was to see her the next day. It fucked me up real good, her and her boyfriend, dies of smoke inhalation I guess better than flames. I went to the funeral, it was brutally painful. Right here I get to add more traumas, crushed dreams and pain into the backpack in which I am carrying all the broken pieces of my life.

I did get one more photo in a magazine after this, had my brace on, me doing a STREETPLANT on a bench, photo by SEAN SULLIVAN. A great friend of mine who I still am fortunate enough to call a friend. He is the reason I started to skate again in 2019, after not being on a board in over a decade. Maybe a short ride in a driveway... no skating. Then I saw that SEAN had released a book "BARGE AT WILL" and it had several photos of me in it along with the unsung (and sung) heroes of the Orange County skate world. I got the inside cover, 1st page, thank you SEAN. Seeing the photo and the book instantly got me fired up to skate again, and man did I ever.

I started getting pretty good again too, for a fifty year old man. I have videos, with almost 500K views on YouTube and awesome photos SEAN took from that time. I was able to go back to Santa Ana during COVID, back to The Courthouse, with it's missing handrail now hanging in someone's garage, I went back and skated all my old spots, all my old lines, anything that was still there. I had so much fun, all by myself for the most part. My girlfriend at the time, shot so many videos, took photos, skated with me, it was killer.

Then my Mom's Alzheimer's and Dementia got way worse, it fucked me up and skating was not in the picture, sad. I actually was skating a bit just around my arrest in 2021, which saw me doing nineteen days in Solitary Confinement. My skating was confined mostly if not at all to the Upscale Apartment Community my girlfriend had a spot in,

I was trying to bomb this huge ass hill after making it all the way down, down this hill and through the entire Community, I repeatedly slammed, and slammed, got worked, for days, one day finally getting thrashed and fucking up my wrist, the same swollen wrist that the Deputies yanked on to “help fix it” and or the record, for three days, locked in an all white cell by myself, for three days I had no water, well, it was on for about 3 minutes one day, I was so happy when the nice black deputy turned it on. The nice black Deputy also turned it off again. I was so sad. It was a tough go around, gen-pop was far better, OG status these days and I was arrested with no shirt and shoes, released in the same manor, minus the paper gown.

Enough…

So all this from a photograph taken of me, by SPIKE JONZE my name misspelled, but nonetheless, an amazing time in my life and an amazing photo, This is one of four photos I was lucky enough to have in magazines. Those and some related others are up in this Timeline as well.