Photos & story by Brooks Fritz

Don’t ever try to save money by getting a indirect flight to anywhere. If you are anything like me you will end up spending the money your trying to save at the bar inside the airport…

4 Bloody Marry’s + a few beers + a couple shots = the money/time/hangover you could of saved yourself just flying the direct flight in the first place.

My host: SPERM

Not too long ago my friend Sperm was living in Philly with a few friends for the summer. He called me up one day in July knowing that I was leaving for Oregon soon and said I needed to come out and visit him first. Something about experiencing skateboarding on the East coast in August. It sounded good to me, not realizing at the time how hot and humid it was on the East Coast in the summer. Plus I’ve always wanted to eat one of those philly cheese steaks so going to visit my friend was a perfect excuse to get me my cheese steak!

The real reason to visit the East Coast: The Cheese Steak!

Before I met up with Sperm I spent a few days lurking around New York checking out the city and it’s interesting characters..

Frank Gerwer’s got nothing on this tranny… This was my very first experience in NYC besides getting off the airplane realizing how humid it was. This was the first morning right around the corner from where I was staying. I snapped this photo and “it” freaked out on me when “it” heard the shutter click. For some reason “It” couldn’t get up so “it” proceeded to throw it’s high heel at me. Then this newspaper seller guy wanted to fight me because he said I was exploiting the city. I was cracking up…

Concrete Jungle Cowboy

New York city Nomad.

So I’m down in one of the subway stations about to catch a train uptown when I go around the corner and see this going on. A fucking midget Michael Jackson impersanator! Just imagine that song “Billy Jean” and this guy going to work. Seriously, the guy was killing it.

Hoooooooooooo!

My friend Sean Shouldis lives in New Jersey and I figured I’d give him a call since I was pretty close by. Sean answered and said he’d come pick me up. I thought he was going to drive over. I thought wrong. Nope, Sean got in his boat told me to meet him at the NYC Yacht Club and made me run out on one of the docks jump in his boat and try to get out of there before they stop and hassle us. The key word is “try” and sure enough they had the harbour blocked before we could get out. A little sweet talking and we were on our way. Yeah Sean! that was the best! Cruising around the city by boat.

After Sean’s boat tour we went back to his house dropped off the boat and drove around some neighborhoods where the drug dealers make crazy ass faces at you to show that they got what you need. Sean told me that he got pulled over there not too long ago because the cops thought Sean was trying to buy some drugs. When Sean explained that he just likes to drive around and check out all the spun people the cop asked him if he wanted to die and said get the hell out of there and never come back.

A couple of street spots

Sperm arrives! My few days in NYC were fun but I was ready to skate. Doing that solo with a 60Ib bag kind od sucks. So that night Sperm showed up we didn’t sleep since we had nowhere to stay. So we just skated around the city waiting for the Greyhound to show up in China town in the morning.

Pillar yanker…

When we got off the bus in Philly we felt like piles of shit. The bus ride was hot as hell and took forever. On the bright side we did get to see a man riding his bike on the side of the road. Now that would of sucked if that was the end of the story right? Just a guy riding a bike? Boring…. That’s why life is so great because I couldn’t make this story up if I had to….. So there was this telephone pole on the corner of these two streets. The telephone pole had these metal cables attached to it helping to hold it up. Know what I mean right? Big ass cables all taught into the ground? Well this guy on the bike couldn’t see the cables for some reason and rode his bike right into them getting closed-lined immeditately and thrown from the bike yet wrapped up in it all at the same time. It was quite amazing he didn’t loose his head. You should of seen the look on his face. It was like this what the fuck just happend look but on a higher level. You think people would be concerned but it was the exact opposite. I’ve never seen so many people laugh at once. Seemed like everyone on the bus somehow witnessed it. Just picture a greyhound bus full of black people besides me and Sperm. Too classic. Later that day we went to FDR and I shot this photo of J.R. Neeves. Yeah it is crust. but not as crusty as Brian Patch was crying about.

Sperm’s roommate the Confessor. This guy is awesome. Cant explain his skating in words. You just gotta see it.

Indy air into the over vert…

Stand up 5.0

Sperms other roomate, Joey P. What can I say about this guy? High school math teacher that rips….

fs air

50/50

5.0

Sperm kept taking me to these ridiculous street spots in Philly. Here he is trying to 5.0 and 50/50 the loading dock from the metal ramp and pop out before running into the steps. Almost had it. Then the place opened up. I was kinda glad. I think I was laying in piss. That’s it for now…

Have a good weekend. Go shred. Stay tuned next week for part 2….

]]> http://photo.skateboard-revolution.com/rumors-are-true-brooks-is-back/feed/ http://photo.skateboard-revolution.com/lakeforest-session/ http://photo.skateboard-revolution.com/lakeforest-session/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:39:41 +0000 George Crosland http://photo.skateboard-revolution.com/?p=1363 Holmes - classic

There was crew of ripping groms there. This bowl is not easy to skate, to tight, coping sticks out to far and just overall wonkiness. This kid makes it look easy though

Super Smooth boneless

Tyler Mumma an all terrain ripper

Dave Reul is like the the king of Orange County

Another ripping grom

Christian Hosoi is the man! He is a survivor from being on top in the 80’s to being in prison and coming back and being positive about life and still ripping. One time I was at a party in Orange County in the early 90’s (when vert and skateboarding in general had died) and Christian was at a party at 4 am and I was thinking what the heck is he doing here. It was a downfall for him. ANyway he is on the right path now, rips and is the nicest dude to talk to

Pros:
1.    Benji Galloway - $1000 – Bacon Skateboards, Kronik Energy Drink, Ninja Bearings, Type S, Nash Motorcycles, Knuckle Clothing – Vancouver, WA
2.    Tim Johnson - $600 – Bacon Skateboards, Soledad Clothing, Type-S Wheels, Vox, Kona Skatepark, 187 Pads, Randoms – St. Marys, GA
3.    Joshua Sandoval - $400 – Scum, Deville – Fullerton, CA
4.    Sergie Ventura - $300 – Type-S Urethane, Rockstar, Hurley, Hosoi Skateboards, Etnies, Randoms
5.    Josh Balogh     - $200 -  Lake Cunningham Skatepark – San Jose, CA

Grandmasters:
1.    Christian Hosoi – $600 -  Quiksilver, Vans, Ninja, Khiro, Indy, Hosoi, Rockets, Nixon – Huntington Beach, CA
2.    Steve Caballero –  $400 -Vans, Powell, Sessions, Indy, Skull Candy, Autobahn Wheels, Pro Tec – San Jose, CA
3.    Duane Peters – $300 - Emergency, Indy, Draen, Khiro Skates, Skull Candy – Costa Mesa, CA
4.    Jason Parks – $200 -  Factory Boards – La Mesa, CA
5.    Greg Aguilar – $100 - San Jose, CA

Locals:
1.    Nate Linford – Halfpint Skateboards, Santa Cruz Sk8 Shop – Sunnyvale, CA
2.    Morris Kyle -
3.    Josh Balogh – Lake Cunningham Skatepark – San Jose, CA

Girls:
1.    Julie Kindstrand  -  $500 - Pocket Pistols Skateboards, Attic Skate Shop, Adio Shoes, 187 Pads, S-One Helmets, Madrid Fly Paper – Santa Ana, CA
2.    Megan Brown -  $300 – Gridlock Boards & Wheels – San Bernardino, CA
3.    Annie Sullivan -  $200 – Sector 9, Osiris, Zola Acqai, Fi-Hi – San Diego, CA

X Games Mexico

Street

1. Greg Lutzka
2. Chaz Ortiz
3. Tyler Hendley
4. Paul Rodriguez
5. Milton Martinez
6. Mario Sanez
7. Dayne Brummet
8. Felix May
9. Eric Koston
10. Terry Kennedy

Snake run into the street area

Street

Street section into the little pool shallow end to launch you back up

Big Ol Kidney

Deep Combi Pool

The medium bowl - so sick for all the scooter kids in town

I was there for way too short of a time. If you want to see more, check out Ray Zimmerman’s story here

http://www.concretedisciples.com/cd_articles/cd_articles4.php?articles=788″

Let’s see how he did it. The format was there were qualifiers on the weekdays. The finals consisted of the top 12 and they got two runs each. Of those 12 the top 6 were placed in a 7 minute jam. The best of the first 2 runs counted as 60% of the score and the final jam counted as 40% or so it was overheard. Usually in the top 5, P-rod was having an off day and taking some bails, of course an off day for him is a super good day for most skateboarders but he only got 8th overall. Greg Lutzka qualified 3rd for the final jam but ended up 4th overall. Rodolfo Ramos qualified 5th or 6th for the final jam but consistency paid off and he got 4th overall. Ryan Shckler bailed on his first of 2 runs but his run was so tough that he ended up in first. Chaz had no bails his first run but had a less challenging run and ended up tying Ryan for first after run one. They both stepped it up a bit more but Ryan did not fall on his second, more challenging run and was first going into the final jam. In the final jam it was neck and neck until about halfway through when Chaz walked away with it. So nice work Chaz.

The Salt Lake stop was sponsored by Toyota and you could drive around in a “Lutzka tuned car” which is probably not a big deal if you are all over 30, driven a million miles and jaded but surely the young kids were stoked on it

The course looked fun - picnic tables, jersey barriers and the first time in the arena for the Dew Tour. It was the biggest crowd for a street skate contest at the Dew Tour so far. A lot of the Dew Tour events are sold out but this time more seats were available for street. BMX, usually indoors was outside, hmm does that mean skateboarding draws more people?

P-rod - not having problems here

Chaz Ortiz kickflips to front lip. You think this is hard wait till you see what he does at the end of the event - some Rodney Mullen type stuff on a rail

Sheckler girls, this picture either stokes you or make you super bummed

Rodolfo Ramos with a big ollie up and over the gap to lipslide

Adam Dyet is from Salt Lake and had a lot of fans in the arena. I asked him if he slept in his old bed at his parents he so, they live too far from downtown and he stayed in a hotel

Adam Dyet - 5-0

Goo Goo Ramos does a super solid front 190 to switch over crooks, you could here the clank throughout the venue

Sheckler gets the big transfer. Later on in the contest this gap is where things changed. Sheckler and Ortiz were both trying to back 180 flip this transfer and Ortiz got it first, Sheckler did not even try the back 180 flip transfer after that

Sheckler - kickflip to back lip

P-rod - switch front flip

Kurtis Colamonico blunts to fakie

Greg Lutzka - 270 to blunt

Carlos De Andrade - Tre flip

Sheckler up and over

Chaz Ortiz - kickflip to front board to kickflip out, this pretty much sealed the deal for Chaz

Chaz with a nollie 270 to back lip

Ryan - right after finals but before the winner was announced

Dyet

Chaz, right before he was announced the winner

and right after he was announced the winner. So he goes back and tells his friends, yea I won 15k and Ryan Sheckler this weekend and asks them what they did and they will say, oh played video games

Of course Salt lake is home to the center of the Mormon religion and here is the Temple. Just some local stuff

1 Chaz Ortiz
2 Ryan Sheckler
3 Rodolfo Ramos
4 Greg Lutzka
5 Carlos De Andrade
6 Austen Seaholm

Holly Farms is in SW Portland, just off the I-5 and built by Dreamland. It sits in a little park just like the swings; no fence, no real rules, just a little skatepark, no big deal. Pretty much every town should have parks like this. It is shaped like a donut with a little spine in the middle. It is kind of a challenge to ride. At first it seems kind of like a stupid design but the more time you spend there the more you see the lines. It is not straightforward like say a kidney, then again you may not get as bored as a kidney

The roll in into the Holly Farms Bowl had some sick lines in and of itself. So funny there was someone skating Holly Farms that I had seen the week prior almost 300 miles away at Brookings

You could skate these brick banks for hours at Holly Farms

Tigard is another Dreamland piece of work, recently finished. The flow area has this little double section that offers a ton of transfer lines.

Here is the left side of the flow bowl. It backs up to a mini bowl and the skateable dinosaur. Man I wish I had more time to get some decent photos on the trip

Some ledges drop you into the big square bowl with ALL sorts of crazy obstacles; brick banks, a volcano with a top the goes a round, transition to banks, a dinosaur hip, a square bowl and more!

You could air this hip and tap the dinosaur – so rad

The Volcano (the top of it spins) the steep ass brick banks and on the left the beginning of the big ass bank wall

wtf? A square corner craziness at Tigard

Pier Park is a GNARLY park, tons of vert in this bowl and you could spend tons of time figuring this out. There is smaller stuff too but it was getting time to move along

Benji Galloway at Pier Park, this photo was stolen too I did not take it but still wanted to share it with you. If you were going to do a skate trip Oregon should be one of your top picks. I have only scratched the surface here too there is way more

Bad Ass is this this photo of Mike Barnes going frontal through the corner at Tigard! It shows the gnarliness of Oregon. The photo was taken by John Yonker and stolen from Concrete Disciples, they got a good little article on the Trifecta comin up
Check out concretedisciples.com

“I am so sick of the fucking Portland skateboarders, they think they are so punk and shit, they just think Burnside is the shit. They are a bunch of dirtbags, you hang out them and next you know your wallet is gone” That quote is not from me. I experienced nothing but cool people up in Oregon. There are rumblings around Burnside though being a locals kind of place. Sorry to admit I don’r know about that

Burnside is pretty much the Grandfather of modern transition skating. Burnside came about in the early 90’s right when vert was dying. Burnside was the first real, free cement skatepark. Since then there are free cement skateparks in every town and kids take the parks for granted. Transition riding is booming. Imagine if Red and crew never took the effort to build Burnside. Would we still be stuck with just vert and street skating?

Someone could pretty much make a book on Burnside, there has been so much that has happened there. Unfortunately my little article will be grossly in-adequate. Speaking of gross, this little bowl had a small puddle of yellow liquid at the bottom. Was it pee or Easter egg die?

As you can tell in the photos, the park was pretty empty. This was about 9 am on a Saturday morning

Glenhaven is a fairly new park, located off 82nd street just North of I-84. It is pretty small but has something for all, street, bowl, banks, mini bowl, tons of fun

looking down the street rat area

The mini bowl

The peanut bowl was steep but fun. Check out the bench with the whoop de doos. Dreamland makes every inch of a park skateable…it’s the details

the street area

GNARLY kink, Oregon parks dare you to step it up

another view, again , this was early in the morning and bikers were having at it

these banks alone could provide hours of fun at Glenhaven

on the little qp end section. Glehaven is long and narrow. It has flow, you could skate the street/flow area without putting a foot down. The two bowls sit next to the street/flow area