I saw you started following me on twitter the other day, you tweet much?
I try not to, but its addicting.
So you moved your whole operation to LA, why the move?
So many reasons, it is the hub for where we get all our product. We wanted to have it all under one roof.
Also La is the skateboard capital.
How do you like LA compared to SF?
Its new, so its still a lot of fun.
You still going to run with HUF SF as part of the branding?
Thats for me to know and you to figure out, Sf is our roots.
Recently HUF was highlighted in the newest project out of the Berrics. How'd you guys
get involved in the Trajectory Projects.
It was Berras idea
You been getting a lot of good feedback from people on the videos?
Yeah so far its been all positive, but i am sure there are haters.
When you started HUF as brand and not just a store, did you have Hanni already
in mind to help you create the brand into what is today, or did he come in a little later in
the picture once you had some stuff up and running?
He came in about 2 years after we started. We were only doing tee, sweats and hats, and he
helped take it to the next level.
So now that you have the clothing solid and shoes going on the third collection anything
else coming out anytime soon? Can we look forward to a HUF team?
Yes, team is coming along
I always remember reading an older interview with you by Atiba. He asked what you had
with you that day. You had a Poem/Story by your Friend Jamal Simmons. All about
growing up and Skating in New York City. You think that kids from other cites get that
feeling like Jamal talks about?
I would hope so, but i have no idea.
Read Jamals story on the chromeball, (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4OE2LlxxWrc/TI0_w4dAggI/AAAAAAAAKqA/W8SByOXSggc/s1600/huf5chrome.jpg)
When you were living in NYC, who was the typical crew you went out and
skated with for the day?
I guess it depends on the day, we would meet at the banks. Get a decent crew together.
Chris Keeffe, Mike Hernandez, Ryan Hickey, Keenan, Ben Liversedge, Gino so many people.
We would skate downtown during the day and midtown during the night.
Today it seems like the typical meet up spot for anyone skating in NYC is either 12th and A
or Tompkins Square Park, where was your usual meet up spot before going off for the day?
Back in the day it was the banks, then went to supreme, and then astor sometimes.
Coming back time to time and visiting NYC, have you noticed any changes in the city?
Its really just how much the city has cleaned up. It is crazy how many new building are up and how clean the streets are.
I used to be scared skating the streets at times.
It was really rough especially in the 80's.
I hear people always talking about how gnarly the bowery used to be, now its like the hot spot.
Yeah thats what happens in cities, people need cheaper rent and places to expand to.
What was the sketchiest area when you were growing up?
In my area it was LES, people were always trying to steal your shit.
Other than skating, what other shit were you getting into growing up in NYC?
Ha we were into it all, graf for sure. Music, stealing
Got any good stories.
shit i remember going to skate the jfk banks, we get off to transfer trains. And all these kids
start trying to rob us, there was way more of them then us and we had to jam.
so we all split and jammed out of the station. I just remember this kid chasing me and me getting away
and ending up in the cuts of BK.
Some how ive never had any problems, other than my camera bag being stolen, but no
fights, or chases.
Yeah kids would always try to steal, we would put most in there place though. But some
you cant, and now guns are way more around
Any good midtown night session stories,fucking with security guards or getting chased by cops
Ha, Always, it never got to crazy just lots of arguing with them and talking shit, that
can fuck the spots up though.
What was probably the best spot in midtown to skate?
We would always skate Fuji,and Pan Am rails.
You've done a lot of work with Ari Marcopoulos, how long have you two known each other?
shit we meet in the streets in the 90s, he was just taking photos and hanging out all the time
then we become buddies and started just chilling all the time
What was the first project you got involved in, with him
metropolitan.
Whats that for anyone who might not know?
it was was wheel company out of DLX
Anything in the works for the near future with him?
Hopefully, always want to work with Ari.
Whats going on with the Real video, coming out anytime soon?
Yeah this spring the real team is insane its going to be amazing
Hows it been filming for the video, I know you've had a shoulder injury for sometime now, getting any better?
Its hard this will be my smallest part ever so it sucks but thats life.
Ishod Wair, the kid is a freak of nature. Im not sure if I have ever seen him mess up on a skateboard.
Yeah he is a beast.
Other than Ishod, Any other East Coast skaters out there that your hyped on?
Hell yeah there are so many, vega, zered, pops, gino, freddy,ishod, jake d, cromer,stuckey, luis,
plunkett, yaje. I do'nt know so many dope kids
Whatever happened to the footage of you doing kickflip backlip on the courthouse, Ive only ever
seen the sequence.
It is in a TWS video I think.
You still doing a lot of traveling? Skating still, or more for HUF?
mostly HUF
I skate all the time but i have to focus on the business at times cant be out skating all day but I want to.
Last question,…. Ive herd about this secret pocket, the key to the ollie? Care to explain?
Ha, Its a secret…. No there is something when you ollie off a hip or a bump that allows you
to go just a little higher, when you hit your peak you usually can get it up even higher, its weird.
It is only taught to the experienced and wise
Haha, Thanks man
DBC
Hours before their special news conference today, the cat is out of the bag: NASA has discovered a completely new life form that doesn't share the biological building blocks of anything currently living in planet Earth. This changes everything.
At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream.Our DNA blocks are all the same.
But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible. While she and other scientists theorized that this could be possible, this is the first discovery. The implications of this discovery are enormous to our understanding of life itself and the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don't have to be like planet Earth.
No details have been disclosed about the origin or nature of this new life form. We will know more today at 2pm EST but, while this life hasn't been found in another planet, this discovery does indeed change everything we know about biology. I don't know about you but I've not been so excited about a bacteria since my STD tests came back clean. And that's without counting yesterday's announcement on the discovery of a massive number of red dwarf stars, which may harbor a trillion Earths, dramatically increasing our chances of finding extraterrestrial life. [NOS—In Dutch]
