a brief glance issue_27 by a brief glance skateboardmag

issue _27

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CHRIS COLE \ INITIALS COLLECTION

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photo_Davide Biondani.

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EDITORIAL_27

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At the beginning of the nineties skateboarding experienced one of the worst periods in its history. Beginning in 1994-95 rumors first started spreading of an absolutely underground scene being born on the East Coast. A genre of skateboarding made up of unknown skaters, rough spots, big wheels, and lots of speed. It was the era of Eastern Exposure and the Philadelphia and New York City scenes, small companies, pushing from spot to spot, and clips filmed at nighttime with a fish eye and a spotlight. It was definitely an underground world, full of energy, motivation, and creativity. It was for sure one the best and most intense period in the history of skateboarding, that is still today a source of inspiration for those that have been pushing skateboarding in a positive direction over the last few years. A world light years away from shiny magazine covers, million-dollar contracts, superstar skaters appearing on TV, and the “clip of the day,” that is so common nowadays. It was a different type of skateboarding in a world that was definitely different from the mad world it is today. Matt Reason was one of the most influential and underground skateboarders in the mid 90’s, his skateboarding was really inspirational in the rebirth of skateboarding after the “small wheels big pants era.” Matt Reason recently passed away, and it had been many years since he was last seen in the skateboard scene. To the skateboarding of billion-dollar multinational companies Matt Reason was a Mr. Nobody and he probably did not leave a Lamborghini behind parked in his garage either. For those of you who love skateboarding, Matt Reason was one of the raddest skateboarders of one of the most vital moments in skateboarding history. The messages dedicated to him after his passing are countless, all the skateboard medias have talked about him, and all those who love skateboarding have dedicated a deep thought to his memory. The true spirit of skateboarding is still alive and will never die. Thanks Matt. (davide biondani)

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ISSUE _27

CONTENTS

FRAGMENTS_

DC Italy in Portugal_ LaVuelta a Fuerteventura_carhartt pedaling in the dust_ Time to shine_Pietro BontĂ _ PLACES_Saint Tropez_ Book_Agents Provocateurs_ 20 years of Chocolate_ Dusted Off_Pat Duffy & Kelly Bird 1994_

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I N S TA : @ L A K A I LT D / F B : L A K A I LT D / W E B : L A K A I . C O M

JOSEPH BIAIS - BACKSIDE LIPSLIDE - PHOTO: GUILLAME PERIMONY I N S TA : @ L A K A I LT D / F B : L A K A I LT D / W E B : L A K A I . C O M

F EAT U R ING T H E

V I N CE N T AN D F U R A

EDITOR and CONCEPT_ Davide Biondani.

(davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR_ Guido Bendotti.

ASSISTANT EDITOR_ Andrew Zolin. TRANSLATIONS_ Jonathan Levin. PHOTOGRAPHERS_

Leo Sharp, Kévin Mètallier, DVL,

Friedjof Fèye, Fred Mortagne, Fabio Montagner,

Brian Gaberman, Alan Maag, Davide Biondani, Carmin Santos, Bertrand Trichet, Alberto Chimenti Dezani. CONTRIBUTORS_

Mario Torre, Francesco Paolo Chielli,

Jerome Campbell, Samu Karvonen, Mark Baines, Ale

Martoriati, Stefano Sedioli, Simone Bertozzi, Niall Neeson, Fred Mortagne. DESIGN_

Fake Donkey Lab.

GET ALL THE INFOS at: info@abriefglance.com

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F BOA

RD TRU

BOA

RD TRU

BOA

RD TRU

G A

BOA

RD TRU

G M

TM A

BOA

RD TRU

BOA

RD TRU

BOA

RD TRU

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COVER // Ale Cesario_Fs kickflip // Lisbon. Photo_Davide Biondani_

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SAMMY WINTER

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FALLEN REPRESENTS THE DETERMINATION AND PERSEVERANCE IT TAKES TO RISE ABOVE YOUR LIMITS. FALLEN FOOTWEAR IS DESIGNED, TESTED, & DESTROYED BY OUR TEAM TO ENSURE QUALITY AND DURABILITY

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Dane Burman

PHOTO: BROOK

FRAGMENTS

James Bush, Switch bs tailslide Photo_Davide Biondani. Bristol. a brief glance

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FRAGMENTS Flo Mairfaign, Fs heelflip Photo_Davide Biondani. Cyprus.

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FRAGMENTS

Torey Pudwill, Switch flip to switch 5-0 Photo_Davide Biondani. Italy.

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Sergio Pontillo, Powerslide to bs lipslide up. Photo_Davide Biondani. Salerno. a brief glance

FRAGMENTS

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Photography_Davide Biondani. Words_Ale Morandi.

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DC Italy in

PORTUGAL

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Lisbon.

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I was really excited to go on this tour to national soccer team had just won the Portugal because it’s a place I had never World Cup. When I entered the bar to been to. get something to drink everybody highfived me and started yelling, “Berlusconi, We got to Lisbon after a stormy, night- Berlusconi” when they understood I was marish flight and two attempted lan- Italian, ha ha ha. Nuts. dings under heavy rain, and I was already anticipating a week spent among Our days in Lisbon were very intense, we puddles, grey sky, and wet griptape, but woke up every day at 8.30 am and by 10 fortunately it went differently. we were out skating spots so beautiful I wouldn’t know which one to choose beThe next day the streets were dry and the cause the city was so full of them. Our tour kicked off among the spots in the guide was Francisco Lopes, who apart center of the city and its suburbs. from being the DC Shoes TM for Portugal and an excellent skater, is also an One thing I noticed about Portuguese architect that has designed some of the people is their amiability; when I landed best skateparks I have ever seen. a wallie boardslide down a hubba in a super sketchy neighbourhood, these crazy Once we left the capital, we travelled to dudes sitting outside the bar across from Porto where we spent the second half of the spot started cheering me as if their the week.

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Ale Morandi // Bluntslide to fakie. A perfectly smooth spot in front of the sea on a warm Sunday morning in early autumn, with sailboats and birds flying in the sky; definitely the perfect scenario for a blunt slide to fakie. Definitely stylish.

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Ivan Federico // Bs smith grind. If you put Ivan on a vert ramp or in a bowl he can do whatever he wants on his skateboard, the funny thing is that if he leaves his helmet and kneepads at home to skate a ten or more stairs rail he can do five tricks second try on it. If you have it, you have it.

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Andrea “Gummy” Casasanta // Hurricane. Little Gummy brings his transition skills to this rough street spot in Lisbon. We spent one morning at this spot shooting and filming different tricks wondering what it would be like if the flat was smooth… probably the same thing every skateboarder who has ever been to this amazing square has thought.

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We arrived late at night and after travelling for 5 hours our only desire was to do a quick check-in, take a shower, and pass out on the bed. That’s all we wished for. Unfortunately what happened was that the owner of the hotel was there waiting for us with his hands behind his back.

had a ghostly atmosphere and looked like the set for a horror film. Already after the first night Josè wanted to kick us out of his “nightmarish hotel,” and after a full day being a nuisance to each other I went from being his worst enemy to being his best friend.

He was a nutcase about 80 years old and he took over an hour to check us in, recording all our personal data with perfect handwriting and repeating the same things to us 10 times. Some of us were ready to commit suicide, while others were more inclined to commit a murder.

He called me Gianni Morandi (a famous Italian singer from back in the days) and told me his dream when he was younger was to fuck Sofia Loren, and I sure couldn’t blame him on that one, ha ha ha!

Apart from the old weirdo, we had a greThe hotel was definitely 50’s-style, but at time in Porto. Aesthetically, it is a benot “done in 50’s-style,” it was as if it had autiful city full of interesting spots and been frozen in time since the 1950s! It restaurants with excellent food.

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Danny Galli // Switch nose manual 360. a brief glance

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Ale Cesario // Bs ollie over. This famous spot is located in the suburbs of Lisbon. On this day our guide was busy so we drove around for like an hour before finding it. Almost every trick has been done over the bubba and into the bank, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure how many people have jumped the wall on the side. Anyway, master pop Ale Cesario bs ollied the wall from flat and successfully managed not to die while avoiding holes and ledges on the way down the bank. a brief glance

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Ale Morandi // Wallie to boardslide.

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Everybody skated and had fun, and obviously the guys who skated the most were the younger dudes, Andrea and Ivan, who took their pads and helmet off to destroy all the street spots we went to. In between the photographs that his lady friends were sending him on his phone, Andrea Casasanta aka “Gummy” found the time to spray a barrage of tricks with a big smile on his face! The kid is so far ahead! Ivan Federico is an animal and skates gigantic rails as if they were flat bars. He has grown up a lot and his only weakness

is that he doesn’t have nude photos of his girlfriends on his phone! Ha ha ha. Let’s spend a few words on our team manager Danny Galli that apart from having turned 35 years old during the tour and having organized everything, driven everywhere, and skated like a sixteen-year old going through a hormonal storm, on the last night was also harassed by the whole team that forced him to wander around the city until 1:00 (!) am to celebrate the end of this fantastic tour to Portugal! Thanks Danny. Ah ha ha.

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Fabio Colombo // Nollie kickflip. Fabio definitely loves to skate gaps and stairs, his eyes started to shine when we arrived at this spot. This nollie kickflip was just one of the tricks he landed after a quick warm up.

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Danny Galli // Switch ollie. On the day of his 35th birthday Danny wanted to ollie this big 7. We were filming at a double set outside Lisbon and at one point he said that it was time to move on to the next spot. He was super concentrated and after asking about 150 times if the filmer and the photographer were ready, he took some run ups and went straight into this switch ollie that he landed first try. He had the biggest smile on his face that you can imagine. Goooood one Danny!!! How many 35 year olds do you know that can jump down 14 stairs on a skateboard, switch, and first try? The best way to celebrate his birthday. a brief glance

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Ivan Federico // Bs nosegrind. One morning our friend and local guide Francisco drove us to the latest concrete skatepark he designed. The place is amazing, a giant street area with everything you would want in a park and a perfect concrete bowl. When it comes to transitions Ivan knows whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up. This bs nose grind pop in is one of the tricks he landed without even sweating.

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La Vuelta a Fuerteventura

carhartt pedaling in the dust_

Over the last few years many skateboarders have started using bicycles more and more frequently to get around, either because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trendy, useful, or merely because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re passionate about it. Carhartt decided to celebrate this marriage between two large wheels and 4 small wheels by bringing four of its riders, Joe Gavin, Joseph Biais, Giovanni Grazzani, and Pete Ruikka to Fuerte Ventura, and asking four framebuilders to create the bicycles with which they pedaled far and wide across the island in search of spots to skate. The result was 7 days of sweat, hard pedaling, skateboarding, and fun that is all documented in the following pages. We had a chat with Enrico Gorrea from Casa Macaroni that hosted the whole crew and coordinated all the operations. He gave us some insight into this interesting project. (db).

Photography // Bertrand Trichet.

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Joseph Biais // Wallie.

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What’s up Enrico? You now live in Fuerteventura, how come you chose to move there to live? A few summers ago I worked at a Surf House run by some Swiss friends where we built a ramp. In the meantime Alex Leoncini infected me with a passion for waves and I had an idea of doing something similar in a place where it is always sunny and warm. I left Barcelona and created the Casa Macaroni project here. How’s life on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Living the island life can be hard, the place is small and it feels cramped at times! Day to day life is kinda scarce when it comes to appointments, but we respect the solar cycle: up early in the morning and off to work. Most of the time is spent on the beach where nature and the waves substitute for other shortcomings, and the evening BBQ usually substitutes the hipster bar and small-talk. You live barefoot here. There are less things but more possibilities, and I wouldn’t change this life for anything else. And to make things even more exciting, going surfing every day makes me feel like I’m 15 years old again, when I used to learn a new trick every day: it’s like skating on water.

How did this idea of a mixed tour involving skateboards and bicycles come about? It all came about thanks to Mattia and Davide who had the idea and they then got Bertrand from Carhartt involved. The idea was to have the framebuilders construct the bicycles for the skaters and go on tour together, skating the spots found on the way. For reasons of distance we were searching for an island that was not too big, and Fuerteventura’s lunar landscape as well as its unconventional spots just seemed perfect. So the project took place here. What were the major problems you encountered? Fuerteventura is a rocky desert! Imagine pedaling upwind for 100 km under a boiling hot sun and then skating... then pedaling again, sweating, and trying to land a trick in a rough spot you never skated before. It was not at all easy.

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Pete Ruikka // Boardslide.

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Joe Gavin // 5-0 flip out.

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How far did you bike every day, and where did you stay? Our home base was Casa Macaroni, which is at the center of the northern part of the island. We started out early every morning in order to take advantage of the cooler hours. We had sandwiches and water and so we pedaled in search of spots. We pedaled a lot, the day we pedaled the least we did 30 km, but for the last mission we pedaled 100 km just to go skate one spot! Was the choice of spots dictated more by the necessity to pedal or that to skate? Bertrand and I did an initial search for spots with a map in order to determine the feasibility of the tour. Every day we thought about what type of spot we wanted to skate and its relative distance in kilometers, then we decided where to go, trying to alternate the long and short distances to cover day by day. Getting to the spot by bike, we practically had no need to warm up ha ha ha... We had to warm up a little, but just enough to get acquainted with the spot! Ha ha ha. But the cool thing was that everybody was really hyped to skate so a lot of cool tricks went down despite the fatigue. Did the weather conditions have any influence on the tour? The tour was done in October so it was still really warm. Furthermore, the island is exposed to winds and the roads aren’t always paved or leveled either. How did the collaboration with Carhartt go? Bertrand organized everything meticulously and impeccably, and Carhartt made it all possible: from the construction of the bicycles that were custom-made for each skater, to the food, energy supplements, but also the production of the video and the photographs you’re looking at. This was definitely a different project, and having experienced it firsthand, a very interesting one as well. How often did you get a flat tire? Ted ( James) holds the record for flat tires. Whenever he had the chance he would throw himself down every slope of the road or do wheelies at 40 km per hour as if he were riding a BMX instead of a racing bike! Always radical and always smiling as well! I think he got a flat tire almost every single day, apart from the fact that he had to straighten his wheelrims almost every morning.

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Did you ever have to rescue anybody who wasn’t able to make it? Unfortunately, the only one who wasn’t able to complete one of the missions was Joseph, who by the way was also the one who skated the most! After giving his blood for a whole week, the last day he tried a trick for two hours and was completely exhausted. Ten kilometers away from home it was already dark and he was pretty far behind the rest of the group. He had no lights and there are no street lamps here and it was getting kinda sketchy, so he was granted a little “assistance,” but in general Bertrand was very serious. This was a bicycle tour and nobody was allowed not to pedal! Joe Gavin skated and also filmed the whole tour, so while the other guys rested, he skated or pushed behind somebody to film him! One day he was really tired and tried asking if he could be spared some fatigue, but Bertrand was inflexible: “We’re doing a documentary and there can’t be any fakes, so keep pedaling!” Being a very “physical” tour, was the skate party-life forbidden? Absolutely not! Nothing was forbidden, and the usual routine included going by the supermarket on the way home to get 6-packs, so naturally after dinner everybody just passed out. One evening we had a cool party with a fish BBQ, a session on the mini-ramp, and a premiere of the Swiss Banks video that is a collaboration between Carhartt and Antiz that came out during those days. Where else would you organize an experience like this? The cool thing about this tour also had to do with the location. It wouldn’t have been the same thing had it been organized in a city like Milan or Barcelona. Fuerteventura is a desert island in the middle of the ocean where the conditions are often extreme, so I think one would have to search for similar places for another tour like this one, such as places where nature makes them unique. I saw a video where some dudes did something similar near the North Pole, like Iceland or something. This is an experience that goes beyond the tricks and the skateboard, so it would be necessary to find a location that is just as “extreme.”

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Joseph Biais // Kickflip.

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La Vuelta a Fuerteventura

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TIME TO SHINE. a brief glance

Pietro BontĂ _ Photography Davide Biondani_ Interview and words Guido Bendotti _ Mario Torre_

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I met Pietro through a friend of mine who at one point asked me if I had a spot on the Plaza Boards team for a new rider. Then out of the blue I received this clip with this dude opening the video with a fakie flip over a 1 meter-high obstacle, and the rest of the clip just literally blew my mind. That same day I got in touch with

him and invited him to skate with us, and from then on everything has just been completely positive. Pietro is a very polite, calm kid, and this reflects in the way he does his super tweaked nollies. His pop combines with a unique style that is rare to find. I believe heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the most underrated guys and not only in the Italian scene. Now enjoy his photos and interview! (Mario Torre).

Bs powerslide_

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Noseblunt transfer to fakie into the bank_

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Hi, Pietro, tell us something about you. I’m 21 years old, I live in Perugia, and have been skating for about 10 years. You’re one of my favorite underground skaters, how come we don’t see you around or see any footage of you that often? You’re right, the fact is I’ve never had a filmer that could follow me around all the time. Lately I’ve been absent because of financial issues and the like that have forced me to completely concentrate on work. I’m at work right now... You come from a small town in the mountains of Northern Italy, where there is more of a snowboard scene than a skate scene. How come you chose to skate instead of jumping down slopes in snowparks? Skateboarding has had a bigger emotional impact during the course of my life. It’s something I could do in any moment, practically anywhere and with more regularity; if I needed to vent my emotions skateboarding was always there to help me, while snowboarding is different: you can only do it every now and again and to do so you need to spend lots of money. Why did you move from Sondrio to Perugia? There is no reason really, I left home and the Valtellina Valley when I was 15 years old and ended up in Perugia by pure chance; I had to finish school and the only options I was able to find was at a boarding school in Perugia, so I ended up there. A boarding school? I chose to leave home at a young age because I couldn’t stand living in that valley in the middle of the mountains with its people any longer. I was a very calm kid, but since I skated I was treated like a delinquent. I wanted to live skateboarding, but I was considered a criminal there, and being the adolescent that I was, I also ended up causing some trouble. I couldn’t stand the situation any longer and in order to run away from that shitty place I went to a boarding school. In the valley they hassled me at school as well because I skated. It was a surreal situation! I spent two years

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in boarding school and at 17 I went to live with a skater from Perugia. I payed part of the rent, and when I turned 18 I started working and living on my own. My parents helped me along the way, but I grew up pretty quickly. Crazy! What’s life like in a boarding school? You don’t have much freedom, but if you’re clever, you can do anything you want. You can only go out one and a half hours per day, and 4 hours per day during weekends, which of course I took advantage of to go skate, even though the boarding school was far away from any spots. The boarding school was a castle from the 19th century, and when the teachers weren’t there, I would also skate at school. Skateboarding ruined your life and saved your life at the same time. It ruined my life because I cannot live without it, and all the choices I’ve made in my life have been influenced by skateboarding. It’s an obsession and there’s nothing I can do about it, luckily! In middle school I spent my time skateboarding with my fingers, imagining tricks... obviously my teachers would complain to my parents, who saw the whole situation as being surreal as well. Is it your intention to keep living in Perugia? Not for much longer, I want to leave. I live in the countryside at my girlfriend’s house. To go skate and go to work I have to skate downhill for like 7 or 8 kilometers just to get to the bus! At least I get to skate! Ha ha ha. If I run out of sigarettes the nearest tobacconist is kilometers away. I want to move to a place where there is a larger skate scene where I can work and skate without having to do all these kilometers uphill to get home. I need more stimuli to improve and fuel my obsession for skateboarding. I know you have a really awesome job... I work behind a sushibar at an Italian restaurant. I work with people who’ve worked at very famous restaurants, and ours is one of the restaurants with the best sushi in Italy. I went to catering school and found this job almost by chance, just like pretty much everything else in my life, but with this job I got lucky.

TIME TO SHINE. Skateboarding ruined my life because I cannot live without it, and all the choices Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made in my life have been influenced by it.

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Bs tailside up_

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Kickflip shuffle_

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You went from a tiny scene in Sondrio to an even smaller scene in Perugia, how do you get inspired to skate and progress? To be honest I don’t get inspired at all here in Perugia, apart from the many virgin spots around. When I first arrived here there was a nice atmosphere and lots of skaters pushing and adding to the scene! Then almost all of a sudden everything just disappeared and now all you have is kids hiding to skate and others that always skate the same shitty spot, ignoring street spots for fear or laziness. One thing I’ve noticed about your skateboarding is consistency. How much time have you invested in the basics of skateboarding? A lot of time on the basics, and a lot of time invested on everything that comes after the basics and that is yet to

come. I did everything step-by-step, I learned the basics and then would try random tricks, and noticed that some just came easily to me. At times I would land tricks for the first time down an 8-stair before even doing it on flat... ha ha ha. I would imagine a trick and even if I had never done it, somehow I would land it. Back then we skated a lot, there were lots of people with which to express oneself and grow together, and that made you wanna try new tricks. You are four-eyed. Who do you prefer between Lindsey Robertson and Ben Raybourn? I’d say Ben, even though he skates more trannies than street... he’s super stylish and goes biiig! He’s a character and completely insane! How did the Lakai sponsorship come about, since they are a thousand kilometers away from where you are, and it is practically impossible for them to have known about you before your videopart for Plaza Boards in the Beer is Food video? For that I must thank Mario from Plaza Boards and Davide from a brief glance that pushed me and helped me as best they could. You are absolutely low-profile. You don’t clog social media, nor do you spread status updates about your skateboarding. You’re practically in your own world but you kick ass. Is this something that reflects your nature or is it because your computer broke?

Yeah, I really don’t care that much. Showing people everything I do is not my priority. Maybe one day, when or if I’ll be more a part of skateboarding things will be different, but for now I limit myself to publicizing my sponsors and the things I find interesting, when I remember to that is... ha ha ha. What inspires you to skate? From your videoparts I can tell you don’t skate perfect or classic spots... My greatest inspirations come from independent skate videos where I find a greater variety of original tricks, unlike videoparts from famous brands with the usual super pros that get kinda boring after a while. You skated professionally for the first time, how did you adapt your skateboarding to a more “serious” situation (as

serious as the Director may be! Ha ha ha)? Well, I tried to be as serious as I could! It was the least I could do! When we shot these photos I was going through a very stressful period and problems at work so I wasn’t that relaxed and concentrated, and when I didn’t land the tricks I got really fucking mad. I did the best I could given the situation I was in. What do you expect to get out of skateboarding and where do you think you’re headed? I want it to keep being part of my life and I hope to keep skating as long as possible, because without ants in your pants you get old faster! Ha ha ha. Last words? I think the perfect spots I’ve skated in my life can be counted on one hand, but this is not really a problem, to the contrary, skating rough spots can only give you stronger emotions and most importantly, you don’t grow up to be a fussy skater. I’d love for skateboarding to become an integral part of society in Italy, with more skaters, and seen as something normal not something alien. I’d love for people to be able to live from skateboarding and not have to do other types of jobs in order to skate. I don’t have that much knowledge about skateboarding life and business, so maybe it’s more complicated than I think. But this is what I really hope for.

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Kickflip over and into the bank_

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PLACES_

SAINT

TROPEZ

Photos_Alberto Chimenti Dezani

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all the photos of this article have been taken with a mobile phone.

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SAINT

TROPEZ

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BOOK_Agents Provocateurs

Personally, I have never had that much interest for skateboard graphics. For sure I have my favorite ones and have never set up a board with a graphic I didn’t like, but I don’t collect boards nor do I consider myself a graphic enthusiast. Recently though, I stumbled upon a book that really aroused my attention and forced me to change my point of view on the subject. The book, written by Seb Carayol, published by Gingko Press, and supported by Carhartt, whose title is emblematically Agents Provocateurs. 100 Subversive Skateboard Graphics that gathers together 100 of the most subversive and irreverent graphics in skateboarding history, from the mid 80’s all the way to this day and age. “There was a perk to start skateboarding in 1989: it was the end of an era. The party was over… the “Big Three” crumbled. Skateboarding was on its way back to the underground, in the reassuring, bleak comfort zone where its disenchanted creativity could express itself fully. The artists behind skateboard graphics weren’t here just to decorate, and sell, skateboards. They had something to say. All of a sudden, decks had become provocative manifestos. They talked about the violence of society, sex, politics, racism, drugs, religion, and international affairs. Skateboarding was counterculture again.” Explains Seb Carayol.

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The book is fantastic, and presents some of the most beautiful boards in the history of skateboarding with pictures and descriptions of the graphics by the artists and skaters themselves, through interviews, behind-the-scenes events, and interesting tales. A dive into the past and a comprehensive overview of what the small and big brands offer today. It turns out that if the 90’s were “loser” years for many reasons (do you remember how the fuck we used to dress?!?!) regarding skateboard graphics they probably were the most creative and qualitative years ever. The Blind Guy Mariano “Accidental Gun Death” from 1992, the World Randy Colvin “Censorship” from 1991, the Blind Jason Lee “American Icons” from 1990, the World “Colvinetics” from 1991, the Santa Cruz “Bushitler” from 1991, and the whole Illuminati Skateboards series that came out in 1996. Just to name a few... This book is a must have. (db)_

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20 years of

chocolate.

Words_Guido Bendotti // Stefano Pedro Sedioli. Photos_Ben Colen & Crailtap.

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Chocolate Skateboards turns 20 years old while its older sister

Girl Skateboards is already allowed entry into bars in California to drink. Chocolate will have to wait another year to do so. Nothing to worry about though.

After Girl Skateboards was founded by Rick Howard and Mike

Carroll together with Spike Jonze and Megan Baltimore in 1993, the idea of increasing the number of riders brought about the creation of another brand, Chocolate Skateboards.

Officially presented in 1994, the original team was composed of

Chico Brenes, Daniel Castillo, Paulo Diaz, Richard Mulder, Shamil Randel, Gabriel Rodriguez, and Ben Sanchez... Mike York got on shortly thereafter, and the following year it was Keenan

Miltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turn. Considered by many over the following years as one of the most talented skaters of all time, he tragically passed away in 2001. Gino Iannucci got on in 1996.

Chocolate has contributed to writing some of the most important chapters in modern skateboarding through its riders, its image,

and its videos, such as the memorable â&#x20AC;&#x153;La Nueve Vida De Pacoâ&#x20AC;? directed by Spike Jonze that came out in 1995 and mixed skateboarding and acting parts where the skaters played the role of a band of outlaws in the Far West! Priceless.

Keenan Milton.

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Marc Johnson_Casper Stall.

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Raven Tershy_Pivot.

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Ads from the 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

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Let’s make one thing clear, Girl and Chocolate have always been

the coolest companies out there. So if you happen to skate for the Torrance-based companies you get more street-cred and respect than if you ride for any other company. These are not my words,

but Stevie Williams’. There are only a handful of skaters that can ride for them, and a million others that would like to.

Rick Howard and Mike Carroll are definitely two of the most

influential skaters of all time, and despite the fact that they have always chosen to be low-profile, they once again proved that

skaters can take skateboarding-business into their own hands and keep it away from lowly “big business” practices. There are the super teams out there, there have always been, there are companies perfected to give space to boundless egos and incredible skaters, but they will never have the flavor Chocolate has.

Tony Fergusson, Mike Carroll, Keenan Milton, Chico Brenes, Aaron Meza.

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Elijah Berle_Kickflip.

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During the nineties we only skated boards from Steve Rocco’s

brands, and at one point our favorite skaters (who were the reason why we only skated boards from the World group) decided to

leave the safety of being on these cool companies that were too subjugated to the will of their boss, to follow their own path.

When Girl was born, Rocco stopped being “the best for skateboarding” and became another ex-skater that had his hands on skateboarding. Chocolate was the final blow that made us love the Torrance group even more, and brought some “rawness” to skateboarding.

And 20 years later it is still here. Happy Birthday Chocolate.

Anthony Pappalardo.

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Mike York. Gino Iannucci, ollie.

Hsu turning pro.

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Jerry Hsu_Switch fs crooks.

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Dusted_Off Pat Duffy & Kelly Bird_1994.

Photos and words_Davide Biondani_

In 1994 skateboarding was ready to take a dive into its grave. At the time the top American pros would spend their summer in Europe using the Munster contest as an excuse and scrape together demos here and there in order to prolong their free stay and enjoy a longer vacation.

Skateboarding in 1994 was definitely in agony and interesting events were very few and rare. One day I

got a call, on my land line of course, informing me that Pat Duffy and Kelly Bird would be doing a demo at the Lignano skatepark, on the east coast of Italy. It was a pretty random demo, in fact Pat Duffy skated

for Plan B and Kelly Bird skated for Real. Probably the Italian importer who distributed both companies back then brought them over.

Kelly Bird had a lot of coverage at the time and Pat Duffy had gotten Questionable and Virtual Reality

under his belt in the two years prior, and was the most sought after skater… I remember the park being chock-full of people from all over Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, and Germany.

Kelly Bird didn’t skate much at all, but did an insane fs heelflip that I still remember perfectly as if it were today. Pat Duffy just plain killed it, doing every trick possible on every obstacle and at a speed and with a pop that were unimaginable at the time. He was an alien, light years ahead of everybody… and not by chance he was and still is one of the best skateboarders in history.

This was the first time I shot some pros, and Kelly Bird’s fs heel was also my first double page published on a skate mag, XXX Skateboard Magazine.

Shit, 1994 was 20 years ago!!! 20 years ago!!! Oh my God. Ok, I’m going skating, fuck it.

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Pat Duffy // Bs lipslide_

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Kelly Bird // Fs heelflip_

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issue _27