Art of Rolling A Glimpse into New York City’s
This Issue: Victor Calender Yannes Sootes Sal Zaso
April 2009 Issue Three
Table of Contents Interviews with: Sal Zaso Yannes Sootes May’s Featured Legend: Victor Calender Spot Check check out updates and ratings for this month’s chosen New York City skate spots! On cover: Victor Calender - gapover 8 stair rail to flat. Photography by: Angelo Ferrer Produced and edited by; Layla Ferrer and Angelo Ferrer
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We Are New York City Skaters jon
or
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Victor Calender A New York City Legend
Thirty-five year-old Victor Calender has been a major contributor to skating in New York City over the
course of his 26 years of rollerblading. His personality is shown on an average day of skating when he bumps into the many random people he has helped in some way. Good thing he’s on the New York team.
In what ways have you given back to the skate community? I promote the sport these days through the Last Man standing (LMS) competitions; my way of giving back is by working on bringing the community together through comps, clinics and gatherings. What are you up to nowadays? Family and building the Wheels in Motion/LMS brand. Who were your favorite skaters growing up? I never really idealized anyone, I always believed in myself…but I did like Arlo’s style.
“I’ve been rolling all my life (age 9).”
“It is what I came to this earth to do. It is my mission and when you truly love something you never get tired of it.� Art Of Rolling 5
Fish Stall
Topsoul at Bottle Rails
What was the skate scene like back then as opposed to nowadays? We all were like family. Although there were different clicks, when we met we would skate and have mad fun. Nowadays everyone is scared and are so into themselves there is no togetherness. How did the average skating day look like back then? We’d be out all day, I mean ALL DAY. Sometimes we would sleep in the parks or just skate all night. Wherever and whenever we went rolling, We rolled 20 deep.
Do you have any comments on the evolution of skating? I was being interviewed a number of years ago and I was asked “What would skating be like ten years from now?” and I said that kids would be spinning to their tricks. They are doing exactly what I envisioned. I think that the sport is evolving pretty well. What advice do you have to the new generation of rollers? Just “Do What You Do” no matter what it is, make sure you love it. I don’t mean anything illegal. It must be something that uplifts you and others benefit in return. How can you explain the decline in popularity of rollerblading over the past decades? I don’t really know what happened but I do know what needs to be done, and that is we need to get organized. We need to figure out what to call ourselves. We are NOT skaters, rollerbladers or inliners! Those names are all taken, so what are we? We need to get organized to figure that out and a lot of other things.
Bs Farf
What do you see in the future in terms of rollerblading? The future looks great. This is what I feel deep inside. What is happening in the sport and the economy has to happen, it’s part of life. When it comes back around, it’s going to be stronger than ever because we have learned from our past.
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Sean topsoul to bs backslide
Jon Stephens vert wall air
Herbert top soul
Jon Ortiz sweatstance
Avachi Wesler ao topsoul
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Jon Stephens launch transfer
Layla Ferrer soul
Anthony Soto top mistrial
Kevin Cintron neg pornstar
Rafael Herrera ao soyale
Paul Bates ttsoul Art Of Rolling 8
Spot Check
Location: Manhattan, N.Y. Type: Right-side knee hight curved ledge Security: Chance of being busted, get your tricks in while you can Pros: slick, fast, and a mellow donwnhill slant Cons: Right side only, security, and people may sit on the ledge. Rating: ***
Location: Manhattan, NY. Type: Left side launch ledge Security: Parks Department may hassle at times. Pros: If you get some speed and lock on good, this ledge can launch you at the end as good as any ramp. Cons: Left side only and too many children running around. Rating: ***
Location: Yonkers, N.Y. Type: Right Side 9-flat-9 stair Kink Rail Security: Off school hour is the best bet Pros: Nice Solid Ride and located with other spots Cons: Higher than waist-height and there is a pole that is very close Rating: ***
Location: White Plains, N.Y. Type: Both side drop rail Security: During school, security will ask you to leave Pros: These rails are as good as metal drop rails get Cons: Rail located 8 inches above a curb Rating: ****
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Feature : Marble Ledges
Location: Manhattan, NY. Type: 20+ foot ledges Security: The guards from the building in front will eventually come out if you stay long enough Pros: There is not much more you can ask from very large. smooth and fast marble ledge. Cons: Located in a very busy area therefore, there is a lot of traffic and people who sit on the ledges for a rest. Rating: *****
New York CIty is a proud home of a variety of ledges. Despite
the massive amounts of ledges located here, many New York City skaters would agree that these marble ledges are the best. Sometimes the city is against skating and therefore, neglects to build anything that caters to our skate life. Once in a while, a perfect ledge is built that skaters can make use of. Located in the busy downtown Manhattan, this marble ledge rests with a set of six identical ledges. This spot has been around for some time now and the level of secuirty has risen and declined over the past months. On one occasion the city decided to end the glory of these ledges by capping them with steal rods to prevent them from being skated. However, die hard skaters eventually came through and removed the knobs to restore it’s glory. Now the spot is fully skateable and continues to be one of the best ledge spots in New York City.
Greg Sturino soul
Jon Stephens wallride
Paul Bates backslide
Adonis Taylor misfit Alex Nunez royal
Anthony Soto fishbrain
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Hyper Mike bs tourqe
Hyper Mike Kindgrind
Alex Nunez savvanah
Will Hoover skateboard roll stall to soul 540
Kevin Cintron bs unity
Anthony Soto zero spin makio Art Of Rolling 12
Yannes Sootes
T
here is so much ground to cover in New York which makes it really difficult to find that “diamond in the rough.� For those who have ever thought about the possibility that there might be an unknown skater who skates at a pro level, here he is. With no intentions of getting sponsored and turning pro, Yannes Sootes skates for the pure fun of skating. This allows his talent to excel on another level where he can and will skate anything and everything. He has the potential to continue excelling and progressing in his skating; making him a powerful addition to New York City’s arsenal of skaters. Bs farf
BS FARF
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BS Royal to gap
My name is Yannes Sootes. I started skating when I was around twelve, thanks to the help of my friend who was always into trying new sports. I first began with biking and skateboarding, then I moved on to a pair of blades where I realized it had a lot more potential and opportunities to expand into the trick vocabulary. Ever since then, I’ve been skating in Brooklyn. After a while, I noticed that a whole lot of other people did the same sport and I began to expand my skating to different areas of New York City. Do you consider yourself under-rated? I don’t really consider myself to be rated. If people give me compliments that’s cool and I highly appreciate it. I just like to do what I do best. Rolling is stress relieving, productive and nothing beats that feeling when you lace a trick that you’ve been working on to perfection. What is the hardest skate spot in New York? There’s really no way of saying what the hardest spot in NYC is, due to the fact that pretty much all of our architecture has a lot of obstacles within them already. This city is ancient and everything is falling apart (laugh out loud). But I would say that Stuyvesant is pretty tough, that’s basically the most well known NYC hammer.
Can you describe how it is to be a New York City skater? I guess what it means to be NY skater, or any other skater for that matter, is hanging with your homeboys, networking, meeting new people and expanding relations everywhere you go. We all have the same thing in common. It’s just a lot of fun to roll around with your boys doing what you love and having a good time. How do you get yourself pumped to do a hammer? To get pumped is a tricky one. It takes a lot of focus and envisioning the exact movement for the trick you’re about to do, and once you’ve achieved that “hyphy” zone, there’s no turning back. Once your’re ready to jump there’s no hesitation, it’s just do or die. Oh yeah, and a case of Redbull to get you jacked.
What is your favorite spot in nyc? There’s plenty of spots to skate out here. Some are fun and some are hard. It’s really hard to say one spot in particular is the best, so I guess I’ll go with any spot is a good spot as long as your with your boys having fun. In a few words, what kind of skater are you? I skate in what I normally wear and just try to survive day in and day out while making the best of it (laugh out loud). Art Of Rolling 14
Roll to mute gap
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? In the next 5 years I just hope I’m not sitting home with a bottle of scotch and a gun (laugh out loud). Who knows, I don’t plan things. I just go by whatever life throws at me. Hopefully I’ll have a stable job with enough time to be rolling.
bs savannah
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Huge 180 grab gap
Once you’re ready to jump there’s no hesitation. It’s just do or die. Art Of Rolling 16
Sal Zaso fishbrain
Alex
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Paul Bates ao soul
Anthony Soto topporn Nunez fishbrain
Adonis Taylor frontside
Shane ao misfit
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A day with aso al Z
aso al Z aso
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o s a Sal Z aso Sal Z Sl
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Sal
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s a Z Sal S Sal
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Disaster backslide
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“Hidden talent Sal” should be his name but unfortunoutly he’s only known as Sal. Nonetheless, at the young age of twentey-two, he is New York’s Sal and he plays a big role in New York City skating. Don’t let his humble attitude fool you. Sal is not your normal skater. Even though he’s as humble as humble can get, Sal surely plays the part of a multi-talented skater who never seems to flaunt his skills. There is not an obstacle or object that he can’t skate. For those of us who know him, we can tell you that on any given day, Sal would specifically single out any creative or what seems to be an unskatable spot. For him anything and everything is skateable. When push comes to shove, Sal’s unique skills get the job done while he has a blast doing it. In his nine-years of skating. We were lucky enough to catch up with Sal at the famous John Bown rails and managed to get a session going. After a hot afternoon eating delicious barbeque food, Sal threw it down and brought to us these photos in one night. How did you start skating? Around the time I played hockey, my friend Patrick invited me over his house. I came across a video called Standfast and was blown away by the adrenaline in that film. I remember later that week going to my local sports shop with my mother and within three minutes of being in that store, I knew what I wanted. There they were… in all black… the RB dirks. I’ll never forget the excitement I had during the first hours I rode those skates. There was no winning jump shot or scoring goal, but I still had that feeling of being a part of something so pure and new that winter. I knew from that day forward, I gained more love for skating as time went on. In a few words, what kind of skater are you?
Bank to safety grab
I’d describe myself as a person with a good heart before I consider myself anything else. Growing up rolling I’ve realized that I’m a passionate person who has love for the sport, and young skaters who are coming our way. I’m a little disgusted because there is one thing I don’t understand and that is the criticism and trash people talk about each other. I feel like we should all treat each other with the same respect. How do we expect to go places with skating if we can’t come together as one with the sport?
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How do you get yourself pumped to skate? As up-to-date as I am in the skate life, I mostly get pumped off of older videos such as VG13, Quest for the Holy Rail, Hoax 6, Amateur and Millenium. As for NYC, I have to say that I get most pumped while skating with Josue Diaz, Angelo Ferrer, Soto and Trevor Johnson. Now that’s creativity at its best! Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? In five years I’d like to see myself on the road to starting my life and possibly engaged. I hope to move outside of Queens but close enough to be a part of skate crews that meet and skate. I’ll represent NYC for years to come. What is your favorite skate spot growing up? My favorite spots would be Academy Skate Park in Connecticut and Rector Drop Ledge by the World Trade Center. What is it like to be a New York City skater? I believe that the cops have a lot to do with our skating here in NYC. Most of the best spots have security guards so in order to do your thing, you have to be a go big skater Kindgrind
SERCURITY MISSES MACY’S 180
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Bank to wallride
180 Monkey Plant
Gap while security isn’t paying attention
Bank to topsoul
Thank you To all the skaters who contributed to this zine. We will forever appreciate your skating!!! For more photography by Angelo Ferrer go to: www.angeloferrer.com. If you would like to be featured or contribute your work in future issues of this zine, please contact Angelo Ferrer at nyrolling@yahoo.com. Submissions are greatly appreciated. If you would like to place an ad in future issues contact Layla Quinones at laylaquinones@yahoo.com. This is a not for profit zine created by NYC rollerbladers. Any donations or contributions are greatly appreciated and encouraged so that NYC skaters get represented to the fullest extent.