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The Riversider | August/September 2022
Miracles & Dreams Foundation
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Backpack Giveaway WORDS: SHELBY ROWE PHOTOS: ZACH CORDNER
The Miracles & Dreams Foundation hosted their second-annual Backpack Giveaway on July 9th in partnership with the City of Riverside and the Riverside Main Library. The foundation gave out 1,100 (a record) backpacks filled with school supplies like pens, pencils, and notebooks. “We started this event last year with the Main Library, and it was just us with our one booth by ourselves, hoping we’d be able to give out all 400 backpacks to the community,” Joe Ramos Executive Director of Miracles & Dreams Foundation said. “Then one year later, thanks to a bunch of great partnerships, we were able to go back to the same location, give out over 1,000 backpacks, and have an eighteen partner resource fair on-site.” The Miracles & Dreams Foundation aims to serve under-resourced communities by providing programs and scholarship opportunities to local youth, and in-need families and individuals. The
The line for the backpack giveaway wrapped around the Library.
Backpack Giveaway is meant to excite kids about the school year by giving them the tools they need to succeed. “The Backpack Giveaway gives kids the supplies they need to be in a good mental state, and to be excited to go back to school” Ramos said. “Something as simple as handing out a backpack really has a big impact. It makes education a positive experience, and hopefully that’ll open doors for them in their future no matter the career they choose.” Their founders and Riverside locals—the McGuire family—inspire the foundation. Being from an impoverished area in San Bernardino, the family knows what it’s like to grow up without a helping hand. Now as multi-restaurant owners in Riverside, the family understands the value of community resources, and how far a little help can truly go. “One of the biggest proponents of the McGuire family is continued education—that education is the key for generational wealth, to build things for your future,” Ramos said. “They grew up in a very impoverished, very low income area and were able to build multiple successful businesses. So, they know what it’s like to be that kid that benefits from a backpack.” The Backpack Giveaway was a success thanks to partners like Target, NorthGate Markets, Proabition, and The Morongo Band of Mission Indians. A local favorite, KFrog Radio Station, was also a huge supporter, helping pass out backpacks, and doing the heavy lifting on-site during the event. While the Miracles & Dreams Foundation has plenty to thank from their sponsors, they also put in the hard work to raise funds themselves. The foundation hosted their first charity golf tournament in May, raising $30,000 to fund the backpack giveaway and other community outreach programs. The Miracles & Dreams Foundation opened as a year-round operation in 2021, showing impressive growth in less than two years. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the foundation’s Miracle on Main Street event. To reach even more of the community, Miracle on Main Street will be held at White Park—offering three times the space and three times the fun. If you’d like to get involved, Ramos is still looking for community partners for Miracle on Main Street.
Reach out to him directly at jramos@miraclesanddreams.org, and follow @miraclesanddreamsfoundation on Instagram for volunteer and community updates.
There’s nothing like the feeling of seeing a Southern California sunset painted in vibrant strokes of pink and orange at the end of a hot summer’s day. Silhouettes of palm trees and telephone wires boldly contras the fading skyline while shadows of purple mountain ranges slowly disappear into the distance. Sounds of children’s laughter and the inviting smell of fresh popcorn fill the air, swept by the cool breeze across the parking lot packed with people excitedly anticipating the moment when day gives way to night, and the blank screen they’ve patiently gathered around finally comes to life. Those fortunate enough to experience this feeling firsthand know it can only come from one of America’s most iconic and beloved pastimes—the Drive-In Theater. The first patented drive-in opened in Camden, New Jersey during The Great Depression on June 6th, 1933 by auto parts salesman Richard Hollingshead. His vision was to create a solution for people unable to fit in smaller movie theater seats by providing a more comfortable family environment in the privacy of their own automobile: “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.” Drive-in theaters’ popularity immediately grew with their rapid appearance in every state across the country, primarily in rural areas and suburban communities. Just one year following its debut, the first drive-in theater opened in Los Angeles in 1934 at the intersection of Pico and Westwood boulevards, with over 100 additional locations opened throughout Southern California in years to follow. With the arrival of the post-World War II “Baby Boomer” generation, drive-ins hit their peak in popularity during the 1950s and 60s with more than 4,000 theaters in existence across the United States, some capable of hosting as many as 3,000 cars. This quickly established the drive-in theater as a fundamental part of American culture—happily marrying two of the country’s most successful enterprises—the automotive and motion picture industries. Cars were designed in larger and more spacious models, allowing maximum comfort to
Rubidoux Drive-In
accommodate the post-war baby boom. These shifts in industry and the economy along with the era now considered “Hollywood’s Golden Age” added to the success of drive-ins, and established them as an icon of suburban American lifestyle. Providing a unique movie-going experience and ideal family environment, drive-ins became an affordable alternative to indoor cinemas and a cheap date night for America’s youth. Double features were a staple, premiering Hollywood’s latest releases weekly and offering moviegoers the value of a full evening of entertainment at a low cost. Sound and picture quality improved over time, and drive-ins soon expanded in size—adding more screens, and additional parking spaces for increased attendance. Such improvements allowed the industry to keep up with the competition of indoor theaters, and helped to increase their longevity. It wasn’t long before drive-ins made their way to the Inland Empire. With its nearly yearround warm climate, employment opportunities, and affordable housing market at the time—the Riverside area became a destination for thousands of families, and an ideal environment for drive-in theaters to thrive. Realizing the value of its proximity to these quickly growing communities, Roy C. Hunt founded the Rubidoux Drive-In on the outskirts of Riverside in November of 1948 with a single screen and 690car capacity. Upon its opening, it boasted an impressive variety of pre-show entertainment, including a full-service snack bar, miniature railroad, playground, and petting zoo. While these attractions have long since disappeared, despite the installation of two additional screens in the early 1980s, periodic technical upgrades and several ongoing remodels, the location has maintained much of its classic authenticity. The original Art Deco style screen tower still stands tall today, welcoming first-time visitors and long-time customers alike to enjoy everything the unique experience has to offer. With the success of the Rubidoux Drive-In and several other regional theaters of its kind, nearly two decades later, the Van Buren Drive-In opened in Riverside on July 10th, 1964 on the site of a former orange ranch. Expanding to three screens in 1975 and adding several digital upgrades and physical renovations over time—in the mid-2000s the drivein was given a new aesthetic themed after the community’s cultural heritage in the citrus industry. A large mural printed on the back of the original screen tower, historical photographs on the snack bar’s interior, and digital marketing assets were re-branded in the style of the iconic local orange crate labels of the 1930s. Throughout its more than 40 years of operation, the Van Buren Drive-In has retained its popularity with the community and established itself as a local landmark, and integral part of Riverside’s identity and small-town charm. Both the Rubidoux and Van Buren Drive-Ins remain among a handful of fully operational Southern California locations, currently showing first run double features seven nights a week and hosting outdoor swap meets multiple times a week with over 400 vendors year-round. Although fully operational drive-ins have dwindled from hundreds
Van Buren Drive-In
across Southern California in their heyday to only eight locations today, many other sites have been repurposed solely for the use of swap meets and outdoor markets. Open from 6am to 2pm every Wednesday through Sunday in Rubidoux and every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at Van Buren, these unwaveringly popular markets offer more than just bargains for their customers, but a unique shopping experience characteristic to the region and its culture. With free admission and no more than the cost of one-dollar—depending on the day—these local swap meets attract thousands of shoppers every week and provide an impressive array of affordable goods. From housewares to hardware, clothes, toys, and the latest electronics, there isn’t much you can’t find at the swap meet if you look hard enough. But, aside from the easily found practical items on display, perhaps the most alluring part of swap meet culture is the chance to discover that rare hidden gem buried deep among the countless rows of tables and blankets that make up the maze of vendors. Although Riverside has been fortunate to provide an environment for both the Rubidoux and Van Buren Drive-Ins to withstand the test of time, the majority of locations across the country have closed permanently, becoming relics of a nearly forgotten era and faded memories for those who once frequented them. In the 1970s, improvements in home entertainment from color TV to cable television, as well as VCRs and home video rental on the rise leading into the ’80s, popularity and attendance of drive-ins experienced a significant decline. Real estate inflation and interest rate hikes made large tracts of land too valuable for drive-in owners to maintain and many sold their properties for the cost of operating a drive-in for nearly twenty years. Countless locations rapidly disappeared, replaced by shopping malls and track homes. Indoor multiplex theaters offered a variety of title options, and show times along with technological improvements too advanced for drive-ins to compete with. This shift marked the end of an era for classic American culture founded on traditional family values and ushered in a new national identity based on consumerism, convenience, and profit. The drive-in theater is more than just a casual destination for its beloved visitors—it has provided countless memories and experiences for generations of local residents and woven itself into the very fabric of our society. Attracting people of all walks of life—from families and friends to couples in hopes of a romantic evening—the drive-in movie experience creates a true sense of community. Many residents may not realize how fortunate they are to have not only one, but two fully operational local drive-ins still in existence today. It’s undoubtedly because Riverside continues to hold traditional values like family and community at its core that these pieces of living history continue to survive. The patronage of these iconic establishments is invaluable to their existence, so the next time you plan a trip to the movies please consider supporting your local drivein. The experience may create a nostalgic memory for years to come—regardless of what movie was playing that day of the week, or time of year.
Rubidoux Drive-In Theatre 3770 Opal Street (951) 683-4455 rubidouxswapmeet.com
Van Buren Drive-In Theatre & Swap Meet 3035 Van Buren Boulevard (951) 688-2360 vanburendriveintheatre.com
The Riversider | August/September 2022
Life in Little Gom-Benn The Rise & Fall of Riverside’s Pioneer Chinatown, 1885-1974
WORDS: H. VINCENT MOSES, PHD
Guan Gong in Jesus City: Chinatown Riverside Rises
Rosalind Sagara—Chair of Save Our Chinatown Committee—from time to time stands at Tequesquite and Brockton Avenues staring across a barren brown field. A one-story depression dissects the field north to south—a reminder of an illegal excavation by a developer who meant to erect an office building on the site. A city landmark, state point of historical interest, and on the National Register of Historic Places, the 2.3-acre brown field once hosted the core of Riverside’s historic Chinatown (RCT), better known as Little Gom-Benn by its Chinese residents. Chinatown, displaced twice from downtown sites, first by the Riverside Citrus Pavilion, then by anti-Chinese Anglo businesspeople and fire, relocated to Tequesquite and Brockton in 1885. Wong Nim (“Mayor” of Chinatown) managed to purchase seven acres there despite the Alien Land Law prohibiting Chinese from owning property in California. His purchase proved a feat unto itself in 1885, and to build a new third Chinatown there required even more chutzpah in the face of rampant nineteenth century anti-Chinese agitation and violence.
Push-Pull: From Famine to Gold Mountain
Wars, rebellions, floods, famines, piracy, opium, political corruption, and oppressive property owners provided reasons enough for the mass exodus out of southeastern China in the nineteenth century. The T’ai-p’ing Rebellion (1848-1865) alone left 15 to 20 million Chinese dead, and devastated large parts of the very prosperous region of southeastern China. This enormous “push,” coupled with the “pull” of California’s Gold Rush, proved an almost irresistible force drawing impoverished peasants, merchants, and speculators from China to California “Gold Mountain,” (“Gam Saan” in Cantonese). Most nineteenth century Chinese from the Guangdong Provence were brought to California by “The Six Companies,” also known as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association—a conglomerate
Chinatown Main Street was called “Mongol Avenue” by antiChinese locals, 1898. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside
The Riversider | August/September 2022
Chinese workers packing navel oranges, May 1888, Boyd-Devine Packinghouse, 6th and Pachappa (Commerce), Riverside. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside
TOP RIGHT: Ah Sam, Mrs. Catherine Bettner’s Chinese “House Boy” circa 1900 pictured in his Sunday best. Bettner’s Queen Anne Victorian at 8193 Magnolia Avenue, where Ah Sam lived and worked, is better known today as Riverside Heritage House, operating under the stewardship of the Museum of Riverside. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside Chinatown Main Street, circa 1900, with Hong Woo Laundry and delivery truck front left of photo. The Taoist Joss House (temple) sat at the northwest end of Main Street, so-called “Mongol Avenue,” between the town and Evergreen Cemetery. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside
organization of family-based and district-based associations. Immigrants left Guangdong with a debt to their district association or other sponsor that usually required three-to-five years to repay. Upon arrival at the Port of San Francisco, Chinese immigrants registered with their district association and were assigned a job. They usually earned $20 to $25 per month. With this sum, they had to pay both their living expenses and their debts. In addition, an average remittance of $30 per year was usually sent home to their families. The fact that laborers arrived indebted, were sent to work by their creditors, and acquired more debts, curtailed their occupational mobility. This dependence on near subsistence level pay, and various individual obligations, resulted in many workers forfeiting their return home. By 1885, some 105,100 Chinese lived in California. Most of them were agricultural laborers, although the bulk of the migrant Chinese was lured first to the California gold fields. Driven from there by the foreign miner’s tax and violence, they moved on to work on the Central Pacific Railroad. Between 12,000 and 14,000 Chinese worked on the construction of the Central Pacific. They were paid from $25 to $35 per month for strenuous labor, which included blasting rock and laying track through the High Sierras. The death toll was heavy, but Chinese courage, skill, and endurance accomplished an early completion of the transcontinental railroad.
Survival Against the Odds: Oranges, Truck Farms, Remittance Bankers, and Hand Laundries
Riverside’s fabled navel orange industry of the late nineteenth century grew on the backs of thousands of pioneer Chinese immigrants from the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Province. They brought with them 2,000 years of knowledge gained from growing citrus. Riverside Chinese workers taught local growers to use furrow irrigation to water their groves, and Riverside growers called it “The Riverside Method,” in horticultural conferences. Growers learned from their Chinese workers to pattern pack oranges into wooden crates for efficiency. It became known as “The China Pack,” later adopted by Sunkist Growers in all their packinghouses. The Gold Rush, railroads, and citrus industry were not the only route to economic security for Riverside’s pioneer Chinese. Chinese truck farmers supplied Riverside residents with vegetables for 50 years. These crops were grown in the fertile soil of
the Santa Ana River bottomland. The Chinese enterprising spirit expanded into other enterprises such as the laundry business. The Duey Woo and Hong Woo laundries in Riverside dried the clothing on racks behind the shops. Efforts in the 1880s and 1890s to stamp out Riverside’s Chinese hand laundries met with failure. Duey Woo Lung even forced one competitive Anglo steam laundry into bankruptcy.
Anatomy of a Rural Chinatown
Chinese immigrants arrived in the Riverside Colony in about 1871. They playfully called Riverside “Yea So Fow” or Jesus City, due the proliferation of churches in the city’s early days of development. The Chee Gung Tong placed an altar to Guan Gong—“the god of war”—in the Chinatown Joss House (Taoist chapel) to protect the residents. Composed principally of single male sojourners, merchants, laundry workers, and truck farmers, Riverside’s Chinese community skewed toward one gender. A few merchants brought their brides from China and established Riverside families. The first Chinese American baby born in Riverside’s Chinatown was born to a Mr. and Mrs. Chung Kee, of the Chung Kee Company. At its peak, “Little Gom-Benn” village boasted of 350 to 400 permanent residents. During navel orange harvest season, a tent city would spring up on the Pine Street side of Riverside’s Chinatown, increasing the local Chinese population to 2,500. A fire destroyed the community’s wooden structures in 1893. Wong Nim and his fellows then rebuilt Chinatown with Mongol Avenue (so named by the Anglo community) as its main thoroughfare. It comprised both brick and wooden buildings. The brick buildings housed most of the merchant shops, while laundries, a meat market, Joss House, Tong headquarters, and personal residences were in the wooden structures. Riverside’s well-heeled Anglo homemakers made pilgrimages to Chinatown to buy novelties, select fresh vegetables, and hire domestic help. They were also reputed to play the Chinese lottery while there.
LEFT: Jim Ah (Anglicized name) served one of Riverside’s wealthy citrus families for more than 30 years until his death in 1928. Never able to return to China, he nonetheless consistently sent money home to support his family in Guangdong Province, Southeastern China. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside
Duey Woo Lung, “Mayor of Chinatown” (village head), with his laundry wagon. Two Chinese hand laundry companies, Hong Woo Laundry and Duey Woo Laundry, dominated the business in Riverside, once driving an Anglo steam laundry into bankruptcy. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside
The Riversider | August/September 2022
Artifacts from the Chinatown site.
Festivities such as the annual Chinese New Year celebration drew large crowds of Anglos to the Tequesquite Arroyo. Exploding firecrackers announced the beginning of festivities. On New Year’s Day, dressed in their finest, Chinese men made calls on Chinese and other residences— bringing gifts of flowers, cigars, and wishes for prosperity and long life. Riverside’s Chinese celebrated other annual festivals, just as their relatives were doing in China. Holidays such as the Feast of Hungry Ghosts and The Festival of Tombs (Ching-Ming Day) held special significance and sadness for these men so far away from their sacred ancestral home. These festivals helped overseas Chinese in Riverside to reaffirm their familial bonds and connection to China, considered by them to be The Middle Kingdom. Although antiChinese racism in Riverside seldom resulted in violence, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 took its toll on “Little GomBenn.” Riverside’s unmarried community had all but disappeared by the 1920s. The last shop closed in 1938. Only Wong Ho-Leun, known among the Anglo community as “George Wong” remained. The son of “Big Charlie” Wong—a Riverside vegetable merchant—George Wong arrived from China in 1914. He lived in Riverside’s Chinatown until his death in 1974. George Wong cared for his elderly
Volunteers working a pit in the Riverside Chinatown Dig, Summer 1984, Riverside Chinatown Site. Courtesy, Museum of Riverside
compatriots, ran the “Bamboo Gardens” restaurant, and was the confidant of well-known Riverside political figures. After Wong’s death, the last row of brick shops and wooden shacks was leveled, leaving only an empty historic site where once a thriving community existed.
The Chinatown Dig, 1984
For several years, the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California had unsuccessfully lobbied for a historical archaeological dig at that landmark site. By June 1984, a local “Ad Hoc Citizens Committee” had joined the Society in the effort to save Riverside’s Chinatown site (RCT). Led by the late Dr. Robert Poe and the Ad Hoc Citizen’s Committee, Riverside’s Chinatown archaeological excavation became a reality. Riverside’s Chinatown site had remained a unique, stable, undisturbed historic landmark from the 1940s to the 1970s as the former owner George Wong had RCT covered with fill dirt. The archaeological excavation of RCT began in 1984. The site contained a treasure trove of both residential and commercial entities, and activities of the local community—providing information on a social group previously neglected in accounts of California history.
Cover of Volume II, Wong Ho Leun: An American Chinatown by The Great Basin Foundation, archaeological team that conducted the Chinatown Dig. Volume II contains analysis of the various collections of materials from the Dig. Courtesy, Vince Moses
The Riverside archaeological excavation, unlike other overseas Chinese digs, produced materials taken from 50-percent of one whole town. The broad sample and sheer weight of artifact fragments, and whole pieces extracted from this excavation exceeded all the previous digs of overseas Chinese sites in the Western United States. The Chinatown Dig yielded tons of historic “debris.” Findings included fragments of glazed ceramics and export blue and white, and multicolor porcelain, glass bottles and utilitarian stoneware pottery vessels. Fauna remains included fish and poultry—evidence confirming nutritional patterns of the Chinese inhabitants. The excavation turned up metal objects, including spoons, hasps, buckles, and buttons—among other metal items. The evidence indicates that an active overseas trade existed between China and Southern California that allowed the Chinese immigrants in Riverside to maintain many of their traditional practices and folkways. The research value of the excavation and resulting artifact collection remain a major historical treasure, documenting life in Little Gom-Benn—an American Chinatown. Yes, Riverside had a Chinatown, and this author would love to see the site at Tequesquite, and Brockton Avenues be transformed into a memorial park interpreting the contributions of the pioneers who lived there and contributed so much to the building of our city. It’d be the least we could do to honor them, and to combat persistent Asian hate that stains Big Blue California to this day.
Page from “Life in Little Gom-Benn,” a 1985 Riverside Museum publication discussing Chinatown and the role of remittance banker Wong Sai Chee, who made loans and managed monies remitted to families in Guangdong Province. Courtesy, Vince Moses
LEFT: Hand tinted view of Chinatown at its peak, Brockton Avenue and Tequesquite by photographer Avery Field, from Mount Rubidoux, 1905. This close view is from Field’s sevenfoot-long panoramic image of Riverside. Courtesy, Riverside Public Library
Ryan Sheckler boosts an ollie over the rail at Poly High.
P H O T O S P O T L I G H T
INTERVIEW BY AARON SCHMIDT
Tim Aguilar is a multi talented professional skate photographer. He grew up in the I.E. in Corona and eventually made his way to Riverside when he was just 21 years of age. Tim has shot many incredible moments in skateboarding over the years and he’s one of the main freelance photographers at Thrasher Magazine. He’s been around the world shooting some of the best skateboarders on the planet, but Tim always finds the time to shoot skate photos here in his beloved Riverside.
Where did you grow up? How did you get into skateboarding?
I grew up in Corona and got into skateboarding at the end of high school when I stopped playing soccer. I started skating because of my friend Jeremy. I always had a skateboard, but I never really went to the skatepark because I was always busy playing soccer throughout my whole childhood. In my junior year of high school, I started ditching school a bunch with my friend Jeremy and went to the skatepark right by my school. And then I just never stopped skating since then.
How did you get into photography? When did you pick that up?
Well, I picked up an actual camera and started to use it frequently when I was in high school. I was enrolled in a high school photography class at Centennial High School in Corona and my teacher Kelly Bustanos taught me all the rules and gave me an introduction to photos in the darkroom and all that stuff. She showed me the way and after that I was just like, “I just want to keep doing this.” There really wasn’t much photo stuff for me before that—it was my first time owing my own camera.
Did all you shoot was skating in the beginning?
I was just taking pictures of my friends. All I was doing was going to school and going to the skatepark (Santana Skatepark in Corona). I spent many a year at that park.
When did you move to Riverside?
I moved to Riverside when I was 21 because I started skating with a lot of people from here— my friends Nolan and Braxton, Forrest and Trey Williams. They were all out here skating and I had just been introduced to them the year prior. There wasn’t much going on in Corona—all my friends were doing the same thing. I liked skating with these people more so I wanted to be closer to them in Riverside. They were doing a lot more with their careers, and I was like, “This is what I want to do, too.”
Where are you currently living in Riverside?
Downtown, it’s pretty close to Fairmount Park.
Did you bypass college and then just started shooting skate photography full on?
Well, I did enroll at RCC for a few semesters. I went through their photo program and it’s an excellent program. I had a lot of great teachers and met some cool students, too. I didn’t finish it by any means—I just went and learned some important information. I used their darkroom and their digital lab for a few years. I never got a degree or anything. Some day I will, though. Being in the darkroom is what really made me appreciate photography a lot.
What camera rig do you shoot with? Have you been using the same thing for a while? As far as professional skate photography, I use a Canon R6 and I’ve had it for about a year or so maybe less now. I also have two film cameras that take turns dying on me—just some automatic Canon cameras
ZACH CORDNER
Not only is Tim a talented photographer, he also rips at skateboarding. Here's Tim with an edger at the Tiger Tail pool.
that shoot film. I usually just rotate between them when one is dead and use the other one.
What do you shoot besides skateboarding?
Outside of skateboarding, I take pictures of BMX. Not much beyond that. I have friends that ride scooters, too, and when they do gnarly enough stuff I’ll take a picture of it.
Do you ever shoot landscape stuff or nature? Yeah, I travel a lot and fortunately I get to see a lot of cool things. Whenever something strikes me as beautiful I’ll take pictures of it. I don’t necessarily go out of my way to go on trips to shoot landscapes or anything like that. When I see something cool on the road, I’m definitely going to take a picture of it.
Being mainly a skate tour photographer, are there certain skate companies that you shoot for? Or is it just for magazines?
I shoot freelance for Thrasher—the best stuff gets in there and that’s pretty much where it is, and everything else is freelance as well. I’ve been going on some Toy Machine trips in the past few years and those are always really fun. It’s really long driving across the country and back. I just got back from a Blood Wizard trip—we drove up to Oregon. It’s pretty much just wherever someone needs me—I’ll be there.
You were just in Europe recently, what was that for?
Yeah, that was for Vans. I was helping finish up Lizzie Armanto’s interview for Thrasher, so I was just out there taking pictures of her skating. I was with my friends Chris Gregson, and Mami Tazuka—we were just going around to the coolest skateparks in town.
What countries did you hit?
We went to Finland, Denmark, and Sweden.
What’s next on the horizon for you in terms of skate trips?
I believe I’m going to Denver in a month or so with some of my friends. We’re just going to stay out there for a little bit and skate. My friend David grew up out there and he rides for 303 Boards.
TJ Person frontside tailslides to fakie in Canyon Crest.
Towed-in by a motorcycle, Nolan Miskell kickflip backside wallrides at the Tequesquite banks.
Matt Miskell crailslides the infamous cube at the T-Street ditch.
Do you shoot video, too? Or do you just shoot photos?
I do have a video camera and I use it when I deem it necessary. I take it out with me when we go skate and stuff for when anyone needs a second angle, but it’s never been a priority for me. I usually go out with people who already have cameras and are taking care of that side of things. But I am prepared at all times.
You’ve traveled all over the world. Do you think of Riverside as a skateboarding destination? What do you think makes Riverside unique?
Personally, I think Riverside is just cool. It’s out in the middle of—not “no where” but it’s far away from the cool cities. For skating if you want to come out here, you have to know where you’re going. And you have to know when to come because people come out here and realize how hot it is and have to turn around. I like it out here because not everything’s blown out. It’s really fun finding stuff out here to skate that nobody’s seen or skated. I don’t mind that it’s warm—I like sweating.
What are some of your favorite places to shoot skating in Riverside?
One of my favorite places to take photos is definitely the Battle Bowl. It’s on top of the hill in Rubidoux and covered in graffiti. I love going up there at sunset and getting nice photos. It overlooks the entire city. It’s usually filled up with a little bit of water so you get a nice reflection. If you know someone who knows how to skate transition or Jersey barriers, you’re going to have a good time and get a good photo. I really like going up there because it’s very unique and not a lot of people go up there. I sporadically go up there maybe once a year. That spot has a lot of history.
What about the T-Street ditch?
T-Street is a great place. I remember about seven years ago, my friends and I built the cube and it was the biggest, baddest obstacle around. So many pro skaters from far and wide came to skate it. A lot of blood was spilled on that wall, but unfortunately the city took it out. The ditch is fortunately still there and people are still adding stuff on here and there which is great and I condone all of it. I encourage everyone to go out there and learn how to build a little quarter pipe or bank-to-curb. It’s always fun contributing to the skate community.
Can you also explain your involvement in trying to get a new skatepark going at Bonamino?
My friend Nolan Miskell is a pro skater for Blood Wizard and he grew up here in Riverside. He recently had reached out to a handful of city people at downtown Riverside and they set up a few meetings. Nolan, Allen Lusk, the owner of Crooks Skate Shop, and I were able to attend and talk to the people in the city about their plan for the river bed and their plans for building a new park pretty close to T-Street. I think it would attract a lot of people if it was built right and we’re on the road to making that happen.
What do you have planned for the future? What are your goals for your skate photography and business in general?
Shooting a Thrasher cover is definitely a goal. Another goal would be to keep traveling the world with my friends. I want to go back to school and maybe be a photography teacher, or a teacher in general. Beyond skate photography, I wouldn’t mind being the Mayor of Riverside.
